[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by v.anand

I got my DRLs activated and AFAIK its only in the front. The rear lights are not on during this time. I will check again and revert back though.

I can't turn off the DRLs the way its mentioned in the manual. Any solution for that?

Hi Anand. I just got off the phone with the service manager at Vinayak and he said that there is an option to keep the tail and license plate light on or off along with the DRLs. I don't need these lights to be on all the time, so I guess I will be heading down there to get them to be 'off' during daytime.

As Akshay1234 says, you should be able to switch them off if you follow the instructions as per the manual. I tried it before activating DRLs , I was able to hear the 'ting' . Of course that did not turn the DRLs on, as they needed to be activated via VAS first.

Originally Posted by kevinephraim

Could anyone of you guys with the New Laura's post a picture with DRLs on and DRLs off?

Here you go

[kevinephraim]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Here you go

So the DRLs are on the fog lamps?? Since your Xenon Low beams seem to be on in both snaps. or am I not seeing something i need to?

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by kevinephraim

So the DRLs are on the fog lamps?? Since your Xenon Low beams seem to be on in both snaps. or am I not seeing something i need to?

Yep, the DRLs are housed in the outside part of the fog lamps assembly. THe head lights are off in both the snaps. They are just reflecting the camera flash. And those are just projector lamps. No Xenons for the Ambiente version .

[kevinephraim]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Yep, the DRLs are housed in the outside part of the fog lamps assembly. THe head lights are off in both the snaps. They are just reflecting the camera flash. And those are just projector lamps. No Xenons for the Ambiente version .

Any idea if these fogs were available on the LnK 2006 Laura's? or can i get these replaced on my 2006 LnK and activate the DRLs? Must check.

[v.anand]

I tried again and I am able to switch it on and off. Thanks a lot @akki and santhosh. Like I mentioned earlier the lights at the back are off.

I got the activation done from vinayak skoda new service center at oklipuram. The low tone in the horn got conked off. Was replaced under warranty. The life of horn however is pathetic in the skoda s. Now I can understand why such a hue and cry about made for India horn by VW during Polo launch.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by v.anand

I got the activation done from vinayak skoda new service center at oklipuram. The low tone in the horn got conked off. Was replaced under warranty. The life of horn however is pathetic in the skoda s. Now I can understand why such a hue and cry about made for India horn by VW during Polo launch.

Is your car's horn the original Skoda 'paarp paarp' kind of horns? I was disappointed when I found the horn in my car went 'peep peep'. Those original horns were classy. But I guess they've got some reliability issues. Maybe that's why Skoda have started fitting these new 'peep peep' horns.

OT : I got my car serviced at Vinayak's new facility at Okalipuram recently. I got a call yesterday from some manager at Vinayak cars thanking me for posting feedback on their new service station on the 'internet'. I realised that he was referring to this post of my mine on T- BHP http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2686767. He went to give justifications for some of the shortcomings I had mentioned in my post. So Vinayak cars are looking out for what BHPians have to say about them. Not bad I must say.

[v.anand]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Is your car's horn the original Skoda 'paarp paarp' kind of horns? I was disappointed when I found the horn in my car went 'peep peep'. Those original horns were classy. But I guess they've got some reliability issues. Maybe that's why Skoda have started fitting these new 'peep peep' horns.

Mine is the original old type one. You are right about reliability issue with it. It got busted so early on in its life. My Palio horn was changed after 7 years.

My Polo has a very similar sounding horn as Laura and seems to have lot more life left in it. Its however too loud for such a small car and irritates the hell out of Auto rickshaw drivers and likes.

Also, thanks to your post on Vinayak's new facility did I bother to go there for the horn replacement. Its pretty close by and convenient than wasting a whole day commuting to Old Madras Road from this part of town.

[Swanand Inamdar]

What is the general time frame for a bulb to go kaput?

In the past few months, my right HID, right fog and lately left HID have gone kaput. This, after using the car for almost 2 years.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

What is the general time frame for a bulb to go kaput?

In the past few months, my right HID, right fog and lately left HID have gone kaput. This, after using the car for almost 2 years.

HI Swanand,

Typical life of standard life Halogens (H1/ H7) are 3000 Hours , but this can get reduced to half if the number of switching cycles are very high (frequent Hi-lo Beam changes). For High output lamps (+80%) the life is around 2500 Hours. For +100% lamps, life is around 1000 Hours.
HIDs are supposed to last 5000 Hours if they are OEM / Philips / Osram.

