[Peter Morrin]

Today I bit the bullet and ordered the parts for a quad, LED retrofit of the headlights in my 2007 E90. This is a Canadian spec car that came with the ZKW Bi-Xenon Projectors but without AFS. They still level vertically. I don't think this option was available in the US market, but it was common here and in Europe in the Pre-LCI years.

Lightwerkz have just introduced a bracket for this headlight so that was the impetus to jump into this project. I ordered the brackets, Morimoto MLED 2.0 Bi-LED projectors, simple black Iris shrouds, Morimoto HB (High Beam) LED projectors and some centering rings. Their July 4 sale saved me about $100 on the parts.

My hope is to mount the High Beam LEDs into the inner projector space which in my model is a DRL plus flash-to-pass. I expect the high beam will be a challenge as I have not yet seen it done by anyone else. I know it was deemed too awkward to change a conventional HID bulb, but I figured that since the LED projectors do not have (or hopefully need) replacement bulbs, this might work.

I plan to keep the OEM angel eye rings and add the Lux V7 LED bulbs. I hope I can program these to be the DRL so that the High Beams can be coded for high beam and flash-to-pass duty only. I will need to figure out how to run the high beams in conjunction with Bi-LED.

In anticipation of this project I acquired two extra sets of lights so that I can experiment. These lights have permaseal which is reputed to be a bear to work with. My plan is to cut off the lense of one of my damaged headlights to determine exactly what is needed to mount the projectors and understand the wiring issues. All of the E90 wiring is internal to the headlight, where as the MLED has an external controller. I want to determin if the external controller can be installed inside the headlight or perhaps use the acces point of the old HID Ballast which will not longer be required. I will likely also have to repair the wiring insulation inside the headlight which frequently deteriorates. I need guidance on a de-pinning tool and technique.

I think new lenses are probably the way to go, and I may hire a professional to do actual work, once I have the program worked out.

If anyone has any words of wisdom, I would appreciate it. I have corresponded with some of you previously and appreciate your input. I will be looking for assistance with the internal wiring and coding once I get the mechanical fitment sorted. Wish me luck.

[Captain Buumer]

Likely need to replace FRM module also (from II to III) since the early ones don't like LEDs.

You get multiple bulb failures if it doesn't like the LED low internal resistance.

But i have swapped projectors for bi-xenon & some true 55w (F5 or F7 i think) led high beams and output is great at night.

Biggest feness is getting the new projectors aligned and properly mounted. Some of them are too long and i had to extend the rear cover for the automatic leveling to work all the way up and down.

[Peter Morrin]

Captain, Glad to have your comments.

Being on this side of the pond, I decided to stay with Morimoto and US-based Linkwertz. The service from Linkwertz on the ordering /shipping was excellent, as I received notice that they have been delivered to their destination and are awaiting pick-up.

I considered Retrofitlab, but based on your comments and other factors, decided on this specfic route. If I was not removing the lense, I might have gone with the Retrofitlab projector replacement.

My Canadian model lights (Non-AFS bi-xenon) were available in Europe, but not in the US. The Lightwerkz bracket that I purchased is hence unusual as it would not generally be applicable to US model vehicles. I will report how well it works.

Another issue I want to tackle is whether the external LED controller of the Morimoto MLED can be mounted inside the light assembly, but accessed from the OEM access hatches (such as the HID ballast). This is yet to be confirmed, but I will post my success. The separate controller of the Morimoto MLED 2 is a benefit should it fail prematurely, but it would be nice to have it inside the sealed environment of the light assembly.

I have not read about anyone who has installed the dedicated High Beam in the inner light location. The US lights are different than the Canadian/European pre-LCI lights, so this may be a factor. For the modest cost of the Morimoto LED HB I thought I would try it. Again I will report back.

Looking forward to your comments. I should have my components in a few days and will start the surgery.

[Peter Morrin]

Captain,
I should also mention that my car (2007) has the FRM 3 control module. Have you determined the resistor values to run in series with the new LED lighting to give a similar resistance to what the OEM lighting would present to the canbus system? I think this may actually be simpler than trying to re-program the FRM, although I am prepared to do that also.

One of my concerns is not generating enough heat inside the enclosure in the winter to melt snow and ice. This is my winter car and it will see temperatures as low as minus 30. I think I am going to have to "test and see". I may end up adding an incandescent bulb inside the housing to simply provide heat when I am driving in a snow-storm.

[estonian]

I can add some photos later. Back in 2020, I installed M LED 2.0 projectors into my ZKW bi-xenon headlights, euro-spec E90 2005.

[estonian]

First of all, I want to say, that the Morimoto M LED 2.0 is an excellent product for its price. I did my projector swap back in 2020. I'm in Estonia, so the swap has a lot of practical value. Relating to available daylight here, we are on the same latitude line as southern Alaska. Anybody living there knows how much daylight we get during the winter times.

My car is a euro-spec E90 330i, with bi-xenons and no AFS. I'm not sure about the North-American cars, but my car already came from the factory, with quad high beams (the inner ones are not only for flashing, but real halogen high beams).

