ucsbwsr

I just completed the 3rd retrofit on my headlights and I wanted to share my current build and how the light output compares to stock BMW Adaptive HID headlights.

1st Retro here: https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/for...ustom-orion-v2
2nd Retro here: https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/for...on-eyes-are-in

Stock lol: BMW LCI Adaptive HID
Phase 1: D1S-->D2S bulb conversion w/ 35w-->50w ballast upgrade
Retrofit 1: Clear lens swap and tune on oem projector, 2ndary Morimoto MH1 6.0 2ndary projector added. Orion V2 AEs
Retrofit 2: Oem projector replaced with Morimoto MD2S 3.0, angel eye delete, white projector demon eyes
Retrofit 3: MD2S replaced with MH1 7.0, white demon eyes --> black demon eyes

Many of the "custom" BMW headlights I see showcase custom paint and upgraded Angel Eyes, which is fine, I love aesthetics as much as the next enthusiast but there is so much to gain by upgrading to aftermarket projectors, I wanted to show some photos comparing the difference in light output.

I apologize in advance for the photos not having more controlled environment/background for an accurate comparisons, these photos were taken in various locations over the past couple years, nonetheless I think they will be effective for their intended use.


Stock Projector, Stock bulb, Stock Ballast: Don't have any photos but it sucked.

Stock Projector, Philips 85112 D2S bulb, DDM 55w Ballast:
HID bulbs fade over time so a high quality Philips bulb and a 55w ballast can yield a 40-60% increase in light output over an old/tired bulb on 35w.


Stock Projector + Clear Lens + Tuning:
This is as good as the oem projector (produced by Hella) can get. A clear lens does not increase raw output (lumens) but it will increase the intensity of the light as more light is where you need it below the cutoff and not lost through the diffusion or an oem fresnel, dimpled, or circular lens. The oem Hella projectors have nice intensity in the middle of the beam (the blue color band at the cutoff is a product of light intensity) but they don't have much width to them, also the cutoff is very soft and bows downward aggressively.
A beam pattern like this is great for illuminating where you are going but not much else so it makes sense that BMW has these projectors mounted to an dynamic/AFS unit and supplement output with the cornering light housed in the inner shroud.


Here are the MH1 6.0s I installed as the 2nd projector in my "quad" retrofit, these ran Morimoto bulbs with 35w ballast. These are not known for being a wide projector but it dominates the oem projector in that category, the MH1 6.0 has a fairly sharp cutoff with nice light distribution. The rotation and bulb alignment of the driver-side projector was a little off (projector was a little too clockwise and the hotspot was too fart left).


Here is my latest setup with the MH1 7.0, a sharp level cutoff with great intensity and above average width. Also, near the edges of the beam, notice the intensity of the light just under the cutoff, this is very useful for viewing distant objects that are in your peripheral. A projector with light output like this (intensity under the cutoff) is great for highway driving and vehicles which go fast where seeing in the distance is critical. If you live in a dense urban setting then you might benefit from a projector that has more foreground to see objects which are closer while cornering and navigating items in a closer proximity, I doubt this applies to many M5 owners. Oem Hella projector wouldn't come close to illuminating that SUV.


Another 7.0 shot, this time notice the foreground, the light immediately in front of the car, this great for slow speed navigation but if the foreground is too great or too intense it can negatively impact distance vision. Much like having your instrument cluster or navigation screen too bright at night, it is more difficult to see the road. My wagon is lowered which further increases the foreground intensity, you can see that the first 2-4ft of foreground is quite bright.


Here is the finished product with the foreground limiters.


Another shot


This picture was taken from my viewing angle, you can see that I only miss out on a few feet of foreground, which I am happy to accept in exchange for removing that bright distance-killing foreground.


Another pic on the road. Notice even with the foreground limiters there is still useable light at the lower corners.


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Here is the build of my current headlights


I really enjoyed the product of my last retrofit, the angel eye delete and white demon eyes was a clean and subtle look I really dug. As much as I appreciate the "look at me" element of angel eyes/DRLS I think the circular design of the rings, whether on or off, is distracting and takes away from the otherwise clean clean/sharp/swoop design of the headlight.

If you recall, my current headlights are the units I refurbished in my second retrofit so they are far from perfect but being my personal headlights I think of them as a test bed for experimenting and trying new things, so in the end it works out. I will be doing some retrofits on BMW 5 series in the near future so this build was to familiarize myself with the headlights once again and test out some new things. One thing I am testing is the durability of the bowls on the 7.0s, they are powered by a 3five 50w ballast.

From my 2nd retrofit, this 3rd revision includes white ---> black demon eyes and MD2S 3.0 ---> MH1 7.0 "main projector." I kept the same MH1 6.0 as my 2nd projector in the quad setup.

I had thoughts to run a Morimoto 70mm xb fogs in place of the MH1 6.0s in the inner shrouds but decided against it as it was easier to keep the 6.0s there. The xb fogs can be located there without too much effort so confirming that while the headlight was apart was a goal in of itself.


MH1 7.0 Before


MH1 7.0m After


Black Demon Eye


XB 70mm fog


It would have worked and been pretty clean but I decided against it


Who mods their LED bulbs? ME!


I already had a D2S sealant/plug installed on the housing, the plug for the H1 bulb was too small in diameter to fit the whole, what to do?


Put the plug in the plug!


