[snj49er]

Pretty close, squidly!

[squidlyboy]

lolz

I knew i got my inspiration from somewhere... just like the richard dreyfuss character did in the movie

[a803sgo]

Just as I was getting close to finishing its all gone tits up.

Whilst testing on the bench with everything lit up, rings and HID - one by one the LEDs on the low beam ring starting going out leaving me with this…



This part (black bit on the right) was very hot and burnt the wiring attached to it…



Does anyone know what it is? Resistor to trick the CANBUS?

On the high beam ring, this part is different and doesn’t get hot at all…



I’ve got a spare set of rings with the same part fitted to them, can I use these and replace the part that gets hot and burns out?

I’m coding the car for LEDs anyway so don’t need to use resistors and/or capacitors.

I’ve had to cut the shroud to fit around the new rings but because I’ve got level control the headlamps go through calibration (full up and down movement) on start-up.

Do you think the gap I’ve left on my shrouds is enough for this to take place without fouling?





I’ve also had to cut some notches in the top of the shroud to clear the top of high beam ring…



On the cut-off I’ve noticed some sort or weird pattern, any ideas what it is?



Any ideas how to remove these scratches on the inside of the lens?



TIA, nearly there.

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by a803sgo

Whilst testing on the bench with everything lit up, rings and HID - one by one the LEDs on the low beam ring starting going out leaving me with this…
This part (black bit on the right) was very hot and burnt the wiring attached to it…


Does anyone know what it is? Resistor to trick the CANBUS?

No, its an LM317 voltage regulator. They are used to keep the voltage within a prescribed range acceptable for the electronic devices they are powering. But the bigger question is wtf are they doing in your rings... You had that in your rings?? A VR is a fairly large IC.. i can't imagine how that would even FIT in the rings. If you look at the pic below of my rings, its basically just two wires disappearing into one end of the LED ring. Is that somehow sticking out of the end of the rings? Like wtf...
Apparently, the VR (i still don't get it) blew, and who know what kind of voltages were being output from it after that. I'm guessing the output voltage to your LEDs at that point were so wild/high (low voltage wouldn't blow the LEDs), that your LEDs starting popping one by one. Sorry to hear that man...

Its not a CANBUS resistor for sure. They are HUGE physically because they need to simulate the normal 55w load your halogen produces, and so they need to dissipate a lot of heat. They look more like these.

Originally Posted by a803sgo

On the high beam ring, this part is different and doesn’t get hot at all…

I'm so confused... why are the two rings different? why does one have a VR and the other doesn't?? And where does that little circuit board fit? Did you remove it from the end of the LED rings? I'd be curious to see a larger (zoomed out) pic to see how your rings look in their entirety.

Originally Posted by a803sgo

I’ve got a spare set of rings with the same part fitted to them, can I use these and replace the part that gets hot and burns out?

This is just me, but i wouldn't start messing with the internal electronics of anything. Thats just asking for trouble unless you have the full circuit schematics and understand what each part is used for. But thats just me... Why don't you just take the ring from the spare set that doesn't use a VR (so it matches the one to your high-beam, so they are a matching pair. But i guess you'll still have the same problem with the rings for the other headlight.

Wait... if one of the rings has a VR, and the other doesn't, are they somehow connected together so that the VR affects both? Each ring is supposed to be independent of the other, and yet, one ring is designed different than the other. I'm so confused..

I'm guessing that VR was just a part that went bad. I would contact the seller and get a new one. I'm assuming they warranty their product for at least 30 days :-) Dude you seriously need to get a pair of my rings lol your rings are like wtf..

Originally Posted by a803sgo

I’m coding the car for LEDs anyway so don’t need to use resistors and/or capacitors.

I ended up leaving my 470uF 35v cap on the low-beam wire just as a precaution. It was cheap ($0.50) insurance... meaning that whether i'm coded or not, the lights should behave the same. I've had situations before i've lost the FDL coding to an ECU when i VO-coded it to factory defaults, or even before you get the coding done, your lights will flicker until you do code it. Its a good failsafe that didn't take long to add. Just something to think about...

