Saridi

Check out this post:
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?s=&sho...st&p=423362

Both outer and middle light will light up as brake, just not the circle

bruce_miranda

BMW have now linked up the light sensor to the taillights too. So that only happens during the day. In the night it switches back to one light with the other being the Brake Force Display. But which one is it.
As mentioned the image in the US catalogue shows it as the middle one with the outside one being the BFD.

andy545

So what's the story on the brakes lights, inner, outer, inner, both ??

.. could it be there is a difference with LCI brake lights for US and Europe?

Bruce, any ideas on this one ?

Rudy

I'd like to help if possible but I'm really, really confused about what precise information you're looking for.

If someone thinks I can add good information, just tell me (clearly) what it is I need to look at...

Saridi

See if you can try...

Time: Night time(dark)
Condition: Low beam on
Action: Brake pedal pressed
Observation: Which light bulb is on? Which one get brighter?

bruce_miranda

Rudy, The the old Pre-LCI lights there were 3 red bulbs in each taillight.

The circle red (white) was dim on taillight and bright on fog, the middle (green) light is on dim on taillight and bright with BFD and the outer (blue) light is on dim on taillight and bright with the Brakes.

On the LCI cars the middle and the outer brake seem to come on when the brakes are pressed during the day. However can you tell us which lights come on during the night/dark. Is it the middle or the outer or both?

See image from the US LCI car brochure which shows how the BFD works now. Hence my view that the normal Brake light has now shifted from being the outer bulb to the middle bulb.

Rudy

Now that's what I call "Reader's Digest!" Will give it a try a bit later this evening...

bruce_miranda

And I just added a picture too with arrows to make it an "Illustrated Weekly"

rodybmw

The pictures from the US brochure MAY be showing the Euro lights. I remember that when the E60 first came out back at the end of 2003 one of the US brochures (or maybe the dealer training manual) had a picture that was showing the different modes of the taillights ,but it was actually showing the Euro version and not the US, so just because it is from the US brochure it does not guarantee that it is in fact the way the US model's lights behave.

It would be interesting to see what Rudy comes up with, but remember that it may not necessarily be the same as the Euro version.

Rudy

Clearly, there have been differences with E60 tail lights and BFD between countries. I do think that's the case here. If you look at the US owner's manual on page 99 (which is page 101 of the .pdf file), you'll see an illustration showing that the inner bulb (round one) is used for the BFD indication. Remember we're not smart enough to understand how to properly use fog lights -- especially ones in the rear!

So, here's what happened on my little experiment...

Using bruce_miranda's color coding, my US-spec LCI car always uses the green and blue (middle and outer) lights simultaneously for normal braking -- no matter if the parking lights (or headlights) are on or off.

Is that what you guys needed?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot -- I think I might have discovered a software bug while experimenting with the lights -- it seems that the eyebrow does not light up if you use the left or right "roadside parking lamps", only if you use the regular parking lamps. From a safety standpoint, I can't believe they would have purposely programmed the car to not light the appropriate side's eyebrow light. The way it is now, there really isn't any side marker light on in the front if you choose to use the roadside parking lamps. They sure do seem to have a nagging problem with Progman versions and eyebrow functionality, don't they? (Anyone care to wager what Progman version number it'll take to fix this one? )