Projector Lights

[rodman]

Hey everyone, I am new to the forum and I hope that someone can help me. I purchased some projector lights with halo rings for my 98 318I and I noticed that it had 2 wires in addition to the plug for the headlights. Does anyone know what I connect those 2 wires to ? Thanks.

[tonysticks]

Hi Rodman and welcome to the forum.

I think the extra 2 wires should be used to turn your angle eyes circles on. Remember that BMW E36 original setup doesn't have angel eyes, that's why the manufacturer of the headlight had to put these wires. Normally, you should connect these wires so your angel eyes will turn on with your fog lights.

[pmulc07]

Tony is right on here. I have projectors w/ angels also and I used to have mine connected to my fogs lights.

However I think a bad ground developed or something b/c they don't turn off unless I take the fuse out. Its really quite frustrating because as far as I can see the wires look OK. Any one have any suggestions here?

Anyways I have the angel eyes hooked up to the corner lenses now so they can work independent of the fogs, which I think I like better. Still need to figure out my fog light issue tho

BTW if anyone is interested in getting or upgrading their angel eyes I highly recommend DDE Ultra HD 60+ LED Angel Eyes. You can purchase them from this site: [url]http://www.ddmtuning.com/angeleyes.html[/url]

They are hands down the brightest and cheapest option available right now. (Color Temp: 6500k)
You can buy the rings themselves or get them pre-installed as a headlight package.

Note: You may have to make some modifications to get them to fit, depending on what model headlight you have. I have DEPO projectors and they did not exactly fit right out of the box but it wasn't too difficult to make it work. And man do they turn heads!

Took this picture during installation:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/2952430130_d1212014ee.jpg?v=0[/img]

[Javier]

It seems you have an american E36. The german version has all the necessary wiring in the headlight cable. The american version, AFAIK, only provides wiring for low and high beams on the headlight cable.

The extra cable in your new headlights, as the guys said, brings electricity to the halos, the angel eyes. You can wire these as fog lights, or as DRLs (daytime running lights or position lights). The easiest and, IMHO, nicest way to wire your angel eyes is as DRLs.

The wires for the DRLs in the american version go in the same group that contains the wires for the turning lights. In that case you should have 3 wires that go together into each turning light. One of them is ground, the other one is for the turning light bulb, and the third one is for the DRL. Connect your AAs to the ground wire and to the wire for the DRL.

@pmulc07: I have the 30-LED version (the 60+ LED came like... two weeks later ) and I find them excessively bright. Your angels must be super bright at night, aren't they?

I will attach a rheostat on my angels to dim them a little. Did anybody do that already?

[rodman]

Thanks to tonysticks, pmulc07 and Javier. My car does not have daytime running lights but I will look at the wiring for the amber corner lights that turn on with the parking lights. I really appreciate the help and if this does not work, I will post for additional help.

[beemerscreamer91]

which do you guys think is better, not-so-bright angel eyes that function as DRL's just to look good or bloody bright angel eyes for actual lighting?Arent they just supposed to be there for aesthetic reasons but serve no real purpose?

would appreciate anyone's opinion, thanks...

[Javier]

I'd rather have them as DRLs and just that.

Even the 60+ LED version can't really output much light, at least not in a way that could be useful.

Yes, they were designed with big emphasis on aesthetics. But when you use them as DRLs they are a sensible safety device. They let your car be seen more easily. So I won't call them 'just an ornament'.

The best setup I could think of is having them (the angel eyes) shine in full brightness in daylight, and be dimmed as ambient light decreases (the less ambient light you have, the brighter they will seem, so we compensate by dimming).

IMHO, having them way too bright is annoying and a little tasteless. My angels, during the day, are very beautiful and serve well for the purpose of being DRLs. At night I think they would remain classy if they were a little dimmer. I find their light output 'bleeds' a little too much.

It really is a matter of taste. There are some guys that like them as bright as they can get

[beemerscreamer91]

thanks for the input javier, that sounds like a good idea

did you have any problems attaching a rheostat to them?where did you mount it?

[Javier]

No, I haven't had the time to do that. It is on my wishlist

Assuming the halos on each pair are connected in parallel to the circuit, a rheostat would need to be connected serially. Maybe one could intercept, say, the DRL wire that goes to the front of the car to each headlight, and install the rheostat in any of the spare places in the center console storing partition. That way you can manually dim your angels as you please.

To achieve the automatic dimming/brightening one would have to install a kind of photosensitive rheostat, and have it correctly calibrated (a.k.a. the way you like it the most) and stuff. In that case I still think the photocell should be placed inside, where light conditions would reflect what happens with ambient light on the outside, but without interference from elements such as lights from other cars and all other kinds of street lights.

There is a third option... Perhaps you can find a brightness level that is nice and visible during daytime and is not unpleasant when it is dark. Just 'serially attach' a static resistor with the correct ohm value and that's it.

I might 'forget' about all of my boring, adult stuff type responsibilities and do just that.

Oh, life's a bitch

[beemerscreamer91]

they would have to be, i've seen some bmw's with single busted halo rings with the rest still working...curse them for not fixing it

i suppose the automatic brightness control would be a nice option, but calibration wouldnt be easy rite?

sorry for not knowing as much as i should, im 16 and aiming to get an e36 as my first car