Is there any way the car can be damaged from this wiring? Like the control module for the fog lights or something like that? I assume it could if something was done wrong or shorted out, but my lights illuminate without issue. I'm probably just paranoid.

 

Short answer: no.

Long answer: The fogs are normal incandescent bulbs from the factory. They are simply fused in the panel, so if there was a short or other issue, the fuse(s) would pop, and that's that.

There is no danger in doing this, or I would not have felt comfortable putting this up as a guide. The capacitors simply smooth the power signal being sent down there to your ballasts.

 

That's great. Gives me piece of mind.

I just don't have a lot of experience with electrical components, despite being a technical person, so I got a little paranoid,

 

No problem - I'm an electrical engineer, so you can take my word for it.

The only issues we've ever seen from this is hazing from using 55w HID bulbs. If you use the normal 35W, you'll be golden.

In fact, by adding those capacitors, you're actually putting less stress on the system.

 

Spoke too soon, the right side won't light this morning. Not sure if something broke or there is a connection issue.

I have a different ballast I am going to try on that side, again after the cap, to rule out a bad ballast. Then I'll try some different bulbs.

 

Ballast was dead. Probably the temporary flickering did it. I replaced with another ballast, albeit different than the other side, and they work.

The pic with just the fogs on was while they were warming up.

 

New bulbs and ballasts, 3000k bulbs (have cool green/yellow ion look), Xentec slim ballasts.

 

I should have known better, but they seemed nice at the time. Xentec ballasts, commonly sold on ebay and a bunch of Xenon kit websites, are awful. They're small, plastic boxed "ballasts" that I'm convinced are not waterproof.

I got them because they were smaller, to fit better on the driver side fog where there is limited room for all the wiring/ballast (and capacitor, etc).

One of mine died within a week and then I found out why they were really bad. I installed one of my VVME Digital ballasts in the passenger side fog and fired them up. Standing in front, watching the bulbs warm up, I saw the driver side warm up. I saw the passenger side warm up, and up, and up, surpassing the brightness and color quality of the Xentec ballast in the driver side by a large margin.

Seeing this, I purchased an additional VVME digital ballast (one of mine was damaged) and once it arrived, I installed them.

The result:






This is with Morimoto 6000k D1s Headlight Bulbs, and 3000k VVME fog bulbs and digital ballasts.

 

Yeah, the only decent types (marketed as all sorts of brands) are the metal with epoxy. Those are really the only weatherproof types out there, as you now know.

 

Started my fog light upgrade and ran into a snag.
Hooked one side and fired the car up to see if everything was working before I moved on to the other side.
As I walked around to the front of the car for a looksy at the new kick butt fogs there was a LOUD! Bang, like a firecracker.
The capacitor now has a hole in the side of it!

I looks like the connections might be backwards (+ and -)

 

Photo.. Bang!

 

I decided to try the install without capacitors.
The bulbs lit and do not flicker. I let the idle for about a minute or two and no flicker could be seen.
The OEM connector needed to be installed backwards to get the OEM brown wire to line up with the negative terminal.
Not the tightest fit but I can work on this.

Time to do the drivers side now with no capacitor.

FYI, coded out the fog bulb warnings and added auto on based on the coding thread :-)

 

Jesus! I guess they mixed up the markings or switched the connectors in the cap plug!

I'm glad to hear you're not getting the flicker. The fit isn't perfect (hence the slight bending of the pins), but once it's in it won't move.

 

Kerrys, I ordered some cheap H8 to 9006 adapters from ebay and modded the connector on one side of my capacitor. This prevented the reversed connection (9006 and H8 are "reversed" if you try to plug them into one another). My HID kid connector was 9006 despite ordering H8.

If you decide to get more capacitors, or start getting flickering, you might could try that to get a nice solid connection.

Either way, I'm glad your HIDs are working!!! It's nice to have that extra light on the road.

I went through 3 ballasts and 4 sets of bulbs, and had to order a set of caps, getting a combination I was happy with, so don't feel bad about blowing your cap.

 

I wasn't aware of the polarity change between bulb types. I just plugged everything together the way the connector clips indicated. Well after I "pop'ed a cap" in my garage (bad humor I know).
I now have both sides working good. I ended up matched the wire colors with a known "ground" wire color and everything is good. Still need to mount the ballast somewhere cleaner and try to trim the OEM harness plug for a better fit.

The light is sooooo much brighter. I wonder if I will get flashed by other drivers now. My 6" Hella driving lights are flash magnets and I have them aimed as low as they can be.

Thanks

 

Wow, just saw that photo of the cap!

The "reversal" isn't really reversed, it's just the way the 9006 and H8 connectors are shaped with the indent on one side versus the other.

I mention the H8 to 9006 adapter so that you wouldn't have to trim the OEM harness (I left mine untouched, because you never know if you'll need to go back to stock, or have a problem with the wires in which the dealership could deny under warranty). Also, it allows for a more watertight connection when sealed properly. It was like 5 bucks shipped on eBay. Basically, I took the cheap adapter and removed the pins from the plastic pins on the end and repinned the capacitor.

Regarding flashing, I don't get flashed for the fogs. If you shine them against a wall, they have a pretty good cutoff for reflector housings, even with the HID "kit" bulbs in them.

 

I'll look for the adapters on ebay that does seem like a better solution then triming things to fit.


Thanks

 

Sorry to ask another question on here but to clarify, if I get the capacitors I will not have to code anything?

 

I installed the BMS ( Burger motor sports) HID fog light kit today in my ALL4S. Went in easy and quick. Pass. side didn't have to tale the wheel off, drivers side I did to get my big hands in around the washer fluid reservoir I ordered the 3800k yellow to aid in night driving which I do a lot and they look great. No codes, no issues.

 

Did the bms kit have the capacitors?

 

It was a complete kit. ballasts and Caps. No warnings lights of any kind and it was plug and play, no cutting, no taping.

 

Would you happen to have the link to where you purchased them? I don't see them on their site. Google wasn't much help either.
Thanks!

 

Here you go!

http://www.tf-works.com/burger-motor...light-kit-bmw/

 

After quite a few dead ballasts, bulbs that don't color match right to left, and frustration, I finally went to a pair of Nokya Yellow fog bulbs.

I can't say I'm happy with their performance, but when compared to the output of a proper HID kit, a halogen will probably never stack up. The color and light output is just "ok" for a halogen. I miss HID fogs.

I wish there was a plug and play high power LED fog kit. It seems a big round chunk of aluminum to house a driver and a high power XM-L or similar LED would be pretty sweet to fit into the same fog housing carrier. I know there is the OEM LED fog option, but I was thinking something more in the 1000+ lumen range.

 

It really is a PITA to get them working correctly. And the coding is crucial to keep them on constantly. The auto-shutoff on brights kills them so quickly.

The only combination I found that works is to use the capacitor bricks and the slim ballasts (and quality ones at that). That being said,another one of mine is dead at the moment.

What would be awesome would be a one-off with a massive Cree element / heatsink.