[relentlessone]

I puchased LED angel eyes off of eBay for my 2007 328i sedan and attempted to install them over the weekend. After shortening the screws and getting them in, I realized there was nowhere inside the headlight assembly to mount the aluminum resistor casings. The casing is too long to fit inside the cap or inside the housing. I have searched the forum for answers, but didn't come across any solutions. Can anyone help that has installed these?

Here are the ones I purchased:

[mbanks21]

I think your only option is to drill a small hole in the cover and run the wire through it.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Yea those require you to either leave the cover off or drill holes in the cover.

I highly recommend you don't as you open yourself up to dust dirt and moisture getting in that area.

There are a lot of plug and play option available by vendors here that offer an LED solution that retains the cover. Lux MTECH and HPB are the most popular, to name a few.

[relentlessone]

Thanks for the input guys. I'll be cutting the caps and 3D printing an extended piece to seal the lights, no chance I'm leaving the cap off or drilling holes.

[relentlessone]

I just wanted to update this thread in case anyone else came across the same problem. What I ended up doing was cutting about 3/4" off of the resistor/canbus aluminum housing, and then it fit in the small cap without issue. The design of the casing maintains the screw holes after being cut, so all you need to do is dremel 3/4" of the casing off without hitting the wires, and then screw the end plate back on. Take both end plates off to see which side you have more room to remove. The circuit boards on mine were epoxied to the inside of the case, so they couldn't be removed. I really didn't want to compromise the seal on the plastic cap, and this method allowed me not to.

[LuxAngelEyes]

when you cut the resistor housing, did you also cut the resistor that was inside there??? Do you have a picture of the cut side of that piece?

[relentlessone]

Originally Posted by LuxAngelEyes

when you cut the resistor housing, did you also cut the resistor that was inside there??? Do you have a picture of the cut side of that piece?

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the inside, but no, nothing but the housing was cut. I just went around the circumference with a cutting disc. The resistor circuit board itself is only about half the length of the housing so there is plenty of room in there. I imagine they leave extra space for cooling, which is fine on just about every other platform, but there isn't room for it on the pre-LCI E90s.

I also wanted to add that I have no errors, so the resistors were not damaged in the process, everything is still working as it should. I was a little worried because housings got pretty hot during cutting, but it was fine.

[BklynTico506]

[QUOTE=relentlessone;17661964] I imagine they leave extra space for cooling QUOTE]

Aren't you concerned that you may have cut the life of the resistors or your AE's by doing this then? Just curious.

[relentlessone]

Originally Posted by BklynTico506

Aren't you concerned that you may have cut the life of the resistors or your AE's by doing this then? Just curious.

Not really, there is still plenty of space inside the aluminum housing, I just reduced it. The resistor board is much smaller than you would think, probably the size of a paperclip. If I end up taking them out for any reason I'll post up a picture.

If they do end up burning out sooner than they should, they were only $50 and lesson learned. I was just faced with the options of cutting holes in the plastic cap and compromising the entire headlight, or cutting the resistor pack housing and only risking the AEs.

[VTECaddict]

I left out the resistor on mine from eBay and just coded out the error. The only purpose of the resistor is to prevent the bulb out error anyway, and this way I'm preventing unnecessary heat generation in that tight space.

[relentlessone]

Originally Posted by VTECaddict

I left out the resistor on mine from eBay and just coded out the error. The only purpose of the resistor is to prevent the bulb out error anyway, and this way I'm preventing unnecessary heat generation in that tight space.

That's a good idea. What did you use to code out the error? I have the BMW 1.4 Scanner for my E39, so I was planning on getting the 1.2.2 Scanner for my E90, but I can't find out whether it will code windows up with fob, light errors, etc.

[VTECaddict]

K+DCAN cable and NCSexpert. See the coding section of the forum.

[relentlessone]

A photo of the resistor I trimmed down for reference:

[Jozy]

a year later you're back with answers

[El Cheapo Loco]

Originally Posted by Jozy

a year later you're back with answers

Well that's why he is the..... relentlessone

[relentlessone]

Originally Posted by El Cheapo Loco

Well that's why he is the..... relentlessone

hahahaha

[MR.BLUECOLLARMAN]

Originally Posted by El Cheapo Loco

Well that's why he is the..... relentlessone

I died