Angel Eyes on a pre-facelift E53
 

hi,

hope you'll help me out.
i won a pre-facelift (2001) E53. it's great car but i really miss the Angel Eyes on it... well it's a BMW and w/o eyes it's kinda not cool.

so i've replaced my original halogen headlights with Depo-branded ones.
so far it's okay, BUT where i do connect the AE?..

on a local forum someone said he connected to the parking lights (the amber ones on our headlights) and it's working nicely.

but afaik these light are also turn lights, so i think his Angel Eyes are blinking too, when turning?

or am i wrong?

thanks

p.s. this is what i've got so far:

Did the Depo's come with any additional wiring or instructions? MD, are you from Moldova? Not sure how the European X's are wired but there should be a parking light plug that you can tap into from the car.

no wiring, no instructions...
they have 4 connectors - low beam, hi beam, turn signal/parking light and angel eyes.
first 3 i've connected w/o any problem. but where should i connect the angel eyes? if i slice into parking/turn light - will the eyes blink too, when i press the turn handle?)

yes, i'm from Moldova, but it's an American version of X5.

Tap it to ignition or ECU box

so they DO blink with the blinkers when turning? :)

This. Find the ignition-on wire in the ECU and tap in the red AEs power-wire. Ground the black wire to any chassis ground point.

The following thread may be helpful: http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-all-time.html

This is how I did mine - http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...ngel-eyes.html

Gives a total factory appearance.

Very nice, although my rear fogs are in use right now so it wouldn't work for me.

However, theorizing the pinout of the factory switch, is there a parking light AND a turn signal pin? I prefer my AE's to operate as parking lights so I would use a parking light trigger to tap the switched power.

I guess I could always check what pins are energized with +12v when the light switch is in position 1, and if there are 2 pins energized i'm assuming one's voltage will change once the blinkers are activated

i'm not really fond of turning my AE into DRL, so i want to have them on with smth

easiest is tapping them to (front) fog lights and have them on using the button.

in my country it is allowed using front fog lights as DRLs...

if i connect AE to fog lights, is it better to put a fuse between?

^It won't hurt.

i think exactly the same, but don't know how many Ampers fuse it would be advisable

Basically using a fused relay harness will keep the AE electronics isolated from the rest of the vehicle and prevent any confusion between electronic modules. the current draw is small from the AE's so many just bypass this with no problems, however it is good practice whenever adding electronics to a vehicle to give them a steady power supply off the battery that is a +12v fused and using a piggybacked trigger for power.

Basically as long as you are using proper gauge wiring and supplying a clean signal you should be ok.

i was thinking on using a common fuse holder "just in case", like this one http://www.submarineboat.com/images/rov/fuse_holder.jpg with a fuse say 10A or 15A. or just tap into fog wires without any fuse holders?

http://www.submarineboat.com/images/rov/fuse_holder.jpg

Making the power feed fused is a good idea, 10A should be more than enough for the AE's, and connect to a good chassis ground.

weeeell, i thought i will tap into both the fog wires - both positive and negative. or am i missing something?

I would use a chassis ground for the AE's, connected to solid metal, as opposed to piggybacking the ground feed. It will avoid ground interference of electronics. Using a fused 12v line to the fog light positive feed is fine, however.

well that gonna be another challenge for me, because i have no idea where i can find this ground))

Just use any bolt location on the chassis in the engine bay, an existing one is fine, just scrape the paint off a bit where it will be bolted down, you can use about 100 locations under the hood.

And make sure you put the fuse within 18" of the fog light trigger, not the opposite way around (fuse by the headlight)

can you be more specific about the selected part of your quote?

The line that you are using for power, whether you are tapping into the ecu or the fog light power wire at the headlight switch, just make sure the in line fuse is closer to the source you are tapping for power. If that's confusing to you let me know.

a little confusing, to be honest.

i will tap into fog lights, for sure.

i was going to tap near the fog "unit" itself not the switch.

Well then you don't have to worry sines it is so close.

My point was in reference to people who are running lengths of wire up their engine bay to tap into power sources at the firewall or in the car. For long runs of power wire the fuse should be in line near the source of the tap, not the unit being powered (your headlight) itself.

