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daylight sensor: how to make it more sensitive?

19K views 61 replies 23 participants last post by  *Ed8r* 
#1 · (Edited)
My question is, how does the sensor work? Does it detect angle of rays or overall brightness or what?

I do most of my driving between Salinas and Monterey, CA, so that means lots of marine-layer days, with low lying cloud cover or high fog, however you want to picture it. These gray, dark days need headlights for safe driving, but my daylight sensor seems to think there's enough light that headlights are not needed.

What can I do* ... short of taping it over completely dark with a swath of duct tape ... to encourage the headlights to turn on, on these gray days?

Anyone have useful ideas?


*Yes, I know I can just manually turn the headlights on and off, but I'm trying to find a workaround.

[EDIT: I should have titled/asked about how to make it LESS sensitive!]
 
#44 ·
An easy solution would be having your dealership activate your DRLs. Then they'd just be on anyway and you wouldn't have to worry about it, ever.

Except the light will ALWAYS be on on the dashboard, which would drive me insane.
 
#47 ·
Actually, since you're talking about covering the ambient light sensor with a film that will prevent light from getting to the sensor, wouldn't it be correct to say you're trying to make it 'less sensitive' rather than 'more sensitive'?

I can say that the Light Dims worked well on my auto-dimming rear view mirror. I had always hated the fact that on fairly bright days the mirror wouldn't dim and that it was really slow to dim regardless of how bright the light coming through the rear window was. Placing one of the small, circular Light Dims dots on the forward-facing sensor on the mirror has fixed both issues completely. Making the mirror think that the ambient light levels are lower made the mirror stay darker overall and increased the speed of dimming when bright lights hit the rear-facing sensor.
 
#49 ·
Here's how I see it. Since the lights are activated when it gets dark enough we're making it more sensitive to the darkness.
Posted via FF Mobile
 
#51 ·
Hey that's great! Maybe you should find the DRL thread since this one has nothing to do with that. [bash]
 
#53 ·
Well A) that's a $250 alternative vs. free (or close to) and B) DRLs aren't legal headlights at night. We want our headlights to come on a little sooner at night, so the mention of DRLs is pretty irrelevant to this thread.
 
#54 ·
My lights are on anytime my car is on. I have the autolamps, but it also has the DRL. Any time I have my car on, my lights are on. I think it's a waste to have my lamps on at high noon when it's bright as all crap out


Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk
 
#55 · (Edited)
Wait . . . . . . wha-a-a-at?

I peeled off my first attempt and cut another 25 mm strip just slightly longer than the last time. As I placed it, I could feel the front edge of the sensor and knew I was wrapping the film all the way around the slight bulge of that edge.

Now, I find that...even without a dot added on top...it seems MORE sensitive than I am aiming for!

[just another update]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
5/2013

I can hardly even get in there to wash the window. I think prying it up would be a bit more involved than I was looking for.

I've actually found the single layer of film (described above) to be sufficient.
 
#56 ·
I have the solution! The sensor can be removed from the dash using a small flat blade screwdriver to pry straight up. Unplug the wire harness and remove from car. The sensor lens unclips from the housing. I lined the INSIDE of the lens with window tint. Reassemble in reverse order. It works perfectly. Headlights turn on much earlier than prior.
 
#58 ·
Are you referring to the light-dim film? I've been satisfied with my double strip, but I doubt a photo will clarify it.

I'm not tech-saavy (huge understatement) but I could see if I can get an angle that is useful AND figure out how to post it here!
 
#61 ·
Upload it to http://imgur.com/ or another picture sharing site.

Copy the direct link then click the picture icon in this forum (Mountain and moon) and paste the link there.

You can also just past the image link between "
" tags.

Glad someone else noticed this issue (albeit before I even got the focus lol) It really annoys me how late the lights turn on, I want people to be able to clearly see my Silver Focus in dim, gray weather.
 
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