Latest mod: HID fog lights installation

[PersonaNonGrata]

Originally Posted by Chris F.

Looks good Kev! Nice job. Did you do the 35W kit or the 55W?

I wonder if the capacitor kit would help with the flickering, or if you need to run these babies directly to the battery via the relay harness they sell?

Chris

Thanks Chris. I got the 35W kit with slim ballasts. I did have to get the capacitors (pictured below) to resolve the flickering. It was an extra $40. Oh well. They work well now.

[dkl]

Originally Posted by mtX5

I have mine mounted with plastic tie downs.. they won't melt

Plastic tie wraps can get brittle and break if it get subjected to heat. The ballast will be short-lived as well if it's mounted to areas where it's subjected to high heat. The key is to locate those sensitive components away from high heat area, which you'll know when it's melting glue!

[sobi6111]

anyone can tell me where to mount my HID H3 ballasts ? Any pictures maybe?

[sobi6111]

by the way I have capacitors which cost 40$,but i didn't need them. so willing to sell 30$ shipped,brand new. never used

[mtX5]

dkl, i agree they shouldn't be mounted in high heat area, but the whole engine area temp does get pretty hot eventually. if you have a good quality ballast it can withstand heat and water. but if its melting glue it may have been mounted in an incorrect location..

sobi6111, my passengers side ballast is mounted close to the wheel well attached with tie downs to a thick tube which carries the washer fluid i think (i forgot i will take a pic and double check for you). the drivers side ballast is located under the air filter housing, and behind the headlight housing, tied down to something sturdy there. let me know if you need further instructions

[mrbmwx5]

I mounted my fog HID ballast underneath the headlight right next to the factory headlight ballast and it's look like it came from factory.
If you all need to see the pictures let me know, or i just go ahead and post some pictures when i get home.
here is one quick picture of it.
the finger is pointing to the fog ballast and the red dot on the right is the factory HID headlight ballast.

[mtX5]

it fit like that on both sides? i feel like there wouldn't be enough room on the drivers side

[Hit Redline]

Thanks, this post was a huge help in my selection of the product and installation. I just need to get the capacitors as I have the flicker issue in one of the lights.

[m5james]

Just wanted to throw in a little contribution to this thread and to show where I mounted my ballast. I picked up my kit for $60 shipped from www.hidextra.com, two year no questions asked warranty, and guaranteed to give no errors or flashing from BMW's checking for the bulb. I used the coupon code "besthid-m" and make sure to ask for the free capacitors they offer. I found this company on another forum after they listed a two for one deal, which of course I missed

Some doublesided foam strips came in the kit, but I didn't trust to use it so I used indoor/outdoor extra strength double sided tape that I already had from another project. The kit also came w/ the typical metal mounting brackets, but trying to reach my big ass hand and a drill in there was near impossible.


I chose to mount the ballasts inside the same area as the foglights. I found a nice flat area inside the bumper support, cleaned the support and the backside of the ballast w/ nail polish remover. After I pushed on the ballasts nice and hard, I gave a tug on the cords and even the ballast themselves...they weren't budging. We'll see how if it lasts the winter and summer, but otherwise it's a good spot so far.




After I got the ballasts mounted, I used a 1" paddle bit to make the hole for the new bulb and it's grommet. If you look at the pic below, you can see the airvent and an outline around it. The paddle bit is slightly smaller than that outline, so don't let your past hold beyond that right. I held the bulb cover tightly in my hand and drilled from the rear at highspeed. As noted before on the OP's 1st thread, these things are flimsy and soft, so I pushed slowly and walked the drill in a circle so it wouldn't blow through and break the housing. It worked out perfectly and the grommet is a nice tight fit.



I then had to do the same trimming of the male terminals to make them fit the stock harness. I just used tin snips and cut them down to about 1/3 their normal size, then wrapped them in electrical tape before I reinstalled the foglights themselves.


About a week prior the pass. side foglight started turning extremely yellow, then blew a few days later. Funny enough, when I started this install, the drivers side has started to do the exact same yellowing. I did a before and after, along w/ outside pics to see the beam pattern and drastic lighting change.





I wrote the seller before I purchased them, and she guaranteed that I won't get any error messages. She offered to send me some literature about how the digital ballasts work to ensure that it won't give errors, but I never asked for it. At that price, i'm going to get a 9004 bi-xenon kit for my bike, which is only $30 more. Now I just need to decide on which projector headlights to get since my headlights are the lowest grade ones BMW offers

[J.Belknap]

Bumping an old thread to say that the product that m5james bought does work as advertised, without errors. Thank you for the write-up James!! The only thing I did different was to solder the input leads (permanent install) and use industrial 3M velcro/adhesive (will NOT come off). The mounting position you chose for the ballasts was great.

I bought OEM 2001-2002 projector housings, 5k H3 bulbs, and before install, used 40mil Lamin-X on the lenses.