Mabuhay

I'm considering a C4S with "Litronics". I have the 2003/2004 911 brochure and it says nothing about "Litronics". But it does talk about Bi-Xenons.

So are these the same thing?

Bob Rouleau

More or less the same thing. Litronics are Xenon but bi-xenon gives you HID lights for both low and high beam. In practice both are excellent.

peavynation

Interesting. I thought I had bi-xenon, but I must have Litronics, since I just popped on my brights for the the first time the other night, and they looked like standard halogen. I'll have to double check. Good to know.

Dennis C

On my '02 the high beams are a combination of the inboard halogen lamps and the xenon lamps. There is a shutter that cuts of the high portion of the beam when low beams are on, and the shutter opens when high beams are on as the halogens light up. Our Cayenne is the same way.

tooloud10

What Bob said...Litronics are just the low beams. Bi-xenon is the high and low beams.

peavynation

With Xenon needing some 'startup' time, I would have thought What Dennis C had (with the shutter) would happen with the bi-xenon rather than with halogen. Halogen are a regular incandecent, but xenon have some HV startup delay.

The plot thickens...

ArneeA

that's called bi-xenon.

the "quick flash" stalk (pull towards you) uses halogen highs while the "constant high" stalk (push away from you) uses the shutter on the bi-xenon module.

Mabuhay

Ok, so low = Litronics, low and high = Bi-Xenon...

So why doesn't the 2004 Porsche brochure mention anything about "Litronics"? All it says is halogen or bi-xenon. Could it be that Litronics is only available in "early" 996's and was replaced by Bi-Xenons?

wwest

Well, maybe not. I think the early litronics Porsche shipped did not have the xenon/HID high/lo "switch". So the xenons/HIDs/Litronics were low beam only but did stay on with the high beam halogens. It was the later Litronics versions that had bi-xenon capability.

10 GT3

Both Litronics and Bi-Xenons use halogens in high-beam mode, they are just used different ways. With Litronics when you hit the high beam, the halogen comes on to be the high beam focused at long distance. The low beam Xenon rotates up to provide more fill. With Bi-Xenons, the shutters in the headlights open; focusing the Xenon light in a narrower pattern out at a distance. A halogen light comes on only to illuminate the road right in front of the car. There is a significant difference in light output between the 2 systems. With Bi-Xenons in high beam mode, there is significantly more light out at distance; almost 1/3. If you can find the release bulletin for the 2002 911, there is a whole section that discussed the changes to the light output and the beam pattern.

There is no version of a factory Litronic light that is Bi-Xenon. I am sure you can buy an aftermarket Bi-Xenon kit (shutter integral with the bulb instead of the housing) that could be retrofitted. The term "Litronic" by definition means the Xenon light rotates. Bi-Xenons not only incorporate shutters, they also have a different shaped lense for better projection of light at the longer focal distance. Litronic lighting is older technology that has been replaced with Bi-Xenons.

The newer Dynamic Cornering lights are even later technology that incorporates 2 directional motors. Bi-Xenons on the 996/7 have a single motor in each light that supports an auto leveling feature. This came out of Litronic technology. There are 2 sensors, one attached to a front control arm and one attached to a rear control arm. Based on the input of each sensor, the computer rotates the Bi-Xenon up or down. If you look carefully when you first turn on the lights every time, they will dip down and up. This is to re-zero the system. Dynamic Cornering lights add a steering sensor and a pair of yaw sensors that the computer reads to rotate the Bi-Xenons right or left using a second motor in the headlights.

Marc Gelefsky

Litronics - Mk I Option
Bi-Xenon - Mk 2 Option

High beams in my 02 996 (Bi-Xenon) are noticeably better than the High beams were in my 01 986S (Litronic)


Just my .996 cents

AndyK

This should be a sticky! Excellent post!

fpena944

Wow I never knew there was so much to know about lights!

I do know this though, the lighting on my 996 (with bi-xenons) is superior to any other car I've driven.

Tippy

Learn sumthin' everyday

wwest

I suspect part of the problem lies with "Litronic" being a brand unique term, Porsche unique, whereas "bi-xenon" is more of a generic term. Bi-xenon is meant to mean that the HID illumination is used in both low beam and high beam mode via some method of shifting the HID beam pattern accordingly.

It seems to me that Porsche uses the Litronics term to apply to both, the earlier HIDs which did not have a high beam position but remained on along with the high beam halogen, and now the actual Bi-xenon version.