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Headlight trick or no?

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Old 06-03-2008, 11:23 PM
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Question Headlight trick or no?

I stepped out of my car without turning off the lights earlier and it automatically turned off when i locked the car with the remote....... sooo im wondering if this will kill my battery even though it turns off automatically??... it'd be a pretty good safety feature to have walking to and from your car late at night... and if its a noobie question... im a noobie!.. its only been 3 weeks!.....
Old 06-03-2008, 11:27 PM
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double clicking lock turns them off. you can also set how long after you have pressed the lock button the headlights will turn off. i think you need to leave them in "ON" rather than auto..

correct me if im wrong guys.
Old 06-03-2008, 11:39 PM
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i was wondering if this is for all model TLs? or is it for only 07 and up? someone please confirm. thanks
Old 06-03-2008, 11:44 PM
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I frequently do this with my 06 which doesn't have an 'auto' feature. I leave them on, close all my doors and press lock twice and they go off. Someone once said that they thought it's bad for the battery but not sure...is it?
Old 06-03-2008, 11:50 PM
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in your MID there is a setting for it. at night i leave my lights on etc and press the lock button on the remote and the lights turn off automaticallly after 10 seconds. then when you press unlock they turn on
Old 06-04-2008, 01:37 AM
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Does it affect the battery at all though?
Old 06-04-2008, 02:13 AM
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As long as you have it programmed- it SAVES the battery - you can walk away with the lights left ON all the time. It shuts down after the specified amount of seconds 15 30 whatever your year and setup screen or switch says. Remote opens the doors and turns them on for you too, as noted already

Read the owner manual to see how it works, and make sure you understand what interior lights can come on or other functions

gen3 should make sure to understand and test the stabilty control system and ABS brakes
Learn how to operate the TL - its an amazing car- that will try to outdrive and out think you in an emergency
It will scare you but probably save your life if it happens on ice and you dont know whats going on
click your year then model https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/...01_OMANUAL.asp
everyone should be registered too
http://owners.acura.com/registration...erstepone.aspx
and at 1-800-382-2238 x5
Old 06-04-2008, 09:11 AM
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Yea, it is a great feature in my mind..cause sometimes i do leave the headlights on accidentally and i'm too lazy to go back to turn them off... so pressing the lock twice automatically turns off the lights. Cool thing as welll si that when you unlock the car, the lights come back on.
Old 06-04-2008, 09:38 AM
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isn't it bad for the actual headlights??? turning them on an off, because I know when you unlock the doors you have like 10 seconds to open the door before the lights go off ... and then once you open the door they turn on again ... that has to be bad for the headlights since they are HIDs
Old 06-04-2008, 09:49 AM
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I have an 03 TL-S and I don't have an auto feature for my lights. I leave them on when I walk away from my car in a parking lot at night or when I'm walking through my parking garage at work. They tend to go off in 15-20 seconds. They pop back on when I unlock the car, which is a nice "safety feature" and stay on for about 20-30 seconds before shutting back off if I haven't opened the drivers door yet.

I have had to replace one of my bulbs, which sucks, so who knows if leaving them on contributed to that issue. I know one thing for sure, I never want to pay Acura to replace one of my bulbs again... the labor was 6 times more than the cost of the bulb. I know what you're all thinking "you had the dealer replace your bulb!?!?" - well, I have an extended warranty and they had to check the ballast in case that was the issue, which would have been covered by the warranty... so I figured while they're at it they can replace the bulb.

Anyway, if leaving them on can damage them or cause them to go out early, someone please let me know, otherwise I'll continue to leave them on at night and in my parking garage.
Old 06-04-2008, 10:20 AM
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^ i'm not a hundred percent sure if they are bad for the lights ... but i am pretty sure ... i was reading a thread on the tsx board, and i heard when thier alarms go off so do thier headlights ... and someone on that thread mentioned the constant on off of the lights is bad ...


so i would assume that when you unlock your car u do so before you are close enough to open the door ... so the lights turn on then go off, then you open the door causing them to go on again ... i think that short span of on then off is bad for the lights because they do not get any time to heat up before they are turned off ...

again im not hundred percent sure, but i have heard it is bad, and would think it is
Old 06-04-2008, 10:29 AM
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it can't be bad for the lights... its an ACURA

btw i only use the feature at night anyways.. no point during the day.
Old 06-04-2008, 10:47 AM
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^I'm the same way. I only do it at night, or when I'm in the dark parking garage during the day at my office.