Originally Posted by a803sgo

I’ve had to cut the shroud to fit around the new rings but because I’ve got level control the headlamps go through calibration (full up and down movement) on start-up.

wow.. i totally forgot about that. The lights in the US don't do that. Another forum member (SJ100 from Australia if my thinking is correct) had some lights done up by bienarcis, and when he mentioned the leveling thing, all the US guys were like, what is that?? I will say that my rings protrude out so much that if i tried to adjust it up/down, they would not clear that little trim piece (what you call the shroud) attached to lens. I mean, it clears now the way i mounted it and inserted it, but it can't really move up/down too much or it will bump into that trim piece. I woulda had to do the same if my lights did calibration.

Originally Posted by a803sgo

Do you think the gap I’ve left on my shrouds is enough for this to take place without fouling?

You are blazing new territory here for all that will come after you my friend!

Originally Posted by a803sgo

On the cut-off I’ve noticed some sort or weird pattern, any ideas what it is?

That almost looks like a defect in the shutter plate that is allowing some light to diffuse through in some weird way... what mini-H1's did you end up getting? Did you do the Morimoto's? Speaking of cut-off, aligning 4 projectors was such a PITA. You can see in my pics it didn't come out great. Theres really no reference because the halogens you are using as a reference produces such an uneven / unsharp line that its not even useful. You can tell which one i did first (came out worst). It got better as i went along to the other three, but all I was hoping for was just good enough. You are lucky you just have 2 to deal with

Originally Posted by a803sgo

Any ideas how to remove these scratches on the inside of the lens?

I was able to get good results using a random orbital DA to buff/polish the outside of the lens to a nice shine. I'm guessing the inside will work just as fine, but because its so cramped, you'll probably need to use a 3" or 4" pad to even fit the DA in there. Those are pretty deep scratches though. That will take some serious time to get those out. How did those scratches get on the inside of the lens?? It must have come after you took the lens off...

Great progress man! Don't stop now There's (bi-xenon) light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck!

[a803sgo]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

You had that in your rings??

No, sorry for the confusion they're both attached to the wiring and wrapped in heat shrink...







Are they both voltage regulators? Why does one get hot and the other doesn't?

If they're both the voltage regulators do you think I can take the one that doesn't get hot and replace the one that does without any problems?

All this doesn't bode well for the reliability of the LEDs, imagine if they were all sealed up and back in the car when they blew!

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

I would contact the seller and get a new one

I have but nothing back as yet.

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

You are blazing new territory here for all that will come after you my friend

Thought so, I manually moved the lens using the adjustment screws through all the ranges I could and it all clears so hopefully should be OK.

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Did you do the Morimoto's?

No went with these...

https://www.retrofitlab.com/en/xenon...tors-60-1.html

They were OK until they got epoxied in, I think it might be this...

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

How did those scratches get on the inside of the lens??

My f**k up, gave it a clean - I'll try some PlastX first but it looks as though I'll have to buy another cheapo headlamp and swap out the lens from it.

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by a803sgo

No, sorry for the confusion they're both attached to the wiring and wrapped in heat shrink...



Are they both voltage regulators? Why does one get hot and the other doesn't?

If they're both the voltage regulators do you think I can take the one that doesn't get hot and replace the one that does without any problems?

All this doesn't bode well for the reliability of the LEDs, imagine if they were all sealed up and back in the car when they blew!

Ah.. i forgot about that little "packet" on the wire haha. My bad

It hasn't been that long since i finished my project, i'm surprised i forgot about that little piece. I always wondered what was inside of it. I went back to take a look and it does indeed look like only one of the rings has the VR in it and the other doesn't. I can clearly see it in the outline of the heatshrink as it pushes up against it, while the other one looks like that little circuit board you show in the other pic with the small circular cap/pot component on it. I counted the number of LEDs on the two rings, and the number is different. I'm not surprised they are different number of LEDs due to their sizes being different. I'm guessing due to the differences in the current/voltage needs of the two rings, you will have circuitry differences. But it is a little surprising that the (small) difference in the number of LEDs between the rings would require such a drastic difference in design circuitry.

