Put spare HID kit in Sisters 530!

[Jon K]

So the nice brother I am decided to rebase a set of D2S bulbs I have and put them in my sisters 530i so when she comes back from Loussiana with my mom, she will have a nice fresh headlight setup :)

My one ballast I forgot is a little bit flakey, so I need to find her another ballast... so if anyone has an OEM style ballast please let me know.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v189/andreak/hids.jpg

4300k on passenger side, SilverStar on the right.

[misfortune]

So the nice brother I am decided to rebase a set of D2S bulbs I have and put them in my sisters 530i so when she comes back from Loussiana with my mom, she will have a nice fresh headlight setup :)

My one ballast I forgot is a little bit flakey, so I need to find her another ballast... so if anyone has an OEM style ballast please let me know.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v189/andreak/hids.jpg

4300k on passenger side, SilverStar on the right.

I'm on my way to PA right now :D

[Evan]

There's a special place in heaven for good brothers.

[jlcool007]

hey man, are there any diy's for the hid kits?

i want to get one becase i almost died a couple of weeks ago when i couldn't see a deer.....

how hard was it? do you get the "low beam" message?

[Jay 535i]

i want to get one becase i almost died a couple of weeks ago when i couldn't see a deer.....

You almost died? What about the deer? ;)

[kyleN20]

i dident know she had a 530, i thought it was a 525, would be nice to see when dark out. nice of you to do though

[Qube]

I'm getting quite a few 9006 and H1 kits very soon :)

[Tiger]

You need to do it! ASAP! Get the greatest deal you can find... stick wtih 4300K HID kit... forget about those higher ones... and you definitely need new headlights because originals are already pitted so bad that you can't see the deer.

I did mine back in 2001.:D

[sKilled]

Is this similar to the headlight mod on bmwe34.net? Exactly which parts does one require? There are so many threads mentioning HID that a search becomes endless - if someone knows of a thread, please direct me in the right direction. Cheers!

[632 Regal]

the 9005/6 conversion is night and day, I still havent cleaned the headlights ozone out yet cause im dumb and lazy...lol (no really).

I'm getting quite a few 9006 and H1 kits very soon :)

[Qube]

I have a few 'spare' aftermarket ballast... but you'd need to rewire for these.

[Jon K]

You do? How much you looking for one?

[Qube]

You do? How much you looking for one?

Nothing. Well. Shipping. One warning though, it may not ignite your bulb. I did some experiments with mixing and matching bulb/ballast and found some will mix well some wont.

[jlcool007]

You almost died? What about the deer? ;)
the front bumper was somewhat smashed.....it was about 11:30pm coming home from yosemite on a favorite *secret* back road that has many turns despite its surroundings (no mountains or hills) suggesting why it has a lot of curves.

nywayz

because of its,... well, far-away-from-civilization distance, there were NO lights. Of course i'm using my high beams, but for one instant, i had them off for some reason. Out of the darkness (i'm goin like 85 mph) about 900 feet ahead i see what is a bush or shrub..i go on, smae speed but...well more cautious. I slightly ease off the gass only to notice ~150ft in front of the object that my ominous outline is now a huge deer.

i slam on the brakes ( im @ about 70mph) as hard as possible....i hit the deer at about 20mph. it flies through the air and lands ~25ft from where it was B4.

i get out as it limps off the road (i'd never go up to an animal in distress) and go to the front of my car. The bumper is dented (about a 2 ft dent) not bad, as bumpers are only ~300 bux used.the left headlight is busted (both the high/low, but the bulbs inside are functioning.

well, for the deer, i hope i din't break a leg...cuase its chances of surviving are slim now. i contacted the ranger or animal control or whoever the operator hooked me to (satellite phone or whatever) and told them that there was a deer that was bla bla blabla (not important)

point is... if it was'nt for my slow "reaction time", but mostly if itwasn't for the e34's reallllllllllllllllllllllllly dim lighting, i would have seen the culprit and this never would have happened.

just wondering if there was an easier way to install these aftermarket HID kits than i have seen in the past.



So the nice brother I am decided to rebase a set of D2S bulbs I have and put them in my sisters 530i so when she comes back from Loussiana with my mom, she will have a nice fresh headlight setup :)

My one ballast I forgot is a little bit flakey, so I need to find her another ballast... so if anyone has an OEM style ballast please let me know.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v189/andreak/hids.jpg

4300k on passenger side, SilverStar on the right.

do you still have that same "e34-terrific" cut off line with the HID bulbs? How did your long-range visibility imporve?


