Electrical R56 OEM Xenon Retrofit (Attempt)
#26
Hi BuckTallTrees
Wanting to do this on my wife's 2014 R57 - being a later car like yours did you need to make the wiring changes etc detailed or did they plug and play once the NCS Dummy updates were made?
Thanks
Ben
Wanting to do this on my wife's 2014 R57 - being a later car like yours did you need to make the wiring changes etc detailed or did they plug and play once the NCS Dummy updates were made?
Thanks
Ben
Great thread - with all the info required - our 2012 R57 now has 35w Xenons with the levelling motors connected and the washers working.
I had to change the washer bottle - the original only has 1 pump - so Ebay delivered a 2 pump model.
Then it was just a case of running a wire from pin 10 in the footwell fuse box to the pump - grounding the other wire to the chassis, adding a relay in the fuse box (k6) and enabling it with NCS Dummy.
Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread.
Xenon with auto wash
I had to change the washer bottle - the original only has 1 pump - so Ebay delivered a 2 pump model.
Then it was just a case of running a wire from pin 10 in the footwell fuse box to the pump - grounding the other wire to the chassis, adding a relay in the fuse box (k6) and enabling it with NCS Dummy.
Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread.
Xenon with auto wash
#28
I bought 2007 Xenons from Ebay and a couple of Xenon plugs with wires. That allowed me to work out how the lights work and if I’d needed to do the modification to the light as shown at the start of the thread - I did! But it was quick and easy.
The Xenons won’t work as ‘plug and play’ because although the original halogens have 1 live for the low beam and 1 for high which is exactly what the Xenons need - they go to the wrong pin - so again this thread shows how to move each feed to the correct pin.
I went a bit further and ran some new wiring from the Footwell module (FRM) and the cabin fuse box.
The FRM (pin41) runs the high beam and the fuse box has a relay for the headlight washer pump (another Ebay purchase because you need the washer bottle with 2 pumps)
The cabin has rubber grommets in the fire wall with space to run the new wires - so again not too difficult.
The lights strobed when I first connected them - so as well as enabling the Xenons in NCS I had to turn of headlamp monitoring - but I’ll revisit that because the factory fit Xenons must have lamp checking - so I might be able to re-enable it.
I didn’t take pictures on the install as I went - sorry - but I did make a wiring sketch - so I’ll tidy it up and add it to this thread.
All in all I’d say it’s a full days work or a weekend if you’re doing research at the same time - but nothing too complicated and a really good upgrade .
#29
Perfect thanks
No additional parts needed for the levelling then?
Good to know earlier light units will work, I've been struggling to find many LCI era units but plenty of earlier ones on ebay etc.
Be great to see your diagram to get everything working as factory thanks, no rush I will start buying parts
Regards
Ben
No additional parts needed for the levelling then?
Good to know earlier light units will work, I've been struggling to find many LCI era units but plenty of earlier ones on ebay etc.
Be great to see your diagram to get everything working as factory thanks, no rush I will start buying parts
Regards
Ben
#30
Hi Ben -
I bought 2007 Xenons from Ebay and a couple of Xenon plugs with wires. That allowed me to work out how the lights work and if I’d needed to do the modification to the light as shown at the start of the thread - I did! But it was quick and easy.
The Xenons won’t work as ‘plug and play’ because although the original halogens have 1 live for the low beam and 1 for high which is exactly what the Xenons need - they go to the wrong pin - so again this thread shows how to move each feed to the correct pin.
I went a bit further and ran some new wiring from the Footwell module (FRM) and the cabin fuse box.
The FRM (pin41) runs the high beam and the fuse box has a relay for the headlight washer pump (another Ebay purchase because you need the washer bottle with 2 pumps)
The cabin has rubber grommets in the fire wall with space to run the new wires - so again not too difficult.
The lights strobed when I first connected them - so as well as enabling the Xenons in NCS I had to turn of headlamp monitoring - but I’ll revisit that because the factory fit Xenons must have lamp checking - so I might be able to re-enable it.
