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      08-05-2014, 08:49 PM   #1
asirvr4
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angel eyes wiring

Hello,

Some of you might know that I have Umtinza Orion V2 LED angel eyes installed?

I would like to share what I have done and also need your help.

Note: This not exactly a DIY, but might be useful information. So don't blame me if you screwed things up. Sorry in advance for my English language.

How they look like:
This a close picture I took long time ago. It had to be close because my phone camera sucks:
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Cutting the housing story:
For many it's a horror to cut their headlights open, but for me it was an easy decision because my headlights looked like crap already.

Definitely they can't be bake to open as you already might know. So I started by breaking/cutting the black plastic surrounding the outside edge of the clear cover. Then I used sharp knife to cut the OEM super seal glue. After I got them open it was a good chance to polish my clear lenses inside/out, so sent them to a special shop.

Fitting the angel eyes:
A pic of how it is installed inside the headlight.
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I have glued them on the chrome housing, so they lineup behind the OEM clear plastic rings. I scraped the chrome underneath so it sticks well. The inner plastic ring is smaller than the inner LED ring, the outer plastic ring is a perfect match for the outer LED ring. So at different view angels the inner one would show less light through.
Another problem is the outer LED ring is too thick to sandwich in between, so I broke top two clips of the inner housing to push it outside to give space for the outer LED ring.

Wiring the rings inside:
Got rid of the OEM bulb with its connector, and used its wires: white with white, brown with brown. So no hassle in wiring.

Other things:
Opened the markers housing and removed the orange glass. I couldn't find chrome bulbs that lit orange to replace my OEM orange bulbs, so I covered them with chrome tint, and it works fine. Luckily for the side markers I found chrome bulbs.

Installing the headlights back:
For the first time I used silicon to seal, but my advice is never use silicon no matter how high quality it is, it will always make a mess and won't seal properly, and it's difficult to open again.
After many failed tries I used butyl glue tape, which is easy to work, seals properly if installed correctly, and can be opened again easily.

Issues:
1) With this setup the angel eyes strobe lightly when in ignition before starting the car, this is due the car is checking for any bad bulbs.
2) I get "bulb out" warning coming on and off frequently while driving.
3) Angel eyes flickering all the time while engine is ON only. This what bothers me the most.


In order to overcome these issues I have decided to use the relay/wiring harness. The kit I got from Umtinza is similar to this, except for some wire colors:

(Replace "Brown trigger wire" with yellow and "Red trigger wire" with white)

I wired as the following diagram (I made it )
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white stripe/green wire was traced from the driver headlight connector going in to the ecu box.

white stripe/blue wire was traced from passenger headlight connector going in to the firewall.

I am not sure if the yellow wire and white wire are correct or should be opposite?

brown negative wires can be found on the way, but I used the ground collecting points on the suspension struts.

I mounted relay near charging point. Is that safe?

For positive power supply I used the alternator/battery charging point.
For ground used a ground point above the steering.

Results (Mostly not good):
1) The light strobe the angel eyes had before starting engine has disappeared.
2) "Bulb out" warning is there all time. Did not disappear.
3) Flickering has reduced by about 90%, and 99% when xenon is on. Not sure why?
4) The most annoying problem that relay is clicking at fast rate and making loud noise that can be heard from cabin while doors and windows closed. I feel like there is an angry bee inside my car.

Now, I did some tests to find where is my mistake, and here is what I found:

Connected white wire:
-Engine off: relay clicks once, angel eyes on without flickering 100%
-Engine on: relay clicks rapidly, angel eyes on without flickering 90%

Connected yellow wire:
-Engine off: no relay click, angel eyes on without flickering 90%
-Engine on: no relay click, angel eyes on with flickering like previous setup.

I measured voltage also:
-At white wire there is drop when angel eyes are on. Engine Off=12VDC, Engine On=8VDC.
-At yellow wire there is no drop when angel eyes are on. Engine Off/On=12VDC.
There is no voltage drop when the relay is removed.


