1988carrera

Can any one tell me where the light sensor is for the auto-on feature?
I am trying to see how to prevent the xenons from turing on during day time for a few seconds, pulling in/out of the garage...I wish they put a 10 second delay to avoid unnecessary on and off.

JARO

turn the light **** to the left so away from AUTO feature. DOne!

1988carrera

Jaro, may be my post is not cklear...I know how to activate the feature. I am not sure where the "light sensor" is that turns the lights on and off!

ltc

Is it the small plastic sensor on top of the dash, center, right in front of the center speaker, down by the base of the windshield?

Renn 951

What difference does it make where the sensor is, do you intend to disable it? If so, why would you even take that approach?

Jaro's point is that if you just turn your switch to the OFF position (instead of AUTO) then the lights won't be turning on when you pull into the garage.

ltc

Perhaps the point of having 'Automatic Lighting' is so that you DON'T have to reach down and operate a switch.

Renn 951

True, and if you disable the sensor then you don't have ANY Automatic Lighting and you have to use the switch every time!

Again, I don't understand the point of the original question on why he wants to know where the sensor is -- what am I missing? And what's wrong with the lights automatically coming on when you go into a dark garage?

ltc

I believe he is merely trying to avoid cycling his Bi-Xenon's unnecessarily in order to maximize their life.

I know when I open my garage door in the morning (daylight) and start the car, if the switch is in Auto, the BiXenons will come on and then shut off right after I pull out of the garage. The sensitivity/delay is not correct for this situation.

Renn 951

So you think he's going to try to design some kind of delay circuitry to wire into the system? That would be an interesting mod; I hope he's got all the Cayenne wiring diagrams to avoid unintended consequences!

So, 1988carrera, what are you up to?

1988carrera

Exactly my point. Finally!!! The life of the xenons is decreased by short burst on /off and that is the reason why they do not come when the "flash" feature is used, the halogens are in use.

mudman2

I think for once retro works here, use the switch

ajauch

Another fix to this problem is to have the dealer enable the "Daytime Running Lights" feature. Since the lights are on all the time, there's no issue. The sensor still works and turns on the other lights at dark (instruments, sides, rear) but you don't get the xenon on/off thing. DRL is safer anyway, I can't understand why this isn't the default.

Alex

ltc

Wasn't there a post a while back asking if US Cayennes could have DRL enabled?
Is it merely a programming change or is there a DRL relay or some other H/W?

ajauch

Yes, this is just a programming change. I have a US spec 04 CT and they did it for me for free at my last service appt.

Alex

Renn 951

Has anyone actually seen real data on the expected life of xenon lights?