My feeble understanding is that a VR works by regulating the input voltage (can be a wide range) and producing a very steady/constant voltage/current supply to whatever they are powering. In my testing, i noticed that the rings would come on, right around ~8v or so. Since our cars not only have an operational voltage range of 12v-14.4v, but they also pulse the voltage (to reduce wear on halogen bulbs). This would wreak havoc (i.e. flicker) on the LEDs. So the VR takes in something IN that is unsteady, widely varying, and produces something that is steady, stable, and regulated. As far as the heat goes, when a VR works it will produce heat when there is a difference between the input voltage and output voltage. The higher the difference between input and output voltage, the more heat is generated. I'm guessing the difference between the 12v-14.4v input and the needed 8v output to the LEDs will generate a fair amount of heat. And that heat is probably what you are feeling in one of those rings. But why one ring would require the services of a VR and the other doesn't still baffles me.

But all that aside, while i'm still a little surprised they couldn't make rings that use the exact same circuitry to power the LEDs, they are there for a reason, and i personally would not switch components (VR for non-VR). But thats just me. What you do with your stuff is up to you IMO, doing the swap would move the operational behavior/characteristics of that ring to a point where the end effect could be disastrous - e.g. earlier burn out, shorter life of LEDs, and in the worst/extreme case, start a fire.

I think you just experienced a bad part. And you are lucky that you caught it while you still in the process of making the headlights. Manufacturers (good ones) will do a burn-in period where if there are any parts that are going to go bad due to manuf defects (bad parts with defects), they will blow within the first 24 hours or so. This allows them to eliminate the vast majority of bad product before they get into the hands of their customers.

I would just wait for them to send you a new set. A few days wait is worth years of trouble free service down the road.

I feel your pain brutha ...

[scostu]

Squidlyboy,

Any issues with the quads?

Outstanding work on what you have done!.......and any prospects of producing these for others?????

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by scostu

Squidlyboy,

Any issues with the quads?

Outstanding work on what you have done!.......and any prospects of producing these for others?????

No issues - still working rock solid. however, after having them on for a month now, if could do anything differently, i would have aligned the beams better, but mostly due to my OCD - i wanted them perfectly lined up and straight. Its tough working with 4 projectors. You can tell which headlight i worked on first haha, but this was due to not understanding how fast the epoxy sets. However, the beams are pointing low enough that they don't blind oncoming traffic (still never been flashed by drivers).

Its a little strange getting used to quads though. Its hard to explain, but when i'm driving around, i can clearly see that the cut-offs are below the drivers heads in front of me, but there is so much freakin' light being thrown out in general, that road signs in front of me sort of reflect / light up everywhere. Its just a very weird and different experience over halogens.

The other thing that is taking time to get used to are all the random thumbs up and "dueces" i get from dudes who pass me on the road or from the sidewalk after installing the lights. I get one just about every day. The car looks like a space-ship rolling even during the day. its a head-turner if you are into that sort of thing.

I vowed i would never do another set of headlights again, just remembering how much of a royal PITA everything was. Being OCD, you curse the sky over every little mistake. But as time goes on, and the bad memories fade, i'm slowly warming up to the idea of possibly doing another set. But still too soon I'd rather help people do their own, than do it for them ... in all honesty

[E92-NY]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Where did you get the LEDs from and how hard was it to make the acrylic (i assume that's acrylic) extrusions? It looks pretty dope!

Any tips to get the headlight housing open? I heard the perma-seal is even harder to open than previously, and baking for 250 for 10 mins is not enough to do the job...

I got my lights from gplightsusa.com

[E92-NY]

GP Xtreme H8 E90 E92 E93 M3 CREE LED Halo Angle Eyes V8 Ultra Bright White
Actions speak louder than words, Dead smack daylight tested on a sunny hot 99°f day. . No error codes either . So if they stand out as they do in direct sunlight you can imagine how bright they will be when there is no direct sun

[a803sgo]

So nearly there with mine, they just need to be sealed but I don't have an oven big enough for them.

Is there another way? Heat gun?

Can I use something like Tiger Seal instead? It doesn't need heating.

NEARLY!

[squidlyboy]

Heat gun all the way baby! I was afraid of the potential of yellowing / drying / aging / cracking the plastic lens, so I tried to keep the lens away from direct/excessive heat.

