upgrading to 55w ballast
 

I'm starting to have problems with my oem ballast so I'm thinking now is a good time to go with a 55w ballast, but I've noticed my oem ballast uses a 5 pin plug and aftermarket ballast uses 9006 plug :dunno:

Why would you go up to a 55w ballast and not stay with stock wattage? For what its worth the Hella projectors in our cars throw a ton of foreground and 55w is not going to be a huge upgrade IMO.

A fresh set of D2S bulbs and new replacement ballasts if you need it would be wiser IMO. Do you have pre or facelift E53? If facelift, its Hella Gen IV and those have integrated igniters.

I'd recommend the Morimotos for a price affordable replacement, you MAY need the canbus modules in line, I'm not sure.

Morimoto XB35 OEM HID D2S Ballasts xenon D2S D2R AMP Denso Matsushita Bosch Hella Ballast 3Five 5Five

my question is if aftermarket ballast comes with a 9006 plug how do you wire it up to the oem ballast if it comes with a 5 pin plug

My OEM ballast has a 9006 plug with the D2S head going to the bulb.

Do you have facelift E53 if so that does come with Hella Gen IV ballasts which are wired differently than Hella Gen III

Hmmm...this will be interesting to see if this mystery is revealed. :D

Most oem ballasts for the X53 use the 9006 grey plug.
however, just buying a ballast won't do the trick.

The 55W ballasts we use make a marked improvement in our tests for light output on regular 35W bulbs.
Most OEM 35W bulbs are actually rated for a maximum of 60W of input without significant degradation in longevity.

However you will need an adapter to work with the AMP connector to D2S bulb.
D2S Adapters from AMP Connector [D2Sadpt01] - $29.99 : Umnitza|BMW Angel Eyes|LED Angel Eyes|Headlights|Lighting|Performance|Service|87748 66489

55W ballast link
Factory Canbus 35W and 50W Xenon Replacement Ballast [msbpb] - $34.99 : Umnitza|BMW Angel Eyes|LED Angel Eyes|Headlights|Lighting|Performance|Service|87748 66489

It must not be the ballast I'm looking at

Interesting... I've been noticing my factory HID lights lacking when compared to newer BMW HID light output and especially compared to Acura's lighting.
I wondered if light components are getting tired and new bulbs would help with more usable light output?

Mike if your X5 is a 2005 then I'm assuming your bulbs are original? At 10 years old and probably with many km of usage on them, they are probably at about half their original brightness.

Replace the pair with OEM Philips or Osram bulbs at 4300K (under $100 for the pair) and trust me you will see a big improvement.

Newer Acura is using LED lights, which I always want to retrofit into my E53. Still no avail on the market. :dunno:

Thanks for that info RB. I thought I was going blind because the halogen fog lights seemed brighter than the HID low beams no matter how well polished the lens housing is. I wouldn't be surprised to learn now that my 269,500 miles is past their "expected life"!

2002 X5 3.0 269,500 miles
2004 325i 117,700 miles

I'm surprised they are still going. If your lenses are clear, I would replace the pair ASAP. You're probably at around 30-40% brightness if not lower.

You can get Philips bulbs from here for $85 shipped, they are genuine, the businessowner's father has Aviation contracts with Philips so he buys pallets direct from them on wholesale.

HIDbulbsRus - Philips D2S Plus Edition (85122+)

In my case the HID must now stand for "hardly intense discharge" :rofl:

LMAO:rofl::rofl:

When I changed the ballasts from 35w to 55w on my e39, there was a significant light output difference. At that time, about 6-7 years ago, both ballasts sets were new - I had ordered 2 different types and tried them both (I got rid of the other set after that). Ended up with the 55w. Bulbs were the same.

That's got me thinking there could be a certain expected lifetime on the ballasts as well. I'll consider those if the new bulbs don't seem to do enough.

2002 X5 3.0 269,500 miles
2004 325i 117,700 miles

Exactly. I wonder if my bulbs are not the only thing tired in my light system.

I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.*
Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.*
Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.*
BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.

Thanks Jay. I will most likely buy new bulbs from that seller you mentioned. I saved his link years ago in case this day came. Mine are original bulbs from a decade ago and used for close to 110k miles.
I know all HID bulbs eventually turn the same color... Just never knew they could decrease in Lumens value. I always figured they either work or don't.


I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.*
Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.*
Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.*
BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.

RB, you were absolutely correct. I installed the Osram bulbs and the difference really was "like night and day". Here's a picture of one of the original bulbs where you can see the cloudy portion right in the center of the lamp - evidence of the deterioration.

2002 X5 273,000 miles
2004 325i 118,500 miles

Oh yeah, those bulbs are past their life for sure.

New salts should be slight cloudy with a yellowish tint. Enjoy your working xenon's again! Glad to help.

And to Mike's comment above with the ballasts, there isn't really a lifespan on them, and they don't deteriorate over time, they will either strike the bulbs or they wont. Its not a degradation thing like the salts in teh xenon capsules, etc

I bought some used Osram bulbs off ebay a couple weeks ago for my trip to Atlantic city and whilst the color was way better on my eyes than my ebay 6000k bulbs the brightness wasn't much different so I'm just gonna save up for a pair of cbi's and a headlight polishing

Vein do you have a facelift or pre-facelift X?

Two different projectors as well, the pre-facelifts have better low beam optics because they are dedicated low beam projectors.

Just FYI as well the CBI's do not really give you additional lumens than an Osram 66240, new bulb to new bulb comparison, but you will not get the lumens drop off at 5000K temp like you would with other aftermarket bulbs.

Basically CBI allows you to go to 5K color temp without compromising lumens, but 4300K is still the most usable lumens and color temp, I drive on dark roads, rain, and snow often and I don't like 5K for that. You can technically run yellow fogs to neutralize the 5K if you'd want to, something I'd recommend if running CBI's.

I have a facelift and the osrams I picked up were 66040 not 66240 so I'm sure they are pretty old. the seller said less than 100 hours but for $20 I didn't expect much truth. and I drive to Atlantic city about 2 weeks ago when it was snowing on a Saturday and my yellow fogs really saved my ass and that 35 mph limit was killing me but I was still doing 50 passing people

last time when I drove to AC when I had the 6k ebay bulbs my eyes were driving me crazy but this time the 4300k were so much better

66040 are really old Osram bulbs.

The 66240 are a much better and brighter bulb, I'm sure anything is better than an aftermarket 6K bulb though