d4rkchocolate

Hi There,

before you say it, I have googled,searched every country, all the forums, lol, and noticed alot of people have gone the Pre LCI Halogen to LCI Halogen/Xenon conversion,But not a lot has gone from Pre LCI Xenon to LCI Xenon, which is understandable, as they ara more pricey,
which leads to a Question.......

I have a pre LCI E60 545i, with Xenons and adaptive headlights.
I wanted to go the LCI route and managed to source the rear lights, and kindly got Bruce Miranda to fit his special kit for me (thanks buddy, got a lot of time for you)......

I finally got the LCI headlamps with the adaptive features, and thought it would be a straight swap, which of course it wasnt just a plug n pray..

i chopped my existing 8 pins + 4pin Harness, followed the retrofit guide for the adaptive headlight mod, plugged it in and then, the problems started.

Xenons works fine, But the Angel eyes (rings) in my case powered by the almighty H8 Bulb powered up and then stopped working, and flashed up a fault

on the check screen saying parking light fault left and right....also my adaptive headlights dont work neither, which leads to a question


do i have to get my car coded for my LCI headlamps to work???
or would i need to add resistors to fool the check control?? (wouldnt know where to start with that)

i also plugged the car into my mates DIS and heres what it found

LM (Light Module) 9CBB Short Circuit in a lamp circuit- short circuit to positive- fault currently present
LM (Light Module) 9CBC Short Circuit in a lamp circuit- short circuit to positive- fault currently present

and for the adaptive headlight it says

AHL A58E AHL: System fault - signal implausible Fault Currently not present (then)
AHL A58E AHL Energy Saving Mode on --- Fault currently Present

please if anyone knows or has an idea what this could be i am truely grateful, i'll even paypal over some beer...

at the mo just my xenons work and indictors and the orange leds

nelson29

pm replied.

Sas

You are going from the standard 5watt (2x / actualy 4x) or 10watt (2x) bulbs to H8 ,
wont work
You need the LMII and coding.

Georgieb

d4rkchocolate, Can you elaborate on this process or provide a link with details of how it is done. Thanks!

Sas, would you mind getting into further detail regarding the LMII? I am guessing this is the front lights support module. Is this something that has to be purchased in addition and does it replace the pre-LCI version in d4rkchocolate's E60?

Nelson,
I'm also looking into this mod given that Patryk and I tried all we could yesterday to code my pre-LCI module to ignite only AEs with DRLs; however we could not do this despite Patryk working for more than two hours on the coding. It looks as though I would have to do a hard-wire mod or change the light control module entirely to LCI with accompanying headlights as d4rkchocolate is doing.

d4rkchocolate,
My apologies as I'm certainly not trying to steal your thread however it seems as though we may have a common goal here and we can share the info together on a solution. P.S. I can recommend a great guy to do your coding when the time is right.

Sas

When the Light Modul is not coded for (the fault is handeled in the module itself) or doesnt support Xenon it will go in to save mode causse HID's can draw up to 3000V at start up. The modul gets a massive draw and will think it short circuited, it will try to reset it self what starts the blinking of the Xenons.
To avoid this situation you can install aftermarket HID's with a CAN-bus error canceler that suppresses the faults the HID's will trow up.

Some Wikipedia reading:

HID headlamp bulbs do not run on low-voltage DC current, so they require a ballast with either an internal or external ignitor. The ignitor is integrated into the bulb in D1 and D3 systems, and is either a separate unit or part of the ballast in D2 and D4 systems. The ballast controls the current to the bulb. The ignition and ballast operation proceeds in three stages:

1.Ignition: a high voltage pulse is used to produce a spark ? in a manner similar to a spark plug ? which ionises the Xenon gas, creating a conducting tunnel between the tungsten electrodes. Electrical resistance is reduced within the tunnel, and current flows between the electrodes.
2.Initial phase: the bulb is driven with controlled overload. Because the arc is operated at high power, the temperature in the capsule rises quickly. The metallic salts vaporise, and the arc is intensified and made spectrally more complete. The resistance between the electrodes also falls; the electronic ballast control gear registers this and automatically switches to continuous operation.
3.Continuous operation: all metal salts are in the vapor phase, the arc has attained its stable shape, and the luminous efficacy has attained its nominal value. The ballast now supplies stable electrical power so the arc will not flicker. Stable operating voltage is 85 volts AC in D1 and D2 systems, 42 volts AC in D3 and D4 systems. The frequency of the square-wave alternating current is typically 400 hertz or higher.

nelson29

There's no way to code pre-lci angel eyes as DRLs. There's a couple of members that have hack them.


Here's a pdf on the lci headlight and taillight retrofit.

Sas

Actualy there is a way, even two: 1) update by the dealer 2) Self coding
My car was updated in September and the option came up in the iDrive prior to that i didnt have DRL's.
Maybe it's (again) a US non-option.

Georgieb

Thanks for the updates guys. My interest would be to go from Pre-LCI Adaptive Xenon to LCI Adaptive Bi-Xenon. Possible?

Nelson, your PDF link doesn't seem to be working.

nelson29

Nigel,

Yes its possible, thats what i did. I try the link from 2 different computer and it work.

Georgieb

Thanks Nelson, So the light fixtures you installed are as in this attached pic? I just sent an email to John (Brabus) with some questions regarding hardware. I'm guessing I'll need two LCI Adaptive Bi-Xenons with dual projectors, an LCI Light module and relevant BMW retrofit cabling.

What impact might my rear Hella LCI Tailights and Bruce Miranda V6 cables have on this install? Will Bruce's cables still be needed now that we can program the rear lights correctly with the new LCI light module? Also I wonder if a BMW retrofit cable is needed for the rear lights also providing that we may now remove Bruce's cables?