[Frogman]

Originally Posted by PabloK

That is Awesome.

I always thought the euro cars had a large sensor built into the mirror/glass. The USA cars just have a little sensor built into the mirror housing. I didn't think our little sensor had that kind of capability.

I just have HBA and none of the fancy Driver Assist things, so I only have the FLA camera. I figured the Glare Free functionality would work only with the more capable KAFAS camera used for LDW and SLI.

But when I saw that someone got it to work with just the FLA camera, I had to try it too!

I guess that since the FLA camera is good enough for HBA, it's also good enough for Glare Free.

[f30er]

Sorry if I missed it somewhere but what camera are you referring to as being part of the HBA? If it's a US spec car, does it still have it? I've got the driver assist pack but those camera point either to the sides or back, none that I can think of point forwards..

[Rasengan]

Originally Posted by snowghost

After getting mine coded by Frogman last night, I can say the HBA at $250 is the best bang for the buck of practically any option. Simply amazing.

yup! i agree, although i'm a little worried because i have the adaptive LEDs and i'm not sure i've read yet were someone's successfully coded their F32 LEDs...i've noticed a lot of codes that work for F30 xenons do not work for the LEDs such as turning off the amber running lights and setting the brightness of the halo DRLs not to dim when the low beams turn on...i have my fingers crossed glare free will work when i try coding the car tonight

Originally Posted by f30er

Sorry if I missed it somewhere but what camera are you referring to as being part of the HBA? If it's a US spec car, does it still have it? I've got the driver assist pack but those camera point either to the sides or back, none that I can think of point forwards..

what you need are the adaptive headlights and either the drivers assistance PLUS package which includes Speed Limit Info (KAFAS2 camera) or just the $250 high beam assist option (FLA camera)...the FLA is a more simpler camera that sits at the base of your rearview pointing forward while the KAFAS2 cam is much bigger and can read speed limit...if you have either of these cameras you can enable all the euro-spec features that were disabled due to US DOT laws

i beleive this is what the KAFAS2 cam looks like (i just have FLA):



and this is more of what the FLA looks like:

[legaleye3000]

If you don't have HBA, can you code to enable it?

[Frogman]

Originally Posted by legaleye3000

If you don't have HBA, can you code to enable it?

You can always try coding it and see...

But, without HBA, you may not have the camera in the rear view mirror housing. I don't see how it can work without the camera; that's what the car uses to adapt the head lights.

Also, without HBA, you probably don't have the button on the turn signal stalk that is used to enable HBA. HBA is always off when you start the car. You have to push the button each time you want it enabled.

[legaleye3000]

Hmmm... I'll check for the camera. Assuming the camera is there, I wonder if there is any way to set some button or something to turn it on/off... I'm probably using wishful thinking at this point...

[orma]

Just did this. Have to wait until tonight to give it a try.

Edit: Big thanks to Shawn, Frogman, and Ktula for their instructions. Was easy.

[PabloK]

Originally Posted by orma

Just did this. Have to wait until tonight to give it a try.

Edit: Big thanks to Shawn, Frogman, and Ktula for their instructions. Was easy.

Sweet... Waiting for your review!

[Rasengan]

I followed both Frogman's approach to not write the FA back to the car and ktula's code to activate HBA at slower speeds:

C_HBA_ENA_V_LO werte=18 (15 MPH)
C_HBA_ENA_V_HI werte=28 (25 MPH)

It was all very easy. However, I'm not convinced mine is working yet. It's difficult, living in the city, to find dark streets as well as get enough speed. The few times I was able to reach 30-35mph, my high beams did not automatically turn on (the green HBA indicator was on but the blue high beam indicator never turned on). I also did cover the HBA camera with my hands to simulate complete darkness while driving 35mph and they still did not going on.

I guess my question is, did anyone else here follow Frogman's approach and did it work for you? I ask because I know Frogman followed the original approach then discovered the new one that doesn't write FA back. So it could be that the first approach is what turned glare free on and the 2nd didn't do anything? When I read FA and check for 5AP and 8S4 they are there, obviously, because they were never written out.

Of course, I do have the full LEDs so maybe there's an extra step in there I need to VO code...FWIW, even before trying all these things out, it never seemed like my HBA worked at all. I have never seen my high beams automatically turn on since getting the car and trying the feature out. I don't know how dark things need to be but every street and highway around me has street lamps.

