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      11-05-2018, 09:46 AM   #1
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Halogen to LED bulbs change. No issues so far...

I have been hesitant to do the bulb change due to other thread that talked about needing to do coding. I took a chance last weekend and did the change in my 2013 328i with basic halogen light and I got no error message nor flicker issue. The only thing I needed to do is lower the horizontal height. So far so good.

Update:
I only updated low beams. No issues during night time. During day time, I do noticed both cold check (when turn on ignition) and warm checks (during idle and driving) blinkings with daylight running light on. I solved my low beam day time blinking issue by turning off the daylight running lights.

More update:
I decided to code away the low beams' cold and warm checks. This is because I want to turn on DRL during daytime driving.

Last edited by Pdxway; 11-09-2018 at 10:22 PM..
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      11-05-2018, 09:59 AM   #2
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If your bulbs have ballasts then you probably won't get a warning or flicker, but if you don't code out the cold/warm checks then the lights will blink every thirty seconds or so. Sitting in the car you have no way of knowing that it's happening.
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      11-05-2018, 10:05 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdxway View Post
I have been hesitant to do the bulb change due to other thread that talked about needing to do coding. I took a chance last weekend and did the change in my 2013 328i with basic halogen light and I got no error message nor flicker issue. The only thing I needed to do is lower the horizontal height. So far so good.
Why wouldnt you just buy BimmerCode and an OBD dongle... no offense but are you that cheap!?

Its a $50 investment for a vehicle that you own. You will definitely find more than $50 worth of features with it, I promise. You do not have to know ANYTHING about coding to use the basic features. Just sayin...
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      11-05-2018, 10:05 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
If your bulbs have ballasts then you probably won't get a warning or flicker, but if you don't code out the cold/warm checks then the lights will blink every thirty seconds or so. Sitting in the car you have no way of knowing that it's happening.
Hmm, not sure what you meant by ballasts. This is what I got:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07H2T8XYM?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

Let me check further if it blinks every 30 seconds or so. I was outside of the car looking at it for quite a while, I do not think I saw blinks....

Thanks!
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      11-05-2018, 10:08 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by sspade View Post
Why wouldnt you just buy BimmerCode and an OBD dongle... no offense but are you that cheap!?

Its a $50 investment for a vehicle that you own. You will definitely find more than $50 worth of features with it, I promise. You do not have to know ANYTHING about coding to use the basic features. Just sayin...
Yes, cheap until there are issues. Then definitely will buy coding stuffs if encounters issues.
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      11-05-2018, 11:30 AM   #6
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What they call 'Intelligent Control' are ballasts.
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      11-05-2018, 12:23 PM   #7
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What they call 'Intelligent Control' are ballasts.
It got something like this:

Pre-installed EMC decoder:*Equipped with EMC decoder, helps to fix connection issues for some vehicles*

Is EMC decoder similar to 'Intelligent Control'?

I checked again briefly and see blinking the first time I turn on car, where the car is in auto mode, trying to decide to use headlights or daylight running light. My car decided to use daylight running light in a couple seconds. But, once I switched to low beams, it remains constant without blinking.
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      11-05-2018, 04:15 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdxway View Post
It got something like this:
Pre-installed EMC decoder:*Equipped with EMC decoder, helps to fix connection issues for some vehicles*
Is EMC decoder similar to 'Intelligent Control'?
Read their ad copy, they call it both. Others call the same thing canbus adapters, though they have nothing to do with canbus. The blinking at start up is the cold check. Later it will get the warm checks. You don't see cold and warm check blinking with halogens because the pulses are too short to heat the filament enough for it to light up. LEDs don't heat up to produce light, and their response time to applied voltages is around 1/5 that of halogen, so they will blink. The only way to stop the blinking is to code to off the cold and warm checks.
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      11-05-2018, 04:37 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
Read their ad copy, they call it both. Others call the same thing canbus adapters, though they have nothing to do with canbus. The blinking at start up is the cold check. Later it will get the warm checks. You don't see cold and warm check blinking with halogens because the pulses are too short to heat the filament enough for it to light up. LEDs don't heat up to produce light, and their response time to applied voltages is around 1/5 that of halogen, so they will blink. The only way to stop the blinking is to code to off the cold and warm checks.
I see. Good info!

May I know how often is the warm check? Is it every 30 seconds? Or is it based on certain temperature?
I wonder why I don't see any other blinks yet after that first start blinks,
Thanks!

Last edited by Pdxway; 11-05-2018 at 04:54 PM..
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      11-05-2018, 05:52 PM   #10
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I coded most of my lamps when I put them in, so I didn't see them do any checks. My inner tail lights got overlooked. I seldom stand behind the car with the ignition on, but a few weeks ago when I did I saw them blink, alternating from left to right, maybe every 45 seconds or so. It stopped after I coded them.
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      11-05-2018, 06:14 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
I coded most of my lamps when I put them in, so I didn't see them do any checks. My inner tail lights got overlooked. I seldom stand behind the car with the ignition on, but a few weeks ago when I did I saw them blink, alternating from left to right, maybe every 45 seconds or so. It stopped after I coded them.
Thanks! I will pay close attention to my low beams. So far did not observe blinking during my last couple days of driving. The cold check blinks were very obvious from inside the car this morning!
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      11-05-2018, 09:00 PM   #12
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You should only have to turn the ignition on to see the blinking. That's what I did when I saw it on my tail lights. You won't see anything when the lights are turned on. The pulses are sent to the lights when they're off, to detect if they're blown or not.
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      11-05-2018, 09:27 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
You should only have to turn the ignition on to see the blinking. That's what I did when I saw it on my tail lights. You won't see anything when the lights are turned on. The pulses are sent to the lights when they're off, to detect if they're blown or not.
Oh, I see. Since for 3 days now I have no blinking during driving, I am not going to worry about the blinks during first turn on the ignition. Also, the blinks only happens once during multiple ignition turn on these 3 days. Nothing tonight either.

