[Rotary Rasp]

and for the record, my ddm hid fog lights have been going strong for 3 years.

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by itschase

Thanks for making the DIY, there is never any point to spending loads of money on 'special' HID kits when all errors can be coded out.

I had this type of set-up on my 550i and people flashed me constantly at night. Went happily back to stock.

Well the reason why you need to buy special ballasts is because most of the time, people are upgrading from halogen to HID.

Many halogen fixtures have a PWM signal on the power line to control the output of the halogen bulb. This PWM signal will kill HID ballasts because the signal outputs a square wave to control the bulb's brightness..... basically it turns the bulb on and off rapidly. So fast, you cannot see it. But the ballast does and they are affected by this....this is why sometimes people get flickering HIDs. The PWM frequency is slow. A faster PWM frequency will allow the ballast it ignite the bulb initially, but then sometimes it will shut off. When the PWM frequency is set to the fastest setting, the ballast will act like it's operating normally, but in reality, the componets inside are seeing constant fluctuations in voltage....it doesn't help that the car's electrical system is very noisy either.

This is where coding comes in. You can code the car to xenon which will eliminate that PWM signal.

Now I'm not sure how the OP's setup is going to last since you can't remove the PWM signal from the angel eyes....at least to my knowledge. He coded out the errors in step 7, disabled the "soft illumination" feature (which is most likely a PWM signal) in step 6, and disabled the dimming (also a PWM signal, it's in the code name) in step 8.

But nothing was done for the way it lights the bulb continuously....again I'm not sure if you can code angel eyes to xenon.

I do know you can alter that PWM frequency so that the PWM signal is so fast, fluctuations in voltage are minimized, but that just hides the problem and a ballast failure in inevitable. It can be a week or 6 months before the ballast fails, but it will ultimately fail.

Also OP, the reason why other setups have a wire going out of the housing is because they most likely are grabbing power directly from the battery or another 12v source that does not have a PWM signal on it. Then a relay is used to light the ballast, triggered by the existing angel eye power wire, and powered by the external 12v source.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by Rotary Rasp

cool, don't use ddm then.

lots of people on this forum offer free coding (including me at one time, but I no longer have time)

both problems solved.

even if you bought the coding cable ($90) and the hid kit ($40), it's still cheaper and BETTER than using one of the non-PnP hack job kits vendors sell on this forum.

I agree the pnp hid kit are hack jobs. I feel people would want to know the ddm kit is atleast ruining their ae housing and should seek a high quality kit with uv protection if they are focused on long term longevity and reliability.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by *********

Well the reason why you need to buy special ballasts is because most of the time, people are upgrading from halogen to HID.

Many halogen fixtures have a PWM signal on the power line to control the output of the halogen bulb. This PWM signal will kill HID ballasts because the signal outputs a square wave to control the bulb's brightness..... basically it turns the bulb on and off rapidly. So fast, you cannot see it. But the ballast does and they are affected by this....this is why sometimes people get flickering HIDs.

This is where coding comes in. You can code the car to xenon which will eliminate that PWM signal.

Now I'm not sure how the OP's setup is going to last since you can't remove the PWM signal from the angel eyes....at least to my knowledge. He coded out the errors in step 7, disabled the "soft illumination" feature (which is most likely a PWM signal) in step 6, and disabled the dimming (also a PWM signal, it's in the code name) in step 8.

But nothing was done for the way it lights the bulb continuously....again I'm not sure if you can code angel eyes to xenon.

I do know you can alter that PWM frequency so that the PWM signal is so fast, fluctuations in voltage are minimized, but that just hides the problem and a ballast failure in inevitable. It can be a week or 6 months before the ballast fails, but it will ultimately fail.

[Motastic]

well jeff let me ask you a questions, what if you ran the DDM kit with the HPB bulbs? would that work?

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by Motastic

well jeff let me ask you a questions, what if you ran the DDM kit with the HPB bulbs? would that work?

It might but fdriller makes a good point about the whole pwm signal problem. Which will lead to ballast failure if the ddm ballast dont already fail on their own. Those kits are like vw, some work great and others dont work at all. In my lifetime ive probably had a dozen kits between all my cars im personally tired of saving a few dollars to possibly have a head ache. I know some of you guys are younger then me and looking to save where you can but when youve messed with enough cars sometimes you want to know where the hig quality stuff is. Not hatin on op for wanting to save a few bucks. There is a guy a few threads down with ddm kit, error cancelors and trying to codd and still cant get his lights to stay on.

Oh and just for the record those PNP kits are not better on quality. These use the same cheap components too. People are better off purchasing a high quality kit, and coding if they want the best of the best.

[Tuesday]

Originally Posted by *********

Well the reason why you need to buy special ballasts is because most of the time, people are upgrading from halogen to HID.

