Euro Headlight Conversion

[Vol]

Hi Gang,

I have a 97 M3 and bought the Elipsoid conversion kit from Pelican. Does anyone know the procedure for converting the wiring from the original plug connectors to the new ones? There are some pins, 2 connectors (one for each side) and rubber covers. The conversion kit did not come with any documentation.

Thanks,

Vol

97 M3 Sedan
71 911 3.2

[blkongry]

If the guys at Pelican don't have the answer, then pics would help us figure it out for you. I installed some Helix elipsoid headlights in my '94, and the wiring sounds familiar, but mine were color coded. The pins fit in the headlight housing, the rubber covers shield over these wires, then each head light has a brown and gray 2-pin connector that matches right up with the factory hi and low beam lights (not necessarily in that order). Mine were quite the deal for $200.

If I saw some pics of what you have to work with, and it is similar to mine, I'll scan in the wiring diagram that came with mine for you.

[Vol]

Thanks for the reply. Your conversion sounds like it was a bit more straightforward than mine. My original two prong plugs do not fit directly into the new units. The original assemply has a two wire plug that goes directly into each bulb, (one for each low and high beam) which then plugs into the assembly from the back. The new lamp assembly has a central 4 pin plug in the back which directs current to each bulb. Apparently, I must cut the original plugs off the existing wires, crimp the new pins onto the four individual wires, then figure out which order to plug in the wires ... (there is nothing intuitive about the pin arrangement in the back of the unit that makes you think "these two must be hi beams and these two must be low beams...). Totally random trial and error as far as I can tell.

Having done the above I have a discovered the following: I can get one side to work well, before I took the other side apart (the connections are not completely independent from each other side to side). With the original lamp in the driver side, I was able to make the right side work with the new pins/wires. When I installed the left side assembly and connected the wires in the same order, not only did the left side not work, but the right side stopped working.

So there are 8 wires that are interdependent to make the low, high, and, incidentally, the fog lights operative. Currently I have the low beams working only. No fogs or highs. I have no reason to believe that the fact that I have the two low beams working means I have established anything to build on.... getting the other lights to work may require a different approach since there is more than one way to get the low beams to work by themselves...

Naturally, a knowledgeable electical guy would know how to start testing and come up with a rational process of elimination that would eventually yield the correct answer. In my case I am not that guy. So I just randomly start trying wire locations with little success. Times like this I wish I was not such a hack when it comes to electrical engineering.

Any ideas? I looked closely at the light assemblies for any clue as to the correct wiring approach. Nothing that I could tell.

Thanks,

Vol

97 M3
71 911 3.2

The low beam light patterns are FAR better than the OEM units. So the process will be worth the pain in the end...

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Hey, Vol!! Good to see your name pop back up again. You still keep in touch with any of the local gang?

--DD

[Vol]

Hey it's DD@PP. Good to see you too! Errrrr my name has never STOPPED popping up on rennlist, BTW... :-)

The "local gang" I see on occasion are the ones that go to tracquest events... So I do see a few from time to time. In March last year I rode in /hank's evil 72 TT. I still have not recovered from that ride..!

Hey Dave this is nice conversation and all, but can anyone there help me with my dang headlights!! :-)

Best,

Vol

97 M3
71 911 3.2

[blkongry]

Wow... first off, please tell me you didn't clip off your factory plugs!! You can always tin together some pin adapters to plug into your factory terminals and then monkey with the end connections from there without affecting your factory stuff.

Hmm, now on to those lights. It sounds like you are left trying to figure it out blind... you can't look into the housing, you can't get a wiring diagram, the best you can do is get out your multi-meter and start looking for continuity. Poke the terminals of the meter into the various holes and check where you get a resistance number (on the 'Ohms' setting of course). The lower resistance should be the high beam, the higher resistance should be the low beam. To confirm, get a 12volt battery (preferably a motorcycle battery, but a car battery or even a lantern battery will work) and attach to each location (probably using tinned ends of wire) for each resistance. Confirm which light comes on. There is no order of polarity since it is a light bulb and just a resistance filament. Now, if there is some commonality in the wiring, that may throw your. It should be separate. If there is commonaliy, it should be on the ground side. Just to keep things separate and clean, switch your meter to measure voltage and check each terminal of your factory head light plugs to a ground on the vehicle (through the meter of course). Which ever side is the 'hot' side, make sure that does not get wired to the common ground of the headlight.

Once you figure out what is common as far as wiring on the headlights, what is to the high beam, what is to the low beam, and what is positive and negative on your factory plugs, you can start matching them up from there. You may have blown a fuse from bouncing wiring around, so check to make sure all your fuses are good (could be separate fuses for the highs and low, and possibly the fogs).

Didn't you get any kind of wiring harnesses with the lights? If they are for your application, they should have come with a wiring harness that split the bulk multi-plug on the headlight to individual factory recepticals for high and low beams.

I tell ya, if it is a 4-pin plug on the back of the new headlight housing, then it should be super clear: two are for low beam, two are for high beam. You should be able to pinpoint which one is which using an ohm meter, checking resistances, and connecting a 12v battery. Also, once you pinpoint which are which, check with the ohm meter between the two sets (meaning one hole for the high beam with one hole for the low beam) to make sure there is no bleed over... if there is, then you have something wrong with the wiring in the new headlights.

[Vol]

blkongry,

Well that's the sort of expertise I could really use!

You said:

I tell ya, if it is a 4-pin plug on the back of the new headlight housing, then it should be super clear: two are for low beam, two are for high beam. You should be able to pinpoint which one is which using an ohm meter, checking resistances, and connecting a 12v battery. Also, once you pinpoint which are which, check with the ohm meter between the two sets (meaning one hole for the high beam with one hole for the low beam) to make sure there is no bleed over... if there is, then you have something wrong with the wiring in the new headlights.

Knowing this should help. I need to get a multimeter, obviously!

Thanks for the help! I probably won't get to this until the weekend...

Vol

[kocio67]

this might help


http://www.umnitza.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_93&products_id=34

[Vol]

Thanks! That's possibly very helpful. Except I don't think I have city lights so the pin locations listed on that link are not necessarily correct. But it's a great starting point.

Thanks,

Vol

[blkongry]

Hey Vol, do you know the manufacturer of your headlights? Can you contact the manufacturer and get the info you need? That should save you some time. Also, I didn't see on here if you had any wiring that came with the units. It's hard to believe they came bare with no documentation nor wiring harnesses.