Make sense?

oh, in this very case - sure does!

can't wait for the weekend so i could "engage" my Angel Eyes.

BTW very disappointed by the brand-new DEPO headlights. first day and both headlights are "sweating" ....

If you have the european Depos (ones with yellow lamps),then you connect the AEs to the parking lights as per picture below .Thats where you should connect them ,otherwise you loose your parking lights and thats illegal in any country.

With regards to the Depos fogging up,it can happen when you first turn lights on until the moisture inside is cleared.If they continue to fog upo,then check that rubber sealant that goes over you turn signal,is properly in place,because if it isnt ,water will get to the back of headlght!Trust me!

wow sorry to hear that, I had DEPO's in the past and had to add some silicone around the seal to keep them from condensing.

i can't see any picture

Posted after ;)

is your X5 USA or European one?

i don't have wiring for parking lights separately. it's with the turning light.

this is my DEPO's back

1) Where H7 bulb goes, I'm assuming you bought the halogen ones, bc I see a connector for H7
2) Can't see the plug clearly but that's probably the angel eye plug
3) High beam plug?
4) Looks the same as high beam plug, not sure.
5) Turn signal connector
6) Self level motor connection

Did you get any wiring harness with those angel eyes? I know with the European ones you can just plug into the parking light connection like our friend showed, however with the US/Canada models it doesn't exist on the car like you already know.

1. yes halogen headlight. and there goes a h7 bulb
2. yes, angel eyes connector
3. yes, high beam connector
4. low beam connector
5. turn AND parking light connector (2 in 1)
6. yes, self level connector. i don't have this on my car.

i own a USA model, so my problem is that the 5th connector takes both: turn and parking lights, so no existing car wiring for connector #2.

I have European car and Depos ,the ones which have the yellow bulbs!
Like Ricky said,we just connect the plug with the white/bluie wires ,to our parking lights.
Whats strange about your wires coming from the low high beam side,is that you have an extra plug (3)coming from inside headlight?Can you not see what this connects to on the inside of headlight?I dont have that wire!!!
Maybe it comes from angel eyes,too ?????:dunno:

it's a bit complicated with this wire.

so, wire #1 connects to the high beam BULB and wire #3 is the wire that power its up. so basically wires 1 and 3 are in fact one wire :)

3 is low beam and 4 is high beam.:)

yes :)

I think that's because the halogen equipped X5's (pre-facelift) have 9006 connector on low beam and 9005 on high beam, #1 actually connects to the H7 bulb itself (which is used on Depo low beam), then outside the headlight you connect the car's low beam socket to #3 and the high beam (9005) socket to #4

And you're still stick with #2 for the angel eyes, I'm actually disappointed that Depo does not include a wire harness for the North American models that don't have a stock parking light plug.

so this is the final product:
http://h.a.d-cd.net/942c444s-960.jpg

thanks for your help guys

Nice job hooking them up to the fogs, I really like the look!

The halogen Depo rings do look very OEM, my only complaint at times with the LED ring versions is they sometimes look somewhat aftermarket.

yes, it's quite nice!
imho it renews a bit the pre-facelift e53 and this is great.

btw, in fact the eyes are not that white, but yellowish and it's perfect since i've put into the turn lamp an yellow bulb (i really like the yellow turning signal) and they perfectly match :)

Looks good!

thanks!

btw i seems to solved the "sweating" problem of my Depo headlights.
put some silica gel packs inside them and it's 2 days i have clear headlights.

hope my experience will help others, too ;)

this is so nice,
i have an '02 x5 e53, and been wanting to put angel eyes on it.
Just either buy the headlights itself and get someone to put them in, or do it myself. but still not entirely sure if i can yet haha
hopefully it wouldnt be too much to have someone do it

Nice job on yours!

thanks!


afaik original hella headlights made till '03 can be put into an oven for 10 minutes and then the front part (glass, but it's plastic) is easily removed.

i think you'll find plenty of info on forums

Yes, if you do a search here you will find instructions how to remove your headlights to upgrade them and which aftermarket replacements are simply plug and play.

Removing your particular headlights is easy even if you have very little mechanical aptitude.

thanks guys! hopefully it'll be a project that will be started soon!

good luck!