LED exterior lamps

[chickdr]

Everything I have read says there isn't a way to use LED's in the halos without an error code - unless you code the warning off.

[Varinn]

In that case, is there any specific one that gives a nice white colour like the modern F chassis BMW halos? It's pretty apparent that the "white" advertised on ebay bulbs doesn't necessarily come out as intended (refer to above picture).

That, and what size resistor would need to be added or what kind of cables would I need to make NCS Expert work with my laptop?

[StickMon]

I have these.
Nice and white, (not blue), but the bottom set of chips goes a little past the sweet spot in the halo illumination ring, so they're about as bright as stock, just whiter.
Would be brighter, if the shaft wasn't so long.

According to my notes, the stock bulb pulls 0.9 A.

[Varinn]

What are the chances you have a picture of how they look on the car??

[SaltyNC]

Originally Posted by Varinn

In that case, is there any specific one that gives a nice white colour like the modern F chassis BMW halos? It's pretty apparent that the "white" advertised on ebay bulbs doesn't necessarily come out as intended (refer to above picture).

That, and what size resistor would need to be added or what kind of cables would I need to make NCS Expert work with my laptop?

Varinn, there's actually a blue filter that BMW puts in front of the halo incandescent bulb, so that the warm color bulb will be the same color temp as the cooler Xenon bulb. So, you want a warm white LED to avoid getting the blue color you experienced. I don't know if that color filter can be removed or not, but it would require taking the light assembly apart.

That's one part of the car I'd really like to upgrade with some very strong daylight running light halos. It's a major pain, though.

Salty

[Varinn]

That would actually make a ton of sense as to why when out of the car the LED's had only a slight bluish tint that went so powerful when in the socket. Cool info, I had no idea it was in there

So some white LED's seem to be able to maintain colour but not others? I'm trying to find pictures that show the inside of the z4 headlight housing, see how easily the thing could be pulled back to remove any blue filter

[SaltyNC]

Originally Posted by Varinn

That would actually make a ton of sense as to why when out of the car the LED's had only a slight bluish tint that went so powerful when in the socket. Cool info, I had no idea it was in there

So some white LED's seem to be able to maintain colour but not others? I'm trying to find pictures that show the inside of the z4 headlight housing, see how easily the thing could be pulled back to remove any blue filter

It's all about the color temp of the LED. If the LED has a color temp of around 4000K, it probably looks cool white with the blue filter. If the color temp of the LED is around 6000K, which many are, it will render very blue with the halo filter. To make it match the Xenon white, you'd probably need to find a very warm white LED, which is likely next to impossible to find.

I want to do this, but my testosterone levels aren't high enough at the moment.

http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=724153

Salty

[chickdr]

Originally Posted by SaltyNC

It's all about the color temp of the LED. If the LED has a color temp of around 4000K, it probably looks cool white with the blue filter. If the color temp of the LED is around 6000K, which many are, it will render very blue with the halo filter. To make it match the Xenon white, you'd probably need to find a very warm white LED, which is likely next to impossible to find.

I want to do this, but my testosterone levels aren't high enough at the moment.

http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=724153

Salty

Actually... https://www.superbrightleds.com/more.../attributes/16

[Varinn]

Wicked pictures in that thread to show the inside of the housing. Sadly it looks like that blue filter is mounted in such a way that you'd have to do that full dismantle to get at it, I can't see any bolts to just remove the projection housing of the angel eye from the back. Not only that but the black plate to block off the center of that housing (so the light only hits the halo itself) looks to be mounted to the blue filter. So removing it would create another problem that would need to be solved.

Looks like trying the bulbs StickMon is running might be worth the few bucks if they're a warm enough colour to balance out. I'm not interested in hacking apart my $1000+ headlight housings just so I can run a white LED.

[pungo]

Here's a link to my Angel Eye LED ring experiment with with the LED rings behind the blue filter for the AE. It's only slightly bluer than than the AE without the blue filter.

[Varinn]

Originally Posted by pungo

Here's a link to my Angel Eye LED ring experiment with with the LED rings behind the blue filter for the AE. It's only slightly bluer than than the AE without the blue filter.

Attachment 1380328

Attachment 1380329

Thanks for the post, looks like there are a few people here who have dug into these headlights. Am I to understand it that you fitted a set of angel eye rings to both headlights as they were? Meaning you left the entire angel eye housing pretty much alone?

When you were digging around in there did you happen to see an easy no-cut method to open and remove the blue filter?

[DaveZ]

Originally Posted by StickMon

I have these.
Nice and white, (not blue), but the bottom set of chips goes a little past the sweet spot in the halo illumination ring, so they're about as bright as stock, just whiter.
Would be brighter, if the shaft wasn't so long.

According to my notes, the stock bulb pulls 0.9 A.

Those are the same ones I used, had them coded out. My pics of the before and after are here. This is what they look like in broad daylight .

[StickMon]

Originally Posted by Varinn

What are the chances you have a picture of how they look on the car??

Pretty much nil. DaveZ did much better. Photography was never my thing.
These are 5500K, so they're white, not blue.
I also have 6000K LEDs in the front corner markers and the hamburgers.
And yes, my engine is red hot
Do you know what the color temp was (claimed) on the ones you tried?

[Varinn]

I ordered the set of Philips 921 LED's and installed them in the reverse lamps tonight. Easy install and at a glance they seem to be a bit more intense but not as spread out. I haven't had the car out in the proper dark yet as the sun is just setting so maybe tomorrow morning as I pull out of the garage for work I'll get to see how they do.

I noticed while I was looking at the reverse lamps outside that both of my plate lights are out! I ordered the oem e89 LED inserts last week with my side skirts so hopefully they show up soon, I suspect they're waiting on the skirts to arrive before shipping!

Still doing some thinking/research on what to do about the angel eyes. I really want to try pulling out the blue diffuser but it seems to be a solid project to attempt and I'm not sure if it's possible.