Other Auto Lights Off

[Nemesis]

Sent mine in for a key problem once and when it came back the dealership had restored all the factory settings - on my way home I couldn't help thinking how dark it was that night - took me a few minutes to realise the lights weren't on..

[civicfan]

Originally Posted by kenP

I think Auto lights are a complete waste of time in any car. My eyes are much better at judging when lights are required.

Basically true, as long as you don't want to have them on all the time to increase your odds for survival, or as long as they are not required seasonally all day in your country - and you forget it and pay a fine. It all depends - but once auto lights are fitted they should also be programmable. It is sometimes annoying the Honda guys were too lazy to write a decent piece of firmware

[hgt]

I fixed mine but unless you are very skilled with a soldering iron I don't recommend you to do this.
The sensor is positioned to low in its box so it thinks it is darker than it really is so it comes on to soon and goes off to late.
The light sensor is in the black box behind the mirror, you have to pull the cover off then remove the sensor unit, then remove the circuit board.
There are two sensors on the board one is for sensing the rain the other is for the lights, looking at the circuit board with the two sensors nearest to you it is the left hand one for the lights.
what I did was remove the sensor from the board and reattached it on long legs, this raised the sensor so that when it was all put back together it was positioned just under the glass of the windscreen.
It now works just as you would want it to, no more coming on and off as you go under bridges and trees etc.
I would think that the threshhold at which the lights switch is probably adjustable in Honda's software, its just the dealers are to idle to be bothered to find out.

[pcr]

Hgt, I like the sound of that. Is the cover easy to remove, I tried once but felt that it was going to break.

[hgt]

yes, just unclips all you need is the confidence to give it a good pull, get your nails under it and pull but be carefull you dont break the long bit, best to try and ease that off first.

[Kremmen]

The sensor is positioned to low in its box so it thinks it is darker than it really is so it comes on to soon and goes off to late.

Not wishing to contradict of course

My initial post was because mine's behaving the other way - my lights are OFF when I consider they should be ON.

So mine thinks it's brighter outside than it really is.

[ctrdaveg]

I never use auto light mode either, i like to drive with at least the side lights on when it's dull or drizzle. The auto mode is either on or off.

[hgt]

Because there is so much variance between cars it supports my theory that the switching point is setup in the software and Honda need to get it right and then issue a recall,
Peugeot and Ford can get it right so why can't Honda

[robbo51]

Originally Posted by hgt

Because there is so much variance between cars it supports my theory that the switching point is setup in the software and Honda need to get it right and then issue a recall,
Peugeot and Ford can get it right so why can't Honda

I would think that such a small adjustment will not warrant a recall.

[nico651]

HGT, how did you manage to take the cover off. I want also to remove the cover to stick some black foil over the sensor because my auto lights are switching on very late so i want them to be more sensitive.
No matter how hard I tried I can't remove it. I even tried it with a screwdriver and I found out that there's some kind of felt glued on the windshield?
I really want to remove it but it won't come off. Can you explain once again exactly how you did it and were it's clipped on. Thanks

[civicfan]

The cover is a clip-on mount on a plastic frame that is indeed glued to the windshield (at least in my 2006 - perhaps they have changed it?) Mine went off with a gentle push of a screwdriver - but the screwdriver must go between the cover plastic and the base frame - and not under the base frame

[nico651]

Finally, I got the cover off. I did put some black foil inside over the sensor and also over the front of it. It still wasn't dark enough.
When you take the cover off you are also tearing off the glue that sticks the base on the windshield. I want to avoid to take it off one more time so now I did put some scotchtape on the exterior over the sensor and i darkened the tape with a black marker. It's almost invisible. I don't know how long it will stay put however.
This morning I drove to work, yes I work on sundays, and the lights stayed on during the whole trip. Even in the early morning sun. They switched off when I arrived at my destination. Now they work the way I want it to work.
It doesn't bother me when they switch on under a bridge or when they come on soon. Better too soon then too late. The scotchtape is rather a temporary solution but now I can work out a more permanent one.

[Wyrd]

Has anyone asked their dealer if the sensitivity can be adjusted yet? I also feel that mine come on too late and go off too early. At the moment as far as my car is concerned the auto feature is next to useless, if it's there on the car it should work properly.

I do accept that different people have different perceptions / requirements as to when lights are needed, but by the time (light levels) that the sensors on my car operate I feel it's getting too dangerous to not have lights on, particularly in an NHB car. Hence I don't use the auto feature at all.

Auto wipers on the other hand are great and I can't fault them at all.

[Harlequin]

Originally Posted by Wyrd

Has anyone asked their dealer if the sensitivity can be adjusted yet?

Asked my dealer about it when I picked my car up from its first service on Tuesday.

They were confident that they can increase the sensitivity but told me they would check with Honda for the correct procedure and get me to bring the car in once they know exactly what to do. (On the Odyssey its a separate control module inside the dashboard. On some of the others its programmable in the EMS.)

Will keep you posted as to what I find out...

-H

[IWANTACIVIC]

yer im intersted in makeing them come on a bit sooner any other ideas ? how about a bit of black paint on the windscreen to make the sensor think its darker then it is ?

[nico651]

I already tried to make them more sensitive by sticking some black foil over the sensor.
It's the same kind of foil you use to tint the windows of your car. You have to apply at least 3 layers of them and I already putted two layers over the sensor on the interior. Therefore I had to remove the sensor completely. So in total, I will have applied 5 or 6 layers of the foil. Now the lights are switched on almost at the exact moment.
Last time, I was driving on a highway, the lights stayed off but every time I passed under a bridge they came on just for one or two seconds and then turned off again.
I think auto lights are rather useless, but hey... I've payed for them, I'm gonna use them!

[civicfan]

Originally Posted by IWANTACIVIC

yer im intersted in makeing them come on a bit sooner any other ideas ? how about a bit of black paint on the windscreen to make the sensor think its darker then it is ?

No need to do this, you can access the sensor and stick dark (or as I did black) foil over it (described elsewhere on Civinfo). Theoretically you could "paint" the glass over but it would look butt ugly and the paint would fade off (and/or be wiped off gradually by the wipers)

[tvtltd]

christ i've read every reply to this and i still don't kown if how when or even if they are fitted to my civic 1.4se nov 2007 doooohhhhh !

[kenP]

Originally Posted by tvtltd

christ i've read every reply to this and i still don't kown if how when or even if they are fitted to my civic 1.4se nov 2007 doooohhhhh !

The answer is no they're not

[bonzo]

[quote=IWANTACIVIC;163434]yer im intersted in makeing them come on a bit sooner any other ideas ?

Nice bit of Bristolian ther young 'un