E39 Angel Eyes LED Conversion
Discussion
I have an E39 530d Touring, the facelift version with factory Angel Eyes. I have been thinking about replacing the bulbs with LEDs because the existing bulb powered rings are almost invisible in sunlight. Don't need to be the blinding bright variety, just brighter and more visible than the standard glow worms. Anyone fitted these and what recommendations. Must be error free plug and play, can't be faffed with flickering lights and dashboard warnings! TIA
The only ones i know of that don't throw warnings and don't flicker are MTec V3.
https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/mtec-ver-3-6w-cree-l...
https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/mtec-ver-3-6w-cree-l...
There is another way, but you need to get things just right to avoid both bulb blown warnings (which can be coded out) and the flicker.
You can wire a small relay into the circuit so turning on the lights activates the relay and the relay turns on the lights. The coil of the relay must be a small enough resistance to 'pass' the check for blown bulbs, but then the very slight delay of the relay stops the flicker.
You can wire a small relay into the circuit so turning on the lights activates the relay and the relay turns on the lights. The coil of the relay must be a small enough resistance to 'pass' the check for blown bulbs, but then the very slight delay of the relay stops the flicker.
I've been running a pair of LED replacements off Amazon for the last couple of years - pretty good, zero warnings. (not teh cheapest ones available - went for one with good reviews)
The lkm bulb test seems to poll the lights periodically, it's not just at start-up only. The flicker is brief and very feint - you have to be looking for it, I've only spotted it once in that time. In part that's because the way the angel-eye lightguide is designed it's never going to be as bright as the newer cars, let alone DRLs.
I changed mine because I'd lost a bulb anyway; the nom 4000k colour is a very good match to my xenons.
The lkm bulb test seems to poll the lights periodically, it's not just at start-up only. The flicker is brief and very feint - you have to be looking for it, I've only spotted it once in that time. In part that's because the way the angel-eye lightguide is designed it's never going to be as bright as the newer cars, let alone DRLs.
I changed mine because I'd lost a bulb anyway; the nom 4000k colour is a very good match to my xenons.
Evening,
Bumping this topic as wanted my factory angel eye headlights to be white to match the xenons. (E39 facelight)
After a lot of reading it seems the only way to stop the cold start bulb check flicker is to go with the mtech v3's.
I cannot find a single place to buy them.
I honestly don't want flicker on start up, after being accused of attempting diy police lights (years ago in a e39 no less, by a police officer!!) I would like to avoid flicker as much a possible.
Thanks all!
Bumping this topic as wanted my factory angel eye headlights to be white to match the xenons. (E39 facelight)
After a lot of reading it seems the only way to stop the cold start bulb check flicker is to go with the mtech v3's.
I cannot find a single place to buy them.
I honestly don't want flicker on start up, after being accused of attempting diy police lights (years ago in a e39 no less, by a police officer!!) I would like to avoid flicker as much a possible.
Thanks all!
Before using the Mtec V3's I wired up some low power relays to stop the flicker. If you get the relay coil current just right it will pass the cold check but not react fast enough to allow flickering. If your relay has too much resistance to pass the cold check, you can code it out with PA Soft etc. It's a pain, but it works.
RichardM5 said:
Before using the Mtec V3's I wired up some low power relays to stop the flicker. If you get the relay coil current just right it will pass the cold check but not react fast enough to allow flickering. If your relay has too much resistance to pass the cold check, you can code it out with PA Soft etc. It's a pain, but it works.
Cant code out cold check with PA soft, according to internet, found a forum where people were talking about how to install relays etc, I've read the relays and or resistors can get very hot and shouldn't be used near anything plastic.. 
https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/bmw-e39-cree-led...
These above have a canbus adaptor that stop all errors and problems, and look very similar to the mtech v3.
Richard, could you see if the picture looks exactly like your mtech v3's you had?
Thank you.
No, those are not identical.
My relay solution does not use resistors that get hot, just a simple 3 amp relay. You can not code out Cold Check itself, unless you have a LCM IV from an X5, so you can't stop the flickering by coding, but you can code out the bulb failure message. So, the relay will stop the flicker (without use of a resistor or capacitor that will get hot) and if you are lucky will not trigger the bulb failure message. If not lucky, you can code out the message.
My relay solution does not use resistors that get hot, just a simple 3 amp relay. You can not code out Cold Check itself, unless you have a LCM IV from an X5, so you can't stop the flickering by coding, but you can code out the bulb failure message. So, the relay will stop the flicker (without use of a resistor or capacitor that will get hot) and if you are lucky will not trigger the bulb failure message. If not lucky, you can code out the message.
RichardM5 said:
No, those are not identical.
My relay solution does not use resistors that get hot, just a simple 3 amp relay. You can not code out Cold Check itself, unless you have a LCM IV from an X5, so you can't stop the flickering by coding, but you can code out the bulb failure message. So, the relay will stop the flicker (without use of a resistor or capacitor that will get hot) and if you are lucky will not trigger the bulb failure message. If not lucky, you can code out the message.
Thank you for all your knowledge.My relay solution does not use resistors that get hot, just a simple 3 amp relay. You can not code out Cold Check itself, unless you have a LCM IV from an X5, so you can't stop the flickering by coding, but you can code out the bulb failure message. So, the relay will stop the flicker (without use of a resistor or capacitor that will get hot) and if you are lucky will not trigger the bulb failure message. If not lucky, you can code out the message.
Will a 3amp relay be enough per headlight?
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