[e90Cam]

[tke344]

Originally Posted by maymay07

Awesome, I'm glad to see you guys are not getting scared off and trying new things based on real data!
I'm also very ineterested to see the pics with new bulbs, it seems like they may be a bit brighter as well as whiter in color.

One question on your HID install (or for anyone doing HID AEs) - Did you drill holes in your light housing covers to route the HID wiring to the bulbs?

That is the intent of the kit I used, but I found that in my case (E90), the wires can be passed through the soft rubber of the cover seal, and so I just cut off the rubber grommets from the wiring and routed them that way. It's one less place to potentially leak moisture and the cover fits snug around the wires.

Attached is pic of the passenger side cover with 4 wires passing through (2 wires power to HID lamp, 2 wires signal to drive the relay). It was pretty hard to install the cover but can be done. The drivers side is very easy since it only has 2 wires to the bulb.

I drilled the covers, 1" holes and used the grommets that were included with the bulbs, once I get a chance to swap to the new 5000k Morimoto bulbs I'm going to put a bead of silicone on the inside and outside of the caps. If you need to go back to stock just buy new ones, they're 10$ each. Besides the moisture issues I'd be concerned that the wires are getting pinched.

[maymay07]

Originally Posted by tke344

I drilled the covers, 1" holes and used the grommets that were included with the bulbs, once I get a chance to swap to the new 5000k Morimoto bulbs I'm going to put a bead of silicone on the inside and outside of the caps. If you need to go back to stock just buy new ones, they're 10$ each. Besides the moisture issues I'd be concerned that the wires are getting pinched.

Cool thanks for the info, I figured that most people drill it out. But never really saw it discussed.

Personally, I haven't had any moisture issues, but then again I'm in CA and it's a dry climate. I think that's more of an issue for moist areas (southern states ex. Florida might be a big issue).

Wires are definitely pinched but not damaged. I think I saw an install video for the Alpine HID harness where they didn't drill, but that was an E92, I think.

[AWDBooSTIn90]

I had a moisture issue on my e92's headlight. Just a little bit of condensation caused a whole bunch of problems! Water dripped down and fried the xenon ballast and the adaptive headlight module.

I was getting condensation just from overnight dew. When you wake up and see the grass wet, well my headlights were wet on the inside too lol.

Had to go over all the little covers. Solved the problem, but the headlight seals are sensitive to leaking from the smallest gaps.

I have 40w leds on my angel eyes. They look nice. However everytime i see LCI e92 im jealous of the nice led rings they have.

Im considering experimenting with an hid kit.

Has anyone actually tried using the lci led module to light up the pre-lci rings? Or switch over everything so you dont need the lci headlights and everything that goes along with that?

[tke344]

I'd imagine on the LCI e92 the LEDs are built into the rings, and non replaceable (without soldering at least). You'd have to swap rings and the LED drivers, which I'm sure aren't sold separately from the entire headlight housing. Maybe you could do it if you found a set of damaged housings but it would be easier and cheaper to just buy some LED rings from Morimoto or Umnitza.

I swapped in the 5000k bulbs this afternoon. Much more of an OEM look, pure white, which in my opinion, goes very well with the stock HIDs. I also have 4300k HID fogs and the contrast is perfect, they stand out just a little bit compared to the other forward lighting. I'll try and get some daytime pictures tomorrow if it's sunny, started raining just after I finished so the pics I did take look blinding.

[chiaobaby]

Originally Posted by tke344

I know there's quite a few threads already about putting HIDs into the angel eyes. Most of the concerns had to do with poor quality bulbs yellowing the rings and the excessive lumens blinding other drivers at night. I was researching 25w HID Kits and found that they should put out around 1700-2000 lumens depending on color temp, compared to ~3000 for a 35w kit.

I was thinking about buying this kit but the only thing holding me up is coding the errors out.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JH6LYWQ?...=UTF8&psc=1&s=

I just ordered a bluetooth obd2 adapter for use with the BMWhat app, I think the newest version can code bulb checks but I'm not sure if it can turn off the fade in and dimming. Even if I get errors I should be able to get an idea of what they'll look like at night. If the results are good I'd probably replace the bulbs with Morimoto's that have proper UV filtering just to be safe.

