|
|
Post by danieleterminio on Apr 26, 2024 16:05:26 GMT
Good evening to all friends of the forum, I have a difficult but not impossible question for you. About a year ago I mounted to my 2016 GOLF MK7 some aftermarket taillights (here is the link) from AKD, bought from China. The seller assured me that there was a button in the taillights to turn the initial animation on and off. (video of animation)The taillights are splendid and of excellent quality, but unfortunately the seller lied to me: that button does not exist on my taillights  (he sent me the old model). Needless to say, I can't see that terrible animation, but there's good news! These taillights are "smart", they only activate the animation at night, not during the day. I believe that they take the light information from the light sensors that are used to turn on the daylights, and automatically activate the animation only at night. Now comes the tough question: Is there a way to trick the taillights into thinking it's always daytime? I believe it can be done! The difficult thing is to understand how!  Thanks to anyone who wants to help me with this problem, and have a good day everyone! |
|
|
|
Post by dv52 (Australia) on Apr 26, 2024 23:35:05 GMT
First a statement of the obvious - these retrofitted tail-lights are non-OEM, so it's anyone's guess how they are designed and how they operate!! Second - I'm not sure that the fact that the tail-lights operate differently during daylight and night-time conditions makes them "smart"!
Whist I agree that the day/night "terrible" behavior of the turn-signal is triggered by the light-sensor that's installed on the windshield - I suspect the trigger-switch on the actual tail-light is far simpler than implied in your post. Again because these tail-lights are non-OEM fittings, I'm guessing - but my hunch is that the LED chaser circuits that drive the "terrible" animation are switched-OFF during night-time by the Parking-Light that's also inside the tail-light fittings.
My reasoning is as follows: Notwithstanding that these are non-OEM fittings, they still use the factory wiring loom on the car to supply power to the tail-light lamps. The factory wiring loom does NOT contain wires that provide a specific day/night signal. So, my hunch (guess) is that the voltage status of the Parking lights is used by the turn-signal circuits to decide whether the "terrible" animation is switched - On/OFF. I think!
If I'm correct - you can confirm my hunch by selecting the  , or  positions on the rotary light switch during daytime - this will turn-ON the Parking Light function.
Don
|
|
|
|
Post by danieleterminio on Apr 27, 2024 9:10:39 GMT
dv52 (Australia) : Hi Don, first of all thanks for your reply. I am from Italy and my GOLF has an Italian registration. I followed your intuition and actually by positioning the light selector to , the initial animation also turns on during the day. While leaving them on     (I always kept the selector on ), the animation only turns on at night. So it seems confirmed to me that the taillights understand from the light sensor that it is used to turn on the side lights when it is day or night, and start the initial animation accordingly. Now, do you have any ideas to make the taillights "think" it's always daytime? Thank you again for your kindness and availability, have a nice day 
|
|
|
|
Post by dv52 (Australia) on Apr 27, 2024 22:16:00 GMT
Daniel: hmm....... so if I'm reading your results correctly - it is now confirmed that these Chinese tail-lights use the Parking Light (PL) voltage to turn-off the daytime animation. Is this correct?
If my understanding IS correct - then I guess the answer to your question is that we need to illuminate the PL lamps whenever the ignition switch is turned-ON instead of the OEM arrangement where the PL lamps are ONLY illuminated during nighttime!
The way to make these changes depends entirely on how this car was factory built (meaning what options were fitted to this car on the assembly-line) and what changes were made as part of retrofitting the non-OEM tail lights?
- Was this car factory built with incandescent, or LED tail-lights?
- When the Chinese tail-lights were "mounted":
- Did you install a "cross-wiring harness" to bridge the OEM tail-light connectors and the Chinese tail-light fittings?
- Did you make coding changes - if so, please provide specific details?
Don
|
|
|
|
Post by danieleterminio on Apr 28, 2024 10:24:05 GMT
Hi dv52 (Australia), What you say is correct, the taillight use the voltage of the daytime lights to understand when to activate the startup animation: - During the day, when the side lights are off, the startup animation is OFF.
- At night, when the side lights are on, the startup animation is ON.
