SuperBomberMan

Hey everyone,

I'm pretty new here and I recently purchased a 528xi CPO about 3 weeks ago. Now, every cars that I've owned before had HID's already installed, but since BMW's seem so a la carte, my CPO came with a lot of options except for adaptive lighting.

I was shopping around and researching on what the best way to go about installing HID's, and finally decided to order the HID kits from DDM. I was hesitant at first only because of the iDrive errors everyone seems to be getting after installing HID's. I ordered a set of Bulb out warning cancelers from DDM and planned on installing them. After placing my order, about a week later, I received my package from DDM but I was surprised to see that my bulb out warning cancelers were not in the package. I called them up and asked what was up and they told me that the BOW connecters were being held up at customs and they would ship out to me once they clear. I told them to cancel my order for the BOW connectors and that I would rig up my own.

BTW, I was able to snag the entire kit for both low beams and fogs for under 100 while they were having their sale... THATS UNHEARD OF! On top of that, they all come with a lifetime replacement warranty.

Getting back on the subject, I went to radio shack and purchased a 4700?f 35V for round 6 bucks each and wired them in line with the harness going into the ballast... (you do not have to cut into your factory harness to do this, you just wire them inline with the provided wires from the HID kit going into the ballast)


This is what my capacitor looks like- Right side plugs into ballast side, left side plugs into bulb side



I crossed my fingers and fired them up and to my surprised it worked! No bulb out warnings, no flickering, they start up every time without a problem. I'm very happy with the results and especially considering I paid less than $100 for all the lights (someone else wanted 160 for each kit just because the capacitor was built into the ballast) The entire installation time including the time it took to wire in the capacitors for all four lights was around 1 hour. The hardest part was reaching the driver side foglight bulb, but its still pretty easy, you just have to remove the plastic cover on the bottom and the wheel well which takes about 5 minutes. The passenger side foglight is easily accessible when the headlight is removed. BTW, I ordered the slim ballast just so you wouldn't see a big bulky ballast in the engine compartment or have to worry about finding a place to mount them. They were so small I was able to secure them to the bumper reinforcement bar with double sided tape and zip ties making it a clean install.

Sorry I don't have any pictures during the installation (was excited about getting the lights in I forgot to take pictures of the process)

Here are a few pictures of the lights

SuperBomberMan

PS- I was checking out the capacitors after installing them, no issues with them heating up or anything of that sort. I was told that they could heat up, and pop the capacitor but I haven't experienced any of that. I've been a mechanic for several years so I wasn't buying into the rumors. The only way capacitors will blow is by reversing to polarity or by giving too much voltage, which is why you need to buy the correct size capacitor. Don't believe the hype "Pure Digital" ballasts... they're all the same thing except the capacitor is built into the ballast.

Gene

so how about possible water damage? at least with the digital ballasts they are sealed/water proof....


thanx for the write up

SuperBomberMan

Everything was soldered, covered with shrink tubing, and taped up with electrical tape. I did the same thing on my quad to keep the lights from dimming and haven't had any problems in 3 years of mudding and going through 18 inches of snow.

schulrog

+1 as long as you know your electronics you shouldn't have any overheating problems