When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I have an advanced, and from the info below the 5th jewel LED is for the adaptive front lights. It is suppose to work from 28mph to 59mph. When I turn my lights on the 5th jewel LED is not lit on either headlight on my car. This is true when either the driving lights are on, or the High Beams are on.
On all other trims (tech, A-Spec, etc) the 5th jewel LED, is suppose to be part of the High Beams. On the advanced it is suppose to be independent and used for the Active Front Lights........
That is if I understand the info correctly.......
I was wondering if owners of the advanced trim can check the 5th jewel LED, to see if it lights up either with the driving lights, or the High Beams. Likewise if the owners of the A-Spec, Tech, Base trims can check if the 5th jewel LED lights up either when the driving lights are on, or when the High Beams are on (It is suppose to be part of the High Beams on these trims).
Finally the module for the Adaptive Front Lights is behind the glove box. So if any advanced owner happens to take the clove box out for some reason, please check to see if its there
As you can see from the image below, its for the US RDX, and not the Canadian one....
From what I have read, if you have it you would know it, and I don't think my USA spec Advance has it. Plus, I have read it's Canada only, eh.
Keep in mind the posted descriptions may not have kept up with last-minute changes to the vehicle specs in different markets.
My interpretation is that the "5th" jewel (counting from the periphery) should be active as a high-beam element in vehicles without adaptive lighting. This is how mine functions. All jewel elements are illuminated for high beams. Only the outer 4 are active for low beams.
In vehicles with adaptive lighting, I believe "the 5th element" should still be active as a high beam element, but it will be activated as needed for "headlight steering" during low beam operation. I could be wrong.
BTW, jcross, the words may be English, but the syntax I not think English is.
"The RDX's base headlights are rated good. The curve-adaptive headlights that come with the Advance trim — the most expensive of four available trim levels — are rated acceptable."
...I was wondering if owners of the advanced trim can check the 5th jewel LED, to see if it lights up either with the driving lights, or the High Beams.....
I just did a quick check of mine (excuse me if I make any typing errors - I'm still seeing big spots from looking into each LED element ).
Using the key fob and locking/unlocking the vehicle I can confirm that the 5th element is ON when the delayed headlights are ON - only the 2 inner most elements are off. I don't know what this means relative to the 'adaptive' low beams as I have yet to drive after dark. This is a US spec Advance SH-AWD.
I just did a quick check of mine (excuse me if I make any typing errors - I'm still seeing big spots from looking into each LED element ).
Using the key fob and locking/unlocking the vehicle I can confirm that the 5th element is ON when the delayed headlights are ON - only the 2 inner most elements are off. I don't know what this means relative to the 'adaptive' low beams as I have yet to drive after dark. This is a US spec Advance SH-AWD.
That is what I thought when I first looked at it, but after looking closely I believe the 5th jewel LED does not light up. Neither when using the driving lights, nor the High Beams......
If we do not have the Adaptive setup, the 5th jewel LED should be lit when using the High Beams and off when using the driving lights......
But then again I could be wrong, since its really hard to look at these lights.....
That is what I thought when I first looked at it, but after looking closely I believe the 5th jewel LED does not light up. Neither when using the driving lights, nor the High Beams......
.
But then again I could be wrong, since its really hard to look at these lights.....
Comparing the part numbers between the advanced and tech trims, I noticed that the headlight part numbers are different and the AFS control module is missing from the tech parts.
Now I don't know if that means anything or not, but It points to the fact that the advanced trim might include the Adaptive Front lights.........
That is what I thought when I first looked at it, but after looking closely I believe the 5th jewel LED does not light up. Neither when using the driving lights, nor the High Beams......
Just went out and repeated what I did earlier and you're correct - only the outer 4 elements lit. When manually turning on the high beams the 2 inner most elements lit. In neither instance did the 5th element come on that I could detect.
This time rather than looking into the headlights I held a large piece of brown paper very close to them. I could see the individual 'light beams' from each element on the paper before they diffused. This was done in my garage without the engine running or the ignition turned on. I'll be going out tonight and will attempt to see if there's a noticeable lighting change when turning.
(Maybe strap my wife to the hood and have her watch the headlights directly. )
That is what I thought when I first looked at it, but after looking closely I believe the 5th jewel LED does not light up. Neither when using the driving lights, nor the High Beams......
If we do not have the Adaptive setup, the 5th jewel LED should be lit when using the High Beams and off when using the driving lights......
But then again I could be wrong, since its really hard to look at these lights.....
Incorrect . The 5th jewel LED lights up only in high beam .
Low beam, only 4 jewel LED lights up
High beam , all jewel LED lights up including the 5th Element
That is correct. Every other trim except of the Advanced, works the way yours does. 4 Jewel LEDs for driving lights, the rest (3 Jewel LEDs) for High Beams.
