Anyone here have HID installed on your car?

[Rick L]

Just wondering how many have HID installed on your E34? If so, what brand do you have. Have they been reliable? I also heard on some cars + type of HID you have, you might get the light out message. And looks like there are several different fixes for this. If I get the error message, I'll add a resistor.

[shogun]

since 2 years on my E32, chinese brand (RIMSA) as most come from China. Reliable, no problem. Converted from H1 55W to HID 35W 4300K.
But 2 years is a long time in HID manufacturing technology, nowadays they offer HID conversion kits with 55W and they claim that there is no check control alarm when you start the car.
I checked various LKM and CCM and found out that it also depends on brand and part number of the CCM maker. But it does not bother me to get 1 x a 'bong' and the alarm dip beams, it disappears after a few seconds. I could manipulate the stuff, but no need.
As for the bulbs I would select
4300K Extremely White
6000K Brilliant White

55W there are a lot now on Ebay and I do not know if that eliminates the warning completely.
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=HID+conversion+kit+55w&_sacat=0&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_dmpt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&_odkw=bmw+e32&_osacat=0

but carefullly read the offers, sometimes $9.75 buy now and then the shipping cost is $75.00 or even more.
I would prefer to buy from an honest guy who tells the real price for the goods and for shipping, not these tricks.

[BMWDriver]

I have H1 55W installed, straight in with connector adaptors to go from 9500/9600 to H1 without cutting the stock wires, no resistors anywhere, no problems. The bulbs themselves are GE that I got from Canadian Tire.

Very nice lighting.

[Rick L]

Thanks Shogun for the info. I purchased my HID kit from DDM Tuning and anxiously waiting for it to arrive. :) Price of HID kit came down considerably. I remember them being several hundred dollas few years ago and not to mention expensive factory option. I just hope the reliablity doesn't suffer do to the low cost. And every HID kit I've seem from low cost to midrange has been from China. And we all know about chinese stuff... :p I selected 8000k 55w for lows and 6000k 35w for the fogs. I wanted slight blue tint. Similar to my Xenons on my M3. Also I heard 55w version tend to fade the color to white since they are brighter. Example: 8000k 55w is equal to 6000k 35w in color but 8000k 55w is brighter. I'll see if I get this error or not. If I do, the fix seems to be an easy fix. :)





since 2 years on my E32, chinese brand (RIMSA) as most come from China. Reliable, no problem. Converted from H1 55W to HID 35W 4300K.
But 2 years is a long time in HID manufacturing technology, nowadays they offer HID conversion kits with 55W and they claim that there is no check control alarm when you start the car.
I checked various LKM and CCM and found out that it also depends on brand and part number of the CCM maker. But it does not bother me to get 1 x a 'bong' and the alarm dip beams, it disappears after a few seconds. I could manipulate the stuff, but no need.
As for the bulbs I would select
4300K Extremely White
6000K Brilliant White

55W there are a lot now on Ebay and I do not know if that eliminates the warning completely.
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=HID+conversion+kit+55w&_sacat=0&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_dmpt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&_odkw=bmw+e32&_osacat=0

but carefullly read the offers, sometimes $9.75 buy now and then the shipping cost is $75.00 or even more.
I would prefer to buy from an honest guy who tells the real price for the goods and for shipping, not these tricks.

[Rick L]

DDM HID kit I purchased is plug and play. It comes with compatible connector for 9006 for lows and H1 for fogs so no wire cutting. Except if you need to fix the error... :p How long have you had them and what brand kit (including ballast)? Or are they from one of EBAY stores? Thanks.



I have H1 55W installed, straight in with connector adaptors to go from 9500/9600 to H1 without cutting the stock wires, no resistors anywhere, no problems. The bulbs themselves are GE that I got from Canadian Tire.

Very nice lighting.

[Tiger]

2001... Philips ballast and bulb. Cost a fortune. I also installed Hella black euro headlight at the same time too. So at that time it costed me about $1300 total.

Rick, it is very important that your headlight glass has no pits... otherwise, glare. It is those chips and pits that dramatically reduced the light output... not really the bulb.

[Russell]

Rick, I have had ddm 55w, 4500k 9006 style bulbs (i think) slim line HIDs on my 95 525i for about 14 months with no problems. All plug and play with no wire cutting.

Had the code issue and made a resistor fix with no wire cutting. Posted my experiences on how to fix with Radio Shack resistors on several BMW sites. DDMs BOW3 code eliminator would not work for me. Their BOW4 might work. it looks like others i have seen available from several on-line HID sites.

[BennyM]

I got the slim 35watt DDM kit for my low beams. It works perfectly. I highly recommend it. Go with the 55watt though. I regret not getting that little extra kick from the extra 20 watts per bulb, though my car probably prefers the lower battery load it has now. Either way, it's gonna be at least 3 times brighter than halogen or those crappy silverstars. BTW, two sets of silverstars now cost as much as the DDM kit.

