Depo Headlights

[pilot_anderson]

Recently ordered a set of depo euro spec H1 headlights from ECS. A lot of people may hate on them but DEPO has been making real solid lights for a long time. No they are not OEM hella but in theory should look and perform well.

I got them Friday to be pretty disappointed with the set up. Maybe I am missing something but I believe I got a bad order. I have contacted ECS but wanted to run it by the R3V squad to make sure I wasn't missing something.

Take a look at the pictures attached: These are the wiring hardness the sent compared to the actual lights. They are no where near a matching connector. Am I missing something? My current lights are OEM sealed bulbs so I dont expect the connector to be plug and play between the lights. It was my understanding I would splice in these pig tails then plug and play. Am I wrong or did I get a bad order with the wrong harnesses? Let me know if the photo link doesnt work.

https://goo.gl/photos/MRZWc3xaCzdgJTCH9

Thanks for any advice.

[efficient]

You need the connectors from euro smileys. You can usually get the connectors from another BMW

[pilot_anderson]

Are there generic ones I can buy to make my own? Similar to this but with the correct style plug of course :http://www.summitracing.com/parts/smp-s523

[reelizmpro]

You took pics of the 9006 connector but none of the other end? The usual Depo wiring setup is 9006/9005 (on cars with ellipsoids) to insulated individual female terminals that you just slide onto the males on the lights without the euro connectors. Since you have sealed beams you need to cut the 9006 connectors off, crimp on male spades to splice the ends into your power and ground wires (3rd one not used) and then figure out the other end since yours appears to have a round connector on it. I have never seen that before on depos.



You may not even have E30 depo's. Maybe they sent you E34 depos or the wrong harness?

Quick google search shows you have an E36 wiring harness.



No biggy, just ditch the round connector, separate the pairs to essentially make the E30 harness above and slide the females over the male terminals on the lights observing polarity of course, cut off 9006/9005 connectors and crimp on male spade terminals.

[pilot_anderson]

You just cleared up a ton of confusion for me. Thank you so much. They dont appear to be E34 headlights but thanks for that suggestion as well. I will verify part numbers this evening to ensure.

Edit: Did some additional research and found this page;

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

This guy has part numbers to the correct connector that would plug into the back of the light. While I now understand how the DEPO harnesses were intended to work I wanted a more OEM plug and play (Read: Water Tight) experience. Will order a few sets of these connectors and build a full wiring harness city lights and all.

[reelizmpro]

You can do that but just know that those waterproof terminals with wiring are not cheap. You will probably spend over $100 for all that stuff new these days and that's just for one end of the harness.

[pilot_anderson]

No kidding! Im searching some radio shack type sites to come up with a low cost alternative for the wire. The OEM connectors are only $2 a piece not bad, but the sealed wires are $7 for just one at 6 a headlight that's $42 in just wire.

[Das Delfin]

The wiring harness ECS sends you are really for e36 cars, which doesn't make any sense at all. Whatever, they're retards.

To make it work with OEM factory stuff you either need to buy all those connectors with their wires brand new, which costs over $100 for just connectors, or you can find them off an e34 in the junk yard. Or do what I did and open up the back covers and cut off the wires where they go through the plastic holders. Then solder and heat shrink new 6" wires, push them through the holes occupied by the connectors, hot glue gun them in place, and proceed to use normal crimp spade connectors + electrical tape to connect the headlights. Fuck spending hella money on stupid wire connectors when spade connectors are better and much more available.

[pilot_anderson]

That is good advice. The plugs themselves are poorly sealed any way. I plan to hit the supply store this evening and make my own harness as you suggested, just without the connectors. I always tend to shoot for the moon the first time I go to fix a problem.

Ensuring they are water tight is important as well. Ill use some temperature rated RTV sealant and plug the holes.

[stonea]

I bought depos and got the adapters, but they ended up not working. I just cut and spliced in the Euro plugs and now they work just as good as my dads real Hellas.

[Mushroom Stew]

Are you planning to stick with Halogens or go HID? If Halogen then you will have to get those 2x of those white and yellow plugs and 8x of the green pigtails for a factory like set up. I have the whole set up near new IF you want to buy from me (I purchased HID's shortly after).