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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > Cosmetic and Lighting Modifications (exterior/interior) > E90 Halogen to LED Conversions?



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      08-18-2018, 09:04 PM   #1
Yangorang
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E90 Halogen to LED Conversions?

As far as people changing the E90 stock halogen bulbs to LEDs and getting codes is that because CANBUS LEDs are needed or the LEDs aren't drawing enough current or some combination of both? Does the BMW E90 do electronic or power decoding for CANBUS?

Is there a good list out there somewhere of what bulbs work in what spots without adding in resistors or decoders? So far all I've changed out are the stock sidemarker turn signal bulbs with some from Highperformancebulbs. Didn't have to do anything special there and didn't get any codes or anything.

Could I swap in these for the PY21W front turn signals without getting any codes?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077T1D5YT/

Last edited by Yangorang; 08-18-2018 at 10:48 PM..
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      08-18-2018, 09:55 PM   #2
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Check these guys out.

http://www.toptierautoparts.com

Call them. Not alot of BMW stuff on the site but they have it. Owner of the company is a 3 series bimmer owner
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      08-19-2018, 09:17 AM   #3
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You could just code them out with Carly etc

But if you have halogens, you'll want to add projectors before adding LED (or HID) bulbs or you'll blind oncoming traffic.
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      08-22-2018, 06:56 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali-323i View Post
You could just code them out with Carly etc

But if you have halogens, you'll want to add projectors before adding LED (or HID) bulbs or you'll blind oncoming traffic.
Pffft I own a BMW who cares about the oncoming traffic
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      08-23-2018, 03:50 PM   #5
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So if I code out the bulb checks then if any of the halogen bulbs remaining go out I wouldn't know right?

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...car/1326/3051/
https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...fit/4255/9395/

I tested both of these LEDs work for replacing the P21W bulbs in the back with the exception of the turn signals. For the turn signals you'll still get an error on the dash along with the hyper flash. LASFIT is supposedly developing a red version of this bulb which will not have this issue: https://www.lasfit.com/products/lasf...s-error-free-1
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      08-23-2018, 03:58 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Yangorang View Post
So if I code out the bulb checks then if any of the halogen bulbs remaining go out I wouldn't know right?
You code out the bulb check for individual lights (well, the pair L&R). So halogen bulbs that go out will still trigger a notification assuming you only code the bulbs that you change to LED.
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      08-23-2018, 04:06 PM   #7
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For 2008 vehicles you can get Error Correctors or you can just code them out. Coding them out means if they fail you won't get an error though. Not the end of the world as it should be pretty obvious if you have a headlight out.

Consider the vendor classifieds section for quality / brightest options. There are a lot of sub par LED available on the internet, some more show then go so to speak.

Since you mentioned HPB we are an authorized dealer for all their products and I even use their products on my own personal vehicles.
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      09-05-2018, 01:11 PM   #8
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I guess since most of the LEDs are using some sort of load resistor to add additional power draw anyway it makes much more sense to just code out the checks entirely since LEDs last virtually the life of the car.

I tried these bulbs from HPB for the rear turn signals as they seem to have some load resistors integrated but they were a no go. They get really hot and still have the error anyway. HPB said it's sort of hit or miss for 2006-2008 models.
https://sep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-3182566...r-bright-3.gif

Carly is sort of expensive these days. I'm going to try BimmerGeeks ProTool and see if that works for this.
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      09-06-2018, 12:38 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Yangorang View Post
I guess since most of the LEDs are using some sort of load resistor to add additional power draw anyway it makes much more sense to just code out the checks entirely since LEDs last virtually the life of the car.

I tried these bulbs from HPB for the rear turn signals as they seem to have some load resistors integrated but they were a no go. They get really hot and still have the error anyway. HPB said it's sort of hit or miss for 2006-2008 models.
https://sep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-3182566...r-bright-3.gif

Carly is sort of expensive these days. I'm going to try BimmerGeeks ProTool and see if that works for this.
that's why I said check out Top Tier Auto Parts out of Anahiem,Ca. They have the canbus adapters for LED so no coding would have to be done.
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      09-06-2018, 12:01 PM   #10
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For my E90 328i, I've bought LEDs from iJDMToy, Auxito, Floesser and Sylvania off Amazon (just depending on what vendor had the available bulbs). My Halos are from Blast LED. I've replaced almost every bulb (except hi/lo/fog lamps) with an LED in my car with no issues to date.
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      09-06-2018, 12:48 PM   #11
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Depending on what you want to spend your money on, I'd suggest just getting a OBDII to USB cable and using NCS Expert to code them out manually, once you learn your way around NCS Expert, it is really fun to customize your car, plus you never know when you might need it in the future, along with INPA etc etc. If you use NCS to code out the errors and voltage checks, then you wouldn't have to spend more money on expensive CANBUS bulbs and you can get by with the regular LEDs. I just coded out the errors and voltage checks for my E90 last night and it felt great to not have to listen to the car yell at me and flash the LED bulbs when i started it.
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      09-06-2018, 05:26 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Yangorang View Post
I guess since most of the LEDs are using some sort of load resistor to add additional power draw anyway it makes much more sense to just code out the checks entirely since LEDs last virtually the life of the car.

I tried these bulbs from HPB for the rear turn signals as they seem to have some load resistors integrated but they were a no go. They get really hot and still have the error anyway. HPB said it's sort of hit or miss for 2006-2008 models.
https://sep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-3182566...r-bright-3.gif

Carly is sort of expensive these days. I'm going to try BimmerGeeks ProTool and see if that works for this.
Any coding cable will work so as long as you know what you're doing with the programs.

06-07 are usually problematic for anything LED so for anyone with those vehicles always assume you'll need coding.
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      09-10-2018, 11:51 PM   #13
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So it seems like when I replaced the bulbs even with non-canbus bulbs in all the rear tail light spots I was able to get away with only coding out cold checks. Hot checks didn't seem to cause a problem at all. So with hot checks still enabled if one of the LEDs ever did actually go bad somehow I'd know about it once the car tries to light it up right?
I used the LASFIT P21W bulbs since they seem to have a pretty good quality heatsink design: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CGKB8ML
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