Sealed Beams to US Hella Ellipsoids Wiring Help

[iso_hi]

I just picked some new lights up but need help wiring. I've looked at videos and photos but the wires look different.

I tried searching so hopefully someone can help me, I provided photos.



High Beam


City Light



Any help is appreciated.

[AndrewBird]

Unwrap the harness back a bit and you will see the purple on the low beam runs over to the high beam plug. You do not need this wire, just remove it. Then on the low beam plug, connect brown to brown and yellow to yellow. On the high beam, connect brown to brown and blue to purple.

[Mo Brighta]

With sealed beams, the low beam (outer light) goes OFF when highs are ON, and you get a high beam in all four locations. Ellipsoids are low only, so you need a relay modification to allow the Ellipsoid lows to stay on as designed.

PM me with your VIN and I'll look at your wiring diaram to determine the correct mods. Usually it's plug and play after you perform a little trickery in the power distribution (fuse) box, no cutting or soldering, and reversible if you decide to later return to stock workings.

[AndrewBird]

With sealed beams, the low beam (outer light) goes OFF when highs are ON, and you get a high beam in all four locations. Ellipsoids are low only, so you need a relay modification to allow the Ellipsoid lows to stay on as designed.

PM me with your VIN and I'll look at your wiring diaram to determine the correct mods. Usually it's plug and play after you perform a little trickery in the power distribution (fuse) box, no cutting or soldering, and reversible if you decide to later return to stock workings.

In stock form in the US, the lows on ellipsoids turn off when the highs are turned on. Only euro cars keep both on.

[Mo Brighta]

US vs Euro low beam operation

In stock form in the US, the lows on ellipsoids turn off when the highs are turned on. Only euro cars keep both on.

Wouldn't you know it! Thanks, AndrewBird.

I would wire them to the Euro standard, but that's just me. I did it this way on my E28 535i when I installed the Cibie 'CSR' H1 lows in place of the sealed beam crap it came with by 're-training' the logic of the stock relays; uses the same wires, fuses, relays, everything. And of course they are properly aimed, so I get no objections from other drivers.

iso_hi -- What is your input here? Do you have an preference on low beam operation?

What lamps do those new lights take? Those plugs look like HB4 (9006). There are some very nice high output options available if you find they aren't as bright as you'd like... stock wattage of course, with almost twice the output. Let me know if you are interested in learning more... I sell these if you need them.

Andy

[blazinxpk]

If you come to San José I can help you out. Send me a message if you're interested.

[itsonlygeorge]

I used the pigtails and spliced on some spade connectors and plugged them in to the sealed beam connector.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hankolerd]

With sealed beams, the low beam (outer light) goes OFF when highs are ON, and you get a high beam in all four locations. Ellipsoids are low only, so you need a relay modification to allow the Ellipsoid lows to stay on as designed.

PM me with your VIN and I'll look at your wiring diaram to determine the correct mods. Usually it's plug and play after you perform a little trickery in the power distribution (fuse) box, no cutting or soldering, and reversible if you decide to later return to stock workings.

Do you have a guide available for making the necessary changes in the fuse box, for a 1990 M3 from Sealed Beams to US Ellipsoid? I want my low beams to remain on when my high beams are on, but don't want both on the same circuit like the sealed beams were.

[Das Delfin]

^ There are a couple ways to do it..

this is the easy way

http://www.rtsauto.com/e30-euro-smiley-conversion-from-sealed-beams-or-us-ellipsoids/

this is the better way

http://forum.roadfly.com/threads/9247659-US-Sealed-Beam-to-Euro-Ellipsoid-Smiley-wiring

I'm about to do the same thing. Just be aware in the US there's a law which states you can't have more than 4 headlights (lows/highs/fogs) on at a time. If your fogs are wired to shut off when your high beams go on (which they should be if you have a sealed beam car) then you're okay. Just remember to check. It's a stupid law but some police will use whatever they can to write tickets

[jeffnhiscars]

Best to mod the relay and leave the fuse box alone. There's a write up on this in my barn find build thread that may help

[hankolerd]

^ With just the relay mod wouldn't the fog lights stay on with the high beams?

Thanks for the links Das Delfin.

[Das Delfin]

Those two mods essentially do the same thing. One is just a prettier way of doing it. This link has some wiring diagrams and some other useful info.. after reviewing it for the 1000th time, it looks like the fog light relay will have power when the low beams are on regardless of whether or not the high beams are on.

But if you're running HID's and/or upgraded projectors in your ellips, you don't really need fogs.. You'll notice a huge improvement in lighting anyway. I took my fogs off when I made the jump from sealed beams to Hella H4's. Ellips are even better. So it may be a non-issue

[hankolerd]

So, now I have another problem... I was thinking I just jump the high beam relay so I always have power to the lows, as it seems like the easiest route for now, and easy to revert.

But, if I do this, then I will have both the low beam and high beam circuits hot. And I am not sure if my Morimoto Mini H1 bi-xenon shield activator will like that. My low beam wiring harness takes the standard sealed beam low/high inputs, and when the high circuit is triggered it triggers a solenoid to flip a shield out of the way of the projector, making it a bi-xenon projector. I am worried if I leave power to both the low and high circuits it could cause issues with this. Any ideas?
The top plug goes to the car.
The middle plug goes to the shield solenoid.
The bottom plug goes to the HID bulb.


EDIT: I guess if push comes to shove I can split my high beam circuit directly to the actuator plug, I just am not sure if having both circuits providing power is OK or not.

[Das Delfin]

^ That's a valid concern. In the end it won't be an issue though. The unloader relays in these bmws do two things: they conserve current by using a remote switch, and they perform an auto-off function for unnecessary or redundant lights. This mod defeats the "unloader" part of the circuit but the headlights still function with a relay, just as they should otherwise. In english, this means that even though the relays have constant power, they still won't turn on unless told to do so by the headlight switch.

The two mods listed above will remove the low beam unloader, which is the circuit that tells the low beams to turn off when you flip on the high beams, which is great for bixenon lenses. You want the lows to stay on. All you have to do for the bixenon element which moves etc etc is tap in to the connector that plugs in to your high beams. I guess the important thing to draw from this is that even though the relays will all be seeing constant power, none of them actually transmit that power until told to do so by the headlight switch.

[Das Delfin]

Does your top pin (the one that connects to stock SB wiring) have two pins or three?