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

wow it's great

Hey guys, I have done this retrofit on my e46 but I have a friend that would like to do it on an e90. Does anyone by chance know if the retrofit would work the same on an e90 or what differences there would be? Any help would be appreciated

Does anyone's lights shake? I tightened mine pretty damn tight (the projector to the reflector bowl) and it still shakes with the slightest bumps. PS my car is low and on a stiff suspension, so would that be the problem?

Originally Posted by mq124

Hey guys, I have done this retrofit on my e46 but I have a friend that would like to do it on an e90. Does anyone by chance know if the retrofit would work the same on an e90 or what differences there would be? Any help would be appreciated

The E90 uses the same ZKW projector parabolic reflectors from the E46 ZHP (with better plating of course, though BMW won't admit to that) for the projector models so the housing form factor should be close if not the same. I cannot guarantee the form factor of the halogen reflector bowls though. The only problem with it would be the shrouds, though I'm not sure how much of a problem that would be. You should be fairly familiar with the E46 housing, so just look at his lights. Remember, with the E46 people have problems with the reflector almost being too big, so don't panic when the E90 reflectors are smaller bowls.

Originally Posted by ///Mostarac

Does anyone's lights shake? I tightened mine pretty damn tight (the projector to the reflector bowl) and it still shakes with the slightest bumps. PS my car is low and on a stiff suspension, so would that be the problem?

Did you stiffen the solenoid springs by stretching them? Also, did you remove the H7 adapter plates? Removing the plates greatly improves stability. I've driven on a dirt road and not seen excessive shake. Also, check to see if the shake isn't just the LCM performing a hot-check of the bulb.

Originally Posted by dano17

How is everyone going from the H1 HID to the H7 stock lighting harness?

interested in this as well!

I'm really considering this, especially after hearing the negative comments about depo's. Great thread!!!

Besides retrofit and depo, are there any other alternatives (HID/Projector/Angel Eye)?

Originally Posted by tyusha

interested in this as well!

You don't really convert it. You need the bulbs AND ballasts bare minimum. Some cars require bulb out warning eliminators which are basically resistors.

Here's a little diagram of how they are connected. I found an old pic from way back ago (April? Pre-blower.) that shows the different components hooked up. Also, the stock high and low beam wiring harnesses are 9006. Though the stock fogs can be either H3 or 9006. Generally pre-facelift and sport-package sedans will have 9006 and post-facelift non-sport sedans will have H3. I'm not sure on the coupes.

Stock harness -> (Maybe warning eliminator) -> Ballast -> Bulb



The extra red and black wiring attached to the high beams is for the bi-xenon shutter. It's that simple to wire. DO NOT wire it like that if you have DRL's enabled though.

As for alternatives, you can retrofit different projectors in. The most popular is FX-R retrofits but that requires extensive cutting and gluing. Other than a complete housing swap, no hid option can beat the MH1 for ease of install.

Originally Posted by deadwood83

You don't really convert it. You need the bulbs AND ballasts bare minimum. Some cars require bulb out warning eliminators which are basically resistors.

Here's a little diagram of how they are connected. I found an old pic from way back ago (April? Pre-blower.) that shows the different components hooked up. Also, the stock high and low beam wiring harnesses are 9006. Though the stock fogs can be either H3 or 9006. Generally pre-facelift and sport-package sedans will have 9006 and post-facelift non-sport sedans will have H3. I'm not sure on the coupes.

Stock harness -> (Maybe warning eliminator) -> Ballast -> Bulb



The extra red and black wiring attached to the high beams is for the bi-xenon shutter. It's that simple to wire. DO NOT wire it like that if you have DRL's enabled though.

As for alternatives, you can retrofit different projectors in. The most popular is FX-R retrofits but that requires extensive cutting and gluing. Other than a complete housing swap, no hid option can beat the MH1 for ease of install.

Thanks for your explanation, but i am still a little confused
So what you are saying is that we need a ballast that takes stock h7 harness and outputs h1 for the bulb in the projector? is that standard for all ballasts? i am surprised that this was not addressed before. I am pretty sure my facelift sedan halogen low beams use the H7 bulbs/harness so since we are using the H1 projectors and bulbs it raises some questions...

Did you stiffen the solenoid springs by stretching them? Also, did you remove the H7 adapter plates? Removing the plates greatly improves stability. I've driven on a dirt road and not seen excessive shake. Also, check to see if the shake isn't just the LCM performing a hot-check of the bulb.