I found I really didn't need that much heat to soften the butyl rubber, as its pretty soft and sticky even at room temp. Just enough heat to allow you to press the lens edge back into the groove. I never heard of the Tiger stuff, so not sure. But the stuff from TRS rocks and I swear you can stretch it to do like a few pairs of headlights. A little bit goes a long way. When you start pulling/stretching it to create a bead line around the lens rim, you end up not really using that much of it

Can't wait to see your finished product!!

[a803sgo]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Can't wait to see your finished product!

Will do.

Any problems with fogging?

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by a803sgo

Any problems with fogging?

Its rock solid - that butyl rubber stuff is da BOMB.

Like you, i was afraid of water getting in through the lens, so for the first headlight i really went overboard and laid it on THICK. The downside to that is that when you press the lens back into the groove where the bead of BR is, it kind of pushes out all the excess. Fortunately, it wasn't so much that it got all over the lens.

For the other headlight, i pulled back a little bit, and the bead/thread was thinner, so there wasn't a lot of excess - it was just right. Its really hard to do stuff like this right the first time, since it takes a few reps to get a good idea how much is enough, and you don't get good at it on your first try.

Just make sure you heat up a large enough section so that you can really press the lens back into the groove/channel easily and the lens edge just sort of sinks into the melted/heated BR. You'll really feel how solid it is when you are done though. You'll just know that its air-tight just by the feel of it.

Good luck, and we're all waiting for the pics!!!

EDIT: Btw... did you ever get your angel eyes replaced?

[a803sgo]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Like you, i was afraid of water getting in through the lens

Not getting actual water droplets through but when it tested them for the first time with the lenses back on they fogged up on the far edges quite quickly.

I did have all the covers off and unlike Arizona, London is cold and wet so this didn't help!

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

for the first headlight i really went overboard and laid it on THICK. The downside to that is that when you press the lens back into the groove where the bead of BR is, it kind of pushes out all the excess. Fortunately, it wasn't so much that it got all over the lens.

I did this too but didn't get any on the lenses and they definitely went all the way back in as all the catches lined back up and little screws went back in easy.

Doesn't look very tidy though but no one will ever see it but still not good for my OCD!

I've stuck a hairdryer in the holes to dry them out so hopefully they shouldn't fog up again.

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Btw... did you ever get your angel eyes replaced?

I did but the seller was originally being a plonker about it, he eventually sent me another for free which worked fine.

Getting the car back together today so will post pics later, the nut and bolt combo under the headlamps is the worst bit of design I've ever seen!



Did you out all the HID stuff inside the headlamp?

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by a803sgo

Doesn't look very tidy though but no one will ever see it but still not good for my OCD!

LOLz... +10000 this thought went through my mind a million times as I was doing my project

Originally Posted by a803sgo

Did you put all the HID stuff inside the headlamp?

No, there was no room. Even with just the relay inside, it was so cramped with all the extra wiring, that I barely had room to work. The ballasts and associated wiring with the HID had to hang outside the assembly. And I have two ballasts I swear in the end, all the extra "stuff" that was put in there added like 10lbs to each headlight

[a803sgo]

All done and looking good, here are some pics taken with my phone so sorry about the quality...







Went mental and did the splitter and grills at the same time, will try and get better pics tomorrow.

I think they look superb and very OEM, the cut-off is great BUT they still fog up but only when the HIDS are running.

I've got a feeling that because I've put all the HID parts inside the headlamp there's not enough air movement to keep everything ventilated... maybe.

I'll keep an eye on it and will move the HID parts out side if things don't improve but all in all very happy with the results and a very rewarding project.

Saying that though I don't think I would want to do it again even if someone paid me, way to much hassle but happy to help with advice.

[squidlyboy]

Looks great bro!!! Solid work How about some pics with your projectors on??

Just curious... when you tore apart your headlights, did you mangle the black plastic housing so much that there might have been some small holes / openings left behind from all the ripping and tearing you did? When you broke the seal, were there any "white creases" left behind in the black housing due to excessive heat and/or excessive pressure against the black housing?

Fogging is almost always due to excessive moisture that gets into the headlights through cracks... nothing to do with air flow.

