Finally: 50W HIDs, CCFL Angel Eyes, Blue LED Projector Illumination.
 

Finally, installed:

• Clear (waffles-free) headlights.
• CCFL angel eyes.
• 50W HID Ballasts and 50W Philips DL50 Bulbs
• Blue LED Projector illumination.

* Sorry for the shitty pictures, couldn’t find my good digital camera *






CCLF (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Light) Angel Eyes:

Color - White, 43000 mcd. Very bright, visible in daylight, pictures don’t represent actual brightness and shape very well. They look slightly brighter and without lens reflection in person.

http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/Angel_Eye_1s.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/Angel_Eye_2s.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/Angel_Eye_3s.jpg





50W HID Ballasts and 50W Philips DL50 Bulbs:

Bulb color - 4500K, from white to blue depending on view angle due to cutoff shield that creates the color range and the curvature of the projector lens which amplifies it.

Picture from the ground level:

http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/50W.jpg


Brightness = Wow! 20-30% brighter than any stock HID systems, beam pattern significantly wider. I installed true 50W HID Ballasts not the HID boost amplifiers. Most important part is the 50W Philips DL50 Bulbs which are really rare and expensive. Here are the specs (I got newer DL50 so the color is 4500K, not 3900K):

http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/DL50-1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/DL50-0.jpg


DL50 Bulb is fatter than regular HIDs bulb, hot DL50s have an internal pressure about 40 bars. Light output is about 5300 lm, which is 20-30% brighter than stock (35W) HID bulbs. I spend a lot of time leveling my headlights to make sure they won’t blind oncoming traffic. No complains so far.

50W ballast was powered through a relay straight from the battery to HID ballast to remove increased current load from stock headlight circuit. The startup load for one 50W ballast can be up to 13-16 amps vs. 7-10 amps for stock halogens. Also 30A fuse was installed to protect the wires. Here is the simple diagram:

http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/Diagram.jpg





Blue LED Projector illumination:

5mm blue LED installed to illuminate projector. I used cutoff shield as the reflector to focus light on the lens.

http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/LED1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/LED3.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/LED4.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/Blue_LED_1s.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/Blue_LED_2s.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/Blue_LED_3s.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/Blue_LED_4s.jpg



Here are the separate switches for Angel eyes and LED illumination:


http://home.comcast.net/~saykin/switch.jpg

Very informative post and this will be helpful to others. Your AE's look really good; I'm sure you are thrilled. Well done!

wow...you are talented :bow:

looks like your x is hiding under the brush getting ready to pounce ;)

very very cool mod :thumbup:

Thanks. :thumbup:

hey sedoy, i see you finally got it done, looks good man! Can you give a good DIY on those LEDs lights, they look hawt also!

Sedoy, is the 50w HID bulbs compatible with OEM D2S bulbs? Can I just change my OEM D2S bulbs with the 50w HID bulbs? Do I have to modify anything in my x to make it work without any problem? Where can I buy the 50w ballasts and bulbs? How much are they? If my x is equipped with halogen headlights, do I still need the resistor for 50w HID bulbs (halogen H7 bulbs use 55w) to remove the alert in dash board? Sorry for this many questions, thanks a lot for your help.

1. Yes, DL50 bulbs compatible with 35W stock D2S ballasts. That will give you around 3900 lm which is slightly brighter than stock.


2. As stated above, yes you can use 50W bulbs with stock ballasts. No mods needed.


3. I got new 50W ballasts from eBay = $180 and new bulbs from australian dude on the other forum for $80 each (regular price for bulbs ~ $200 each).


4. You can buy 50W ballasts from eBay, and bulbs from the same guy if he has any left.


5. If you want to install 35W ballasts you can use stock wires, X5 can handle 35W HIDs. And in most cases you don't need the resistor since 35W HID consume around 42-45W which should not generate the "bulb out" massage. But I installed 50W which draws even more current at the start up, so I played safe and didn't use stock wires (check the diagram). I have "bulb out" message, possibly I will install resistors later to eliminate the message. You can try to power 50W ballasts from the stock wires but I don’t recommend that since your connectors, wires, switches might degrade over the time because of heat buildup.

Thanks!

Sure, in the near future. :thumbup:

WOW! Great job Sedoy!!

Looks like a tiger, ready to pounce. Congrats!

Looks great, Sedoy!!

Those blue l.e.d's look awesome. Nice mod man:thumbup:

Sedoy,
Great job,...
Do you know if HID kit for 00-03 is really different than 04-06???? Im looking to upgrade and I could get a good deal on Umnitza kit, the only question is... would it work on my '04
thnx

They look great!!!

So you looking to upgrade from halogen to 35W HID correct?
You will need new projector headlights which accept D2S HID bulbs + the kit or also you can H1 HID bulbs (I'm not sure if umnitza sells them) + the kit.

Actual kit is the same D2S Bulbs (or H1) + ballasts with igniters but 04+ have one main headlight plug.

Cool looking Mod.

I recenlty fitted AE and upgraded to Xenon myslef so know the difference from halogen and expect these are one step better still.

So can I ask that now you have removed the lenses how do you stop the beam straying, in particular on the halogen main? My understanding is that the lens is required to collect and focus the beam, else it simply reflects and points in any direction.

I've removed the waffles (if that's what you meant by lenses), for low beam I have projectors which spread light evenly by the curved lens. Waffles have very little to do with focusing the beam, reflectors focus the beam.

I did exactly this over a year ago, if you have xenons removing the waffle/lense for that doesn't make a difference as it has a hole in it which the beam passes straight through. The lense for the main beam however does focus the beam of light. What I find now is that it will still light the road up but their is a bright spot on each which is now somewhere in the trees when I'm driving.
Since doing the mod its passed two MOTs so it must be ok.

Sedoy - yes - I was referring to the main beam only I should have been clearer - of course the HID lens focusses the light. I'm sure the waffle/lens is a component of focussing the beam (else why have the complex lanes pattern).

Staffop - glad to see it clears the UK MOT without despite rather random beam pattern as that was the concern. BTW if the 'staff' part relates to Staffs. we may live within miles of each other - S. Lichfield area?

good post, great update, thank you...:thumbup:

Waffles/lens has absolutely nothing to do with focusing the light in projector headlights. Basically waffles useless in projector headlights. In halogen headlights with reflectors waffles/lens design to decrease the glare, reflectors focus the light.