So what's causing the problem? Is it the relay it self?
Should I change to a different rating? If so please direct me.

Or revert back to old simple wiring and return the bulb to be parallel with angel eyes? Or some kind of resistor?

Please help me.
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      08-06-2014, 12:04 AM   #2
StickMon
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Without labeling the relay contacts (normally open, normally closed, common) I can't really critique your diagram, but it seems to have more ground connections than needed.

I would suggest keeping it simple and not using the relay. It really won't buy you much.

Use NCSExpert to code off the bulb check. That eliminates the bulb out warning and the strobing when you first turn the ignition on. (Although I kind of like the strobing, but that's just me.)

Not sure about the flickering. I just put LEDs in my stock halos, coded off the bulb check, and I'm fine.
Are you sure it's not a loose connection that vibrates open/closed from the engine vibration?
It might also be the LCM frantically trying to figure out if the bulbs are good or not.
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Last edited by StickMon; 08-06-2014 at 12:11 AM..
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      08-06-2014, 06:41 AM   #3
asirvr4
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Thank you for replying. I was just on this. I removed the relay. It drove me crazy. I tried all sorts of options.

The strobing is cool sometimes only lol.

I did the coding before, but will have to look into it again.

Now i installed the stock halogen bulbs parallel with the angel eyes. The flickering have reduced and "bulb out" warning comes less often. Funny the halogen light can't pass through.
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      08-06-2014, 12:23 PM   #4
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I wouldn't expect the bulb warning with the halogens installed.
They should be enough of a load to make the LCM happy.
Do you get a bulb warning with just the halogens and the LEDs disconnected?
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      08-06-2014, 04:47 PM   #5
asirvr4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StickMon View Post
I wouldn't expect the bulb warning with the halogens installed.
They should be enough of a load to make the LCM happy.
Do you get a bulb warning with just the halogens and the LEDs disconnected?
Yes, you are probably right. I am still getting with the LEDs connected, i think its because i made cuts in the wires here and there.
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      01-27-2015, 10:23 PM   #6
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I know this is an older post but if you are still looking occasionally I think that the relay is worth it and your problem is in two areas.
Why is the Relay worth it? Two reasons:
1. In this case its a fuse too. You are adding extra electrical stuff to your that could internally short. The relay/fuse provide a cutout so the $100 kit doesn't burn down your $55,000 car.
2. Using the "triggered" relay allows you options to turn it on and off.

Try this using the relay:
1. Trigger wires - If you attach them to the LCM its going to cause flickering and error codes, its very sensitive to resistance/voltage drop.
a. Instead: Pick one and run it through your firewall and attach it to your drivers side foot-well light (positive lead). This will power up/turn off the AE's with the interior lights.
b. If you want them to turn on/off with the headlights try attaching the other trigger wire to a positive wire that directly powers your headlights. Hopefully there is a OEM relay between the lights and the LCM and this will prevent it from setting error codes and flickering.
c. You can try "one" going direct to the LCM but most likely that's going to cause flickering and errors.
d. OR, if you are willing to have the AE's on 100 % of the time when the ignition is on then follow the directions here at step 4: http://www.fastm.com/m3/angeleyes_orionv2.html
Yes these directions show an E46, not an E85/86 but in this case the wire and general location are pretty much the same. Its just an accessory positive wire. If you are apprehensive you can check it with a multi-meter. It should provide 12v only when the ignition is switched on.

NOTE: Stickmon is right: Per your wiring diagram you have two additional grounds located at the L/R angel eyes negative wire connections. Just connect the negative wires w/o grounding them to the body of the car. The only ground should be single ground wire at the relay.

This is my DIY - in it I sent the 2nd trigger wire to the fog light lead.
http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=724153

Good Luck
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Last edited by BruceJ; 01-28-2015 at 08:15 PM..
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