[Frogman]

Originally Posted by Rasengan

I followed both Frogman's approach to not write the FA back to the car and ktula's code to activate HBA at slower speeds:

C_HBA_ENA_V_LO werte=18 (15 MPH)
C_HBA_ENA_V_HI werte=28 (25 MPH)

It was all very easy. However, I'm not convinced mine is working yet. It's difficult, living in the city, to find dark streets as well as get enough speed. The few times I was able to reach 30-35mph, my high beams did not automatically turn on (the green HBA indicator was on but the blue high beam indicator never turned on). I also did cover the HBA camera with my hands to simulate complete darkness while driving 35mph and they still did not going on.

I guess my question is, did anyone else here follow Frogman's approach and did it work for you? I ask because I know Frogman followed the original approach then discovered the new one that doesn't write FA back. So it could be that the first approach is what turned glare free on and the 2nd didn't do anything? When I read FA and check for 5AP and 8S4 they are there, obviously, because they were never written out.

Of course, I do have the full LEDs so maybe there's an extra step in there I need to VO code...FWIW, even before trying all these things out, it never seemed like my HBA worked at all. I have never seen my high beams automatically turn on since getting the car and trying the feature out. I don't know how dark things need to be but every street and highway around me has street lamps.

There are a few ways to see if they are working the new way.

First, make sure the light switch is in the A position.

1. If you have fogs (you have an M-Sport, so you don't), after starting the car, turn HBA on, put the car in D (if auto), then turn the fogs on and off. You should see the beams move as fogs turn the new features off.

2. Point your car at a wall and you should notice a different light shape to the beams than without this being coded. Before, there were 2 roundish beams, the right being higher than the left. With the new coding, the beams are very flat and square and you should see two square steps from left to right.

3. I've noticed that the speed limits noted above are not always enforced. When the HB turns off when I come to a stop, it turns back on at about 20-25 mph, not always the 44 mph threshold as stated before. It's not random, but there is definitely more to the algorithm than just these 2 parameters.

You definitely need a dark road for the HBA to kick in. Street lights, signs, etc will keep them off.

When I coded this, I kept the original .ncd file and compared it to the new one (Thanks to TokenMaster for his wonderful NcdCafdTool). You can check to see if the glare free mode was enabled by checking some values in FEM_BODY and FLA (this is NOT a complete list):

FEM_BODY / 3073 / C_AFS_ENA should now be Fxxenable (was Fxxdisable)
FEM_BODY / 3073 / C_HBA_ENA should now be Fxxenable (was Fxxdisable)

FLA / 3000 / Lucid_Image_Height should now be Lucid (7A) (was Non-Lucid).
FLA / 3000 / Lucid_HL_Height should now be Lucid (40) (was Non-Lucid)

FLA / 3001 / DFL_Vehicle should now be Verbaut (was NichtVerbaut)

[Rasengan]

Originally Posted by Frogman

2. Point your car at a wall and you should notice a different light shape to the beams than without this being coded. Before, there were 2 roundish beams, the right being higher than the left. With the new coding, the beams are very flat and square and you should see two square steps from left to right.

i believe since i have LEDs, they are very flat regardless...the cutoff is very clean and precise and i already see the stepping

You definitely need a dark road for the HBA to kick in. Street lights, signs, etc will keep them off.

so HBA wouldn't work in most normal US highways with street lamps? most highways i go on are pretty well lit

FEM_BODY / 3073 / C_AFS_ENA should now be Fxxenable (was Fxxdisable)
FEM_BODY / 3073 / C_HBA_ENA should now be Fxxenable (was Fxxdisable)

FLA / 3000 / Lucid_Image_Height should now be Lucid (7A) (was Non-Lucid).
FLA / 3000 / Lucid_HL_Height should now be Lucid (40) (was Non-Lucid)

FLA / 3001 / DFL_Vehicle should now be Verbaut (was NichtVerbaut)

sweet, thanks so much...i was looking for a few codes to compare in case the FA edit didn't work correctly...i also did notice that HU_NBT => 3000 => HIGH_BEAM_ASSISTANT was not set to activ from the factory which was odd...if those values above are still US Spec then i can always write the modified FA to the car and VO code FEMBODY and FLA3 all over again

thanks again

[Frogman]

Originally Posted by Rasengan

so HBA wouldn't work in most normal US highways with street lamps? most highways i go on are pretty well lit

It does work on streets with lights, just be prepared for it to not be on a lot. I think it's primarily meant for the unlit open road. I guess the thinking is: If there are lots of street lights, do you really need high beams?

