[Sherhart]

I have seen the threads trying to convert Halogen to Xenon and it is an oil spill. Parts alone are more expensive than the factory option and you need an MSEE to actually get it somewhat operational. Makes me wish I would have held out for a 328i with Sport *and* lighting.

A lot of the issues with the Xenon seems to be related to the ballast which is a non-issue with LED. I honestly have no knowledge here but am curious if anyone might have any insight if halogen to LED might be an easier path.

Jimbo

[kapkanimd]

Not sure what you mean by an oil spill.. just to get working adaptive xenon is not that difficult (changing out the physical headlights is the same no matter what you switch to, and the rest is moving a few wires around and some coding), and what is a MSEE?. the parts are going to be expensive no matter what depending on your patience level in waiting for a used pair to pop up.. If you look at my US DIY it is pretty straight forward, and the only thing that is an issue now is getting the leveling sensors to function (which isn't required) and which we are working on.

I can only imagine finding a used pair of LED lights coming available, and if they do, there is no way they will be cheaper than xenon. A lot of the wiring is moved in the xenon to bring information from one of the ECUs to the headlight to interpret to move with the steering wheel, etc. so that would likely be the same if converting to LED. The only way to really tell is looking at the wiring diagrams which I have not yet seen for the LEDs.

Either way it isn't practical to retrofit xenon (or LED). It is just a project that is worth it or not to you. If you are keeping the car for a long time, then I say go for it. Mine is only a three year lease, and for $1,200-1,500 and a few hours of my time it was worth it to me to have working adaptive xenons for the next three years.

I laid out the DIY as simple as I could, if you follow it and get the parts at a decent price, then you can do it in a few hours.

[Sherhart]

Originally Posted by kapkanimd

Not sure what you mean by an oil spill.. just to get working adaptive xenon is not that difficult (changing out the physical headlights is the same no matter what you switch to, and the rest is moving a few wires around and some coding), and what is a MSEE?. the parts are going to be expensive no matter what depending on your patience level in waiting for a used pair to pop up.. If you look at my US DIY it is pretty straight forward, and the only thing that is an issue now is getting the leveling sensors to function (which isn't required) and which we are working on.

I can only imagine finding a used pair of LED lights coming available, and if they do, there is no way they will be cheaper than xenon. A lot of the wiring is moved in the xenon to bring information from one of the ECUs to the headlight to interpret to move with the steering wheel, etc. so that would likely be the same if converting to LED. The only way to really tell is looking at the wiring diagrams which I have not yet seen for the LEDs.

Either way it isn't practical to retrofit xenon (or LED). It is just a project that is worth it or not to you. If you are keeping the car for a long time, then I say go for it. Mine is only a three year lease, and for $1,200-1,500 and a few hours of my time it was worth it to me to have working adaptive xenons for the next three years.

I laid out the DIY as simple as I could, if you follow it and get the parts at a decent price, then you can do it in a few hours.

I don't mean to take away from your efforts, but what I want to do as a consumer is write a check and get a kit that can be easily installed by myself or a local installer. I would happily pay a refundable core charge on my halogens. What I don't want to do is have to read through 20 page threads of troubleshooting and/or understand how to decipher a complex wiring diagram.

I think there is a real opportunity for someone to package this up in a way that most people here want to buy. There are lots of halogen F30s available on the cheap, so the market opportunity is definitely there.

PS - MSEE = Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering

Jimbo

[kapkanimd]

Originally Posted by Sherhart

I don't mean to take away from your efforts, but what I want to do as a consumer is write a check and get a kit that can be easily installed by myself or a local installer. I would happily pay a refundable core charge on my halogens. What I don't want to do is have to read through 20 page threads of troubleshooting and/or understand how to decipher a complex wiring diagram.

I think there is a real opportunity for someone to package this up in a way that most people here want to buy. There are lots of halogen F30s available on the cheap, so the market opportunity is definitely there.

Jimbo

Are you looking at the right thread?
http://www.f30post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=938803
No need to look at wiring diagrams as I already did all of the leg work. Simple follow the instructions that anyone can do or if you were to take the instructions and the parts to a car audio shop they should have no problem following.

There is always the option of buying after market ballasts and bubs that you just throw on. There is also a DIY for that. If you want projected xenons there is a company that takes your headlight, opens it up, and adds in their custom projector and xenon ballast as well as LEDs to give the angel eye look. There is also another guy that gets the OEM xenon headlights, opens them up and throws in one of the plug and play xenon ballasts and bulbs and LEDS then rewires it to supposedly make it plug and play (not sure if he has any working models yet though).

Given all of this, I cannot imagine it would be any cheaper to do the above methods as you are still requiring parts and a ton of labor to make. In addition, none of the above methods will give you adaptive headlights, simply just regular xenon bulbs. Do a search of the above methods if you wish and determine which one is right for you.

Last alternative is to sell your car and just buy one with it in. All the methods are not covered under warranty. However, I just took my car in for service and they reprogrammed the entire car and did not notice that I installed them myself.

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by Sherhart

I have seen the threads trying to convert Halogen to Xenon and it is an oil spill. Parts alone are more expensive than the factory option and you need an MSEE to actually get it somewhat operational. Makes me wish I would have held out for a 328i with Sport *and* lighting.

A lot of the issues with the Xenon seems to be related to the ballast which is a non-issue with LED. I honestly have no knowledge here but am curious if anyone might have any insight if halogen to LED might be an easier path.

Jimbo

I think the LEDs would be quite complicated. Don't they come with the auto high beam function that turns them away from oncoming cars or away from cars you are approaching from behind? I believe there is a camera involved and some pretty serious software too.