BMW FLA (High beam asist) retrofit

[blue dragon]

Why did I do this? In city driving, I hardly use my highbeam. In backroads country driving in winter, it becomes a chore to constantly turn on/off the highbeam

So I swapped mirrors yesterday and ran the two extra wires for CAN L and CAN H. I bridged the wires coming from the FZD (roof control module), by release the two pins in the connector. (Wire colours are Green - Pin 1 and Orange/Green - Pin 11). and moving them to a separate wiring harness which splits to the mirror and also the FZD.

I didn't get a chance to do the coding yet, but you need to add $5AC to your FA (vehicle order) and code
CIC, - There is an option to enable or disable high beam assist
FRM - Turn off/on HBA using signal from FLA
FLA - The camera in the mirror
KOMBI - So you can get the A for automatic high beams

Sorry no pics, I also did the rear brakes on our Countryman S, so I was tired

[noelskii]

Nice job

More mods? I thought you were putting everything back to stock!?

[blue dragon]

I got sticker shock when I priced out a new X5, and the incentives are horrible in Canada. Lease rates are 4.99% on the X5.

[ard]

I like the concept of the HBA, but how good does it work? Do drivers get some brights (I think thats rude) or is the system threshold good enough to dim your lights before the car is in the headlight path?

What is the cost for the mod? not labor, not wires and pins- but what BMW hardware is needed? Curious

[blue dragon]

Ard there is a camera (the fla module) that points forward. It will dim the high beam before you cause glare to oncoming drivers and when you follow another driver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0bJSAcF8xk

All you need is the new mirror with camera. The trick is finding the right one at the right price on ebay. You want one with the following options ideally.

• EC - electro chomatic (autodim)
• GTO - Garage door opener
• compass - Self explanatory
• FLA - high beam assist
• LED - clown nose for alarm

I paid $170 USD for mine from ebay, but the prices vary wildly, such as this one.

BMW 51169221745 E90 E91 E92 E93 Rear View Mirror Camera Compass EC LED FLA | eBay

If you search car-part.com there is one from LKQ with all the features for $135

The system comes on when your speed is above 50 km/hr and you have auto highbeam on in the CIC settings, but you can change the threshold with coding. See this thread for coding modification

BMW Coding Forum

[Price]

I have this option in 3 series and from a rather limited use I can say it works well, dimming the highs at the right time. X5 sits higher, so could be different.

In any case, this option is probably the very last one I'd be investing, esp. considering the list price of the right mirrtor, but if it can be had cheaply, then sure, why not.

[blue dragon]

Coded last night, it works brilliantly (pun intended) I also didn't have to code Kombi, I get the A =D sign right in the cluster above the mileage.

[ika]

Don't we need retrofit fla button on headlight switch?
As I know if stock FLA it comes with FLA switch too.

[blue dragon]

No, You need to code FRM and CIC, as well as FLA module. CIC will then have an option to turn on HBA. If its on, first push of the stalk gives you an AD= which means the automatic high beams are on.
There is no headlight switch to retrofit.