-jason

[Paul in NZ]

there is nothing wrong with the e34 high beam

[onewhippedpuppy]

Jason, take a look at this.
http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/upgrade/more_light.htm

The 9005 bulbs put out a lot more light, and it's so easy to do there's no excuses not to. I went with GE Nighthawk bulbs when I did mine, they were only $25 for the pair at Wal Mart, and they're a bit whiter without being ricey and blue. I'm sure the HID conversion is far superior, but it's also a bit more than $25.

[Jon K]

9005 is a waste of time in my opinion...

Yes with the HID the e34 US cut off is preserved.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I wouldn't call it a waste of time. $25-30 + 5 minutes for a noticable improvement in lighting? My 540 now has lighting on par with most modern non-HID cars that I have been in, which is good enough for me. I would have to have a lot more extra cash to justify spending $500 on HIDs, of course the bling factor is moot for me.

[Jon K]

9005 is just a bulb without a painted tip... the light ouput is maybe .5% better than 9006. A 4300k HID kit like I put in sisters car is about 10x as much light as a 9005 bulb... I pulled the kit for her car out of a E39 junkyard car for $150.

[onewhippedpuppy]

From bmwe34.net:
Why using a 9005 bulb: 9005 bulbs are 65W and are not capped at the end, 9006 bulbs are 55W and have a cap at the end.

Light increase is from the increase in lumens from the 9005 bulb. A 9005 bulb has 70% more lumens than the 9006 (1700 lumens vs 1000 lumens). HID has 3200 lumens.

Not trying to argue that the HID isn't better, but for the money and the 5 minutes it takes, the 9005 are a big upgrade. Far more than 0.5%.

[Booster]

Jon.......you don't happen to have a snapshot of ALL the stuff needed for the E39 HID swap do you ? I may attempt this instead of just doing the bulb change upgrade.
Cheers.........Vinny :D

[Jon K]

Booster-


Ballasts one per bulb, 2 D2S bulbs, 2 9006 bulbs.

Cut the **** out of the 9006 bulbs so that you can get the base off of it.... you literally dremel the hell out of the bulb, but keep the "ring" (plastic) that has the notches in it. Then, trim the D2S bulb so that the 9006 plastic ring will fit over, epoxy it so that the D2S bulb filament lines upw ith 9006 filament... you know have D2S bulbs rebased for 9006 sockets. Then just plug the OEM headlight connector into each ballast and each ballast into each bulb. Done and done.

[Jobi]

errr...any pics of steps of this upgrade? Cause 9006 or D2S doesn't ring any bell for me... :( I know they are bulbs, but I just don't visualise the job which has to be done...

[Booster]

Booster-


Ballasts one per bulb, 2 D2S bulbs, 2 9006 bulbs.

Cut the **** out of the 9006 bulbs so that you can get the base off of it.... you literally dremel the hell out of the bulb, but keep the "ring" (plastic) that has the notches in it. Then, trim the D2S bulb so that the 9006 plastic ring will fit over, epoxy it so that the D2S bulb filament lines upw ith 9006 filament... you know have D2S bulbs rebased for 9006 sockets. Then just plug the OEM headlight connector into each ballast and each ballast into each bulb. Done and done.

Jon.....Thats it ? Very cool. I can tweak a set per those fine instructions. Are their any years of HID ballasts that I should avoid in the E39's ??:(
Vincent

[jlcool007]

i was just wondering two things:

1. on past forum (other) hid-installations on e34's, there were many many many, splicing steps and re-wiring of the harnesses, adding transistors and what not...how did you do yours?

2. what i meant by the beam not working is: on forums installations, even if all the beams were working, there was a "low beam" message on the OBc display in the dash (because it had to do with somehting like the hid ballast didn't pull the same amount of current as the low beams did so there was an error message saying tht they wern't working.

it just seems that for 150 bux (a GREAT steal) you'd have to do more work than just plug and play....was it like that or more like a complex rewiring of harnesses and whatnot...

-jason

[Qube]

Well I've tried four different ballasts in my e34 for tests and not one time did the low beam come on. It DID come on once though went one of the ballasts failed and the bulb turned off.

Installing in most our e34s should just be plug and play. I believe that our wiring harnesses are enough to handle the load. Of course there are others that say otherwise.

[Jon K]

It's really simple. If I were home I'd show you the comparison pics of my setup vs my sisters setup.

