[Josh1a1h]

Hi Guys,

Unsure whether it has been done. in my quest for brighter low beam output, I was thinking of upping the power of the ballast.

I have 6k bulbs in there,and I know I will get better brightness using 4300k but I like the look of the 6k too much.

I have my lights open right now putting in some Led AEs and blacking out my chrome bits, so now is a good time to ask whether I need to do any other work whilst its all open.

Here are my questions

-do you think the e92 headlights handle the extra heat from. 55watt ballast?

-would the 55watt ballast work with the stock projectors and existing 6k d1s bulbs? Or would any of those parts need to be changed?

-would any general 55watt ballast work with these lights?


Cheers guys!!!

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

I would not recommend it.

It could possibly fry the control module or the ballast on the base of the bulb. Both the controller and the bulb would need to be 55 watt too.

The BMW d1s ballast controllers are pretty fragile, there have been countless people buying buying aftermarket bulbs and frying the OEM hardware.

This is why you should replace your hardware with quality products and matching controllers.

[rollinstone157]

Originally Posted by Josh1a1h

Hi Guys,

Unsure whether it has been done. in my quest for brighter low beam output, I was thinking of upping the power of the ballast.

I have 6k bulbs in there,and I know I will get better brightness using 4300k but I like the look of the 6k too much.

I have my lights open right now putting in some Led AEs and blacking out my chrome bits, so now is a good time to ask whether I need to do any other work whilst its all open.

Here are my questions

-do you think the e92 headlights handle the extra heat from. 55watt ballast?

-would the 55watt ballast work with the stock projectors and existing 6k d1s bulbs? Or would any of those parts need to be changed?

-would any general 55watt ballast work with these lights?


Cheers guys!!!

If I may, your problem can be rectified more easily than a set of ballasts.

But if I were to do a high-wattage D1S ballast, I would get your OEM ballast and wiring harness modified, rather that going with an aftermarket ballast. The OEM Hella projectors can take the heat. Even if an aftermarket 55W D1S ballast existed, I wouldn't want it. I wouldn't trust that startup current with the FRM.

But the issue is that you have crappy bulbs. No matter how you cut it, there is colored glass on this bulb to give them a 6000K output. I'm assuming they're also aftermarket? HIDplanet has measured noticeably lower output with 6000K aftermarket vs. 4300K OEM bulbs. Fine for fogs and such, but I wouldn't ever put something that I know reduces nighttime vision in my headlights.

I gather you want a whiter light than the stock 4300K bulb? What you want is the new gold-standard of OEM bulbs (on new F10 I believe, several Benz's), the OSRAM CBI (cool blue intense). It creates a 5000K color by using a different salt mixture rather than a color tint, so there's no lumen loss from the glass. In fact, the lumen output is slightly higher than the defacto Phillips 4300k OEM bulb. Comine that with the higher color temperature, and it definitely appears brighter. Cheaper than OEM Phillips replacements through BMW, you can get them from TheRetrofitSource.com http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...ducts_id=17166 for $200.

I think they'll have a black friday sale though, so it would probably be wise to wait about a week. It may exclude these bulbs, but can't hurt!

And if you decide the CBI's (after the 8-12 hours of burn-in time) aren't bright enough, you can get a wiring harness and the OEM ballasts boosted, and then you'll be throwing out absurd lumens.

[Airdanny]

^ Some pics to compare them would be nice... I have OEM 4300K and would like something brighter...

[VTECaddict]

There is no 55w ballast that will fit the oem headlight. The ballast is integrated with the headlight housing.

[Josh1a1h]

This is what I have figured out recently. I am just shocked that the best bulbs on the market can cost as much as £100 per bulb.

[rollinstone157]

Originally Posted by Airdanny

^ Some pics to compare them would be nice... I have OEM 4300K and would like something brighter...

This is a good HID planet review. Note his tool measuring over 4000 lumens of light output in one measurement while the other bulbs in the exact same setup measured under 3000 http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/show...ight=cool+blue

[onesuperboi]

Originally Posted by rollinstone157

If I may, your problem can be rectified more easily than a set of ballasts.

But if I were to do a high-wattage D1S ballast, I would get your OEM ballast and wiring harness modified, rather that going with an aftermarket ballast. The OEM Hella projectors can take the heat. Even if an aftermarket 55W D1S ballast existed, I wouldn't want it. I wouldn't trust that startup current with the FRM.

But the issue is that you have crappy bulbs. No matter how you cut it, there is colored glass on this bulb to give them a 6000K output. I'm assuming they're also aftermarket? HIDplanet has measured noticeably lower output with 6000K aftermarket vs. 4300K OEM bulbs. Fine for fogs and such, but I wouldn't ever put something that I know reduces nighttime vision in my headlights.

I gather you want a whiter light than the stock 4300K bulb? What you want is the new gold-standard of OEM bulbs (on new F10 I believe, several Benz's), the OSRAM CBI (cool blue intense). It creates a 5000K color by using a different salt mixture rather than a color tint, so there's no lumen loss from the glass. In fact, the lumen output is slightly higher than the defacto Phillips 4300k OEM bulb. Comine that with the higher color temperature, and it definitely appears brighter. Cheaper than OEM Phillips replacements through BMW, you can get them from TheRetrofitSource.com http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...ducts_id=17166 for $200.

I think they'll have a black friday sale though, so it would probably be wise to wait about a week. It may exclude these bulbs, but can't hurt!

And if you decide the CBI's (after the 8-12 hours of burn-in time) aren't bright enough, you can get a wiring harness and the OEM ballasts boosted, and then you'll be throwing out absurd lumens.

Where do you get a wiring harness and how do you boost the OEM ballasts?

[rollinstone157]

Originally Posted by onesuperboi

Where do you get a wiring harness and how do you boost the OEM ballasts?

The wiring harness will have to be a custom-built affair. I'd use some of the MoriControl harnesses, but you're going to have to build or have built custom adapter plugs.

The ballasts will have to be disassembled, and modifications will have to be made.

Ramping up the ballast is not a terribly complex process (I believe it's just one resistor that changes, I'll try and dig up a DIY) and building the harness isn't difficult (splice on some terminations, and a trip to the junk yard for connectors if they're hard to come by) BUT you are setting yourself up for an expensive mistake if it doesn't go well.

TL;DR get rid of your low-output aftermarket bulbs, get CBI's = impossible to screw up.