[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by vooonoo

it's been a couple months, do the led headlights have a better light output than the old halogens?

Read Post #1 of the thread, last paragraph.

[SteveOH]

Originally Posted by vooonoo

it's been a couple months, do the led headlights have a better light output than the old halogens?

I did the same basic LED upgrade last month after talking with Billfitz and while I can’t tell you measurements from a lumens perspective, I can tell you that it is a game-changer for me. I can see so, so much better. I feel safer driving the car...wish I had done the switch years ago. Besides the pain of accessing the low beams without removing the wheels, it was a simple process to make the change with the help of the BimmerCode app.

[vooonoo]

Originally Posted by SteveOH

I did the same basic LED upgrade last month after talking with Billfitz and while I can’t tell you measurements from a lumens perspective, I can tell you that it is a game-changer for me. I can see so, so much better. I feel safer driving the car...wish I had done the switch years ago. Besides the pain of accessing the low beams without removing the wheels, it was a simple process to make the change with the help of the BimmerCode app.

With the Bimmercode app did you just have to code them from bulb to led, or did you have to turn off the warm/cold checks too? I have the app i see those options for it

[Billfitz]

You must code out the warm/cold checks. I found that you don't need to code 'Is LED' to active, but you might as well. With halogen the voltage to the lamps isn't constant, it's modulated to reduce power consumption. You can't see it, as halogens create light by heating the filament, and the filament can't cool enough between voltage pulses for there to be any flickering. The same is true with your house lights, which isn't a constant voltage, it changes 50 or 60 times per second. An OEM LED might flicker with that pulse modulated voltage, much like warm and cold checks, my guess is that the 'Is LED' option is to change the voltage to constant to prevent that. The retrofit LED bulb ballasts smooth out the pulse modulated voltage, so they don't flicker when not set to 'Is LED'.

[wakebord99]

Hey all -

Most of you are discussing the upgrade of Low Beam to LED. Has anyone tried to just replace the fog lights with LED? Do they still require coding (assume so), is the LED fog light beam pattern horrible, and is the light difference enough to justify the effort just for the fogs?

[Billfitz]

My original post covers highs, lows and fogs. The fogs I did first, because they're the easiest to reach, and my initial concern was if they worked well enough to bother with the highs and lows.

[F30Ralph]

I really dislike the stock halogen lights and I had to do something about it as soon as I could. Been a week since I bought my 320xi, and I just swapped out the DRLs with some LEDs. It seems like 95% of the F30s around here all come with halogen lights. I had a really hard time finding one with low miles and a decent price that came with Xenons, so I figured I’d upgrade the lights later. $1,000 for the angel eyes retrofit, or $550 for some black housing ebay knockoffs... no thanks.
Waiting for my Silverstar ZXE bulbs to come in later today. Will post pics of before and after.
Anyways.. here’s what it looks like with the LED DRLs
Only $9 on ebay
https://m.ebay.com/itm/2x-Error-Free...=2225824956015

[BXL4]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

You must code out the warm/cold checks. I found that you don't need to code 'Is LED' to active, but you might as well. With halogen the voltage to the lamps isn't constant, it's modulated to reduce power consumption. You can't see it, as halogens create light by heating the filament, and the filament can't cool enough between voltage pulses for there to be any flickering. The same is true with your house lights, which isn't a constant voltage, it changes 50 or 60 times per second. An OEM LED might flicker with that pulse modulated voltage, much like warm and cold checks, my guess is that the 'Is LED' option is to change the voltage to constant to prevent that. The retrofit LED bulb ballasts smooth out the pulse modulated voltage, so they don't flicker when not set to 'Is LED'.

Does the coding mean that I can skip the whole canbus "dongle" use that I sometimes see or is that now obviated by software mods? Thanks for the help.

[Billfitz]

To tell the truth I don't know. I never tried the bulbs without the drive ballasts to see if the coding made them unnecessary. I couldn't if I wanted to, since there was no way to connect the wiring plug directly to the bulbs. However, since even with them in place it was necessary to code out the warm and cold checks I suspect they're still required. Most headlight bulbs come with them, and most cars don't have the circuitry that BMW does, so it's probably a necessity.

[vooonoo]

Thanks for the guide, Fairly easy... I just haven't found an LED bulb that fits in where the high beams go. Ordered three they all were too big...

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by vooonoo

I just haven't found an LED bulb that fits in where the high beams go.

The ones I linked fit, when altered as explained in the first post of the thread.

[andyt26]

Sorry for the dumb question, just bought a 2015 F30 last week and it came with stock halogens and I hate them too. I understand installing LED’s and coding it can void warranty, but is there any real potential danger to running LED’s over halogens? Like can the LED mess up the CPU in any sort of way, that’s been documented?

Again I apologize for these noob questions. I’m just so used to Toyota’s plug and play options so all this is new to me. Thanks guys.

[vooonoo]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

The ones I linked fit, when altered as explained in the first post of the thread.

Yeah I read the post about the cutting the heat sink, but how smart is it to cut the heat sink? Especially with how hot the leds get, and all those wires in there, seems like a good way to burn some insulation and cause a short

[Billfitz]

I wouldn't cut the heat sink on the low beams, which are on 100% of the time that you're using the lights, but with the much lower duty cycle of high beams it's not a concern.

coding it can void warranty

It cannot. When you code you're not making any alteration to the car, you're just utilizing options that already exist.

[hadeswolf]

My 2017 330i came with LED fog lights; do I still need to re-code if I swap my low beams(reflector housing) to HIDs?

[TXDaddy]

Originally Posted by hadeswolf

My 2017 330i came with LED fog lights; do I still need to re-code if I swap my low beams(reflector housing) to HIDs?

Yes, very easy with bimmercode. Just code out high and low temperature checks on low beams; keep bulb type 'bulb' if you have halogen lows...

[falome2]

hey folks,

check this out!
http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...php?p=23096151

[hakisalapaki]

i am not happy with the cutoff line.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by hakisalapaki

i am not happy with the cutoff line.

If you don't tell people which bulbs gave you that result it's not helpful. The bulbs I recommended work well. If you have issues with the bulbs you used open your own thread.

[shrubbery]

Hi,

Thanks for all the research that has gone into this thread.

Are the H7 LEDs mentioned in the OP still the best ones to purchase for an F30?

I’ve had a look and identical looking ones are still available but thought the technology might have moved on?

Cheers

[Billfitz]

At this point I'd say LED replacements for H7 halogen are as good as they're going to get, because H7 halogens are on the way out, and with it the market for LEDs that replace them.

[Logicoeur]

How are you not blinding anyone with twice the lumen output in a REFLECTOR bowl?