It came out super clean on the inside as well (and double sealed)


This is me having a hard time reflashing my Light Control Module


The MH1 6.0 fits like a glove in the inner shroud, the projector actually resides inside that chrome bowl you see and is the perfect length to match up with the shroud(s) that are in the front around the lens


If you look at the inner projector... there is a shroud, a ring, and an inner ring; the shroud and ring and held in place with bolts but the inner ring sits on the projector lens holder like a normal shroud would, it fits so snugly that I won't even bother with JB Kwik to secure it


Black on Black


Doing some final testing before I seal them up, don't mind the crooked intercooler, the wagon still makes 550whp


ALL OUTPUT SHOTS ARE OF THE MH1 7.0 ONLY!


The MH1 7.0s are a nice upgrade over the MD2 3.0 I had in there before. I was very appreciative of the fact that the 7.0s didn't take much tuning to get dialed, only some bulb alignment was needed to get great results (I still wish this wasn't needed but I understand how sensitive optics are). That being said I am very optimistic for the new MD2S 4.0!


I love the intensity along the cutoff but I am a huge fan of 3G TL and FXR 1.0 outputs where the width is thick and meaty. Projectors like the MH1 7.0 may be technically have a wider output but I don't find it quiet as useful as the other projectors mentioned. That being said the 7.0 is impressive considering it's size (again excited for D2S 4.0)


I thought about adding some foreground limiters since my wagon is pretty low ....and I should have, it would be nice to remove the initial 3-5 feet of intense light on the ground near the front of my car. If I need more foreground I can switch on the MH1 6.0s, their foreground is an additional 1-1.5ft closer.


Output 1


Reverse Light: Love It!


Some color flicker


LOW


HIGH


Final stages of the retrofit...


I went through with building some foreground limiters, it was my first time and it took me a while. I wanted them to be adjustable so it took me a little bit to design some that could slide up and down without interfering with the lens holder. The other part that took me a while was the alignment since I now have a foreground cutoff and if they were not aligned propoerly (just like a regular cutoff) it would drive me crazy so it was each projector needed to alignments, YAY!

Here were the finished limiters


Before


After


The hardware work out well as the nuts on the rear were held in the place by the bowl allowing easy one-handed adjustment with a screwdriver from the front side, those adjustment screws can also be accessed when the lens holder mounted. I left some material on the top of the limiter so it is easier to grab during adjustment.


Very limited foreground! After this pic I took the car out for a quick drive to test them, there was a little too much foreground limited and I ended up raising the limiters ~2-3mm



Stock MH1 7.0 foreground


After custom limiters, this was before I adjusted them to allow more foreground.


With the limiters setup aggressively it limited the first ~15ft of foreground in front my car, 7.0s have great intensity on 50w, not sure if the limiters helped this at all by blocking and recycling extra light.


The following shots are after adjusting the limiters up to allow more foreground, now only ~10ft of foreground is limited, this works out great as most of the really intense/bright foreground is gone which was my goal


Impressive output for a MH1


This picture is exactly what I see when driving.


On the road, I wanted to retain as much of the foreground width as possible, I find this light very useful in low speed cornering situations. On the MH1 7.0 this part of the beam pattern isn't very intense so it works well, the light is ample enough to be useable but not too bright where it will hurt long range vision.


All was good so time to seal them up. The BMW E6X housings need to be cut open unfortunately, previously I used straps/tie-downs to hold the leans and housing together while it was sealed. Some packaging/moving saran wrap work great, it can hold nice and tight but also is safe for the lens. I used small dollops of JB Kwik in key areas to help add some structural rigidity the the lens and housing marriage after that was done I laid a bead of 3M Window Weld to complete the seal. I can curious to see how this combo holds up.


So dark with the black demon eyes


All done

KyleB

dude you are obsessed. I like it

what's the E90 in the driveway?

ucsbwsr

That is my buddies single turbo 335xi. I am storing and modding it while he is abroad this winter. That thing now makes around 600awhp.

stel_i79

Can u do all this but dont black out.. So it look factory?)
Take my $$$
Great job

Booyaazaa

Great job as always.

ucsbwsr

It is possible but would be very challenging since the oem chrome finish is very soft and flakes off when being handled.

Thanks Victor, did you ever test fit those M5 pull bars?

Evan

rice_rocket88

That's simply.. awesome... My lights being since 2008 I am considering swapping them out for new bulbs just to get the increase in light output.. the pitch black streets when I get home still look pretty horrible to me. The neighbors tl-s and their factory housings still look better by far!

ucsbwsr

TLs have nice headlights, especially the 3rd Gen (04-08).

Replacing the bulbs would be easiest/cheapest way to get some extra light output.

rice_rocket88

I haven't read much into the stock bulbs/ballasts.. so I don't know how much just a bulb swap will increase quality vs trying to up to 55watt bulbs and ballasts. I just remembered umnitza and their 5000 lumen lux LED fog lights which the last statement said bright.. which is probably a good increase for the lower speeds of my back roads.

ucsbwsr

Light output will heavily depend on how old your bulbs are and what brands you use for your replacement bulbs/ballasts. Here is an example of an old vs new bulb, all other variables the same:
https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/for...put-comparison

If you upgrade to a 50/55w ballast you might as well swap the D1S bulbs for D2S, this will open the doors for high quality bulb options, you will need some D1S-D2S bulb adapters for the D2S bulbs to mount to the oem projector and you will need to drill a hole in the rear cover and mount the ballast externally, not a big deal since a properly fitted D2S ignitor and grommet will seal just fine (that is what I did) just something to think about.

Be weary of LED bulbs like that, most are from China and under perform, I would ask Umnitza if they have any data from a lux meter to confirm the output, I doubt they do. Furthermore LED bulbs like that are not meant to perform in halogen or HID housings, the end result is very poor light pattern. They may perform better in the fog location but regardless don't use those when on the road as you will be blinding oncoming traffic, save it for your neighborhood where it is really needed. Just my input.