Automatic lights

[Petlew]

Of my two Avensis, the later one has automatic "on" lights triggered by low light conditions.

I have alluded to in a different topic post recently that these auto lights seem to me very slow to turn on. I have in fact tested this at night (parked) by switching the lights to "Auto" before switching on the ignition and waiting for the lights to switch on, this has taken two minutes albeit it did work.

Other cars of different makes I know of would suggest that the delay times vary from almost instantaneous to just a couple of seconds. Could it be that there is something wrong with my auto unit? or is there a means of varying the delay for auto switch on? if there is I have failed to find it in the owners manual..

I think I'm right in thinking that the auto lights sensor is the one in the middle of the mirror housing as you look through the windscreen from the outside?

I regularly drive through a dimly lit tunnel that is 3/4 of a mile long, set to auto the lights fail to come on at all through the length of the tunnel.

Obviously, it is no problem to turn on the lights manually, but I suspect they should respond quicker than this in auto mode. Or is this another of those useless "features" car manufacturers try to beguile us with.

[Heidfirst]

Don't know about on the T25 but on my T27 you can vary the sensitivity of the sensor from the head unit. It is possible that on the T25 it may be there but needs to be done via Techstream.

Iirc the sensor in the mirror is for auto wipers & it's the one on the dash that is for auto lights?

 

[Konrad C]

Hi Peter. I read your other posts, which included the auto wipers. The price is eye watering at £285 + vat for a new sensor! I would try and source a secondhand unit from a breaking car. The auto lights should come on instantly as you said. 

I was playing with Toyota Techstream back in 2015, and you can change the sensitivity of the autolights. On the Nav version of my car T27, this function can be done via the touchscreen. I only have the standard stereo and the auto lights work fine. Check your owners handbook to see if it possible with your car.

Edited February 5, 2017 by Konrad C
additional info

[Petlew]

Thank you guys, Heidfirst, I'm fairly sure that the sensor on the dashboard is for the air-con/heating temp control not the lights or wipers; why do I think this?, well, I also had the Mk1 Avensis with air-con/heating that had the same sensor in the same place, but it had neither auto lights or wipers fitted.

I'm beginning to think it is actually a sensitivity issue rather than time to switch on. A few minutes ago in pitch-dark I tried the auto lights again, I was surprised to find the lights switched on immediately. On previous tests when the auto didn't work for some time I will admit it wasn't quite dark, more late twilight. This however (in my opinion) is far too late/low light for the lights to be switching themselves on. I've noticed that some modern cars auto lights switch on (and off) in the width of passing under a two lane road bridge.

Maybe its me, but I always switch lights on to dipped head in tunnels, and a considerable time before "official" street light lighting up time, indeed in dull weather conditions I drive with dipped head lights on all day. So maybe I'm expecting too much from the auto system.

Konrad C, My version of the the nav is unfortunately not the pop-up colour screen, but the monochrome/orange version. I'm fairly sure there is no option to adjust the auto lights sensitivity in there.

As an aside I find the sat-nav I have fitted a ridiculously long-winded thing to set up, so I continue to use my trusty Tom Tom.

[Konrad C]

Peter, regarding the Sat-Nav, it is also hard and expensive to update. Since I don't have the Nav version, only standard CD radio, I use my Windows phone with Here maps via the built-in bluetooth. Works perfectly. Toyota's audio systems can be long winded, but more recent units have been a little more user friendly. 

Back on the lights, my auto-lights come on in tunnels, very dull days, dawn and dusk, and very shaded areas where it is dark enough to trigger the lights. I wish there was software similar to Techstream (I have the USB/OBD cable) that only works some of the options. Or there is a way to set the sensitivity, like setting and cancelling auto door locks or an adjustment setting like the auto-wipers or headlight level.

Hopefully you will have the auto-lights fixed.

Konrad  

 

[Petlew]

Konrad, Until a few minutes ago I knew nothing about Techstream. However I have downloaded the software but can't get past the "product key" required. Is this a function that shows after the relevant connector/lead is plugged into the car/PC, meaning the the key is carried by the car hardware?

The software as far as I can get seems to have downloaded cleanly, although as trying to use it as a private user rather than a service agent/garage etc. I have only my name, a made up code and my own phone number to offer in the registration window, using these however allowed me into the programme up to the product key required.

I can obtain the connector (and a disc which I think is only drivers not the programme, would this have a product key?) from Amazon in various forms ranging from under a tenner to hundreds of pounds the average price being a number of entries for apparently the same thing at £34.99.

Not sure whether to purchase this or not.

 

[Gerg]

There are several slightly different variations to the cable, at least three types have an almost identical appearance, but the wiring and PCB is just visible through the translucent case to allow you spot some differences. 

I have tried the cheapest one of them, it works on a canbus equipped car (Auris 2013) with Techstream, but does not work with an older protocol used with Techstream (K-Line?) on a 2001 Corolla (or a 2006 Mazda when just used as a generic OBDII cable). Although the advert specifically said it did do this. This is not a great problem to me as I bought it for a the newer canbus equipped car and the cable was only £15.

At 2006, your car may be a little early for canbus type connection.  So the cable I have may not work on your car.  Konrad will know and hopefully read this.....

If you do buy a Techstream MVCI cable it's worth knowing:-

When the drivers were installed, my AVG anti-virus pulled up 2 Trojans and isolated them. This is a very common problem mentioned by plenty of American buyers of these cables. I tried the install with a different anti-virus running and it was ok.  I am running this on an old laptop, so the virus situation isn't so critical to me.

My cable came with no instructions, just a CD of assorted drivers of varying ages and a Techstream 'variant'.

I think Xhorse (probably a new name to you) produced a functional copy of the Toyota cable and had a website for driver downloads. Then other companies copied the Xhorse cable but still relied on the Xhorse website for driver support, so Xhorse shut their website down some years ago as they were supporting hardware that they had no involvement in. This situation causes a lot of confusion, not least as some software tries to auto-update from this shutdown site - hence one of the Trojans flagged by AVG?

It took a lot of googling to find this out, and I am not sure it is the whole story. Happy to be corrected!

[Petlew]

Gerg, thank you for this information. I have to say this is getting a bit out of hand I think for what is a very minor issue with the auto lights that may in fact be a non problem that I may also not be able to reconfigure anyway. But that does not make me ungrateful for the responses received so far, quite the opposite.

One of the other things I downloaded was the user manual for Techstream, in its contents it doesn't actually mention auto lights sensitivity adjustment, although there a couple of other headlight specific headings, so I'm leaning towards there being no adjustment (on my model, see Heidfirst reply) anyway.

Oddly, my email copy had another paragraph to the one posted here. You asked my location; Nearly, but not quite, I suspect I know why you're asking reference to the 3/4 mile long tunnel. 

[Heidfirst]

21 minutes ago, Petlew said:

One of the other things I downloaded was the user manual for Techstream, in its contents it doesn't actually mention auto lights sensitivity adjustment, although there a couple of other headlight specific headings, so I'm leaning towards there being no adjustment (on my model, see Heidfirst reply) anyway.

I am pretty sure that it is exists, just that you need Techstream/TIS to access the setting. Your dealers should be able to do it next time it is in there - if you have a good relationship they will probably do it for free.

[Konrad C]

I had issues trying to use Techstream after a few uses, so I gave up and bought a Launch diagnostics to cover general diagnosis of my cars systems - ABS, VSC, steering, SRS, engine. 

If I can sort out the registration part then it would be great to have. I have asked for help, but no joy. Getting info from somebody who has been through the process, may motivate me to use the Techstream.