Polar Bear

For those of you with active curve Xenon lights-

Do they move up and down and side to side when turned on, or only up and down? I have read posts where some move side to side when turned on, but my 2005 does not do this.

They do move side to side when driving so they are working right - just wondering about startup.

Dema

for me it looks like side to side, however I belive they are not zenons, just fog lamps.

Diesel Benz

Now that was confusing to me, fog lamps do not swivel horizontally or vertically, are you referring to the fog lamps coming on at a turn at low speed?

I believe the active xenon lights have had two different implementations. I do not remember the time when this was changed but some (early) xenons did the start-up calibration in two dimensions while the current ones only do this for the vertical dimension. My W221 does it only vertically and still has those active turning xenons.

IndiumGreyE63

When I fire mine on, the xenons flip up, and then do a side-to-side dance for a couple of seconds.

Polar Bear

Interesting... so there does appear to be two versions of the startup procedure...

MARK CUMMINS

Early W211s will go l/r up / down on start up

Late W211s go u/d only on start up

Correction

Tymah123

Mine go up/down, not side to side at startup. I have 2008 with bi-xenons.

erifly

I have an 03 w211 with bi-xenons and it goes up and down on startup

Diesel Benz

Basic Bi-xenons never go more than up/down because they don't turn with steering. The car must have active curve ligths (and not even all of those do it).

JRAMGV8

My car does the exact same thing, flip up and side to side.

Tymah123

I have active curve lights but they don't go side to side...

Benz-O-Rama

I'm 100% sure that I have active curving HID's and I've never seen them move left/right on start up, only up/down.

Model Year 2004

AMGTTV8

04's dont have active curve illum., so they wouldnt go from side to side on startup

Benz-O-Rama

Wrong. Mine have Active Curving HIDs.

pinebaron

07 Active Lamps go UP-DN on startup. L/R movement is only while driving when it follows the curve.

Neoii

So does the up/down ALWAYS happen everytime the lights are turned on (for Xenons obviously)? Mine does not and the dealer said it does so only if a calibration is needed. Sounded like BS but I just would like a confirmation. Thanks.

Benz-O-Rama

They should move up and down every time the car is turned on. But, if you start your car with your headlights off and turn them on later, they won't go up and down a second time. Only on start up.

Benz-O-Rama

Well, after a little more research, we're both right. Looks like model year 2004 built after 2/2004 have them.

Mine was built 3/04

220S

My 2009 with active bi-xenon:

Up and down only and only on start-up. No side to side movement except when car is turning and moving.

Right or left fog lamp goes on when right or left turn signal on or steering wheel is turned right or left. Fog lamps are "corner illuminating." They actually direct their light towards the inside corner of the turn. But they don't seem to swivel themselves. I think they just project their light differently when you turn(?) But they definitely aim light towards the corner. Very effective when turning into unknown dark driveways.....

Diesel Benz

Thanks for clarifying this, my post was supposed to be more of a generic note but I picked up your post because you "only" mentioned Bi-xenons, not active curve lights (actually I'm still always confused how the horizontally turning lights should officially be called against the fog light feature).

Anyway, the latests posts already clarified when the implementation was actually changed (and that there are lights with different behaviour even if both have the active curve light feature).

Long Islander

On my 2008 with Xenons and curve sensing, the lights go up and down on startup, but I never noticed them going side to side on startup. I should note that they're always on when I start the car because it's in the garage and the lights are set to "automatic." When the lights turn on while driving into the garage, I don't think they go up and down. They definitely swivel noticeably when driving around bends in the road, which is one of the coolest features of this car.

Polar Bear

Wow - Looks like there are several inconsistencies here... In wonder what controls the startup sequence?

Diesel Benz

What did you actually consider inconsistent?

The early implementations were controlled by the front SAM via the LWR-BUS, later implementations have a direct CAN bus connection to the xenon control unit but the LWR control wire still comes from the front SAM.

Polar Bear

JRAMGV8 and IndiumGreyE63 both say theirs go from side to side as well as up an down on startup, but others with 2008 models as far back as 2005 (mine) only go up and down.

Polar Bear

I think they do it when the ignition switch is turned on. If the lights are set to come on when the car is started (either DRL enabled or on AUTO when the car considers it dark) you will see the beam dip and return. If the lights were not on when you started the car, they will not repeat this procedure when you turn on the headlamps.