Originally Posted by Rasengan

sweet, thanks so much...i was looking for a few codes to compare in case the FA edit didn't work correctly...i also did notice that HU_NBT => 3000 => HIGH_BEAM_ASSISTANT was not set to activ from the factory which was odd...if those values above are still US Spec then i can always write the modified FA to the car and VO code FEMBODY and FLA3 all over again

thanks again

Yes, there are many settings in HU_CIC/HU_NBT that have things like this. They may have an effect, or they may not. I didn't do any custom FDL coding for this feature.

I didn't try VO coding my HU or any other ECU's as the new features work for me without it.

I guess the "complete" thing to do is to edit the FA, and VO Code every ECU in the car. That's not something I wanted to do.

It would be nice to know if there was some kind of cross-reference between these option codes and which ECU's were affected by them, but I've never seen any evidence of a list/chart like this.

[orma]

So...the adaptive lights work great. At first I didn't think I had properly enabled them but once I got up to around 45mph, I could clearly see them make "tunnels" around other cars so as not to blind drivers, and turn off high beams on one side or the other, depending on the situation.

[Rasengan]

Good news, I got it to work. I wrote the new FA to the car and VO coded FEMBODY and FLA3 again. I could totally see the lighting patterns being calculated around cars in front of me. It was really cool when it was working!

Bad news is that this feature is almost entirely useless for someone like me that lives in the city, lol. I had to drive pretty far away from the downtown area to find a patch of highway dark enough. Even then my HBA only activated for a total of 10 seconds. It's pretty sensitive to light - any light. Even when you cover the FLA camera it takes 4 seconds for HBA to kick in and only while going above 40mph. It would be nice if HBAs would kick in while driving through a dark neighborhood or alleyway where you can't blind anyone anyway so it'd be great to find what else to code to control the min and max thresholds as well as shorten that 4 second delay in activating HBA.

It's an awesome feature and worth more than the $250 price of admission...I just wish I could actually use it more often

[anhizer]

Hi All, just wanted to chime in that I was able to follow the directions and code this to my car as well - i have a '13 335i with most of the features (unsure of the package names, but primarily for this one auto HB and the camera system that reads speed limits).

I have to say thank you so much for figuring this out and putting this up- this is now by far my favorite feature of my 335; i feel like i need to go on a road trip to play with it!

[ktula]

Originally Posted by Rasengan

Good news, I got it to work. I wrote the new FA to the car and VO coded FEMBODY and FLA3 again. I could totally see the lighting patterns being calculated around cars in front of me. It was really cool when it was working!

Bad news is that this feature is almost entirely useless for someone like me that lives in the city, lol. I had to drive pretty far away from the downtown area to find a patch of highway dark enough. Even then my HBA only activated for a total of 10 seconds. It's pretty sensitive to light - any light. Even when you cover the FLA camera it takes 4 seconds for HBA to kick in and only while going above 40mph. It would be nice if HBAs would kick in while driving through a dark neighborhood or alleyway where you can't blind anyone anyway so it'd be great to find what else to code to control the min and max thresholds as well as shorten that 4 second delay in activating HBA.

I'm glad you finally got it working! But does this mean Frogman's method not to write the updated FA back to the car didn't work for you?

When i first started testing it, finding the part of town that's dark enough was the most challenging part. I managed to find this stretch of road on Lake Washington Boulevard that has no street light but the nights i was testing it, at that particular time in the evening, there was very little vehicle traffic so it was very difficult to tell when the glare-free part of HBA was working.

[ktula]

Originally Posted by Frogman

3. I've noticed that the speed limits noted above are not always enforced. When the HB turns off when I come to a stop, it turns back on at about 20-25 mph, not always the 44 mph threshold as stated before. It's not random, but there is definitely more to the algorithm than just these 2 parameters.

I agree the default threshold of about 44 MPH for the HBA to engage does not appear to be enforced all the time. I just bought a Garmin Virb Elite camera and it comes with a GPS receiver. As soon as i get the dash mount for it, i will take it out for some late night HBA test drives. This video camera has the ability to overlay the video with the current speed information.

[Rasengan]

Originally Posted by ktula

I'm glad you finally got it working! But does this mean Frogman's method not to write the updated FA back to the car didn't work for you?

