Sealed Beams to US Ellipsoids

[mikejungle]

Hey,

So I was wondering...is it a direct fit for the sealed beams to the US ellipsoids?

Although I would like euro ellipsoids, I think the US version will be enough of an upgrade from my sealed beams and my eta has other things that can benefit from the money than lights.]

Thanks

[Sagaris]

the ellipsoids and halogen high beams have a different mounting bracket but the bracket bolts up directly in place of the sealed beam bracket. You will need to get the connectors for the ellipsoids and splice them in. I advise against starting a thread asking "which wire goes where?!?!?" for wiring the pigtails. It is extremely simple if you have a multimeter:
Turn the low beams on, measure which wires have +12v, those are the power wires for the low beam, the sealed beams have a dual filament low beam and a single filament high beam. The ellipsoids have a single filament low beam and a single filament high beam. When you click the high beams on a sealed beam car, the dual filament low beam switches to a slightly brighter filament inside the low beam light and the high beams turn on.
When you click the high beams on an ellipsoid car, the low beams do absolutely nothing and the high beams turn on. The wire on the low beam connector (sealed beam wiring) which receives +12v when the high beams are clicked on is eliminated ( cut, taped up, no longer used). That is the only trick to the wiring. Again, if you have a multimeter, just use logic and you will be fine.

Ellipsoids running on a car originally made for sealed beams will ONLY illuminate the high beams when you click the high beams on. The ellipsoid low beams turn off because there is not the extra "high beam" filament which the sealed beams have. To get the ellipsoid low beams to stay illuminated while the high beams are on, you will need to modify the headlight relay. search around if you are interested.

[mikejungle]

Hey, thanks a lot for that write up.

Might take me a while to figure it out, but it'll help. What will I need to make sure that I have from the transplant car to make sure that the installation goes smoothly? i don't need brackets or any other new parts, right?

[Gerta]

Mike:

Check this out: http://bmw.e30tuner.com/articles_eurolight.php

Great article ... search for ClavinZero on R3V, I think he put together a good write up regarding HIDs.

Gerta

[mikejungle]

So if I get the gist...i can follow that writeup for converting from sealed beams to euro ellipsoids exactly, because the euros are a drop-in replacement for the us ellipsoids?

and what are all the housings and connectors? do they not come with the whole assembly?

sorry, it'll probably make more sense once i see it, but it's hard to visualize without having seen it firsthand.

[WUGcatsvt]

Awesome info. Subscribed so I can find it later

[chappys4life]

Here s good diy for it I am planning on doing the same thing soon. http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=137296.

Is there any benefit of having the low and high on?