Life of lamps is also effected by rough roads (especially filament based ones) as the lamps are subjected to very high shocks and vibrations.
In India, you can expect half the life of the above stated numbers!

However in your case, the problem seems more to be with the HID gear rather than the HID lamps themselves as both the HID lamps have gone Kaput and much before their service life (which brand are these..?).
Did you upgrade the lamps in the Lo beams to HID or did you buy the L&K version of the Laura which is pre-fitted with HID Xenons..?

Regards,
Behemoth

[Swanand Inamdar]

Thanks a ton for that info, Behemoth!

To be honest, I have no clue as to what brand are the HID's. These are the ones that came alongwith the car. Never changed it. Even the one's that went kaput, were replaced by Europa with spare one's (for no charge. But thats another story!). And no, mine is not the L&K version, that has Bi-xenons OEM. But, I actually do plan to upgrade my HID's to Xenons.

So, I take it, that there might be something wrong with the HID assembly itself, than the bulbs.

Shall take it to Europa Auto and get it checked tomorrow.

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

And no, mine is not the L&K version, that has Bi-xenons OEM.

L&K does not come with Bi-Xenons, high beam is regular Halogen lamps in a different beam. Even Superb does not have Bi-Xenons, previous Passat had Bi-Xenons, not sure about new one.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Thanks a ton for that info, Behemoth!

To be honest, I have no clue as to what brand are the HID's. These are the ones that came alongwith the car. Never changed it. Even the one's that went kaput, were replaced by Europa with spare one's (for no charge. But thats another story!). And no, mine is not the L&K version, that has Bi-xenons OEM. But, I actually do plan to upgrade my HID's to Xenons.

So, I take it, that there might be something wrong with the HID assembly itself, than the bulbs.

Shall take it to Europa Auto and get it checked tomorrow.

Hi Swanand,
If you were using the stock lamps, they are halogens for both Hi and lo beams and would be typically end of life by now. Nothing to worry about. Only in the L&K version and the new RS are the Lo beams HID (Xenons) in stock condition. The headlamp assembly is common for all variants and is a combi of projector lens and reflector.

Regards,
Behemoth

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

The headlamp assembly is common for all variants and is a combi of projector lens and reflector.

Hi Behemoth,

Thanks for this. So which one is the reflector (high beam)?
IIRC, the Palio Stile started this revolution of bringing in projector optics in B segment cars, am I correct? The performance of Palio Stile headlamps is just awesome - even though the bulbs are regular halogen - is that because of the projector optics alone?

Thanks,
Anand

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Thanks a ton for that info, Behemoth!

To be honest, I have no clue as to what brand are the HID's. These are the ones that came alongwith the car. Never changed it. Even the one's that went kaput, were replaced by Europa with spare one's (for no charge. But thats another story!). And no, mine is not the L&K version, that has Bi-xenons OEM. But, I actually do plan to upgrade my HID's to Xenons.

You've confused HIDs with projector lamps. HIDs and xenons are the same thing. They have white light while your car which comes with halogen bulbs inside the projector lens gives out yellow light.

The L&K and the RS don't have bi-xenons.

Originally Posted by .anshuman

L&K does not come with Bi-Xenons, high beam is regular Halogen lamps in a different beam. Even Superb does not have Bi-Xenons, previous Passat had Bi-Xenons, not sure about new one.

The Superb does actually have bi-xenons. The halogens too come on with the xenons at high beam as fillers. In the day when high beam is used only the halogens come on.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Hi Behemoth,

Thanks for this. So which one is the reflector (high beam)?
IIRC, the Palio Stile started this revolution of bringing in projector optics in B segment cars, am I correct? The performance of Palio Stile headlamps is just awesome - even though the bulbs are regular halogen - is that because of the projector optics alone?

Thanks,
Anand

The Palio too if I remember correctly had normal reflector lights, except it had different bulbs for low and high beam. That is probably why the performance was good. They were not projectors for sure.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

You've confused HIDs with projector lamps. HIDs and xenons are the same thing. They have white light while your car which comes with halogen bulbs inside the projector lens gives out yellow light.

Yeah. I did realise that later on. Thanks on the info though.

So, basically I understand, there's nothing to worry about in the lamps conking off. By this time, they wouldve eventually gone kaput.