My setup: H1 bulb goes into my Euro projectors. They interface to the ballast via 2 connectors. The ballast interfaces to the car wiring in that the stock bulb plug goes right into the ballast. Easy as cake.

http://e34.digital7.com/Cars/projector.jpg

Sisters setup: Her bulbs are D2S bulbs that I rebased for 9006 sockets. They go in just like any other 9006 bulb would. Then they use the D2S style connector to the ballast, then I had to splice the input wires for the ballest from the stock headlight bulb connector ground and +12v since the ballast accepts a different type of input connector... again not hard.

[liquidtiger720]

I still get low beam errors when I light up the lights :(

[jlcool007]

I still get low beam errors when I light up the lights :(


yeha this is what i meant, there is some way, type in "e34 m5 forum" into google, and there is a dedicated forum for e34 m5's and this one guy did this hid install which i keep referring to- there were SO MANY steps rather than a plug and play that Jon keeps talking about. There is a threat "in search" that delas with this "low beam" error......

so jon, you're saying that you "don't" get a low beam error on your obc?

-thanks much

jason

[Jon K]

I do not get low beam error unless it is REALLY hot outside (like 90+) when the check control module is more prone to error due to resistance.

Also, if you turn on your parking lights iwthout igniting the HIDs you will get lowbeam... other than that, no.

[liquidtiger720]

i only get it when i actually turn the lights on....parking lights- i dont get it.

[Qube]

I do not get low beam error unless it is REALLY hot outside (like 90+) when the check control module is more prone to error due to resistance.

Also, if you turn on your parking lights iwthout igniting the HIDs you will get lowbeam... other than that, no.

The only time I get the warning is if one of the bulbs/ballast is actually not working. Heh.

[Andrea K]

I do not get low beam error unless it is REALLY hot outside (like 90+) when the check control module is more prone to error due to resistance.

Also, if you turn on your parking lights iwthout igniting the HIDs you will get lowbeam... other than that, no.

Actually...yuh...I get low beam every once in a while.

[BigTed00]

Same here, I get "low beam" 8/10 times
parking light 6/10
brake light 3/10
brake light circuit 1/10 <-- lol I thought I left that message with the e36

I wouldnt drive another car without HID's, even though I think they are illegal now? Night driving is such much safer and comfortable, I could care less about the OBC chiming at me. Plus I think the cars looks better with the parking light delete :D

[Jon K]

It's because the HID ballast does not provide the closed loop with enough resistance... if you want you can add resistors and replace them if they burn up... or you can just deal ;)

Here is an abridged write up... i don't take credit for the photos i found them on another site a long time ago.

D2R/S bulbs (they look the same, but you want D2S for projectors)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid75/p2b1d4a572bbcc13fb661f9cc485b316b/fb49843e.jpg

Chop the 9006 bulb in half:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid75/p4ffa01b00ec944e762505bc802206505/fb4983cc.jpg

cut the other half off:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid75/p83d633312ec2b125f4f1c94ed72c7dcb/fb4983b2.jpg

[Jon K]

Dremel the center out so that it will slip over the outside diameter of the D2S bulb:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid75/p05989eb5c30115081aa39f3552dac411/fb498365.jpg

"To get this ring to fit around the hid bulb, you have to grind off the ring that is around the hid bulb. Just use the same tool that you were using to make the hole in the halogen ring. Carefully grind the hid bulb ring so that it is smooth and flush around the base (no ring around the top of the base)."

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid75/pe66efa63f2b60879e0e3cd2d28539046/fb498314.jpg

Final fitment...

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid75/p65197ca56a6f95d74cbc5f6a95c78dd8/fb4982bb.jpg



It is ABSOLUTELY crucial to make sure that when you epoxy the 9006 "ring" such that the sodium deposit in the HID bulb is about the same position into the housing as the filament of the 9006 bulb... this will ensure you that you have the best focused light output. If you epoxy the ring too high on the bulb you will have a real hot sput above the cut off... if you epoxy too far down the bulb, causing the bulb to not be in far enough, you'll have a real crappy focus and the cut off will be faint. Again, I did this to my sisters setup in about ~30 mins. I used high temp quick set 2 part epoxy. I am going to see if I can get her to snap some pics of the cut offs at night against the garage door.

[Jon K]

Oh yeah and I forgot one important detail....

DO NOT TOUCH THE HID BULB AT ANY POINT WITH YOUR FINGERS!

You will get oil from your fingers on the bulb, which will act as a blanket that will trap heat emitted by the bulb and cause the glass capsule to crack. Luckily when we fired up Andrea's kit the one bulb was burning off some oil/dirt and it evaporated rather than trap. We got lucky - HID BULBS ARE EXPENSIVE. If you want to break a set, touch them.

