XC70: Electrical XC70 Dipped Beam Performance - Downright Dangerous

[Waynedance]

G3 and a polish pad on a variable speed drill.

Just fitted the top spec Phillips xenon bulbs to mine and it's like daylight.

[Ian21401]

I found this thread when searching re our headlamps and felt that I had to contribute.
I do not understand the logic behind the design of the headlamps in my daughter's XC70. Her previous car was a V50 with halogen bulbs. She carried a full set of spare bulbs in the car. When she acquired the XC70 we needed to revise the spares carried as some of the bulbs were different to the V50.
According to the Volvo owner's manual for V70 and XC70, 2011 edition, page 268 onwards, the car may be fitted with halogen and/or xenon headlamp bulbs.
Her car does not have a headlamp level adjuster wheel. Upon start up the dipped headlamps/day running lights lower then rise to their running position. (i.e. self levelling ) and according to the "Car Settings" menu they are also Active Bending Lights.
In the section of the manual dealing with adjusting the headlamp pattern for right or left-hand traffic ( page 86 ) the illustration appears to show the xenon headlamp as the outer bulb within the headlamp body. However, in the section dealing with bulb replacement ( page 268 ) the illustrations show the outer bulb ( dipped beam ) as a halogen with the main beam bulb, also a halogen, mounted centrally in the headlamp body and the xenon bulb ( extra main beam ) mounted as the inner bulb within the headlamp body. To add to the confusion the bulb specification list on page 272 states that this "Extra main beam Xenon ABL bulb is a 55w H7. Viewing the headlamp from outside it appears that it only has two headlamp bulbs fitted. The inner bulb appearing to be a standard halogen and the outer bulb is hidden behind a "bulls eye " type of lens. When viewing the headlamp from the side the outer bulb housing can be seen to move down then up upon engine start up. ( light switch in position "O" ) It cannot be seen to move when main beam is selected but a distinct light "thump" noise can be heard when changing from dip to main and then back to dip. The main beam is also emitted by that bulb and the inner halogen bulb ( the so called extra main beam )also illuminates.
I decided that the next step was to remove the headlamp body and see what was actually there. I found that the outer bulb is a xenon ( 35w D1S ). As it has both dip and main beams I presume that it is a Bi Xenon and the "thump" noise is caused by some device within the bulb moving to change the beam. There is only one other headlamp bulb in the housing, that being the inner bulb, (in the position indicated by the manual as the extra main beam )and that is a standard 55w H7 halogen bulb. According to the manual the headlamps may be flashed with the light switch in postion "O" but the main beam will not remain on when the lever switch is released. That appears to be the case but when the light switch is then moved to position 3 for headlamps it is possible that the main beam is lit immediately depending upon whether the headlamp flash facility has been used an even or odd number of times. This has not been the case with our previous Volvos and is a little annoying.
The light emitted from the bi-xenon bulb is excellent on dip and the dip remains on when main beam is selected and this is also excellent. The inner halogen extra main beam bulb also illuminates when main beam is selected. Compared to the light emitted by the bi xenon the light emitted from the extra main beam halogen is extremely dim and in my opinion is absolutely useless.

[Puffster]

Originally Posted by Ian21401

Compared to the light emitted by the bi xenon the light emitted from the extra main beam halogen is extremely dim and in my opinion is absolutely useless.

Slightly less so the same situation with my Range Rover Sport but swapping the bulb to a 6000k LED fixed the "problem", simply, cheaply. I've put the same bulbs in my non Bi-Xenon XC70 as mains and equally good. Recommend you do the same & for about £20 its a worthwhile upgrade.

[Kizzer]

I use to be one all for changes to HID.

LED is far superior now and after the past few months with them in the V70 I won't look back that's for sure

[apersson850]

Originally Posted by Ian21401

I do not understand the logic behind the design of the headlamps in my daughter's XC70.

She obviously has the same configuration as I have.
That's dual Xenon in the outer position, i.e. Xenon lights for both dipped and high beam. There's a solenoid inside the lamp housing which switches the Xenon between dipped and high beam.
Then she has the additional halogen high beam in the inner position. From off, it turns on faster than the Xenon lights, so if you use the flash function when all beams are off, they're quicker to respond. They also keep on pointing straight forward when the ABL lights point in the direction you are steering.
There's no height adjustment, since Xenon lights are required to have automatic levelling.
Setting the car for left side driving instead of right, or vice versa for UK cars, involve moving a lever near the Xenon light. Some models had this motorized, so you could do it from the menu system.
Back in 2011, very few cars had an extra Xenon light for the main beam only position. The Rolls Royce Phantom was one of them, I've been told, but the XC70 was slightly less expensive.

[Tatsfield]

My XC70 is a 2012. Would it have the same headlight configuration as yours apersson850? Left/right dipping is by manual levers near the headlights.

[apersson850]

At least in Sweden, the headlight configuration depended on the option level your car had. In 2012, XC70 were sold as Kinetic, Momentum and Summum in Sweden. Kinetic didn't have any Xenon lights, and thus did have the manual height adjustment (which looks exactly like the dashboard illumination level setting dial, just on the other side of the light switches).

The other option levels had Dual Xenon, which is Volvo's name for Xenon on both dipped and main beam. Bi-Xenon is the same, but is a trade mark not owned by Volvo.

You can see what my lights look like here.
You can also see my light switch assembly.

[Tatsfield]

Yes, look just like yours. To recap the original topic. I don't find the dipped beams in this configuration that bad and compared to the halogen disasters on my previous cars they are like flood lights. (On my previous car I actually went the whole hog and refitted the halogen lights with Xenon HID units. What a difference) So it seems that the poll, like a great many polls, is flawed as it doesn't take into account that XC70s have different head light configurations from model to model and the poll results are pretty meaningless!

[apersson850]

I find them good enough to not need any auxiliary lights. But Xenon makes a difference, of course.

[robv70rdesign]

Looking onto the led upgrade, any recommendations? Do you have to modify the light assembly etc?