[sudeepg]

Few More Updates

Installed Bi-Xenon Projector Fog lamps. The full details of the installation is shared in a separate thread where BHP-ian a4anurag also installed it as a DIY.

XenonPlanet Micro Fog Lamps for My S-Cross

The only other thing I want to share here is a picture of the way the headlight synchronization is done by tapping from stock headlamp wire. It's safe and recommended, but I am not a big fan of doing it this way, rather a proper water proof wiring harness is the best for long term life. In this case, we used a splice connector and taped it up to make it as much water proof as possible. Only time will tell how long the tapes last and will require some maintenance. But on the whole, the XP Micros are doing great and I am loving the improved lighting. I have taken a couple of videos from my cell phone camera (which unfortunately has bad low light abilities). The actual experience is far better than what you see in these videos

I hope you can identify the time when the Micro's come on and Off.

In this picture, you can see the way the wire has been tapped from stock headlamp wiring for syncing the high beam of Micros with the high beam of stock head lamps, using splice connector



XP Micros in action in heavy rain

The micros come on at 11 seconds

https://youtu.be/06L1AVPCalc

On Highway

Note the difference when they come on and off. Again, the experience is much better rather than from this poor cell phone camera

https://youtu.be/JuoZnvfzneI

[Ananthc]

Originally Posted by sudeepg

Few More Updates

Installed Bi-Xenon Projector Fog lamps. The full details of the installation is shared in a separate thread where BHP-ian a4anurag also installed it as a DIY.

Excellent output. For me the only concern is a reliable mechanic for installing this in chennai. Hence am holding back the purchase till now. Don't want a shoddy job during installation.

[sudeepg]

Minor Upgrade

Inspired by BHP-ian KeyNote, I got myself a pair of 3M frameless wipers. These wipers are excellent although they are a bit pricey. Absolutely worth the 1600 M.R.P. Got them installed at 3M outlet in Indiranagar, Bangalore.

The OEM wiper blades were replaced in the first week of car's delivery as they were streaking. The replacement wipers lasted all of one week and started streaking, but I kept it for one year and by the time the last monsoons were over, they were streaking pretty bad. The quality of OEM wipers from Maruti is very bad. My comparo is based on the wiper blades I had in my Honda city that lasted over 4 years and then barely started streaking!

The premium-ness of S-Cross as claimed is nowhere what it is in reality, IMO

Please note, the wipers are not of OEM size (which is 26/14), rather they are 24/16. They look good compared to OEM blades and also function brilliantly

Pictures

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by sudeepg

Minor Upgrade

Inspired by BHP-ian KeyNote, I got myself a pair of 3M frameless wipers. These wipers are excellent although they are a bit pricey. Absolutely worth the 1600 M.R.P. Got them installed at 3M outlet in Indiranagar, Bangalore.

The OEM wiper blades were replaced in the first week of car's delivery as they were streaking. The replacement wipers lasted all of one week and started streaking, but I kept it for one year and by the time the last monsoons were over, they were streaking pretty bad. The quality of OEM wipers from Maruti is very bad. My comparo is based on the wiper blades I had in my Honda city that lasted over 4 years and then barely started streaking!

The premium-ness of S-Cross as claimed is nowhere what it is in reality, IMO

Please note, the wipers are not of OEM size (which is 26/14), rather they are 24/16. They look good compared to OEM blades and also function brilliantly

Looks very good, this will be my next upgrade now. Good to know that the non OEM size does not interfere with how it works.

[Ananthc]

Originally Posted by sudeepg

Minor Upgrade

Inspired by BHP-ian KeyNote, I got myself a pair of 3M frameless wipers. These wipers are excellent although they are a bit pricey. Absolutely worth the 1600 M.R.P. Got them installed at 3M outlet in Indiranagar, Bangalore.