Only on the Advanced, the 5th Jewel LED is suppose to work with the Adaptive Front Lights. And the High Beams are only the 2 most inner Jewel LEDs. That is if we actually have the Adaptive Front Lights in the US.....
Incorrect . The 5th jewel LED lights up only in high beam .
Low beam, only 4 jewel LED lights up
High beam , all jewel LED lights up including the 5th Element
please note that these pictures are from my A-Spec which would not have the adaptive headlights that are in question. If the US Advance models do have adaptive lighting it would be a huge oversight for Acura to not advertise it. Curious to see what the final answer is.
So maybe the answer is that the Advance model has the adaptive lights, but they are not noticeable because only one of the seven lights move, and only at certain speeds.
So maybe the answer is that the Advance model has the adaptive lights, but they are not noticeable because only one of the seven lights move, and only at certain speeds.
That would be my take on it at this point - except I doubt the 5th element moves, it's just reaimed and illuminates during a turn to provide peripheral lighting during the turn. That would explain why it appears to never come on during either low-beam or high-beam operation - and also why the lighting tests show different results between the two systems.
Turn on your driving lights, and then stand directly in front of the drivers side headlight about 10-15 feet away. Bring your eyes almost lever with the headlight, and you will see that the 5th Jewel LED is off. Now take one or two steps to the right, while still keeping your eyes almost at the same level of the headlight. You will notice that the 5th Jewel LED is actually on, but pointing to the right.
Its the same on the passengers side headlight. Try the same thing, but take one or two steps to the left......you will notice that the 5th Jewel LED is on, and the light beam points to the left.
I tried this with the High Beams on, and its the same.....
So I wonder if this changes when the car is traveling between 28mph - 59mph (where the Adaptive Front Lights suppose to do its thing).....
Turn on your driving lights, and then stand directly in front of the drivers side headlight about 10-15 feet away. Bring your eyes almost lever with the headlight, and you will see that the 5th Jewel LED is off. Now take one or two steps to the right, while still keeping your eyes almost at the same level of the headlight. You will notice that the 5th Jewel LED is actually on, but pointing to the right.
Its the same on the passengers side headlight. Try the same thing, but take one or two steps to the left......you will notice that the 5th Jewel LED is on, and the light beam points to the left.
I tried this with the High Beams on, and its the same.....
So I wonder if this changes when the car is traveling between 28mph - 59mph (where the Adaptive Front Lights suppose to do its thing).....
Please update when you get a chance.
Have you tried having someone turn the steering while you stand out front to see if you see any motion? Having the headlights permanently angled does not mean it is adaptive and would be false advertising.
On the flip side, take your car for a drive at night on a semi twisty road and it should be painfully obvious if you have adaptive headlights. On any car I owned with the adaptive lights it was very obvious to me.
Have you tried having someone turn the steering while you stand out front to see if you see any motion? Having the headlights permanently angled does not mean it is adaptive and would be false advertising.
So maybe this is why Acura is not calling it adaptive. Do the adaptive headlights in Canada do anything different?
^^
Yes I tried that, but as stated above, it is suppose to work when you're traveling between 28mph-59mph....
I think that on my Touareg it also only activated at a certain speed as well, however when I first turned on the car it would do a light systems check (as all auto adjusting light systems usually do IME) where if you have your car parked facing a wall or garage...etc you should be able to see the lights move up and down and then side to side upon first starting it up.
Originally Posted by cruiserchuck
So maybe this is why Acura is not calling it adaptive. Do the adaptive headlights in Canada do anything different?
For them to be adaptive they would have to physically sweep left/right. So if Acura Canada is calling them Adaptive then they must do that and if Acura USA is NOT calling them adaptive then there is a high likelihood that they don't swivel. I don't own an RDX so I can't comment on the way they work here in Canada from experience
Just tried on my adv. The outer 4 led led lights up for low beam. And the inner 2 led lights up for high beam. I don't see the 5th led lights up when the car is stopped.
Just tried on my adv. The outer 4 led led lights up for low beam. And the inner 2 led lights up for high beam. I don't see the 5th led lights up when the car is stopped.
Someone alluded to it, but you can't really test adaptive lights functionality this way, can you? Doesn't it do its thing while the car is in motion and going around bends and such?
I have no idea, really. Don't have the car yet. It's super weird for the IIHS and the auto press to write about this as if it's a given that the U.S. Advance has it.
For them to be adaptive they would have to physically sweep left/right. So if Acura Canada is calling them Adaptive then they must do that and if Acura USA is NOT calling them adaptive then there is a high likelihood that they don't swivel. I don't own an RDX so I can't comment on the way they work here in Canada from experience
According to whom? Reference? If the low beams are a single source, that would be an obvious requirement. If the low beams are composed of multiple sources, I find it much less obvious. Look up "phased array beam forming" for an example of how this type of "steering" functions in modern radio frequency applications.
