Grr. Lozzo, get your book out.

So... I go to leave work on Thursday evening at about 10. I'm tired and
need to be at Heathrow by 8.20 the following morning.

Get in my car, turn on the ignition and the 'information display' tells
me "Check LowBeam". No need to tell me that, there's no fucking lights.

Look at a bulb (but it's dark) and it isn't obviously blown. Look in
the boot and I don't have any H1 bulbs. Bollocks.

Well, **** everyone I'll drive home on main beam.

Look at it this morning and it seems that *both* headlight bulbs had
blown. Wow.

Look in the garage and I've only got 100W H1 bulbs. Heh. That'll do.

Put them in the car, switch on, no warning- good. Switch on the lights
and they don't illuminate. Put a meter across one and there's no
voltage. Check fuses. Fine.

Disconnect one bulb and the other lights. Reconnect and switch on, no
it won't light. Disconnect other bulb and connected one lights.

Search harder and find one 55W bulb. Put this in the offside and it
works.

WTF? The car's got some square-headed current sensing circuit that's
fucking with my right to blind other motorists. Fucking cunts designing
it. Whilst I'm ranting why the **** would they put the date on the
'computer' in mm/dd/yy format? We're fucking European not American.

 

I'm almost tempted to use relays to bypass it... but... if I do this I'm
pretty sure that the difference in impedance between the bulb and the
relay coil would set-off the "check low beam" message.

Maybe I just ought to get a set of HID low beams for it.

I'd rewire the accessory socket...

 

Google for 'LKM' (LichtKontrolModul). Dead easy repair. Emial me iof you
need it repaired.

JB

 

Thanks, but everything's working now.. just not how I'd like.

I'm rather pissed I can't have a 100W dip because of the car's control
system deciding that 8A is too much current.

Unless I misunderstand and I can somehow reset the upper limit?

 

You don't need 100W lamps if you use Osram Silverstar or Philips Vision Plus
lamps. These are the correct wattage but produce _at least_ 40% more lumens,
often as much as the advertised 50%. The 100W will overheat and kill the
optics anyway, even if the LKM didn't melt down first (which it most
certainly will). I've repaired about 30 of those bloody things. Quite a
lucrative sideline too :>)

Unless I misunderstand and I can somehow reset the upper limit?
No, you can't.

JB

 

E34 seemed quite happy with it but I've given up on the idea with the
e38.

Regarding 'killing the optics'; what do you mean?

 

With the E38, just get a retrofit package from ebay using the D1 or D2-based
xenon metal halides. Worth every penny.

On the 'projector' low beams on E32(some)/E36(some)/E38, the aspheric lenses
are mounted in a moulded polymer frame. The extra infrared energy from the
100W lamps can melt and distort this frame and totally alter the optical
performance of the unit. Also with some of these untis, (not the early Bosch
ones but mainly the later ones produced by another German manufacturer ZVG),
the ellipsoidal reflectors themselves are aluminised polymer too. These are
destroyed in very short order when 100W lamps are fitted.

JB

 

Bit of a thread hijack - do you know of any problems running 100W bulbs in
conventional hella lamps with metal reflectors (MK2 Golf)?