So in order to perform the projector swap, you obviously need to remove the lens, there is no way around it. When I did my installation, I planned to refit my old lenses and I do not recommend this. My approach was to use a heat gun and various blades to cut the glue to release the lens from the housing. Not only did I spend way too much time on the lens removal, but this method also does quite a bit of damage to the outer lip of the housing. The correct way to remove the lens on these permaseal headlights is to carefully cut the lens near the glue, and use pliers and blades to remove the glue. You will have much better access to get to the glue this way (this guy - youtube.com/watch?v=4ksQ5bG2xi0 ). Then reassemble the lights with new lenses. The chinese ebay lenses fit perfectly. For reassembly, I used some butyl cord, and after the lenses were in place I applied Sikaflex 710 general butyl around the lens to even further weatherproof the connecting parts.

As I understand, you are using some kind of available bracket to install the M LED-s, but I had to make my own adapter plate, and you can see this from the pictures. Maybe it will be of help to somebody.

My idea first was to install the M LED driver boxes to the places where the original xenon ballasts were. Basically you can't, there is no room to fit them properly between the front radiator frame and the light housing. The original ballast is slim, and designed to squeeze in there. I ended up cutting my ballast housing, and using it just to cover the hole, but run wires out of it, and install the M LED driver under the lights. Word of caution. Do NOT use the Morimoto circular connectors, which run between the projector and the driver. These are POS. I started having problems with my lights after two years of use. We don't have DRL-s here like you do in Canada, our DRL-s are just low beams. So basically after two years of daily use, one day I saw from the reflection of the back of a car that was in front of me, that the drivers side projector low beam is working in high beam mode. At the same time I checked for car errors, and it gave me some sort of a headlight short circuit error. What had happened is that both of these circular connectors had started corroding inside, and basically short circuited inside. I had these connectors inside the headlight housings. You need to cut these circular connectors out, and use either splices, or some other type of connector. Also keep in mind, when doing this, all wires in the harness of the projector are color coated, except for two, which are white. Mark them, so you don't mix them up.

If you end up using a similar setup like I did, then you do not need to change the shrouds for the projector, since the M LED lens is the same diameter as the original, from the outside nothing will give away, that it's not the original projectors. This was important to me, since in Estonia there is mandatory annual vehicle inspection and any kind of lighting modification is prohibited.

Wiring for me was easy.
Xenon supply and return to M LED driver "LOW" connector
Xenon "high beam" solenoid supply and return to M LED driver "HIGH" connector

I think in your case, you just need to do some coding, to have like an euro setup, so you could run your inner lights as high beams.

[estonian]

Additional pics

[Peter Morrin]

What a great write-up! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. It will save me a lot of trouble when I start the project.

Based on your description, Canada got the Euro-style Bi-Xenon projectors without AFS at least in the Pre-LCI models. I believe that AFS models may have been an upgrade, so both may exist here. In the US, I believe all ZKW Bi-Xenon lights got AFS.

Did you replace the high-beam halolgen with another high beam halogen? In my case I am going to try and fit the Morimoto LED High Beam. In Canada, the inner light serves as the DRL. It runs at reduced voltage, but is on all the time. I doubt the LED high beam will function without a specific voltage closer to 12V, so I will likely need to code the DRL feature out of the high beam. I believe the lights can be coded such that the angel eyes function as DRL. This is my intent.

If the LED high beam does not work, I will likely need to go back to a Halogen reflector as originally installed. I am fearful that the high beam relector will be badly tarnished and not useable. This is why I am interested in what you chose.

I have not yet purchase new LED bulbs for the angel eyes, but will likely use the LUX E90 V7. This will allow them to be replaced if the LED's burn out. Many people like to install new LED halos inside the lights, but if anything fails, the lights would need to be dis-assembled to correct the problem.

Thanks again for your write-up and photos of the custom bracket you made. If the bracket supplied by Lightwerkz does not work, I will try and copy your bracket. Do you have your original drawings with the dimensions?

[estonian]

In my case, I left the inner halogen high beams original (H7 bulb). Halogens combined with the outer M LED high beams create plenty of light, even in the shittier conditions. At some point I thought to replace the inner halogens with Morimoto 2STROKE LED bulbs, but the price is a bit much at 200 USD per pair. I'm sure the 2STROKE is an excellent product though.

Well in your case, you have two options to install the Morimoto HB projectors. You can use the extended threaded-shaft of the projector to mount it to the reflector or you can remove the reflector, and make a custom adapter piece to mount the projector directly on to the main carrier. It all comes down to the dimensions of the HB projector. And you are right, once you use the threaded shaft to install the projector through the reflector, you will more than likely mess up the reflective surface. I'm actually looking forward to see your solution here.

I'm quite sure the Canadian DRL electrical supply is PWM based. If you'd connect this supply to any led-s you'd end up with some cool strobe lights.

I don't have any experience with the LUX V7. Although the original incandescent "angel eye" BA9S bulbs tend to burn out too quickly, I will keep them, I think the led whiteish rings look kind of cheap and goofy.

Regards to the custom brackets I made for the M LED-s, then no, I do not have any drawings left unfortunately, just the photos. Sorry.