To answer your questions and to help you better understand the situation, my GOLF 7 left the factory with halogen headlights and taillights. The headlights were then replaced with OSRAM LEDriving for GOLF 7 (Plug & Play) and the taillight were replaced with AKDs of which I sent you the link in the first post. These taillight are also Plug & Play and did not require any modified wiring or any subsequent coding. The only wiring that was added is this yellow wire that you see in this photo, which simply serves to connect the two pieces of taillight to synchronize the dynamic turn signal. This cable has a specific socket in the taillight and does not modify the electrical connection of the taillight itself which remains the factory one. You can see what I'm telling you in this photo, where you can see the taillight connector which is the same as the original halogen one, the connector for the yellow wire which is used to synchronize the directional indicator, and that ON/OFF switch which It's used to turn the start animation on and off, which my taillight doesn't have . I hope I have answered all your doubts to better understand the situation of my GOLF 7, I am available for any other questions and I thank you again for your precious help. |
|
|
|
Post by dv52 (Australia) on Apr 28, 2024 22:07:35 GMT
Daniel: OK, thanks for the additional explanation - I now understand! The security software on my PC won't allow access to your AKD site because it doesn't have the correct certificates (Chinese websites are notorious for this problem) -so, I'm still guessing somewhat!!. As I said in my last reply, without your tail-light fittings having the animation ON/OFF switch in your picture - my only suggestion to delete this non-OEM feature is to permanently turn-ON the PL lamp on the left/right-side inner tail-light fittings.
So, maybe try my suggestion as follows:
For Leuchte23SL HLC10 (PL lamp on the left-side, inner tail-light fitting) and Leuchte24SL HRA65 (PL lamp on the right-side, inner tail-light fitting) - Lichtfunktion A : ONLY if the current value = Standlicht allgemein (Schlusslicht; Positionslicht; Begrenzungslicht) change to Klemme 15 mit Nachlauf bis Fahrzeugstillstand.
After making the change above, the PL lamp on the inner tail-light fittings should illuminate at the factory dimming level of 28% whenever the ignition is switched-ON (regardless of daytime/nighttime conditions). Does this coding-change delete the "terrible" animation of the turn signal lamps?
If the answer to my question is "NO" - revert the channel above to the original factory setting (colored un-bolded blue) and report your observations - please
Don
|
|
|
|
Post by danieleterminio on Apr 30, 2024 12:08:00 GMT
Hi dv52 (Australia) , Thanks for your advice - it worked, but half of it!
I attach here a video of what happens now, which I think is much more representative than explaining it to you by writing it down. Basically, now the start animation no longer appears on the "internal" part of the taillight , but only on the "external" part. For the moment I have not removed the coding you recommended, as it does not cause me unwanted effects. Do you have any ideas on how to complete this coding to permanently remove the start animation? Thanks again, Daniele |
|
|
|
Post by dv52 (Australia) on Apr 30, 2024 23:14:58 GMT
Daniel: Yes, my previous suggestion was intended as a proof-of-concept fix. Since it now appears that the change has worked - try my suggestion below to apply the same fix to the outer tail-light fittings:
For Leuchte20BR LA71 and Leuchte21BR RC8
- Lichtfunktion C > Klemme 15 mit Nachlauf bis Fahrzeugstillstand
I'm not sure if there will be enough voltage from the outer PL lamp with the above coding-change to switch-OFF the unwanted animation. If after making the change, the animation isn't switched-OFF - try increasing the voltage from the PL lamp by increasing the PL illumination level of the PL lamps - by adding the following change (don't make this additional change if not needed)
Don
|
|
|
|
Post by danieleterminio on May 3, 2024 15:50:32 GMT
Hi dv52 (Australia) , I thank you again for your patience. I made your adjustment but with some changes, now I will explain better: - For Leuchte20BR LA71 there was no Lichtfunktion C 16 adjustment , so I adjusted Lichtfunktion C 20 from Standlicht allgemein (Schlusslicht; Positionslicht; Begrenzungslicht) to Klemme 15 mit Nachlauf bis Fahrzeugstillstand.
- For Leuchte21BR RC8 there was no Lichtfunktion C 16 adjustment, so I adjusted Lichtfunktion C 21 from Standlicht allgemein (Schlusslicht; Positionslicht; Begrenzungslicht) to Klemme 15 mit Nachlauf bis Fahrzeugstillstand.
