That's freakin genius. But let me ask you this, when that little bulb burns out you'll get the error message again, won't you? And either way even though I can see the general idea of how that's supposed to work, I'm not smart enough to duplicate it so I would have to find a mechanic or electrician who is to make it work for me, but I will defintitely save this link in the hopes of finding such a person in the future. Thanks for the write-up!
Solution to LED license plate bulbs, and HID fogs
5
First off, many Thanx to whatheheck for his ICE/LED threads. Since I am at work before sunrise, and leave after sunset, the lighting mods are something I can definitely appreciate.
The solution to both issues isn't all that elegant, or plug and play for that matter, but it works, and has been working in my fogs for the past 3+ yrs with no issues.
The whole reason the error codes come up is due to the lower resistance of the HID's/LED's, so if you give the computer what it wants, the code will go away. All I did was splice in incandescent light bulbs to give the computer the resistance it needed.
The LED license plate bulb mod is below. The pictures are pretty self explanatory, I just wired in a small wedge bulb above each LED bulb. The wedge bulb is very small, and fits in the spot with room to spare, it also puts out very little heat. The wedge & LED put out less heat combined than the festoon bulb they replaced. The only extra thing I did which is not in the pic is wrap the exposed wire at the base of the bulb with electrical tape.
Thats it, the computer gets the resistance it needs to not trigger the error codes.
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The end result.
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Now for the HID fogs, Sorry I have no pics, but its cold out, and I dont have access to a hydraulic jack at the moment. The premise is exactly the same, and I used the exact same 194 Wedge bulbs. All the computer needs is the resistance of an incandescent filament.
In the case of the fogs, you need to protect the bulb from the elements, and to keep the connections water tight. I used sidemarker light housings that I had from an old Honda. You can find a ton on Ebay, or any housing at the local autoparts store will work as long as it has the base for the bulb to keep water out.
The bulb base usually has a pair of male connectors that you can buy female ends for that plug right on (like audio speaker connections). I ran a short length of wire off each one and using wire taps, I just tapped into the factory(NOT THE HID) fog light harness before the plug.
So you have 2 wires coming off each bulb housing, and you tap 1 wire into
1 wire of the factory harness, and the other wire from the bulb housing to the other wire on the factory harness.
It doesn't matter which one goes to what wire since these bulbs, unlike the LED's do not have polarity.
Seal the plug bases, and any exposed wire with silicone, electrical tape, or whatever you want, and just repeat this for the other side; thats it.
When your fogs are on, these small lamps will be on as well, but as they are tucked up in the bumper, you should never see them.
My fogs are hooked up like this, and have been for 3+ yrs with no problems, which is why I thought the same concept would work with the LED's.
The solution to both issues isn't all that elegant, or plug and play for that matter, but it works, and has been working in my fogs for the past 3+ yrs with no issues.
The whole reason the error codes come up is due to the lower resistance of the HID's/LED's, so if you give the computer what it wants, the code will go away. All I did was splice in incandescent light bulbs to give the computer the resistance it needed.
The LED license plate bulb mod is below. The pictures are pretty self explanatory, I just wired in a small wedge bulb above each LED bulb. The wedge bulb is very small, and fits in the spot with room to spare, it also puts out very little heat. The wedge & LED put out less heat combined than the festoon bulb they replaced. The only extra thing I did which is not in the pic is wrap the exposed wire at the base of the bulb with electrical tape.
Thats it, the computer gets the resistance it needs to not trigger the error codes.
The end result.
Now for the HID fogs, Sorry I have no pics, but its cold out, and I dont have access to a hydraulic jack at the moment. The premise is exactly the same, and I used the exact same 194 Wedge bulbs. All the computer needs is the resistance of an incandescent filament.
In the case of the fogs, you need to protect the bulb from the elements, and to keep the connections water tight. I used sidemarker light housings that I had from an old Honda. You can find a ton on Ebay, or any housing at the local autoparts store will work as long as it has the base for the bulb to keep water out.
The bulb base usually has a pair of male connectors that you can buy female ends for that plug right on (like audio speaker connections). I ran a short length of wire off each one and using wire taps, I just tapped into the factory(NOT THE HID) fog light harness before the plug.
So you have 2 wires coming off each bulb housing, and you tap 1 wire into
1 wire of the factory harness, and the other wire from the bulb housing to the other wire on the factory harness.
It doesn't matter which one goes to what wire since these bulbs, unlike the LED's do not have polarity.
Seal the plug bases, and any exposed wire with silicone, electrical tape, or whatever you want, and just repeat this for the other side; thats it.
When your fogs are on, these small lamps will be on as well, but as they are tucked up in the bumper, you should never see them.
My fogs are hooked up like this, and have been for 3+ yrs with no problems, which is why I thought the same concept would work with the LED's.
1 - 20 of 33 Posts
Blinder Head Installation - E39 Rear
The only practical place to install the Blinder heads in the rear on the E39 was over the license plate lights. We installed a single (will add 1 or 2 more) flat strip LED over the license plate adjacent to the trunk release. We had to retain the license plate bulbs in parallel to prevent getting an error code.
The only practical place to install the Blinder heads in the rear on the E39 was over the license plate lights. We installed a single (will add 1 or 2 more) flat strip LED over the license plate adjacent to the trunk release. We had to retain the license plate bulbs in parallel to prevent getting an error code.
2
On my car, the new higher powered LED bulbs we sell have not caused an error.
There IS an occasional glitch on the error screen which I cannot determine the timing off, but I would say 99.99% of the time, there is no error not during short drives, long drives, or particularly harsh drives (in SF driving).
here's what it looks like:
http://www.umnitza.com/product_info.php?products_id=1184
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As for HID non-error product. We have 2 versions we have now - Analog and Digital.
Analog is $150 for no error device HID ballasts.
Digital is newly introduced now at $175 introductory pricing.
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There IS an occasional glitch on the error screen which I cannot determine the timing off, but I would say 99.99% of the time, there is no error not during short drives, long drives, or particularly harsh drives (in SF driving).
here's what it looks like:
http://www.umnitza.com/product_info.php?products_id=1184
----
As for HID non-error product. We have 2 versions we have now - Analog and Digital.
Analog is $150 for no error device HID ballasts.
Digital is newly introduced now at $175 introductory pricing.
LadyKat - You're 2 months too late with that question - see my post and the answer from whattheheck earlier in this thread
d-
THanks Doug
LadyKat - You're 2 months too late with that question - see my post and the answer from whattheheck earlier in this thread
d-
Good info Mr Hyde! Thanks! :M5thumbsI was recently thinking about going LED for license plate lights..)
Also, Thanks Dan for your follow up thread!
:cheers:
Dave
I was recently thinking about going LED for license plate lights..)Also, Thanks Dan for your follow up thread!
:cheers:
Dave
1 - 20 of 33 Posts
