Just wondering if you guys keep your headlights on auto mode or turn them on manually. I usually turn mine on manually.

 

How about BOTH????

 

How do you change this darn poll. Well, if its both, just post "Both".

 

I leave mine on auto all the time, but sometimes when it rains it's not dark enough even for max sensitivity, so I turn them on manually. Same goes for highway driving... some times people just don't know how to drive, and never look back to see if they shouldn't be in the passing lane. A nice set of Maxima headlights closing in on them even in the daylight usually drives the point home though...

 

I rarely use auto. If I did, they would turn on every time I pulled into the garage, even during the day.

 

Love auto mode. One less thing for me to think about.

 

I use both. I leave it off during the daytime and leave it on auto at night. I just hate going under overpasses and having my lights come on....or when pulling into a garage also.

 

Manually. Always.

Tried auto, but was surprised how many times they came on during the day. Garage, dealer service check-in drive-thru, overpasses, even in the carwash.

The most annoying situation is when driving north-south at dawn or sunset. They come on when I drive under the deep shade of a row of big trees, only to go off when I come out into the sunlight on the other side. And again. And again. That is not acceptable with HID bulbs, whose life is shortened by lots of on-offs.

I know when they come on, as the dash lights drop from very bright to almost invisible.

Those situations, added to the fact I am sort of a control freak, made my decision simple.

 

I completely echo Lightonthehill's comments. I go manual as a result.

 

Lightonthehill is right. I hate auto. They come when they shouldn't. I want to be the one controlling the functions in my car. Always manual for me!

 

I leave mine on auto.

 

Most of the time I only use my HID's at night, and when I do, I just turn it to AUTO. But when I reach home, I always turn it to OFF (I dunno...must be a habit of mine). At other times when its too foggy in the morning going to work (like this morning), I try it at AUTO 1st to see if it works. If it doesnt, I go all the way to manually turning it on.

 

I turn them on and off manually. As was said before I don't want them turning on everytime I pull into my garage.

I also find that the switch was designed stupid. At dusk the light can cycle on and off. And to get them to stay on you have to go through the auto setting. My fathers LSH has the auto feature but you turn the switch the opposite direction for the auto mode so no on off on issue.

 

The Max designers should take a page from European carmakers' books.

When the lights come on in AUTO mode, they should stay on until the car is shut off. And when the wipers are activated, except when activated through a wash cycle, the lights should come on automatically and stay on until the car is shut off.

 

I'm going to have to go with both, but primarily just manual. I do use auto when i want the lights to stay on while i'm trying to walk to a door or something. Now that i think of it i should use it more often, i cant even count the amount of times i'll forget to turn them on at night because the gauges are always lit up.

 

off, auto is a pain in the @ss for where I live. My garage is nice and dark, so the lights turn on, as soon as I back out of my garage, the lights go off. a few blocks from me, I have the EL, which driving under it causes the lights to turn on again.

so I switched to manual. If I lived somewhere with no EL, I'd keep them on auto.

the good thing about manual mode is that the lights will turn off after 5 minutes, just incase you leave them in the on position.

 

auto. The only time it's an issue is when it's raining and I'm running the wipers. NJ State Law mandates the use of headlight when "it's raining" and it's not always dark when raining.

 

Man, I thought they woulda changed that for you 6th Gens.... that sucks... that's the one thing I don't like about the car, well, in addition to the sucky Bose headunit that I have.

I use both actually... for the same reasons listed above... I don't want em coming on and off every 10 mins when the lighting changes in tunnels, under bridges, etc.

 

i use manual. first car with auto functions so im not trusting the technology... yet

 

i use auto... another thing i notice is that even if u leave them on when its in manual.. they turn off automatically as a feature so it doesnt drain ur battery.. takes about 5 -10 mins. but if left on manual.. they DO cut off automatically

 

auto for me. my second car with auto headlights and i guess im just used to it. stays on long enough to light my way to the door and shuts off with in 30 secs.

 

I use manual.. I can't walk away from my car with the lights on, I like to assure myself that everything is off..

 

Manual ..as Lightonhill said... (or someone else) I control the lights period!.... I do not like it when someone tells me my lights are on (after I have parked my car and left it --- only to tell them that it will go off..but then to look back and see if it really does!)

One thing I have learnt (from this car and my previous 626.. is to listen to any warning beeps from the car before closing the door... often indicates lights on)


P.S. One other thing I have noticed... Older (the one's with a white beard & golf clubs in the back.. my imagination..) people use the auto function ... see most Camry's/lexus'/etc ..... even if it is extremely bright sunlight, they have their lights (xenon or otherwise and I am not talking DRL's) on!! .............. do not mean to dis anyone out here but thats just what I notice!!

