OEM Bi-Xenon Conversion

Satalite · 05-05-2011, 12:59 AM

I know there are A LOT of headlight braniacs out there that know this stuff better than me. So I am calling upon your help to solve a problem I have....

I am looking to install OEM Bi-Xenon Headlights into a 128i that has the Halogen Headlights installed currently. My production date is 02/09 with a footwell module 2. On RealOEM I see everything I currently have (bulbs, ballasts, headlights) the only kicker is this:

CONTROL UNIT XENON LIGHT (QTY-2) PN: 63117180050 (PRICE: $449.90) Are these the ballasts? And is there anything else I would need? Coding? I really just want to know how much "plug and play" these will be and if this is a project I could install myself by taking out my halogen headlights and mounting the ballasts and plug in the Xenons and have the car coded at the dealer...

Thanks for your help!

Yvette · 05-05-2011, 01:05 AM

you will be better off w/ aftermarket HID kits than OEM.
I am not a electricwiremodiciation guy, I have a friend that will provide me HID kit for 180, and I will be paying shop to do the install-wire modification. They quote me roughly around $200 just for the labour.

Satalite · 05-05-2011, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by e90sexion

you will be better off w/ aftermarket HID kits than OEM.
I am not a electricwiremodiciation guy, I have a friend that will provide me HID kit for 180, and I will be paying shop to do the install-wire modification. They quote me roughly around $200 just for the labour.

Well I have asked a few people so I am waiting on a couple responses to see if they can help.

I am NOT going to install an HID kit onto these OEM Xenons so wiring won't be too much of an issue...

I have to take it in anyway since I had a rattling issue that ended up being that the dealer didn't secure the heated seats "buttons" and when I went to press them the entire piece went waaay inside and I can't get it anymore... on top of that I have an electronic issue that can't be resolved by BMW currently, so to say the least I am somewhat upset... so I will try to get free coding!

Yvette · 05-05-2011, 01:34 AM

you still need wiring modification for halogen to xenon conversion.

AW128i · 05-05-2011, 11:39 AM

First, are you planning to install the adaptive lights as found in the U.S. cars, or the non-adaptive found on the European cars?

Satalite · 05-05-2011, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AW128i

First, are you planning to install the adaptive lights as found in the U.S. cars, or the non-adaptive found on the European cars?

It would be a Euro-Spec OEM Xenon (non-adaptive)

AW128i · 05-05-2011, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satalite

It would be a Euro-Spec OEM Xenon (non-adaptive)

Perfect. Change your VO to include the xenon lights (this will automatically add the auto-leveling, too), code out the auto-leveling, code the car to use the halogen high beams, and then make a small wiring change inside the headlights to wire the bi-xenon shutter to the halogen high beam. There you go, functioning bi-xenons. You can also code the car to use the corona rings as the DRLs, if you want.

CentralPA E82 · 05-05-2011, 01:02 PM

Interesting, I have a 128 with the same build date and am attempting the same project. I have installed the lights (euro bi-xenon) and made the modification to the wire (need to add a ground wire to the existing harness). The issue is coding, the dealer has no clue how to program the lights. Find someone with an Autologic and you might be good to go. Can tell you from experience that the E90 coding does not seem to carryover, the lights are fine with the engine off but flicker once the car is started. The issue is the PWM setting (pulse width modulation). Essentially you have a circuit that cycles on/off which is fine for halogen but not xenon. Will keep you informed if I find a solution.

AW128i · 05-05-2011, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CentralPA E82

Interesting, I have a 128 with the same build date and am attempting the same project. I have installed the lights (euro bi-xenon) and made the modification to the wire (need to add a ground wire to the existing harness). The issue is coding, the dealer has no clue how to program the lights. Find someone with an Autologic and you might be good to go. Can tell you from experience that the E90 coding does not seem to carryover, the lights are fine with the engine off but flicker once the car is started. The issue is the PWM setting (pulse width modulation). Essentially you have a circuit that cycles on/off which is fine for halogen but not xenon. Will keep you informed if I find a solution.

Did you change the VO to include the xenon lights? And yeah, I don't doubt that the dealer is clueless. The dealer scan tools are powerful, but it's very unlikely they know how to do anything beyond the step-by-step stuff they're trained to do. With things like NCSEXPERT, you can manually make these changes to individual modules and such.

blingers · 05-21-2011, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AW128i

Perfect. Change your VO to include the xenon lights (this will automatically add the auto-leveling, too), code out the auto-leveling, code the car to use the halogen high beams, and then make a small wiring change inside the headlights to wire the bi-xenon shutter to the halogen high beam. There you go, functioning bi-xenons. You can also code the car to use the corona rings as the DRLs, if you want.

just wondering, if you code for halogen highbeams for the xenons won't you get a bulb out error because the high beams in the xenons is just the solenoid which draws little power

AW128i · 05-22-2011, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blingers

just wondering, if you code for halogen highbeams for the xenons won't you get a bulb out error because the high beams in the xenons is just the solenoid which draws little power

The non-adaptive bi-xenons have a standard halogen high beam in addition to the xenon high beam. So the car is looking for the halogen high beam. The adaptive bi-xenons do not have a halogen high beam and would lead to problems if coding the car for halogen high beams.