Many halogen fixtures have a PWM signal on the power line to control the output of the halogen bulb. This PWM signal will kill HID ballasts because the signal outputs a square wave to control the bulb's brightness..... basically it turns the bulb on and off rapidly. So fast, you cannot see it. But the ballast does and they are affected by this....this is why sometimes people get flickering HIDs. The PWM frequency is slow. A faster PWM frequency will allow the ballast it ignite the bulb initially, but then sometimes it will shut off. When the PWM frequency is set to the fastest setting, the ballast will act like it's operating normally, but in reality, the componets inside are seeing constant fluctuations in voltage....it doesn't help that the car's electrical system is very noisy either.

This is where coding comes in. You can code the car to xenon which will eliminate that PWM signal.

Now I'm not sure how the OP's setup is going to last since you can't remove the PWM signal from the angel eyes....at least to my knowledge. He coded out the errors in step 7, disabled the "soft illumination" feature (which is most likely a PWM signal) in step 6, and disabled the dimming (also a PWM signal, it's in the code name) in step 8.

But nothing was done for the way it lights the bulb continuously....again I'm not sure if you can code angel eyes to xenon.

I do know you can alter that PWM frequency so that the PWM signal is so fast, fluctuations in voltage are minimized, but that just hides the problem and a ballast failure in inevitable. It can be a week or 6 months before the ballast fails, but it will ultimately fail.

Also OP, the reason why other setups have a wire going out of the housing is because they most likely are grabbing power directly from the battery or another 12v source that does not have a PWM signal on it. Then a relay is used to light the ballast, triggered by the existing angel eye power wire, and powered by the external 12v source.

Yep - I know about PWM manipulation. Glad you do too

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by Rotary Rasp

No, not really. Here is a temp reading I took of the ballast after 15 minutes. (it looks like I'm pointing it at the igniter, but I'm not.)

Looks good! That's not too hot at all.

Give my last post a read.

You may want to rewire the ballast or at least raise the PWM frequency.

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by itschase

Yep - I know about PWM manipulation. Glad you do too

Wasn't trying to single you out if that's how it came off. Just wanted to give some info in addition to your post.

[Rotary Rasp]

Originally Posted by *********

Well the reason why you need to buy special ballasts is because most of the time, people are upgrading from halogen to HID.

Many halogen fixtures have a PWM signal on the power line to control the output of the halogen bulb. This PWM signal will kill HID ballasts because the signal outputs a square wave to control the bulb's brightness..... basically it turns the bulb on and off rapidly. So fast, you cannot see it. But the ballast does and they are affected by this....this is why sometimes people get flickering HIDs. The PWM frequency is slow. A faster PWM frequency will allow the ballast it ignite the bulb initially, but then sometimes it will shut off. When the PWM frequency is set to the fastest setting, the ballast will act like it's operating normally, but in reality, the componets inside are seeing constant fluctuations in voltage....it doesn't help that the car's electrical system is very noisy either.

This is where coding comes in. You can code the car to xenon which will eliminate that PWM signal.

Now I'm not sure how the OP's setup is going to last since you can't remove the PWM signal from the angel eyes....at least to my knowledge. He coded out the errors in step 7, disabled the "soft illumination" feature (which is most likely a PWM signal) in step 6, and disabled the dimming (also a PWM signal, it's in the code name) in step 8.

But nothing was done for the way it lights the bulb continuously....again I'm not sure if you can code angel eyes to xenon.

I do know you can alter that PWM frequency so that the PWM signal is so fast, fluctuations in voltage are minimized, but that just hides the problem and a ballast failure in inevitable. It can be a week or 6 months before the ballast fails, but it will ultimately fail.

Also OP, the reason why other setups have a wire going out of the housing is because they most likely are grabbing power directly from the battery or another 12v source that does not have a PWM signal on it. Then a relay is used to light the ballast, triggered by the existing angel eye power wire, and powered by the external 12v source.

You can code the car to increase the PWM duty cycle to 100%. It requires one more step which involves coding non-standard variables into the NETTODAT file. It's not hard. I found that disabling the dimming was enough for the ballast to work. However, if people have concerns about running them at 80% duty cycle, I will gladly provide information on how to completely disable the PWM for the angel eyes (100% duty cycle) - it takes 3 more minutes.

[Rotary Rasp]

This was posted on the bmw coding forum and also reposted several times here:

Basically read your NFRM/FRM. Then take the NETTODAT file and make a copy to compare from.
Now change the AE wert_06 or whatever it is and change it to wert_01 and recode the car.
Now read the module again and compare this NETTODAT file to the last.
You'll find 2 bytes (values) that changed.
Then you change them:
00 10 --> [0,0V]
55 05 --> [5,95V]
DD 05 --> [6,6V]
21 06 --> [6,9V]
10 09 --> [10,2V]
F4 09 --> [11,2V]
D7 0A --> [12,2V]
49 0B --> [12,7V]
8D 0B --> [13,0V]
BB 0B --> [13,2V]
FF 0B --> [13,5V]
2C 0C --> [13,7V]
38 0E --> [16,0V]
Save this NETTODAT and recode using the NETTODAT instead of the normal MAN file.