 

auto is the way to go

 

I agree that the lights turn off and on way too much..... way more than my GM cars ever had....seems like they need to put the 30 second delay in that GM uses. However, I like to "set it and forget it" - naturally I'm an "auto" guy. I also like the delay after getting out of the car in the parking garage.... I can inspect to see that all the bulbs are working. I trust my car to turn off the lights - unlike you control freaks!!!!

 

MastMax - We control freaks are not doubting the lights will go off. We just want the lights on when they should be on, and off when they should be off. The auto system does not do this very well.

 

Well there are two older Max drivers on this site who do not use the Auto feature -- lightonthehill and SilverMax_04 -- light's earlier posts got it exactly right.

If I had to walk through the dark to my house, I might use the Auto function to give me light for that walk. The light in my garage works fine and does not drain the battery down.

 

I can speak from experience.... leaving the lights on the 90 second delay doesn't shorten battery life..... I got over 5 years out of the last two cars batteries by doing this.

What concerns me more about the Max is the HID lights..... if they are harmed by many on/off cycles, why didn't Nissan do something to minimize unnecessary on/off cycles... i.e. going under bridges.

 

Oh, and one more thing..... does anyone else have trouble knowing whether the lights are on or off when its on the auto setting? I seem to have trouble with this since the gauges are always lit up.... especially at dawn or dusk. It would be nice if they added an indicator light to show when the lights have automatically turned on.

Or then again, it could just be my failing eyesight at my old "auto" age

 

they did add a sensor to minimize on/off, thats the setting you can adjust.. if you want them to turn on right at dusk you can, or turn on later when is alittle darker out.. if you adjust it so it won't turn on at the slightest hint of darkness, they won't turn on as much..

wouldn't this be under that category..

 

yeah mine come on just when i want them to come on. its pretty much the same light conditions as my old GA. i dont get them turning on and off all the time like some of you guys. its never been a problem for me with the max or any of our pontiacs.

 

don't you have your guages set just below full on so they light up less....
Also, your screen should be set DAY for lights off and NIGHT for lights on.

if my lights are on even at dusk, the display is so dim it's obvious the lights are on.

 

I had my guages on full on because thats how the car was delivered to me....and i was like...whoa this car has bright guages. Then I noticed the dial and I couldnt believe I drve at night with it that bright for so long, I was probobly orange colored to all the other drivers. I use auto, but when I come into work I shut them off so they dont go on in the garage (im spoiled at work only in the sense I have access to internet and garage parking with a camera on my car). Studies show more than 3 on/off intervals in a row reduce the life of the burners. But ya know, HID capsules have a usage life of 3000+ hours.
I figure I drive 40mins per night approx.
If the bulb lasts 180,000 minutes, and I only use 40 per day...
Thats 4500 days of burner life = 12.5 years
The research only indicates that continuous on/off switches "seem" to reduce life on data sheets.
This means it is not a major reduction, so 12.5 years might be 10, and 12.5 is average so it may last that long anyway.
Ive drivwen 8yo E-Classes whsoe burners have never been replaced, and whose owners certainly don't know they arent supposed to turn the HID on and off many times, so I think this is nothing to worry about. Even my old car's halogen never burned out in 5 years.

 

automode all the way....................

 

Actually, I use both methods on mine and the auto feature on my wife's. Since mine is garaged, I use the Auto method once I'm on the road and then turn it off when I park it in the garage. On the wife's, since it's not garaged (yes, I am the master at my house??????), I use the auto feature.

 

I find when I set them on auto mode, just hitting the turn signal can make them change from manual or driving lights. The switch changes with a quick use of the turn signal. That is the main reason I use manual.

 

both is my option... most of the time i jsut use the auto feature... but if ii'm not lazy i just do it by myself

 

i think the light switch setup on the max blows bigtime..
0 OFF
+1 AUTO
+2 Amber lights
+3 Projectors

they should make the Auto a click up rather than down...

-1 AUTO
0 OFF
+1 Amber
+2 Proj

it would be so much better this way.... one of those small irritating things..

 

at first that sounds like the perfect solution....but then you have to look at it and make sure you don't go all the way anyway, passing OFF by mistake.

Easiest way I found to work around it is:

Keep OFF
daytime no problem.

dusk or rain, try AUTO.... not on yet? then got to ON. Now when it's time to turn them off, turn the car off first, then go to OFF or maybe AUTO. then they won't blink and it should be dark enough for AUTO to work that same night.

At night: turn to AUTO and leave it there until parked for the night or before tuning on.

I have them set to turn AUTO off as soon as door closes. Since I can't redesign it, this is the best solution i've figured out.

 

Yes, I've played around with the "sensitivity" setting and it doesn't change the fact that the lights come on immediately when you go under an underpass. The sensitivity setting only changes when they come on at dusk...i.e. right at dusk or slightly later. There needs to be a delay so that after sensing a dark place, it must be in the dark place for 20 - 30 seconds before it turns the lights on. That would prevent false trips in broad daylight when you are only under a tree or underpass for a few seconds.