If I'm walking a long distance to the car during the night and unlock it a while before I get to the car, I unlock it, lights come on, wait 10 seconds, lock it, 10 more, unlock, etc until I get to the car. This keeps my lights on and doesn't cause them to go on and off. Once I open the door and turn on the car, they stay on, so I figure that process can't be bad for them...
Old 06-04-2008, 11:37 AM
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well. Its running off the battery for an extra 10 secs or so, which doesnt exactly help your battery. imo, the loss isnt that significant, however having said that, I also think the oem battery sucks ass and typically needs to be replaced after a few years (for some its been a year and a half, for others around 2 years). I'd get a spiral cell deep cycle battery after a year or 2 and not have to worry about your battery again.
Old 06-04-2008, 01:54 PM
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have you guys even looked in the owner manual!!@! It will tell you how to correctly operate ALL the systems on the car
If you believe that 15 seconds of headlights on will hurt the battery.....
you have some serious reading to do~~
or a crap 5 year old battery that needed replacement 2 years ago
Old 06-04-2008, 02:15 PM
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Im pretty sure seconds off the battery wont hurt... and that our headlights will go on and off a million times in its lifetime.....

so im thinking... as long as the battery doesnt drain dead like on a lot of other cars when u leave the lights on.... i think i'll be doing this when the occasion calls at night.... cheeeeese!
Old 06-04-2008, 02:42 PM
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i'm sure it does "drain" your battery to some extend, but significantly enough to actually kill it, or even "shorten" its life by much...

i think someone already mentioned that YES you can double click your remote to shut them off completely after shutting all doors...
Old 06-04-2008, 02:50 PM
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if u leave it on the "ON" position and get out of ur car ..double click the lock button it will shut off .. if u only click it once it will stay on for about 30 secs to 60 secs max......if u come back to ur car click unlock ur lights will come on....say if u leave the keys in the ignition and u have the lights on . about 5 mins the lights will automatically shut off also ..i learned that one when i was installing my LED lights in my License plate....but i dont think it should hurt nothing cuz i had my car for about a yr and i leave my lights switch on since i had it ...and if u guys didnt know if u click unlock once and click it again and hold it all ur windows opens.....
Old 06-04-2008, 07:02 PM
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the manual mentions that its possible through the MID to change the settings, but the manual doesnt state anything about its effects on the car/battery.

i believe it was discussed in another thread that the igniter for the HIDs draws a lot of current when initially turned on and some people mentioned that this had an inverse effect on the battery/battery life, but im not too sure if its true or not
Old 06-04-2008, 07:21 PM
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Dont trust your "ACURA" battery. They are known to go bad fast.
Old 06-04-2008, 07:59 PM
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Originally Posted by playa4real
the manual mentions that its possible through the MID to change the settings, but the manual doesnt state anything about its effects on the car/battery.

i believe it was discussed in another thread that the igniter for the HIDs draws a lot of current when initially turned on and some people mentioned that this had an adverse effect on the battery/battery life, but im not too sure if its true or not
^fixed
Old 06-04-2008, 08:08 PM
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it only affects the battery while the headlights are on, and that's such a short period (usually under 1 minute) that it really doesn't affect it.
Old 06-04-2008, 08:26 PM
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also, when unlocking your car the lights come on as you all know, but the thing about opening the door time depends on your setting.

if you said in the MID that you want your headlights to turn off in 10 seconds...then after unlocking the car they will also turn of in 10 seconds.

i got mine set to 90 seconds, that always leaves me enough time to get to the car and open the door...and when i get out i just double lock the car to turn off the lights if i don't need them.
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