Thanks for all the information! I appreciate that!
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      11-06-2018, 08:11 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdxway View Post
for 3 days now I have no blinking during driving
How do you know? My inner tail lights were blinking for 2 months before I noticed it. If I hadn't happened to have the ignition on while standing behind the car with the car in the garage where it was dark enough that the blinking was obvious they'd still be blinking today.
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      11-06-2018, 08:35 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
How do you know? My inner tail lights were blinking for 2 months before I noticed it. If I hadn't happened to have the ignition on while standing behind the car with the car in the garage where it was dark enough that the blinking was obvious they'd still be blinking today.

*I have been standing in front of my car for multiple times, each time multiple minutes, while it is dark.
*My wife stand in front while I turn on ignition, multiple times.
*Sitting in car in the dark inside garage like a dummy, turning on ignition for multiple minutes and observe the light on the garage wall. Repeat multiple times.
*Park outside the garage with garage door down, in the dark, observe the light multiple minutes on the garage door. Repeat multiple times.
*On multiple stop lights, observe the light shining on the car in front of me.

My wife and I have yet to observe any blink when it is dark. Yesterday morning, when there was a bit sun light, only in that one instance I observe a few blinks in succession when I turn on the car and the car trying to decide to use low light or daylight running light.

I wonder may be it is because my car is 2013 model year and the electronic is not yet that sophisticated?

Last edited by Pdxway; 11-06-2018 at 09:01 AM..
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      11-06-2018, 09:52 AM   #16
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I recruited my daughter to check the low beams in front of the car this morning. No cold start blink. No any blink that she can see.

Since all three of us so far can't detect any blinks, I will say either the LED's EMC decoder is helping or my 2013 does not do cold and warm check.

So far 3 nights and 2 mornings driving, plus multiple non driving checks, got no blinks during dark. Anyway, will continue to observe.
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      11-06-2018, 11:05 AM   #17
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I don't know if you noticed it, but I mentioned that the checks only happen when the lights are off. I can't say if the ballasts on my headlights prevented blinking, having coded the checks off when I put the bulbs in. I can only confirm that the rear lamps that I didn't code did blink until I coded them.
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      11-06-2018, 11:39 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
I don't know if you noticed it, but I mentioned that the checks only happen when the lights are off. I can't say if the ballasts on my headlights prevented blinking, having coded the checks off when I put the bulbs in. I can only confirm that the rear lamps that I didn't code did blink until I coded them.
I am confused. So when exactly should I observe blinking? When I turn light off? When I turn on the car the first time? What about the rest of the time while light is already on, like while driving?

Like I mentioned, so far during first turn on ignition, I did not observe blinks during dark time.

During constant on time like idling and driving in the dark, I did not observe blink.

During ignition shutdowns in the dark, I did not observe blinking.

My wife and daughter looking directly from the front at the low beams, they did not observe blinks.

So I really don't think I have anything to worry about as of now. I guess I am lucky with my choice of LED.
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      11-06-2018, 12:49 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
I don't know if you noticed it, but I mentioned that the checks only happen when the lights are off. I can't say if the ballasts on my headlights prevented blinking, having coded the checks off when I put the bulbs in. I can only confirm that the rear lamps that I didn't code did blink until I coded them.
I think I got you now. The issue is not during dark time when the low beams is on.

It is during day time when the daylight running light is on. Indeed I can see blinks during cold check and one blink on each light every minute or so.

I turned off daylight running lights option and it actually helps. No more blinking during day time! So I think I am covered during day and night time now. Thanks!

Last edited by Pdxway; 11-06-2018 at 12:56 PM..
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      11-06-2018, 12:55 PM   #20
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How is the beam/light quality?
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      11-06-2018, 01:10 PM   #21
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Quote:
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How is the beam/light quality?
I like the white better than the old halogen color. My old halogen has pretty clear cut off. The LED would blind incoming cars if used as is. I had to open the hood to use a hex key to adjust the aim to point lower. It seems stronger in short distance. I can't really comment about driving high-speed in pitch dark as I have not tried.

Amazon reviews are few, but all 5 stars.


Other than that, I think it looks better from the front at night. Look a bit higher end than my old halogen bulbs. : )
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      11-06-2018, 03:03 PM   #22
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Quote:
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How is the beam/light quality?
BTW, if you see my post above yours, it will blink during daytime with daylight running light on. You either need to do coding or turn off daylight running light to stop the blinking.

No blinking issue during night time so far.

This is just for low beams. I believe for back light, etc, you will need to do code.

Last edited by Pdxway; 11-06-2018 at 03:14 PM..
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