| bno |
Posted
Monday, Jun 30th 1:56am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Junior Member
Post nr. 1
Northshore, MA
1983 320is 2.5 |
Since everyone is everywhere these days I gotta cross post. Sorry about that:
>So I've had this set of Hella's in my basement for a couple of years now. I pulled them off my first 1982 323i parts car, assuming that they were regular ol' e-codes. Well, I tried installing them today and came across a few surprises. Let's start with a baseline for what I'm working with:
Low-Beam Front & Back
Notice anything weird? Like the three prong connectors? There's more...
Hi-Beam Front & Back
More of the same. So, seeing the three prongs and all I decided to try and plug them in to my stock US harnesses today. There were mixed results:
The Low Beams work fine
The high beams work okay too (you'll just have to trust me, I didn't take a pic of that).
When the high beams are on, the low beams they don't work so good.
So my questions are:
1) Am I correct in assuming I've got a set of t he same upgraded hella's they sell at places like bavauto for US cars?
2) What's going on with these low beams while the high beams are on? I guess they're getting power because of the dim glow(?) The plan is to get some new h4 high/low bulbs tomorrow and stick them in the low beams. Maybe they just don't have the right bulbs in there?
3) I checked the high beams and they do have H1's. I should be looking for 55w H4's for the low's, right?
I think that covers it. Any and all help appreciated.
brian |
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| Matt |
Posted
Monday, Jun 30th 2:17am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 89
SF Bay Area
81 320i |
http://e21.tricord.cjb.net/forum/view.php?view=408 |
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| bno |
Posted
Monday, Jun 30th 2:44am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Junior Member
Post nr. 2
Northshore, MA
1983 320is 2.5 |
Gee thanks for linking to me a thread that discusses the existance of the h4/h1 set up, but doesn't answer any of my questions. That was REALLY helpful.
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| BruceH |
Posted
Monday, Jun 30th 3:37am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 15
Atlanta, GA USA
81 323 Baur, 85 745 |
Your second post here and you're copping an attitude? That'll get you a lot of cooperation.
Bruce H |
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| bno |
Posted
Monday, Jun 30th 3:52am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Junior Member
Post nr. 3
Northshore, MA
1983 320is 2.5 |
Bruce, you got mail.
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| RDAvena |
Posted
Monday, Jun 30th 7:27am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Staff
Post nr. 67
SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0
1981 323i, 1988 545is, 1997 528i |
To answer your question:
They are working as intended euro style I mean. The true euro wiring harness will always "short" out the low beams when working with the high beams. In Germany/Europe there are very dark road conditions between towns and even in some areas of the cities. They do not use all of the lights in consideration of not blinding oncoming traffic. It is either/or and not both With these lights. When you have the highs on, the city-light should light up on the low beams.
If you want both to work you have to remove the metal part off the back of the H4 and use the US plug directly on the back of the H4bulb. Then they will work like US spec lights.
I have the same "feature" with the euro lights on my e28 don't mind it at all. Was expecting the same with the e30 "smiley" elips since they are "euro" only but they light up like the us lights. It could also be the relay set up I use to increase the lights output that may be affecting the euro feature.
I have only decided to post real help "over there" every now and then and stay away from the bullshit factor. But if you want real help, here is the best place to try first. |
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| bno |
Posted
Tuesday, Jul 1st 2:53am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Junior Member
Post nr. 4
Northshore, MA
1983 320is 2.5 |
Thanks Ray.
Got some more questions/observations, though.
First of all, all 4 of my Hella's are using H1 bulbs. I find this pretty confusing considering everything I've ever read about the subject talks about the low beams being H4's while the high's are H1's.
Secondly, all of the metal rings around these lights (the part you use to bolt the light in the bucket) says "Hella DOT" on them. I was under the impression the lights that are sold now for US harnesses are not DOT approved.
Last, these lights work perfectly with US harnesses. Low beams work, high beams work, and city lights come on in the low beams while the high beams are engaged.
Questions:
1) What is going on? If these are real Euro lights, how are they DOT approved and work great with U.S. harnesses?
2) As I mentioned, all 4 lights are using H1 bulbs (H4's are waaaay too big to fit in there). I just put 55w H1's in the low beams, what should I be running in the high beams (60w? Do they make those? Who?)?
Thanks again.
(btw Bruce and I have emailed and worked things out. chaulk it up to a simple misunderstanding.)  |
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| RDAvena |
Posted
Tuesday, Jul 1st 3:26am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Staff
Post nr. 69
SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0
1981 323i, 1988 545is, 1997 528i |
Strange, ad after looking at your pics you do have the normal spade pattern. The way I understand it it "seems" that you have 4 high beams and no H4 compatible low beams. But yet you have the city light installed on the low beams. Which leads me to say that you have a euro lens set out of an e24 or an e30 in your e21 buckets.
Why do I say this?
Because , and stay with me since I have been known to lose people in mid sentence, the lights set that I have elips have the 4 H1 bulbs and no H4s in the outside lenses.
"But mine are not elipsoids." True but these can also be e24 euro lenses since not all of the e24s came with the Big/Small combo like the e23 and e28s did (euro spec of course). The DOT stamp could be hellas way of cheating the fed DOT cops. The Ecodes are pretty standard and interchangeable the only thing that changes are the mounting points of the bucket assys themselves. And if you go to the 7inch outer Big lense.
JC Whitney has higher wattage bulbs for the H1s. something like 100w or 110s. Cheaper than PIAA but not sure how long they last. |
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| bno |
Posted
Thursday, Jul 3rd 4:55am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Junior Member
Post nr. 5
Northshore, MA
1983 320is 2.5 |
Well whatever they are, they "work," but not all that great. I think I'm going to have to take them apart and go to town with the ammonia and try those 100w H1 high beams.
Also, how the hell do you aim these bad boys? I don't see any obvious adjustment screws. |
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| JDBeyer |
Posted
Thursday, Jul 3rd 5:40am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 27
N. Humboldt county Ca.
82 323i on steroids |
The big plastic "Nuts" on the back of your buckets do the adjusting. Lube them up with some WD 40 or the like. |
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