DIY: hid retrofit on a budget! (for halogen lights)

i've been reading peoples questions about mounting the shrouds to the projectors and thought i'd throw some ideas yall's way. when you order the whole mini h1 kit through theretro site, the kit comes with these plastic "o ring" attatchments that make mounting the shrouds easier and more solid. at first they seem like they won't work but here's how you mod them and fit them in. if you already have your diy supplies or don't want to order the whole kit i'm sure you can get these rings individually for a couple bucks or so...

here's the plastic "o rings". the e46 shrouds come with clips on the inside that theoretically should mount to something but they don't so you hould break them off...



next just push the o ring into the shroud with the smooth side facing out like this. the ring goes in nicely and fits snug and will make mounting/centering the shroud easier. it also makes siliconing the setup easier as now there is actually somewhere for the silicon to go ...



NOT like this ...



then put the shroud and o ring onto the projector. fits nice and securely even without siliconing yet. you'll still want to sillicon the shroud to the o ring before putting on the projector and then the o ring to the projector once all in place...




here's a little something else i grabbed while doing this diy. some white brights and some yellow fogs...



hope this helps!....

Originally Posted by Steve330ci

Install of the Morimoto D2S retrofit kit from TRS is complete using my best guess for the wiring connections, as stated in my prior post. Good news is full functionality. Project took 6 hours. Had to dremel the existing halogen bulb opening from one inch diameter to 1 and 5/16 inch.

i believe you had to drill because you got the d2s instead of the mini h1

Only glitches are:

(1) the wiring harness supplied by TRS has 5 connections: positive, ground, left ballast, right ballast, and the last one to connect to one of the car's low beam connectors. Because one low beam connector is now - after the install - not connected to anything, I have a bulb out light for the missing connector side.

pretty sure you don't need the wiring harness if you stick with the h1 setup, it should be plug and play as the ballast plugs into the bulb socket wiring and then the bulbs to the ballast

(2) there was absolutely nothing for the E46R shroud to connect to in the projector. And, the puny little tabs on them easily break off.

just made a post explaining how to use these properly in post above

Waiting for dark to see how they look.

they're gonna look great!

Will post some pix on Monday.

anxious to see

response in quote

Perfect Mr. cobyK , that's really help, are you planning to install angel eyes? tell us what you choose?

Dont forget to post some pics for your car.

Thanks,

Originally Posted by maxi

Perfect Mr. cobyK , that's really help, are you planning to install angel eyes? tell us what you choose?

Dont forget to post some pics for your car.

Thanks,

i was going to do angel eyes but i wasn't able to find a kit that promised to be 5000k as this is what my hid's will be. i'll definately post up some pics as i get to this project. i was going to buff the headlights out with a restoration kit first so it may be a couple of days.

thank you cobyk, that will really help people in the future who attempts this diy, props =D

I'm confused about what I'll receive when I order the BI-XENON MORIMOTO MINI STAGE III KIT (H1). in the (what's included list ) :
*2x Genuine Morimoto Mini H1 4.1 bi-xenon projectors w/ clear lenses (Low & High Beams).
Is that mean that I'll receive 4 projectors (2 for low beam, 2 for high)?
I need for low beam only.

any input ..

im just wondering if the mini h1 4.1 version can be installed using the same instructions from OP, sorry if someone already asked, i didn't have time to go through all the pages. Also, i already have angel eyes for my halogen lights, will those work with this retrofit so i dont have to buy new ones?

Originally Posted by maxi

I'm confused about what I'll receive when I order the BI-XENON MORIMOTO MINI STAGE III KIT (H1). in the (what's included list ) :
*2x Genuine Morimoto Mini H1 4.1 bi-xenon projectors w/ clear lenses (Low & High Beams).
Is that mean that I'll receive 4 projectors (2 for low beam, 2 for high)?
I need for low beam only.

any input ..

that means the projectors are bixenon, meaning the bottom part of the projector functions as a low beam and top functions as high beam. In this diy, xi_chee only shows u how to connect low beams(bottom half of projector).

Originally Posted by jmanfredonia

im just wondering if the mini h1 4.1 version can be installed using the same instructions from OP, sorry if someone already asked, i didn't have time to go through all the pages. Also, i already have angel eyes for my halogen lights, will those work with this retrofit so i dont have to buy new ones?

just use the exact products listed in the diy.

but the projector link doesnt work anymore because they updated it to the 4.1 one. so thats why im wondering if the 4.1 version is the same diy.

Originally Posted by jmanfredonia

but the projector link doesnt work anymore because they updated it to the 4.1 one. so thats why im wondering if the 4.1 version is the same diy.

We need Clarification from xi_chee... I want to buy the whole kit form the retrofits, I dont want to buy every part from different site, secondly the retrofits producst seems good quality, that's why, I just want to be sure about the h1 kit.

Ill get back to you guys when Im off work...2 jobs and school sucks :-\ lol

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Bimmer App

Come soon xi_chee, we are waiting for your advice.