The premium-ness of S-Cross as claimed is nowhere what it is in reality, IMO

Please note, the wipers are not of OEM size (which is 26/14), rather they are 24/16. They look good compared to OEM blades and also function brilliantly

Pictures

Attachment 1646917

Attachment 1646918

Looks good and keep us posted how it performs in rains. However in my case I did not face any issues in the stock wipers till now. When the time comes for replacement, I will get these installed and hope the rates get reduced too

[sudeepg]

Update to the XenonPlanet 3.0 Micro Projectors as Fog lamps

The good thing about social computing is that you get to see, hear and experience the good and bad about aftermarket solutions. This, in my opinion is a win-win for both consumer and manufacturer.

A manufacturer with an intent to improve things can get first hand feedback (both good and bad) about their products. It helps improve products, address customer concerns and thereby increase their market position, value and goodwill. This, I believe, is what XenonPlanet has been doing. Their intent is good, they are very active on social media and respond quickly. They address issues. The only fly in the whole game? Their quality control needs improvement and so does the co-ordination among installers and end interfaces. They obviously can't control everything, but it's getting better.

For the consumer - feedback helps make informed decisions. Some of us are risk takers, some aren't - pretty much like how we invest. The good thing, social media helps make your choice. I fall into the bracket of a moderate risk taker and prefer function over form in most cases. The decision to install aftermarket projector fogs from XenonPlanet was to improve the otherwise horrible headlights of the S-Cross Alpha variants.

I knew that getting aftermarket solution like this will not be a fuss free ownership to begin with, but will pan out eventually and therefore decided to go with these micros from XenonPlanet.

Post installation of fogs- things looked just fine although many questions were raised after members posted up pictures of their micro output. Why is the beam like this? Why is there a yellow patch? Why do the left and right outputs look different? etc. etc. This, to XenonPlanet is free feedback that helps understand customer problems and address them (and they did!) It wasn't until the S-Cross meet which happened last Friday that the real comparisons were out. I had opted for 4300K but given 5000K. The comparo from others who had installed 4300K and 5000K showed that mine was no where close to what a 5000K bulb output should be. It was even worse than 4300K output in BHP-ian *lovetorque* output.

It was clear that the bulbs were bad and were not supplied as promised. We were promised premium bulbs but the installer at Evo installed CN bulbs.

XenonPlanet acknowledged the issue and shipped the new bulbs and we (lovetorque & me) installed them yesterday. The difference was very obvious! Not only did we get the exact same output, the light was much better. I'll do the pictures take it forward from here on.

Pictures From Changing Bulbs

Old Bulb to the left, New to the right. Note the base of the bulbs


Just fired up the new ones


Compare - New bulb to the left of the car, old bulb on the right fog of the car


Both New (in my car)

1. Beams from both cars - Mine is just fired up and waiting to settle in and phone camera doesn't capture light accurately.
2. Also note that the beam from my car (to the left) is slightly raised. It hits the wall where as in the car to the right its lowered a bit to factor in full load.
3. Ensure you align/adjust as per your needs. A good way to check if the alignment is too high is to drive around a bit in low beam and see if others flash at you asking for low beam. If so, then you need to lower it a bit. We used a measure of ensuring the low beam stays below the bumper of the oncoming car and the side aligns with the wheels of most sedans.

Both cars with new bulbs


Bulbs slowly setting in - Recommend a long drive after the new bulbs are installed




Output from Old Bulbs

Just Installed


After Running In - Notice a yellow patch (was prominent with naked eye)






A small video

https://youtu.be/p5SlQw2M4Aw

Some Do's and Don'ts from yesterday's discussion with lovetorque

1. Being arc light, the bulbs take maximum hit when they are ignited. Reduce the number of on/offs (i.e. don't switch off/on at every traffic light) to increase bulb life.
   