If you DO touch the bulb, use some 99% isopropyl alcohol and wipe the area. I encourage you to wear latex gloves when handling bulbs but that doesn't mean oil will not get on the bulb. Just be careful. Let everything dry and evaporate before you ignite the bulbs.

[jlcool007]

hey sorry to ask, but i amabout to pull an hid kit out of a car at a junkyard (i tested everythign works and the dude thinks it is a halogen set! haha, i tolf him the ballasts were farad capacitors needed to work the system and he said what ever so helll sell the set to me for only 80 bux...

ny wayz, i was wondering if you could show pics of how you wired the kit

reason is...this one guy installed it: http://www.bbesound.com/bmw/HIDinstall/

and he had to order all these new wiring harnesses and such, compared to this site:
http://www.h-i-d.co.uk/installation.shtml

if you look at the pic named installation of the v1 system, all you have to do is simply connect the pos and neg and your done! (is this bluffing or are they for real?)

i am still baffeled how your installation was so easy cmpared to every other site (discluding the v site)


jason

[Paul in NZ]

where are you located?Euro cars will have a H1 bulb and US cars will have 9005 or 9006 bulbs.Also depending on the market you may or may not have enough room behind the headlights.The hid bulbs are a lot longer than the H1 bulb and i havent got enough room behind the LH headlight to fit a longer bulb.Unless i relocate a washer tank

[sKilled]

Yeah, what about us Euro headlight loosers? Is it doable?

[liquidtiger720]

ITs doable skilled.

I have h1 based d2s bulbs in my euro spec ellipsoids.

[Jon K]

Rebasing a D2R bulb yourself to fit in a H1 is hard. I have purchased my H1 HID bulbs.

[jlcool007]

so do you basically plug the terminals form the existin (non exisatant) halogen 9006 into the inputes of the ballasts?

right


?

-jason

thanks much again

[Jon K]

Yes - depending on what type of ballast you have.

This is the style Andrea's car is using:
http://www.kartek.com/prod-windows/all/lights/accessories/hel-87700.jpg
It takes the 9006 input connection and has a D2S/R output connection.

This is the style I have:
http://imagescommerce.bcentral.com/merchantfiles/5000675/ballast.jpg
It has 9006 input and H1 output (H1 bulbs typically have a blue and red input wire rather than the D2S socket)

There are also some differnet kinds like Bosch:
http://faqlight.carpassion.info/bosch-ballast-gen1.jpg

Where the ignitor is external of the ballast and so has a little intermediary wiring... but same principle.

It depends on what ballast you end up using whether or not the input is going to be 9006 or not. If not, fear not, as you can just wire them together. Example: The pic above of the bosch project has two wires (black, yellow) leading off the screen. Andrea has that kind of wiring on one side - all you do is splice into the 9006 connector with quick-taps or whatever you want. Brown/black = ground. yellow = +12v switched. No relays needed in any of the above setups.


additionally
Avoid using this type of setup:
http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hella-gen4-ballast.jpg

This is a hella gen 4 hid system... the ballasts are real low profile because the ignitor is built into the D2S plug. This is great for OEM projectors that grips the D2S bulb real solidly, but if you are rebasing a D2S to a 9006, the ignitor/socket combo connector puts a bit more length onto the back of the bulb and thus weight downward and isn't ideal. Additionally, forget about running these ballasts on a V8 E34. There is absolutely no room on the drivers side to clear the brake booster. Even the standard D2S connector (the red and black thing pictured above) is tight, but has ample room. The passenger side, however, is never an issue.

[SC David]

Ahh, very cool. I need the second style ballast if I do this upgrade. I wasn't sure if they existed in 9006 input, H1 output.

[Jon K]

Ahh, very cool. I need the second style ballast if I do this upgrade. I wasn't sure if they existed in 9006 input, H1 output.


They do - I have them. Though, mine are Phillips ballasts which are very expensive compared to more easily obtainable Hella and Bosch.

One more thing I wanted to mention -

When testing to see if a ballast is good or not, you can leave the bulb out and see if the connector arcs. The connector will only arc if its a D2S - obviously the H1 connectors would have to be hand held very close to arc, and I don't want 23kv anywhere near my hands. So simply leave the bulb out, flip the lights on you should get 3 or 4 pulsed sparks at the D2S - but be warned: do not do this more than 8 times consecutively if using a Phillips LVQ-212 ballast - it will go into permanent protection mode and you will have to desolder a fuse on the board.