Mr. cobyK I think you have bought the full kit of the h1, could you plz tell us what did you receive exactly.

jesus guys. You buy:
BI-XENON: MORIMOTO MINI H1 4.1
bulbs: no
Shroud: mini gatling gun(not used)
Version: LHD (if your car is left hand drive obviously)

then go to the projector shroud section and buy:
e46-R shrouds: Value version(15 bucks)

then you buy an H1 HID kit off of wherever you want. XI_Chee used DDM Tuning.com

the 4.1 version will work. read the description on trs, its the same except with better mounting rings, and solenoids and those other goodies.

Finally finished this 100% and have the bi-xenon feature working. I will have a diagram and stuff up for those that want to wire Angel Eyes and these HIDs, as well as going bi-xenon VERY easily. I should have it ready tomorrow. Its too dark to take pictures right now.

Also, I had lots of issues with the Morimoto 9006 Relay and grounding issues with the AE's and Xenons after wiring the relay. IDK if anyone else has had these issues but I will have a solution in the diagram.

haha thanks alot, i dont know so much about lighting

what is the total cost for this mod for the projector, hid and angel eyes? Can anybody me some idea. I like the setup. In my setup I would need to change the headlight lens as well. That additional $70.
Just wondering a new depo with hid would be the way to go.

Thanks

Originally Posted by a325h

Finally finished this 100% and have the bi-xenon feature working. I will have a diagram and stuff up for those that want to wire Angel Eyes and these HIDs, as well as going bi-xenon VERY easily. I should have it ready tomorrow. Its too dark to take pictures right now.

Also, I had lots of issues with the Morimoto 9006 Relay and grounding issues with the AE's and Xenons after wiring the relay. IDK if anyone else has had these issues but I will have a solution in the diagram.

awaiting to see the bixenon feature writeup

Okay guys, this is one of my first write-ups so feedback is welcome. Please excuse the pictures, they were taken on a phone.

In this writeup, I will assume that you have already wired angel eyes properly OR you don't have them.

Here is my overall diagram of what I have done to wire this setup. I will dig into more details as I go. As in the picture, I have the relay hooked up to the OEM 9006 Low Beam connector. The Relay connects to a ground terminal in the cutout area on the passenger side, and the positive battery terminal. I put the wire under the original wire there and did not have to cut any part of it out to fit. Then of course, it connects to each ballast.



After wiring all of this up and getting it working, my friend and I drove to another friends birthday on the other side of 400. (For those in Georgia ;p) After the party, we were on our way to depart. It was friggin cold (40* in Georgia?!?!) and we wanted to get home fast. I hopped in my baby and started her up. No lights came on. I found this odd because they were working just before when we drove to the party! My friend and I fiddled with connections and wires as much as we could, but neither my angel eyes nor my HIDs would come on. I had to drive home, at night, on fogs and high beams. Some of you may say this is not safe, but Alpharetta is a pretty populated area and all the streets are well lit, my fogs are plenty bright and when I could I used my high beams. I had no issues getting home at all.

Anyways, enough with the story and on to a solution. The next day I went out to examine the lights to find the issue. I tested voltage and resistance and grounding and couldn't find anything! It was a steady 12v to the relays every time. But then we tested the voltage on the connectors to the ballasts. It read 7.5-8v every time. Impossible! How can there be 12v to the relay but not to the ballast? After more tests, it was discovered that the ground post was the issue. The temperature change from the engine being hot on a warm day, to sitting and getting very cold, very fast shrunk the ground post just enough to cause a bad connection (Keep in mind I have angel eyes hooked up there as well, and they didn't turn on either). I confirmed this by quickly grounding the AEs to another ground and turned them on. Low and behold it worked!

Now the only issue was how to get the other ground terminal to give a good flow constantly, no matter the temperatures or any other deterrent (The reason I had to use the original ground post was because the relay wire they provided didn't reach any further).

Our quick solution: Get 2 washer type connectors and tie the 2 ground posts in that area together with a low gauge wire, we used 16awg.



That cleared that issue up right away.

Quick and easy Bi-Xenon feature

I did not want to have to do any of the complicated or irreversible things you can do to have a bi-xenon projector. My simple solution: tap into the existing OEM high beam wires with the bi-xenon wires. This will cause the shutter to open when the high beams are turned on.

I used 16-18awg wire splices. They worked fine for the high beam wires, but not so well on the Projector's. What we had to do was solder on a small piece of 16awg wire to the end and use that to splice with. To do this, just simply twist about 1/4" of each exposed wire together and solder. Cover with heatshrink to ensure good insulation.

This feature works well for me. Yes, your original high beams will turn on as well when you do this, but that does not bother me. If it bothers you, maybe you can just remove the bulb? I am not sure if the line will see the solenoid as completing the circuit.

Here is an image overview of what I did:





If you guys want, I will get some pictures or video of the feature tonight.

Also, I had to disconnect my passenger side relay to ballast connector because it kept causing the bulb to flicker. Its now hooked up to the OEM connector and has no issues at all. Also, my relay only ever has 1 LED on at a time. And if I swap the connectors, the relay with the LED changes as well. Did I get a Lemon connector?