The coding seems to work, when you open the car with the key the start animation is not present, but when you insert the key and turn on the instrument panel, the start animation plays before the taillight are turned on. This for me is already a good result honestly. It would be great to remove this annoying animation completely, but at this point I don't know if it can be done..  I thank you again for your precious help. Daniele |
|
|
|
Post by dv52 (Australia) on May 4, 2024 0:18:01 GMT
Daniele: Yes, my bad for including "16" in my Lichtfunktion C 16 instruction - you correctly interpreted my suggestion in your explanation of the changes that you made.
So, my hunch is that the reason why the tweak works "when you open the car with the key........., but [not] when you insert the key and turn on the instrument panel" is because of the dimming level of the PL lamp that I'm using to control the animation.
As I've already said - my guess is that the circuits that switch the animation ON/OFF use the voltage from the PL lamp. The magnitude of this voltage is determined by the PL lamp dimming level - meaning that at full illumination, the PL lamp voltage will be battery rail volts and the voltage will decrease as the PL Lamp dimming level increases
The current dimming levels of the PL lamps on your car are like this: - Inner tail-light fittings = 28%
- Outer tail-light fittings = 10%
Therefore, if the turn-signals on the inner tail-light fittings work OK (i.e. both when the key is used AND when the ignition is turned-on) - this means that there is sufficient volts on the inner PL lamp to switch-OFF the animation. If this is the case, we need to increase the illumination level of the PL lamps on the outer tail-light fittings. This is done as follows: For Leuchte20BR LA71 and Leuchte21BR RC8
|
|
|
|
Post by danieleterminio on May 10, 2024 13:18:00 GMT
Hi dv52 (Australia) , sorry for the late reply, I checked the Dimmwert CD parameter for the Leuchte20BR LA71 and Leuchte21BR RC8 lamps as you indicated, and I noticed that the parameter was already set to 28. I didn't code anything. Do you have other ideas? Thank you, Daniele |
|
|
|
Post by dv52 (Australia) on May 10, 2024 21:25:34 GMT
Daniele: Hmm......... OK - my last suggestion is try increasing the value of Dimmwert CD on Leuchte20BR LA71 and Leuchte21BR RC8 until the animation stops!!. If it doesn't stop, revert back the value to 28.
However, be aware that if the value is too high, the normal light level of the lamps will conflict with the Brake function. This means that if the value is too large, drivers at the rear of this car won't be able to tell when you press the brake pedal because the light will already be switched-ON by the increased Dimmwert CD value. So be careful to ensure that when the brake pedal is pressed, the change in light level on the brake light is clearly noticable
Don |
|
|
|
Post by danieleterminio on May 19, 2024 11:28:52 GMT
Hi dv52 (Australia) , thank you for your precious help, unfortunately I was unable to completely deactivate the initial animation, but I still thank you for trying with me to solve this annoying problem. I am still satisfied with the result achieved and I hope that this article can help someone and be a solid starting point for someone who wants to try their hand at this operation. I wish you the best, Daniele |
|
|
|
Post by tigonr on Aug 10, 2024 20:34:53 GMT
Daniele: Yes, my bad for including "16" in my Lichtfunktion C 16 instruction - you correctly interpreted my suggestion in your explanation of the changes that you made.
So, my hunch is that the reason why the tweak works "when you open the car with the key........., but [not] when you insert the key and turn on the instrument panel" is because of the dimming level of the PL lamp that I'm using to control the animation.
As I've already said - my guess is that the circuits that switch the animation ON/OFF use the voltage from the PL lamp. The magnitude of this voltage is determined by the PL lamp dimming level - meaning that at full illumination, the PL lamp voltage will be battery rail volts and the voltage will decrease as the PL Lamp dimming level increases
The current dimming levels of the PL lamps on your car are like this: - Inner tail-light fittings = 28%
- Outer tail-light fittings = 10%
Therefore, if the turn-signals on the inner tail-light fittings work OK (i.e. both when the key is used AND when the ignition is turned-on) - this means that there is sufficient volts on the inner PL lamp to switch-OFF the animation. If this is the case, we need to increase the illumination level of the PL lamps on the outer tail-light fittings. This is done as follows: For Leuchte20BR LA71 and Leuchte21BR RC8
|
|
(he sent me the old model).
