JMI
02-20-2008, 09:43 AM
Purchased a 35 watt slim ballast Apexcone HID upgrade kit (http://www.understeer.com/images/store/apexcone_slim_55w.jpg) from understeer.com (http://www.understeer.com/onlinestore-lighting.shtml). Product arrived promptly. Even with the slim ballast this kit has a lot of wiring to find space for. Installed unit and to my great disappointment received the dreaded “Low Beam” message when the lights where off. Contacted Chris at understeer and ordered the LBF modules which he charged me the discount price that I would have paid had I ordered them with the kit. They did not help at all. Returned the modules for a full refund but was stuck with the HID kit.
Using these HID things with the low beam error message staring me in the face was not an option. And using the “fix” (http://www.bbesound.com/bmw/hidinstall/) that I had seen with the relay used to tie into the high beams to fool the OBC was not and option because it is to a degree sloppy and I also didn’t want to cut/splice the original headlight wiring.
Found this solution (http://www.bmwtips.com/tipsntricks/CheckLowBeam/greg-nj.htm) which is similar to the above “fix” but a little cleaner and does not involve the high beam circuit. Was able to use the unused male/female harness plugs (I guess they are for “angel eyes” or something) in the lower part of the picture (http://www.understeer.com/images/store/apexcone_slim_55w.jpg) which are together with the HID bulbs. Just cut away the unused rubber seal from the 4 wires and separated out the male/female plugs. Used these to splice in the “greg-nj” relay fix. This was then just plugged in ahead of the ballast and in effect the relay is in parallel to the HID kit.
Looking at the “greg-nj (http://www.bmwtips.com/tipsntricks/CheckLowBeam/greg-nj.htm)” relay fix pictures it appears he used a 1 ohm resistor. I could not readily find those so I used 10 ohm resistors from Radio Shack (the smallest value they had). They work fine.
After everything is said and done there is quite a bit of wiring to deal with. But this is all tucked behind part 10, left and right (http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=HD23&mospid=47408&btnr=63_0416&hg=63&fg=05). Out of sight and out of mind.
The lights work great and no error message. If I had to do it all over I would consider buying the 55 watt bulbs. The 35 watts are vastly superior to the halogens but once I got a taste of the light output I lust for more.
Jim
Using these HID things with the low beam error message staring me in the face was not an option. And using the “fix” (http://www.bbesound.com/bmw/hidinstall/) that I had seen with the relay used to tie into the high beams to fool the OBC was not and option because it is to a degree sloppy and I also didn’t want to cut/splice the original headlight wiring.
Found this solution (http://www.bmwtips.com/tipsntricks/CheckLowBeam/greg-nj.htm) which is similar to the above “fix” but a little cleaner and does not involve the high beam circuit. Was able to use the unused male/female harness plugs (I guess they are for “angel eyes” or something) in the lower part of the picture (http://www.understeer.com/images/store/apexcone_slim_55w.jpg) which are together with the HID bulbs. Just cut away the unused rubber seal from the 4 wires and separated out the male/female plugs. Used these to splice in the “greg-nj” relay fix. This was then just plugged in ahead of the ballast and in effect the relay is in parallel to the HID kit.
Looking at the “greg-nj (http://www.bmwtips.com/tipsntricks/CheckLowBeam/greg-nj.htm)” relay fix pictures it appears he used a 1 ohm resistor. I could not readily find those so I used 10 ohm resistors from Radio Shack (the smallest value they had). They work fine.
After everything is said and done there is quite a bit of wiring to deal with. But this is all tucked behind part 10, left and right (http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=HD23&mospid=47408&btnr=63_0416&hg=63&fg=05). Out of sight and out of mind.
The lights work great and no error message. If I had to do it all over I would consider buying the 55 watt bulbs. The 35 watts are vastly superior to the halogens but once I got a taste of the light output I lust for more.
Jim