I literally followed the diy word for word. As for the LCM performing a "hot-check," could you elaborate more on that?

Originally Posted by tyusha

Thanks for your explanation, but i am still a little confused
So what you are saying is that we need a ballast that takes stock h7 harness and outputs h1 for the bulb in the projector? is that standard for all ballasts? i am surprised that this was not addressed before. I am pretty sure my facelift sedan halogen low beams use the H7 bulbs/harness so since we are using the H1 projectors and bulbs it raises some questions...

The car comes with a piece that converts the 9006 to H7. It's the thing the bulb sits in.

And yes you need ballasts. It's covered in the first post under things you need. Familiarize yourself with your car's parts and suddenly DIY's will be natural and intuitive.

Originally Posted by ///Mostarac

I literally followed the diy word for word. As for the LCM performing a "hot-check," could you elaborate more on that?

The car pulses voltage/amperage changes and monitors wattage draws while the bulb is on. it does this periodically throughout its operation. When this happens, without BOW eliminators it can make the bulb flicker. This can appear as shield bounce.

Originally Posted by deadwood83

The car comes with a piece that converts the 9006 to H7. It's the thing the bulb sits in.

And yes you need ballasts. It's covered in the first post under things you need. Familiarize yourself with your car's parts and suddenly DIY's will be natural and intuitive.

thank you for the explanation. Of course i knew that i needed ballasts. My confusion is in plugging H7 harness into an H1 ballast. Is is H7 harness same as 9006, and do all H1 ballasts accept 9006/H7 stock wiring harness? i guess i am having difficulties phrasing my question...

Thanks again!!

Originally Posted by tyusha

thank you for the explanation. Of course i knew that i needed ballasts. My confusion is in plugging H7 harness into an H1 ballast. Is is H7 harness same as 9006, and do all H1 ballasts accept 9006/H7 stock wiring harness? i guess i am having difficulties phrasing my question...

Thanks again!!

The factory harness is 9006. Most ballasts accept a 9006 plug since it is very common. The ballast itself does all the conversion since the power draw characteristics of an HID bulb are very different (but the ballast handles that).

Some ballasts have different plugs, but the product descriptions should tell you if it is anything different than 9006.

Perfect! That explains it all! Thanks a lot!!

Just finishing up this mod. The shroud and clip for me was a bit finicky. Definitely didn't line up perfectly with the projector. Installing the projector was pretty straight forward. I found that you didn't have to remove the halogen projector bowls to install the projector. The chrome on the shroud and the halogen bowls is very easy to scratch, be careful of that. Overall a pretty simple mod, just take your time with it.

So I just did this today, and it went really well for the most part. The light pattern is really odd however. Even after adjusting the headlights, the area right in front of the car is completely dark. Not sure what to do. I don't know if this is one of those cases where the bixenon levers need to be bent a bit. Please let me know what you guys think. It looks like this

Originally Posted by tyusha

So I just did this today, and it went really well for the most part. The light pattern is really odd however. Even after adjusting the headlights, the area right in front of the car is completely dark. Not sure what to do. I don't know if this is one of those cases where the bixenon levers need to be bent a bit. Please let me know what you guys think. It looks like this

that's exactly what you want. The brightest lit part of the output should be right below the cutoff. If the foreground is too bright, your distance vision will be nil.

so you think this is perfect? I never had HIDs in my life so i was not certain about what to expect...

Originally Posted by tyusha

so you think this is perfect? I never had HIDs in my life so i was not certain about what to expect...

looks good! Your eyes naturally focus on the brightest lit part. So at night, a bright foreground will make seeing things further out almost impossible. The issue is compounded when the projectors are put in a car low to the ground because the foreground gets closer and closer, and subsequently brighter.

But your output looks good. Maybe play with the angles a bit though. It looks like your passenger side is slanting upwards to the right. Ideally it should be two level lines with a slanted step in the middle. This is my custom cutoff shield, so don't expect the rainbow, but notice how on either side of the step in the middle the beam pattern is parallel to the ground? That's what you want in your final adjustment.

Thank you so much for being so willing to help! I will play around with it tomorrow. Do our headlights have an angle adjustment or just up and down?

Originally Posted by tyusha

Thank you so much for being so willing to help! I will play around with it tomorrow. Do our headlights have an angle adjustment or just up and down?

up/down only. You'll have to rotate the projector in the housing.