The LVQ-212 ballast has an intelligent power shutdown circuit. Say the car is in a collision or the bulb explodes and grounds out on the car etc... the unit cannot tell whether there is a bulb or not until after it fires the 23,000 volts across the terminals. After 3 attempts (3 sparks) to ignite the bulb, it quits and will not continue to spark until 12v is removed and applied again. This way rescue workers do not get electricuted should the connector be grounding out against the chassis. But keep in mind, do not do the ignition test more than 8 times unless you have a very still soldering hand, or you will successfully create an expensive paper weight.

[liquidtiger720]

http://imagescommerce.bcentral.com/merchantfiles/5000675/ballast.jpg


Correct me if I'm wrong, but they arnt exactly h1 only output wires correct? Meaning,the connectors are just commonly used by aftermarket companies.


and if you have a oem type ballast (d2s connection) you can buy something like this for ~$15 to adapt to bulbs that use the above mentioned connections.

http://i24.ebayimg.com/01/i/04/38/ae/ce_1_b.JPG


h1 adapted d2s bulb with those aftermarket connectors.
http://motorsporthouse.onlinera.com/HIDH1.jpg

[liquidtiger720]

Ahh, very cool. I need the second style ballast if I do this upgrade. I wasn't sure if they existed in 9006 input, H1 output.

dude, tahts what I've had the whole time? haha. :p

[Jon K]

Liquidtiger720 -

The reason I call them H1 connectors and not "aftermarket connectors" is because no OEM uses H1 HID bulbs ;) Therefore the very nature of an H1 HID bulb is aftermarket :)

[liquidtiger720]

Liquidtiger720 -

The reason I call them H1 connectors and not "aftermarket connectors" is because no OEM uses H1 HID bulbs ;) Therefore the very nature of an H1 HID bulb is aftermarket :)



gotca :D

[SC David]

dude, tahts what I've had the whole time? haha. :p
Figures :p

I thought you might have hacked up your wires or something though. But you do have a knack for finding those weird parts. 9005 female connectors?!?! When you found those, I immediately thought, "how many of these does this site sell every year?"

[Jon K]

Figures :p

I thought you might have hacked up your wires or something though. But you do have a knack for finding those weird parts. 9005 female connectors?!?! When you found those, I immediately thought, "how many of these does this site sell every year?"
If you ever need them locally try NAPA

[Qube]

Really now? I tried Canadian Tire and they just looked at me funny. I used a pair of insulated spade connectors (for 9006) on my buddy's Matrix because I couldn't find the connector.

[Paul in NZ]

hmmmmmm
Jon can you arrange a pic and or take some measrements.How far further bck will the "H1 Hid" sit compared to the std h1.ie how far back to the back of the connectors from the H1 base on the headlamp?

[jlcool007]

http://imagescommerce.bcentral.com/merchantfiles/5000675/ballast.jpg


Correct me if I'm wrong, but they arnt exactly h1 only output wires correct? Meaning,the connectors are just commonly used by aftermarket companies.


and if you have a oem type ballast (d2s connection) you can buy something like this for ~$15 to adapt to bulbs that use the above mentioned connections.

http://i24.ebayimg.com/01/i/04/38/ae/ce_1_b.JPG


h1 adapted d2s bulb with those aftermarket connectors.
http://motorsporthouse.onlinera.com/HIDH1.jpg



i think the issue was that the adapters will not fit the housingiin the (9006 us spec) housing.....












oh yeah and John, i do, really appreciate you helping me and all the others sort out our HID realities, but i have just two more questions,

in the pic of your's and in andrea's car's, does those ballasts in the pics also include the ignitors, or is the ignitor separate from the ballast?

in the pic of the hv plug connected to the bosch projector......is the bosh projector a "upgrade" to the stock 9006/h1 housing in our e34', or is it the stck one?


-jason

[Jon K]

That is an E46 projector... ignore those images... those are not "actual" pics of her or my lights, those are reference pics. On both of our cars the igniters are built into the ballast.

[SchnellE34]

Where can I get a quality ballast? If my local NAPA shop doesn't have one. Anywhere online were I can research prices?

[Jon K]

LOL. You misread - NAPA will not have an HID ballast, they will have 9006 sockets...

[SchnellE34]

LOL. You misread - NAPA will not have an HID ballast, they will have 9006 sockets...

...ok, what brands are quality ballasts?

[liquidtiger720]

schnell....just get some hella gen 3's and be done.


the first one jonk listed.

[Jon K]

i listed 3:

hella
phillips
bosch

[SchnellE34]

Ok cool, great post btw Jon. Very informative on lighting upgrades for the e34