Once you get over the battery voltage - the pwm is effectively disabled.

[Rotary Rasp]

I've updated the DIY to include directions on disabling PWM.

[Rotary Rasp]

Originally Posted by Motastic

well jeff let me ask you a questions, what if you ran the DDM kit with the HPB bulbs? would that work?

Yea, that would work if you're concerned about UV. Although our lights come with HID from the factory, so I would think that the plastic is capable of handling the UV.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by Rotary Rasp

Yea, that would work if you're concerned about UV. Although our lights come with HID from the factory, so I would think that the plastic is capable of handling the UV.

The stock D1s bulbs (low beam) have UV protection as they are the best of the best, philips bulbs.

The AE is more sensitive to UV then other parts of the housing since its a fiber optic.

[Rotary Rasp]

Originally Posted by Jeff@topgearsolutions

The stock D1s bulbs (low beam) have UV protection as they are the best of the best, philips bulbs.

The AE is more sensitive to UV then other parts of the housing since its a fiber optic.

Yea, you're probably right about that. But still, the fact remains that no one has actually posted pictures of their e9x angel rings discoloring - until that happens we can't say for sure that this will ever be an issue.

[fdriller9]

Ahhh!!! You know what I just realized? On the E90 there is a glass piece that sits in between the bulb and the ends of the rings. That is probably a UV filter....I don't think anyone knew what that was.

I've never seen the inside of the E92 angel eye sockets but there must be something similar. I don't see why they would do this on one model and not the other. If nothing was removed, then it's probably built in and not removable or something.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by Rotary Rasp

Yea, you're probably right about that. But still, the fact remains that no one has actually posted pictures of their e9x angel rings discoloring - until that happens we can't say for sure that this will ever be an issue.

Well not to be funny although it is, there are not many HID angel eye guys with kits that last long enough.

Just do a search and you will see a lot of them failing.

One local I know here had his Alpine kit fail within a couple months.

[onesuperboi]

Originally Posted by Jeff@topgearsolutions

Well not to be funny although it is, there are not many HID angel eye guys with kits that last long enough.

Just do a search and you will see a lot of them failing.

One local I know here had his Alpine kit fail within a couple months.

I bought the Alpine HID angel eye kit. It does look like the outer ring is more yellowish than the inner rings, and it has been like that since day one. I was explained from some members, including the guy from OSS, that the color would be a bit yellowish because of the fiber optics. I'm not sure if this is the discoloration you are referring too. You are also the first person to say something regarding UV output.

[5soko]

How about the issues of the HID's cuasing the AE rings to become yellow over time from too much UV exposure?

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by onesuperboi

I bought the Alpine HID angel eye kit. It does look like the outer ring is more yellowish than the inner rings, and it has been like that since day one. I was explained from some members, including the guy from OSS, that the color would be a bit yellowish because of the fiber optics. I'm not sure if this is the discoloration you are referring too. You are also the first person to say something regarding UV output.

UV output is often left out because people are unaware of it and its hard to pinpoint exactly how much and what amount can cause discoloration. However, you will notice that the high end manufacturers like philips for instance are sure to claim their bulbs are UV safe.

My Angel eye rings are very clear no yellow whatsoever so it begs the question if the hid bulbs did it or just the sun. My car is garage kept and fairly new.

[Rotary Rasp]

Originally Posted by Jeff@topgearsolutions

UV output is often left out because people are unaware of it and its hard to pinpoint exactly how much and what amount can cause discoloration. However, you will notice that the high end manufacturers like philips for instance are sure to claim their bulbs are UV safe.

My Angel eye rings are very clear no yellow whatsoever so it begs the question if the hid bulbs did it or just the sun. My car is garage kept and fairly new.

I think he is referring to when the angel eyes are lit up. The outer ring will always be a little more yellow because it's fiber optic. The inner ring is not fiber optic.

When the lights are off, they should look the same.

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by Rotary Rasp

I think he is referring to when the angel eyes are lit up. The outer ring will always be a little more yellow because it's fiber optic. The inner ring is not fiber optic.

When the lights are off, they should look the same.

What do you mean the inner ring isn't fiber optic?

I thought they were both acrylic light pipes?

I think it just has to do with the fact that the light for the outer ring enters at a different angle and the bends in the light pipe (and further distance it has to travel) decreases light output.

EDIT:

The outer ring has a weird design. This picture is also misleading because light doesn't leave the front of the rings. It is reflected off the polished front and escapes out the back. The ridges act as a diffuser and "glow" when light escapes. This is why it's so hard to get daytime visibility.....because the actual light rays escape from the back of the rings, not the front.