Heavy condensation inside headlight

[lyon76]

Has anyone experienced condensation inside their A1 headlights? My car's got the standard lights and since it was washed at a garage it's had a load of small water droplets and condensation in both front lights. It's obviously cold out and the heat of the bulbs hasn't made it evaporate.

I read that some new light designs are vented (due to excessive heat build up of led lights in particular), but I contacted Audi and they told me that the Audi A1 lights weren't vented. They said that they had drain areas to prevent water ingress, but that they weren't vented.

Is this normal or a cause for concern?

After the garage washed my car the lights look like this:



Thanks for reading

 

[seriouslysupersonic]

My car has xenon headlights and I never had any condensation issues after washing. I don't believe that's normal. Usually, headlight condensation occurs when there is a high temperature gradient between the headlight lamps and the lens. If condensation happens when the headlights are not in use, it means that moisture is entering the headlight enclosure due to cracks or improper sealing around the lens or bulbs or that the vents are blocked and do not let moisture out whenever condensation occurs due to environmental conditions. Anyway, it shouldn't happen.

 

[lyon76]

Cheers for the response ss. I gently heated the lenses until the moisture had gone and, so far, it hasn't returned. Apparently water can get in via the light units drainage hole if a pressure washer is used, so I'm guessing that's what happened to mine. I'll keep an eye on it.