I didn’t take pictures on the install as I went - sorry - but I did make a wiring sketch - so I’ll tidy it up and add it to this thread.
All in all I’d say it’s a full days work or a weekend if you’re doing research at the same time - but nothing too complicated and a really good upgrade .
I bought 2007 Xenons from Ebay and a couple of Xenon plugs with wires. That allowed me to work out how the lights work and if I’d needed to do the modification to the light as shown at the start of the thread - I did! But it was quick and easy.
The Xenons won’t work as ‘plug and play’ because although the original halogens have 1 live for the low beam and 1 for high which is exactly what the Xenons need - they go to the wrong pin - so again this thread shows how to move each feed to the correct pin.
I went a bit further and ran some new wiring from the Footwell module (FRM) and the cabin fuse box.
The FRM (pin41) runs the high beam and the fuse box has a relay for the headlight washer pump (another Ebay purchase because you need the washer bottle with 2 pumps)
The cabin has rubber grommets in the fire wall with space to run the new wires - so again not too difficult.
The lights strobed when I first connected them - so as well as enabling the Xenons in NCS I had to turn of headlamp monitoring - but I’ll revisit that because the factory fit Xenons must have lamp checking - so I might be able to re-enable it.
I didn’t take pictures on the install as I went - sorry - but I did make a wiring sketch - so I’ll tidy it up and add it to this thread.
All in all I’d say it’s a full days work or a weekend if you’re doing research at the same time - but nothing too complicated and a really good upgrade .
Got some LCI era headlights on the way and hopefully a twin pump washer bottle will start working on this soon hopefully did you manage to find the diagram ? Thanks
#31
#32
Great thread - with all the info required - our 2012 R57 now has 35w Xenons with the levelling motors connected and the washers working.
I had to change the washer bottle - the original only has 1 pump - so Ebay delivered a 2 pump model.
Then it was just a case of running a wire from pin 10 in the footwell fuse box to the pump - grounding the other wire to the chassis, adding a relay in the fuse box (k6) and enabling it with NCS Dummy.
Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread.
Xenon with auto wash
I had to change the washer bottle - the original only has 1 pump - so Ebay delivered a 2 pump model.
Then it was just a case of running a wire from pin 10 in the footwell fuse box to the pump - grounding the other wire to the chassis, adding a relay in the fuse box (k6) and enabling it with NCS Dummy.
Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread.
Xenon with auto wash
#35
So I’ll preface this with I am not very knowledgeable about this stuff so if I am asking dumb questions just tell me that. But I have a 2013 R56 that I changed to OEM Bi-Xenon headlight from stock Halogens. It has not been coded yet so I have the flashing at first and then the pulsating after they are going. Problem is that the passenger side will flash and then go out. The driver side will flash and then stay on. I am worried that there is more than just a coding issue. Has anyone else had this happen before it was coded? I don’t want to go through the process of coding it and then have to change everything back if I still have an issue with the passenger side.
#37
Hello Everybody,
I am going to dig up this thread. I did the conversion according to the above instructions. I also did code $522 option and disabled auto leveling. However I am still getting a fault 009CB2 in ISTA: FRM: Headlight vertical aim control potentiometer defective. Do you also have it?
Since there is no extra documentation of this fault in ISTA I am suspecting that it might be caused by the fact that my car did not have the manual adjustment of the halogen lights, the one that is one the steering column. On the other hand cars with factory xenon light also don't have it.
Any ideas how to get rid of it?
I am going to dig up this thread. I did the conversion according to the above instructions. I also did code $522 option and disabled auto leveling. However I am still getting a fault 009CB2 in ISTA: FRM: Headlight vertical aim control potentiometer defective. Do you also have it?
Since there is no extra documentation of this fault in ISTA I am suspecting that it might be caused by the fact that my car did not have the manual adjustment of the halogen lights, the one that is one the steering column. On the other hand cars with factory xenon light also don't have it.
Any ideas how to get rid of it?
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