IDriveACamryNow · 05-31-2011, 02:22 AM

I think there are some aspects of the retrofit that are yet to be explained properly. Going off the well illustrated e90 halogen to xenon conversion, it is mostly the same except for a few important differences.

e8x socket (from module)
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No wire 2 (which is where the the new ground wire will go) and no wire 5, which is the bi-xenon shutter in the e9x xenons.

e8x halogen headlamp socket
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e8x xenon headlamp socket
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It has a wire 5, but no wire 6 or 7 like with the e9x xenons. So how does this work? What are we supposed to tap to get the xenon highbeams? Would I need to add a new wire in position 5 (on the car-side socket) and splice that to wire 6 so that the high beam power can get to the bi-xenon shutter.

Has anyone actually got this to work?

aacabriolet · 05-31-2011, 03:12 AM

@Drawn05 - are you also doing the Bi-Xenon retrofit?

Pm me your email address so we can keep in touch. I'll be doing the same thing shortly too.

aacabriolet · 05-31-2011, 03:36 AM

Can you not follow the wires behind there and see which pin is going to the current high beams? Then tap the shutter wire into that?

Can you take some pics of inside the headlight for us? Wires etc.

aacabriolet · 05-31-2011, 04:56 AM

@Drawn05 I've re-arranged your pics to try and make some more sense of them put side by side:

In the meantime please follow the wire inside the bi-xenon housing from the High beam bulb, and see which pin it connects to.

Thanks

IDriveACamryNow · 05-31-2011, 05:19 AM

The wire for the halogen h7 is wire 3, and goes straight into the d1s bulb.

There doesnt appear to be a 'high beam' wire as with the e90.

Wire 1 = Angel Eyes
Wire 2 = (2nd ground wire)
Wire 3 = Bi-xenon (low/high beams)
Wire 4 = Original ground wire
Wire 5 = (Shutter????)
Wire 6 = x
Wire 7 = x
Wire 8 = Leveler
Wire 9 = Leveler
Wire 10= Leveler
Wire 11= Leveler
Wire 12= Indicator

I cant get a picture of behind the socket as it too difficult to remove.

aacabriolet · 05-31-2011, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drawn05

The wire for the halogen h7 is wire 3, and goes straight into the d1s bulb.

Ok which are you talking about now? The Halogen Module Socket or the Bi-Xenon socket?

The Bi-Xenons have a H7 Halogen bulb for high beam right? Where (which pin) is the wire for that bulb connected to at the back of where you plug in the headlights into the car?

I don't have the headlights with me at the moment, should get them thursday, so bare with me if my questions are stupid/don;t make sense please

Dackelone · 05-31-2011, 05:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aacabriolet

Ok which are you talking about now? The Halogen Module Socket or the Bi-Xenon socket?

The Bi-Xenons have a H7 Halogen bulb for high beam right? Where (which pin) is the wire for that bulb connected to at the back of where you plug in the headlights into the car?

I don't have the headlights with me at the moment, should get them thursday, so bare with me if my questions are stupid/don;t make sense please

I do not believe the Bi-Xenons have an H7 bulb. BMW uses a shutter system to change the Xenon light (D1S) output from low to high beam patterns.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...06&hg=63&fg=05

They also use an H8 bulb for the angel eyes.

Dackel

aacabriolet · 05-31-2011, 05:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dackelone

I do not believe the Bi-Xenons have an H7 bulb. BMW uses a shutter system to change the Xenon light (D1S) output from low to high beam patterns.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...06&hg=63&fg=05

They also use an H8 bulb for the angel eyes.

Dackel

Hmm this is where I was confused.. I know the E9x and the X6 E71 Bi-Xenons have a H7 for high beam, and they still use the shutter as well for high beam..

I think they are supposed to use H7 for flashing, and shutter for High beam.. But on our X6 E71 Bi-Xenon, flash and high beam both use the shutter..so I dunno what that H7 is for then?? On the RealOEM it doesnt show the H7 bulb, but when I look through the inner projector there is a H7 so i dunno? Maybe our X6 is adaptive...

