Hello Everyone
I’m am very excited to report that after many hours of work, I have gained control over the leveling motors in the HID Replica Headlights sold by edward@becautoparts.com here http://golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45469. I have made two admittedly bad videos demonstrating them working (linked below).
I have to thank Ed for being very supportive of me working on this project. I have been in communication with Ed for a almost 2 months and Ed was kind enough to supply the rheostat. It all started when Ed replaced a headlight I bought off of him last February because of a cosmetic condition it developed. The warranty was almost up but Ed came through and it didn't even cost me shipping. When I mentioned that I was working on the leveling project and told him the progress I had made, he was hugely supportive and I think even a little excited. I can't say enough good things about how Ed runs his business and is an asset to this community.
The leveling rheostat is a VW part and replaces the dimmer switch with a combination dimmer & leveling control. The settings go from "-" to "3", low to high respectively. The dimmer function remains the same as before. There was a lot to be reversed engineered to figure the system out but I am an engineer by trade and enjoy a good challenge.
The level of complexity of this project was not for the faint of heart. It came in handy that I had a "junk" headlight on hand to scavenge parts from or I'd have been buying new expensive headlights. It is for this reason that if there is enough interest in the community, I plan on offering a kit with all the parts and instructions to make this doable for the average enthusiast. Previously I developed a mod for these headlights to make the LED's work as both DRL's and parking lights. That was an easy mod and despite several requests for me to sell them to people, I instead posted detailed DIY instructions: http://golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?p=659915&highlight=tnrst1#post659915. I'm not selling anything right now, just checking interest.
In the videos, you will see the headlight cutoff moving up and down. The left and right move in sync. I only took a short test drive but "-" gave a very short beam and "3" would blind oncoming traffic so there is plenty of range of motion. This will be very useful as the load in the car changes and even under different lighting conditions. Prior to installing the leveling switch, I found I was constantly manually adjusting my headlights because I was either getting flashed by everyone or felt like I should be seeing farther down the road. This setup is pretty slick and now I don't feel like there are motors in the headlights that I paid but can't use.
Let me know what you think and if you have any interest in a kit being made available.
Videos: http://youtu.be/OSwOEYn48EY and http://youtu.be/i6CZAOEp3w4
I’m am very excited to report that after many hours of work, I have gained control over the leveling motors in the HID Replica Headlights sold by edward@becautoparts.com here http://golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45469. I have made two admittedly bad videos demonstrating them working (linked below).
I have to thank Ed for being very supportive of me working on this project. I have been in communication with Ed for a almost 2 months and Ed was kind enough to supply the rheostat. It all started when Ed replaced a headlight I bought off of him last February because of a cosmetic condition it developed. The warranty was almost up but Ed came through and it didn't even cost me shipping. When I mentioned that I was working on the leveling project and told him the progress I had made, he was hugely supportive and I think even a little excited. I can't say enough good things about how Ed runs his business and is an asset to this community.
The leveling rheostat is a VW part and replaces the dimmer switch with a combination dimmer & leveling control. The settings go from "-" to "3", low to high respectively. The dimmer function remains the same as before. There was a lot to be reversed engineered to figure the system out but I am an engineer by trade and enjoy a good challenge.
The level of complexity of this project was not for the faint of heart. It came in handy that I had a "junk" headlight on hand to scavenge parts from or I'd have been buying new expensive headlights. It is for this reason that if there is enough interest in the community, I plan on offering a kit with all the parts and instructions to make this doable for the average enthusiast. Previously I developed a mod for these headlights to make the LED's work as both DRL's and parking lights. That was an easy mod and despite several requests for me to sell them to people, I instead posted detailed DIY instructions: http://golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?p=659915&highlight=tnrst1#post659915. I'm not selling anything right now, just checking interest.
In the videos, you will see the headlight cutoff moving up and down. The left and right move in sync. I only took a short test drive but "-" gave a very short beam and "3" would blind oncoming traffic so there is plenty of range of motion. This will be very useful as the load in the car changes and even under different lighting conditions. Prior to installing the leveling switch, I found I was constantly manually adjusting my headlights because I was either getting flashed by everyone or felt like I should be seeing farther down the road. This setup is pretty slick and now I don't feel like there are motors in the headlights that I paid but can't use.
Let me know what you think and if you have any interest in a kit being made available.
Videos: http://youtu.be/OSwOEYn48EY and http://youtu.be/i6CZAOEp3w4