I don't find it especially compelling to compare this to another vehicle with a very different lighting configuration. Apples vs oranges.
I'm still quite puzzled about this. But rather than dinking around with solar eclipse glasses ( which I have ), I may take the more direct approach of looking for an adaptive lighting controller.
According to whom? Reference? If the low beams are a single source, that would be an obvious requirement. If the low beams are composed of multiple sources, I find it much less obvious. Look up "phased array beam forming" for an example of how this type of "steering" functions in modern radio frequency applications.
I don't find it especially compelling to compare this to another vehicle with a very different lighting configuration. Apples vs oranges.
I'm still quite puzzled about this. But rather than dinking around with solar eclipse glasses ( which I have ), I may take the more direct approach of looking for an adaptive lighting controller.
You are taking what I said too literally, I never meant the actual projector has to move, I meant the light itself has to move and can't be fixed at an angle. My point was the light has to move haha. Whether that means it physically moves the housing or via electronic wizardry to physically alter the lighting pattern like you are stating. I am well aware of the led matrix and laser light setups in modern audis...etc and how they adapt without the housing necessarily moving.
You bring up an excellent point though that I had not even considered for this application to be honest and I am wondering why the heck I didn't think about that. It's not impossible to think they would be turning on and off certain LEDs to act like adaptive headlights. But this still doesn't answer my confusion of it being painfully obvious that they are adapive or not. Regardless of how they accomplish the adaptive functionality, it should be obvious if you have it or not. I know some systems are so subtle that you only notice if you look for it, but you guys are all looking for it and still can't see it right?
Has anyone from Canada checked to see if they can easily see their adaptive lights working?
On a dark road with twists and turns, I was able to see my 535’s adaptive lights move, moreso on a right hander than on a left one. But they were also self levelling, so when you first started the car, the lights would move all over the place.
On a dark road with twists and turns, I was able to see my 535’s adaptive lights move, moreso on a right hander than on a left one. But they were also self levelling, so when you first started the car, the lights would move all over the place.
My SRX was the same way with it's HID headlights.
I had my first chance to drive the RDX after dark and honestly didn't see a need for adaptive headlights, at least on that one trip. I wasn't on any roads where the adaptive HLs would function as published (if they're actually on the US advance trim) but there is more 'side spill' from the headlights than what the adaptive lights in my SRX provided when they did traverse. Those LEDs put out a lot of light.
By any chance, did any of you advanced owner try what I suggested in post #21?
Thanks.
Sorta did that on my own a few days ago. Maybe I got lucky because I was standing somewhat "to the side" anyway, at about 11:00 ( 330 degrees or so? ), but it appeared to me that all of the "jewel" segments were illuminated with the vehicle parked and "high beams" engaged. So I'm puzzled by the differing reports on that. But I didn't have sunglasses on, much less "eclipse glasses".
But I have been wandering the past couple days, and I didn't follow this thread until late last night. I plan to investigate more when I get a chance.
Rather than looking directly into, or trying to take pictures, of a high intensity light source I just did the logical best thing and placed a piece of paper (in this case a white paper towel) over the headlights in order to see the individual 'hot spots' created by each of the 7 LED elements in both high and low beam operation. The following 2 images are from a US spec Advance trim. The 5th element is off in the low beam setting and on with the high beam - elements 5, 6, and 7 are obviously aimed much higher than the other four. In this case if element 5 were to be used as an 'adaptive' element when turning there would have to be a mechanism in place to adjust the aim as well as activate it under those conditions.
Rather than looking directly into, or trying to take pictures, of a high intensity light source I just did the logical best thing and placed a piece of paper (in this case a white paper towel) over the headlights in order to see the individual 'hot spots' created by each of the 7 LED elements in both high and low beam operation. The following 2 images are from a US spec Advance trim. The 5th element is off in the low beam setting and on with the high beam - elements 5, 6, and 7 are obviously aimed much higher than the other four. In this case if element 5 were to be used as an 'adaptive' element when turning there would have to be a mechanism in place to adjust the aim as well as activate it under those conditions.
US Advance Low Beam
US Advance High Beam
Great idea!
So I went and tried the same thing. If you stand in front of the headlight when the High Beams are on, you will notice that the 5th LED has no hotspot in the middle like all the other LEDs have. I am pretty sure its just light bleeding from the LEDs next to it, and the 5th LED is not lit. If you don't mind when you get a chance, could you try the same thing but look at it standing in front of the headlight?
Some crappy picture standing in front of the headlight.
Thanks.
08-09-2018, 07:30 PM
).
)