[a803sgo]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Just curious... when you tore apart your headlights, did you mangle the black plastic housing so much that there might have been some small holes / openings left behind from all the ripping and tearing you did? When you broke the seal, were there any "white creases" left behind in the black housing due to excessive heat and/or excessive pressure against the black housing?

Yes, there were.

I'm going to get some more butyl and seal the f**k out of them.

Weird how it only happens with the HIDS on?!?!

[squidlyboy]

Condensation occurs on the surface when there are two things present (both must be there):

1) Water getting into the housing (mostly from holes on top of the housing since its harder for water to get in from holes on bottom)

2) When there is a temperature difference between the inside vs outside of the housing. The HIDs being on and heating up the inside of the housing will make that difference rise very quickly, especially if its cold outside.

As the housing gets hotter and hotter, most of the water will eventually evaporate. Ventilation holes in the bottom of the housing (they will never be on the top or water could get in) only really helps in making the moisture evaporate more rapidly and also helps make the temperature difference rise slower, but if you have 1) and you add 2), there _will_ be fogging/condensation. The bigger problem with water in the housing is it can lead to an electrical short in the headlights, and depending on whether or not you fused your wiring, you could blow the FEM or worse.

The solution is to not give water any chance whatsoever to get into the housing in the first place. So...

• When you buy second hand headlights for this project off Ebay or some other salvage yard source, make sure there are no cracks in the headlights. This is almost always a problem since second-hand headlights come from BMWs that are involved in accidents
• No "white creases" which are the starting of holes when you are opening the headlights. Excessive heat from the heat gun and excessive pressure from the hook/pick tool when you are breaking the inner lens seal are usually the culprits here.
• minimal folding back of any of the fins, guards, or edges of the headlight housing when you are opening the lens. Depending on how far back you pull these, they are opportunities for water to get in, especially if the final butyl rubber seal you apply does not seal this extra gap you created.
• good solid bead of butyl rubber seal when you are re-sealing the lens to the headlight housing

I was thinking about re-doing that video to open the headlights to talk about the "white creases" - when you see them, you know you need to back off (lower the amount of heat you apply), or not apply as much pressure with the pick tool... or both. Those white creases are the start of a tear in the housing. Any holes left behind will be openings for water to get through. Its more forgiving if the holes on the bottom, but if they are on the top (even sides), water that comes in under the hood will find the holes and slowly seep into the housing, and eventually cause condensation.

[a803sgo]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Water getting into the housing (mostly from holes on top of the housing since its harder for water to get in from holes on bottom)

My lights are bone dry, not a drop of water in them. Even though the weather here is poo I've not driven in the wet at all.

Even though I've also put a couple of bags of silica gel in them to soak up any damp that might be present.

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

When there is a temperature difference between the inside vs outside of the housing. The HIDs being on and heating up the inside of the housing will make that difference rise very quickly, especially if its cold outside.

This is definitely the case, the inside of the headlamps is very warm compared to the exterior, I've noticed that taking the high beam caps off gets rid of the fogging very quickly.

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

As the housing gets hotter and hotter, most of the water will eventually evaporate.

Yes I agree, there's not really any fogging whilst driving around but when leaving the car off they start to fog up as the headlamps cool down.

After a bit of Googling this happens a lot even to new headlamps, its also in the manual telling us that its OK so not really sure what to do next apart from add more butyl and super seal the headlamps up.

One other thing, now that the headlamps are back in and the bumpers back on I've noticed that there is more gap under the headlamps over by the side of the indicators (turn signals)...


(Not my car)

Any ideas? there's no movement in the bumper to close the gap that I can see, the only adjustment I've noticed is the 2 bottom mounts under the headlamps, they're wound all the way out with the lights pushed all the way down at the moment.

[squidlyboy]

hmmm... not sure about the gaps

For my lights, I noticed that in order to get rid of the gap where the bumper and fender meet, I had to push the headlights up as high up as they could go. In order to do that I had to push super hard upwards before tightening those bottom 2 Loctite screws where the headlight mounts to the car. Maybe I created some extra gap in mine and didn't even notice.

I'll have to take a look tonight when I get a chance. I didn't noticed any increased gap, but maybe I just missed it.