When i first started testing it, finding the part of town that's dark enough was the most challenging part. I managed to find this stretch of road on Lake Washington Boulevard that has no street light but the nights i was testing it, at that particular time in the evening, there was very little vehicle traffic so it was very difficult to tell when the glare-free part of HBA was working.

My first test would be too inconclusive - I could not get up to a decent speed past 35mph and the streets I was on were definitely too well lit judging by my successful runs last night. So there is a very high probability that they were working already the first time especially if, like you and Frogman said, the speed thresholds are not always enforced while I was covering the camera with my hand. I just automatically assumed my coding was a failure because when I did reach 35 and covered the camera, HBA would not activate which is what prompted me to do it over using the original approach.

However, I did check those valued that Frogman posted and everything was correct except for the Lucid ones. My values were different from Frogman's the first time as well as after I recoded the second time. So those may perhaps be for Xenons.

Although I wouldn't recommend it as you can seriously cause an accident, you can definitely trick HBA into activating by covering the camera with your hand for 5 seconds. HBA will stay on for a few more seconds and your headlights will adjust themselves for anti-glare.

[Frogman]

Originally Posted by Rasengan

...

However, I did check those valued that Frogman posted and everything was correct except for the Lucid ones. My values were different from Frogman's the first time as well as after I recoded the second time. So those may perhaps be for Xenons.

...

Interesting! So, you don't have the Xenons, but you do have HBA, and you get the glare-free functions?

I thought (assumed) that the glare-free mode would only work with Xenons as only those have the adaptive light control.

What FEM_BODY or FLA/KAFAS2 values did you see?

Do you have the FLA camera, or the KAFAS2 one?

[Rasengan]

Originally Posted by Frogman

Interesting! So, you don't have the Xenons, but you do have HBA, and you get the glare-free functions?

I thought (assumed) that the glare-free mode would only work with Xenons as only those have the adaptive light control.

What FEM_BODY or FLA/KAFAS2 values did you see?

Do you have the FLA camera, or the KAFAS2 one?

I have adaptive LEDs with HBA and the same steps were required to re-enable anti-glare as they were with Xenons. I have the FLA camera and the ECU is named FLA3.

I only looked at the values you gave me:

FEM_BODY / 3073 / C_AFS_ENA = F015enable, F020enable, F030enable, F045enable, F056enable, I001enable
FEM_BODY / 3073 / C_HBA_ENA = F015enable, F020enable, F030enable, F045enable, F056enable, I001enable

FLA3 / 3000 / Lucid_Imager_Height = Non-Lucid
FLA3 / 3000 / Lucid_HL_Height = Non-Lucid
FLA3 / 3001 / DFL_Vehicle = Verbaut

[snowghost]

Originally Posted by ktula

I agree the default threshold of about 44 MPH for the HBA to engage does not appear to be enforced all the time. I just bought a Garmin Virb Elite camera and it comes with a GPS receiver. As soon as i get the dash mount for it, i will take it out for some late night HBA test drives. This video camera has the ability to overlay the video with the current speed information.

The residential streets by my house have street lights and if I take it up to third gear (approx 20+ mph), they come on. I've even had them come on driving the 101 Freeway with a lot of cars around. Especially in the right most lane it will illuminate to the right and leave the left dipped.

[Frogman]

Originally Posted by Rasengan

I have adaptive LEDs with HBA and the same steps were required to re-enable anti-glare as they were with Xenons. I have the FLA camera and the ECU is named FLA3.

I only looked at the values you gave me:

FEM_BODY / 3073 / C_AFS_ENA = F015enable, F020enable, F030enable, F045enable, F056enable, I001enable
FEM_BODY / 3073 / C_HBA_ENA = F015enable, F020enable, F030enable, F045enable, F056enable, I001enable

FLA3 / 3000 / Lucid_Imager_Height = Non-Lucid
FLA3 / 3000 / Lucid_HL_Height = Non-Lucid
FLA3 / 3001 / DFL_Vehicle = Verbaut

Ah, thanks!

There are probably a similar, but different set of non-lucid settings in FLA3 (mine is FLA2) that were changed on yours because you have the LED's.

This is a good reason why this needs to be VO coded rather than just manually FDL coding the settings. Different hardware will have different settings, so it's best to just have E-Sys figure it all out.

I think the key value is the DFL_Vehicle one. That's what may universally show if glare-free was properly VO coded or not.