2. The arc bulbs start life slowly, hit their peak and die
   
3. Bulb seating is a big deal. You get it wrong and your output will be off by a good margin
   
4. Ask and ENSURE you are getting Premium 4300K bulbs for best lighting in all conditions. There should be label on the bulbs and covers

[Dr.Naren]

@sudeepg : Excellent post. This should be very helpful for existing customers and many other prospective customers too. As we discussed, the bulbs were the culprit. Happy to see that both you and lovetorque got the issues rectified with new bulbs

I was using 2.5 inch XP Micro before and had some issues, again thanks to improper bulb seating. Now, I am running XP Micro 3.0 inch with 5000K bulbs and no issues till date. Hope it stays the same and let's rule the roads at night. Oh, wait..even during day time with our remapped beasts haha. Your Code 6 tuned S-Cross 1.3 is as good as stock 1.6

Cheers!!

[Vid6639]

I saw the 2 S-cross yesterday evening when passing by EVO. Didn't realise it was you guys. Would have stopped to say hi.

[lovetorque]

Well narrated, excellent post. Nothing much from my side to add! Post the lamp change and reducing the low beam level further down for me, I am really impressed with the light output, accounting to the full load I will be carrying for my highway trips. Safer night drives guaranteed!
Had a very constructive discussion with Sudeep on the dos and don’ts on the discharge lamps as well as the infamous (rather common now) S-Cross parcel tray rattling issue. Looking forward for a DIY from your end and the result.
Post the HID bulb change and bringing back smile on our face, I had a brief drive on Sudeep’s remapped 1.3. I would like to share my feedback as a user coming from long stint with first gen Swift VDi and 29k+ outing with 1.6 Alpha:
Idle clatter is less in remapped 1.3 against stock 1.3 as well as 1.6.
For the drive did few short bursts to 3000 rpm in lower gear to see the response, remapped 1.3 felt more rev friendly, eager to go on revs, beyond the self-set limit I had. Thanks for allowing me do check!
At higher rpm its bit loud as stock 1.3 and louder than 1.6 IMO.
Turbo kick is there, but not a mad rush like 1.6 or even first gen Swift. Its linear delivery in remapped 1.3 to say.
Remap solve most of the inherent highway in adequacy 1.3 have, I guess overtaking at highway speed should be far easier.
The advantage of 1.3 in city drive (read as better bottom end response) is further amplified in remap. We can live with less number of downshifts in remapped 1.3. This car won’t pain our leg in city drive added by the fact that 1.3 clutch travel is less by around 20mm.
If you see from absolute performance, stock 1.6 win over remapped 1.3 easily that’s my verdict.

[Ananthc]

Excellent post Sudeep and lovetorque! As pointed out the quality checks should improve by a margin and XP is doing that to clients satisfaction.

Most of us who are waiting for right product for better lighting in scross should definitively look at Micro as their first choice and this does not void the warranty.

Will post once I get hands on mine

[sudeepg]

I did a DIY yesterday to fix some wiring concerns with XP Micro. The full post is on BHPian a4anurag's dedicated post on XP Micro

Fixing the messy wiring for XP Micro

[sudeepg]

*****Minor Update*****

Got the latest navigation maps released by Maruti.



The total size of the maps is 2.5 GB. For full details on how to update the map, see this post in this thread

Updating Navigation Maps

[yash1229]

Originally Posted by sudeepg

*****Minor Update*****

Got the latest navigation maps released by Maruti.

Attachment 1654249

The total size of the maps is 2.5 GB. For full details on how to update the map, see this post in this thread

Updating Navigation Maps

Would like to know if Android Auto is there in the latest update that you have done! Looking to buy an S-Cross soon and some pictures & feedback of how Android Auto works on its system would be great!

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by yash1229

Would like to know if Android Auto is there in the latest update that you have done! Looking to buy an S-Cross soon and some pictures & feedback of how Android Auto works on its system would be great!

No sir, the android auto update is not installed in my car. Only a few of them have it, but from what I have used it without being paired to the head unit, it does work well off the phone too. So I assume it will work well with the head unit as well since its like mirrored.

The update I recently installed was for my maps

[sudeepg]

The S-Crosses which have XP Micro installed from Evo had shoddy wiring, which are getting rectified now. Full details in this thread

XP Micro Wiring Fixes