X6 Diagram- http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...60&hg=63&fg=05

So it would be interested whether or not the E8x Bi-Xenons have a H7 high beam bulb or not..

Thanks for the input Dackelone

EDIT: The link you posted. Part #12 "BULB 12V 55W H3 2 63217160779 $21.84". Isn't that the high beam bulb?

IDriveACamryNow · 05-31-2011, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aacabriolet

Hmm this is where I was confused.. I know the E9x and the X6 E71 Bi-Xenons have a H7 for high beam, and they still use the shutter as well for high beam..

I think they are supposed to use H7 for flashing, and shutter for High beam.. But on our X6 E71 Bi-Xenon, flash and high beam both use the shutter..so I dunno what that H7 is for then?? On the RealOEM it doesnt show the H7 bulb, but when I look through the inner projector there is a H7 so i dunno? Maybe our X6 is adaptive...

X6 Diagram- http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...60&hg=63&fg=05

So it would be interested whether or not the E8x Bi-Xenons have a H7 high beam bulb or not..

Thanks for the input Dackelone

EDIT: The link you posted. Part #12 "BULB 12V 55W H3 2 63217160779 $21.84". Isn't that the high beam bulb?

H3 is the cornering bulb for adaptive headlights, which I do not have. The
d1s xenon bulb is the low and high beam, hence bi-xenon moniker. The H8 bulb is for the angel eyes and parking lights, though I thought it might also be used for high beam as with the H7 in the e90, but I am starting to think this is not possible.

This is a diagram of what I see connecting the car to the headlights (its difficult to see so I am not 100% sure)

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On the car side, wire 6 would be the high beam for the halogen setup. On the xenon headlamp side, I thought it might have been wire 5 but it appears to be another headlamp leveler.

aacabriolet · 05-31-2011, 06:46 AM

I'm just posting my thought's here.

Can't you connect the shutter cable from xenon HEADLAMP, to the back of the empty pin 6 where the old halogen high beam cable is connected to, using a pin contact?

e.g. make a new cable using a pin contact, filling the empty pin slot #6, and then tap the shutter wire to the new cable??

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...=61&fg=15&hl=1

IDriveACamryNow · 05-31-2011, 07:13 AM

I am not sure if what I have called the 'shutter' is even a shutter. I just used that term because it is mentioned on the e90 xenon retrofit pages. Wire 5 on the xenon headlamp seems to be for a dipping mechanism (see photo)

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I think what I will do is install the lights when I get the obdII cable and inpa/ncs expert, then code it to xenon and see what happens. I would assume that the footwell module would use the low beam wire for high beam also. Or failing that, tap the high beam and low beam wires.

Hopefully someone who has actually got this to work will fill us in on what we have to do.