Has anyone tried this before with 25w ballasts? I'd love to hear some experiences.

Why reinvent the wheel?

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/prod...852674286.html


http://www.aliexpress.com/premium/LE...Marker+for+BMW

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by chiaobaby

Why reinvent the wheel?

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/prod...852674286.html


http://www.aliexpress.com/premium/LE...Marker+for+BMW

Surely you aren't recommending someone to purchase from Alibaba

Ships from China, takes weeks to arrive (if not longer), no warranty and sketchy/ non existent customer service. You also have a minimum purchase quantity on some products.

Not to mention a site that has so many options it leaves the customer confused on what even fits their vehicle let alone how it performs.

OP do yourself a favor and buy from a trusted vendor. Not only will you got the product in 2-3 business days (from us) but our descriptions at least have an application listing that is correct and plenty of reviews and real world pictures from customers so you get an accurate representation of what your buying.

I hate throwing around sales pitches but this is just the genuine cold truth.

To the OP:

In my experience with HID they were very overpowering and did not look clean. You also should be genuinely concerned with your angel eyes discoloring should you go with an inexpensive bulb as they don't have the same UV protection.

Since I already see members attacking another vendor in here this will likely be my last remark. I hope it genuinely helps someone though.

[tke344]

Thanks Jeff, I appreciate the honest response. I did previously have LEDs from a vendor on this site the "40w" version. Honestly don't even remember who I got them from.

The HIDs are a bit overpowering at night but being that they're 25w ballasts it's not as bad as what most people are running. Still may code them to shut off with the low beams or put in a relay harness with switch so I can turn them off when I'm trying to avoid unwanted attention. I did swap the cheap bulbs out with UV shielded 5000k Morimoto bulbs so I think I'm safe as far as yellowing.

I did have a little trouble today with the bulbs not both firing up but it could be loose wiring, the bulbs came with universal pin style connectors without a real male h8 plug for power to the ballast. I've since ordered the proper plastic locking connectors. Also a little suspicious of my battery, it gave me some trouble this winter so I think it's about time to replace it. I'm definitely not trying to hide any issues I have with this project, it was something I wanted to do as an enthusiast and it's been fun so far. I'd love to go with real LED rings but I don't have the balls (yet) to open the housings.

[chiaobaby]

same from amazon

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GT850JS/...I1HYOIQAG2GCCO


http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...rds=Newsun+led

[tke344]

Grabbed a quick picture.. indirect sunlight, it's pretty accurate as far as color and visibility during the day, it's at a slight offset so the outer ring is less visible in some spots but straight on its even.. Obviously not as bright as the inner ring but no bulb is going to fix that.

[maymay07]

Actually looks quite good. I'm surprised how white the rings are at 25 watts, not really any bluer than my bulbs running at 35 watts.

I might just swap my ballasts and see how I like them.

[tke344]

I ended up installing the Morimoto relay harness. I was having some intermittent issues with both bulbs firing up when I unlocked the car. Been perfect since, I think it's much safer this way too, the relay is being triggered off of my passenger side plug. I'll have to take a few pictures after I clean up the wiring.

[Intotheblue]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I finally did this mod myself, and to sum up...don't do it! Lol, even at 25W with 6000K morimoto bulbs (with its lowered lumens over 5000K) these suckers are so bright. I guess that's really a selling point for most.

I ended up buying the $10 more expensive AC ballasts than the OP and also had to use a relay harness to the battery. Feel free to PM or ask questions here since I ran into a number of problems that I had to get past. Total price spent including the cable to code was $160, so way cheaper than the other options out there, and just plain bright.

[tke344]

For what it's worth, the high end LED solutions are putting out similar if not more lumens than a 25w ballast would.

I don't know why but when I had the 6000k bulbs in they appeared a lot brighter for some reason, I think the additional color was more offensive.

[Intotheblue]

I'm considering getting a pair of 5000K bulbs, but for now I'm enjoying standing out just a bit from the stock LCI look.

If I were to do it again I think the changeable Lux angel eyes would be a good option, I just didn't think it'd be possible for any of the LED bulbs to be as bright as HIDs. Even if I did buy a 2nd set of bulbs, I'd still come in cheaper than the best LED bulbs.