[shadowpuck]

i have a kit from umnitza; which is very similar to the DDM kit.

installation was straight forward and no issue.

on my 02/93 525, i did indeed have the low beam out error; and that prevented the fogs from coming on.

i followed the instructions from this site and it worked perfectly.
http://www.bbesound.com/bmw/HIDinstall/

my kit is a 55w setup (55w, 4300k), and it was well worth the time and cost. HID is so much cheaper now, it's almost a no-brainer upgrade on these older cars. as long as its installed as part of a complete kit (ie, lenses, etc.) there shouldn't be any issues.

i was very careful to align my lights after the install and actually aimed them just a tad low to avoid any issues with blinding others. i also installed headlight covers (film) at the same time to protect the lenses from pitting/etc.

i did this upgrade on the e34 after having done it on the e36, i really can't drive a car at night without HID anymore! it spoiled me! :)

[Qube]

Actually, a full Philips kit is just under $400 :)

http://www.maxbimmer.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1376417

While DDM is cheap (for folks in the U.S.), the quality is very hit or miss. They are the very reason HIDCanada got started (that, and horrible duty costs, esp warranty returns!).

http://hidcanada.com/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=15

Ok, I should stop tooting my own horn now :p


EDIT: For HID alternatives, these just can't be beat (free shipping too!)

http://www.powerbulbs.com/osram-nightbreaker.asp?cat1=44&cat2=74

and

http://www.powerbulbs.com/philips-xtreme-extreme-power.asp?cat1=37&cat2=73

The Philips Xtreme Power are slightly better, but cost much more than the Osram Night Breakers... making the latter the best value.

[sal_park]

as long as its installed as part of a complete kit (ie, lenses, etc.) there shouldn't be any issues.

Hi shadowpuck,

I though people just changed the bulb ? What else did you change ?

[Rick L]

Thanks guys for the information. I'm looking forward to see better at nights! :)

[Qube]

Hi shadowpuck,

I though people just changed the bulb ? What else did you change ?

I'll interject for a moment but it's usually the meaning of using halogen reflectors versus (at least) a projector headlamp system.

Re: http://hidcanada.com/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=16

[Tiger]

I am amazed by technology... My old Philips ballast requires 15A to ignite and now they only need half that to ignite the HID.

As for the high power halogen bulb... please be AWARE that these bulbs are short lived... they have only 1/3 life of a typical bulb. I'd rather stick in a Hella 80W bulb in place than to use the high priced/low life bulb. 80W bulbs draws 6.66A at the most.

[Rick L]

I couldn't tell you how many times I replaced SilverStar bulbs. Seemed to last only 6 months.


I am amazed by technology... My old Philips ballast requires 15A to ignite and now they only need half that to ignite the HID.

As for the high power halogen bulb... please be AWARE that these bulbs are short lived... they have only 1/3 life of a typical bulb. I'd rather stick in a Hella 80W bulb in place than to use the high priced/low life bulb. 80W bulbs draws 6.66A at the most.

[Bill R.]

I have the 55 watt ddm that aren't supposed to give the lights error message but they did anyway on my 89 535.
I put the resistors inline and they have been working fine. Bulb placement is critical in the housing to avoid unusual scatter and get the beam correct. They'll only work if you have the elipsoidal headlights with the internal shield ,otherwise you'll blind oncoming traffic

Edit, sorry didn't notice that Qube had already mentioned the problem with not using ellipsoidal/projector lights for the hid conversion

[shadowpuck]

yes, you guys already covered it.

the very reason its important to use a complete system designed for HID is the light scatter and blinding of oncoming traffic.

at least in the states, that doesn't take long to get you noticed.

i know there are some model 5 series cars that can use a drop in kit.
i had a broken headlight when i replaced mine with HID so it was just as easy to purchase a complete kit.

agreed on the quality of the DDM stuff; it can be all over the map. my e36 has a DDM kit on it and I had to resolder a couple of connections before the passenger side would work. other than that, everything has worked as advertised and i've had no problems at all.

in the end, i think either ddm or umnitza or ebay you are going to have the potential for quality issues.

let us know how your DDM kit works out!

[jones]

Hi All! I think I met a bunch of you at the Bear Mtn Meet. Thanks Mike and Ed for getting me on this forum :)

DDM HIDs
I've had the DDM kit in since Xmas morning (they were backorderd for a while). 4500d 55w with slim ballasts.

I love the performance. There is no way I'd return to halogens for lows.

But...
They have consistently caused lowbeam errors until I installed a resistor before the ballast. Now zero errors no matter when I turn them on.

Late last night, they turned off while I was driving. It was only for 1-2 seconds and it was the first time but I was not too happy about it. I'm surprised I'd not seen this in the first two days as I put them in and took a four hour trip and back the next evening.

I've went to Radio Shack at lunch to buy parts for a more substantial Error Eliminator with Capacitor to stabilize the HIDs. I feel confident that my new fixit box will smooth them out.

I love a project... especially if I get to use my soldering iron. :D

[Sam-Son]

welcome Dan


Rick check bf.c theres a thread about this very topic on the first page with all the info you need