05-05-2011, 12:59 AM	#1
Satalite Colonel 174 Rep 2,926 Posts Drives: 128i Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Georgia iTrader: (9) Garage List 2009 128i [10.00]	OEM Bi-Xenon Conversion I know there are A LOT of headlight braniacs out there that know this stuff better than me. So I am calling upon your help to solve a problem I have.... I am looking to install OEM Bi-Xenon Headlights into a 128i that has the Halogen Headlights installed currently. My production date is 02/09 with a footwell module 2. On RealOEM I see everything I currently have (bulbs, ballasts, headlights) the only kicker is this: CONTROL UNIT XENON LIGHT (QTY-2) PN: 63117180050 (PRICE: $449.90) Are these the ballasts? And is there anything else I would need? Coding? I really just want to know how much "plug and play" these will be and if this is a project I could install myself by taking out my halogen headlights and mounting the ballasts and plug in the Xenons and have the car coded at the dealer... Thanks for your help! __________________ Last edited by Satalite; 05-05-2011 at 01:30 AM..
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05-05-2011, 01:05 AM	#2
Yvette Major General 788 Rep 7,409 Posts Drives: M Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Vancouver iTrader: (19)	you will be better off w/ aftermarket HID kits than OEM. I am not a electricwiremodiciation guy, I have a friend that will provide me HID kit for 180, and I will be paying shop to do the install-wire modification. They quote me roughly around $200 just for the labour.
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05-05-2011, 01:34 AM	#4
Yvette Major General 788 Rep 7,409 Posts Drives: M Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Vancouver iTrader: (19)	you still need wiring modification for halogen to xenon conversion.
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05-05-2011, 11:39 AM	#5
AW128i Major 55 Rep 1,003 Posts Drives: E82 N51 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Southeastern, PA iTrader: (1)	First, are you planning to install the adaptive lights as found in the U.S. cars, or the non-adaptive found on the European cars?
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05-05-2011, 01:02 PM	#8
CentralPA E82 Rookie 7 Rep 264 Posts Drives: 2009 128i Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: New Cumberland, PA iTrader: (1)	Interesting, I have a 128 with the same build date and am attempting the same project. I have installed the lights (euro bi-xenon) and made the modification to the wire (need to add a ground wire to the existing harness). The issue is coding, the dealer has no clue how to program the lights. Find someone with an Autologic and you might be good to go. Can tell you from experience that the E90 coding does not seem to carryover, the lights are fine with the engine off but flicker once the car is started. The issue is the PWM setting (pulse width modulation). Essentially you have a circuit that cycles on/off which is fine for halogen but not xenon. Will keep you informed if I find a solution.
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05-31-2011, 02:22 AM	#12
IDriveACamryNow Captain 80 Rep 853 Posts Drives: Yes Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Left iTrader: (0)	I think there are some aspects of the retrofit that are yet to be explained properly. Going off the well illustrated e90 halogen to xenon conversion, it is mostly the same except for a few important differences. e8x socket (from module) No wire 2 (which is where the the new ground wire will go) and no wire 5, which is the bi-xenon shutter in the e9x xenons. e8x halogen headlamp socket e8x xenon headlamp socket It has a wire 5, but no wire 6 or 7 like with the e9x xenons. So how does this work? What are we supposed to tap to get the xenon highbeams? Would I need to add a new wire in position 5 (on the car-side socket) and splice that to wire 6 so that the high beam power can get to the bi-xenon shutter. Has anyone actually got this to work?
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05-31-2011, 03:12 AM	#13
aacabriolet Major 122 Rep 1,002 Posts Drives: '14 435i Coupe Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SA iTrader: (0)	@Drawn05 - are you also doing the Bi-Xenon retrofit? Pm me your email address so we can keep in touch. I'll be doing the same thing shortly too.
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05-31-2011, 03:36 AM	#14
aacabriolet Major 122 Rep 1,002 Posts Drives: '14 435i Coupe Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SA iTrader: (0)	Can you not follow the wires behind there and see which pin is going to the current high beams? Then tap the shutter wire into that? Can you take some pics of inside the headlight for us? Wires etc. Last edited by aacabriolet; 05-31-2011 at 04:04 AM..
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05-31-2011, 04:56 AM	#15
aacabriolet Major 122 Rep 1,002 Posts Drives: '14 435i Coupe Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SA iTrader: (0)	@Drawn05 I've re-arranged your pics to try and make some more sense of them put side by side: In the meantime please follow the wire inside the bi-xenon housing from the High beam bulb, and see which pin it connects to. Thanks Last edited by aacabriolet; 10-12-2012 at 01:12 PM..
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05-31-2011, 05:19 AM	#16
IDriveACamryNow Captain 80 Rep 853 Posts Drives: Yes Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Left iTrader: (0)	The wire for the halogen h7 is wire 3, and goes straight into the d1s bulb. There doesnt appear to be a 'high beam' wire as with the e90. Wire 1 = Angel Eyes Wire 2 = (2nd ground wire) Wire 3 = Bi-xenon (low/high beams) Wire 4 = Original ground wire Wire 5 = (Shutter????) Wire 6 = x Wire 7 = x Wire 8 = Leveler Wire 9 = Leveler Wire 10= Leveler Wire 11= Leveler Wire 12= Indicator I cant get a picture of behind the socket as it too difficult to remove.
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05-31-2011, 06:46 AM	#21
aacabriolet Major 122 Rep 1,002 Posts Drives: '14 435i Coupe Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: SA iTrader: (0)	I'm just posting my thought's here. Can't you connect the shutter cable from xenon HEADLAMP, to the back of the empty pin 6 where the old halogen high beam cable is connected to, using a pin contact? e.g. make a new cable using a pin contact, filling the empty pin slot #6, and then tap the shutter wire to the new cable?? http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...=61&fg=15&hl=1 Last edited by aacabriolet; 05-31-2011 at 06:57 AM..
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05-31-2011, 07:13 AM	#22
IDriveACamryNow Captain 80 Rep 853 Posts Drives: Yes Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Left iTrader: (0)	I am not sure if what I have called the 'shutter' is even a shutter. I just used that term because it is mentioned on the e90 xenon retrofit pages. Wire 5 on the xenon headlamp seems to be for a dipping mechanism (see photo) I think what I will do is install the lights when I get the obdII cable and inpa/ncs expert, then code it to xenon and see what happens. I would assume that the footwell module would use the low beam wire for high beam also. Or failing that, tap the high beam and low beam wires. Hopefully someone who has actually got this to work will fill us in on what we have to do.
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