does the ballast go inline on that wire (connector 5) on connector 1 of the headlamp assembly?

No! That would be a "series" connection. That would reduce the current seen by the front SAM, and turn on the lamp out warning.

Sorry I confused you with the wiring call out. When making a wiring harness every connector has a reference designation. In this case on the Bix headlamp assemblies, it is number one. Each wire in a connector has a cavity where the pin is inserted. In this case they are numbered 1 to 5. If I wanted to tell you connect to connector 1, the wire in cavity 2, (brown in this case) I would just write connector 1-2. The parking lamp positive is in 1-5 (gray with a color stripe on it. The stripe is different colors so at the SAM end of the wire, the wireman can tell the difference between left and right when filling the cavities of the SAM connector.

The ballast needs one wire connected to the parking lamp wire (1-5) and the ground wire (1-2). You don't cut either wire. Get a bag of those 3M taps and your life will be easy. I'd tuck the assembly under the black crossmember at the front of the engine compartment. The wire harness for the headlamp runs under there too.

that's better. thanks! so splice one wire (1-5) to the other wire (1-2)

Now you are cookin' with gas!

Today I went to the parts store and looked at the PIAA line up, and was not personally thrilled with LED's, but I did see some conventional bulbs with blue coating on them. They wanted 20. for two lamps.

I have never cared for the color difference between the parking lamps (also called city lamps by some folks) and the halogen headlights on German cars. They look orange and pathetic along side the much whiter QI lamps. I deceided to color my own bulbs.

I used Rosco Colorine #80 blue bulb dip to do the job. You get this paint from professional stage lighting shops. Just dip the bulb in the paint, and you are done.
This paint is not for bulbs of more than 40W, and it is considered temporary, but so are the bulbs you put it on.

There is an Emerald Green Colorine bulb dip. What would that look like if your interior lamps were matching your exterior?

I used scotch locks on mine. Worked great.

Wow, this thread has gotten so complicated that it's migraine inducing. The install is really simple. Just connect grey wire to brown wire with load whatchamacallit...

that kinda defeats the purpose of me installing outside the headlamp assembley. i dont want to install these in the headlamp assemblies. should something happen to the headlamps. autolevers, ballast going out, i dont want them to refuse fixing it under warranty when they open it and see a load equalizer tapped inside.

Hi, after reading the post, I managed to get a pair also, here is the pic, it's not that bule compare to Mr.trust203's photo.

LMing,

Did you have to cut wires? My friend in HK faxex me the installation instruction and it's saying that you would need to cut wires in the headlight assembly. That's the last thing I wanted to do to my car.

The so called "Ballast" is also nothing more than a large piece of ceramic resistor, which I think will heat up considerably.

What a rip off!

Ya, I did cut the wire, but and the ballist is large piece of ceramic resistor, since it's big, so it won't be as hot as the small one, so don't worry too much. I checked the bulb price in Japan, it's around 55 US, it's up to you to judge the price, heh but if you want to change it, I would suggest to get this, I am pretty happy about it.

I'm not into cutting wires yet, so I think I'll pass. For now, I'll stick with the halogens.

Just installed mine today, Grey wire is the positive one

Hey Doug,

I like your approach, maybe I'll ask Ai Design to look at it when I visit them for some custom fabrication.

well i couldnt get it to work. i tapped the grey over to the brown. nothing.

I replaced my W5W City Lights with Phillips Blue Visions. They are at least 3 times brighter than the stock bulbs, and quite white (no hint of blue at all).

Better still, they were FREE... Powerbulbs.com

I wouldn't represent the Blue Visions as being brighter than the LEDs (as I have not seen the LEDs), but there certainly is no need to fiddle with wiring, ballasts and other crap. Just swap the bulbs, and you're good to go.

BTW, when one of the Blue Visions burned out (after 3 years), I did buy some PIAA 19172 "Xtreme White" W5W bulbs, just to try them. I found them to be horribly blue and only half as bright as the Blue Visions. $20 wasted. A member here who drinks the PIAA "Cool-Aid" swapped his Blue Visions with me for the PIAA's and we're both happy as clams.

Try turning the led wedge bulb around in the bulb holder. Sometimes it won't work one way because the polarity is reversed, but if you take it out and put it in the other way it should work. If that doesn't work, check your wiring. Use a voltimeter to check the current.

i did that too. tried installing the LE in boith the assembly and on the harness with no avail.

Hi Bob, thanks for your info, maybe I will change the sidemaker to the Blue Visions, thanks again

Wouldn't they be similar to this?

http://www.superbrightleds.com/1157.htm

I am really gun-shy about Ebay.

The head seems too big to fit into the city light socket~

did you connect it as shown on this napkin?

The ballast is connected between the brown and gray wires. The polarity of the LED is important too, as mentioned earlier.

yes, plus i changed the position of the LED bulb thinking it might be a polarity issue. same thing on both driver and passenger lights. 1-2 to 1-5, nothing! even tried it in line on the grey, same thing.

Uhoh, we might have a problem here....the LED's might be bad.

Is this picture what you had in the kit?

If it is, I may have steered you in the wrong direction, because you have the rice rocket version of the LED, for cars without a "Lamp Out" sensor that measures current. Why is Mercedes always a little different? (Actually I kinda like it.)

I have a minion leaving Japan in a few hours. (how lucky was that?) I asked him to bring a set of the PIAA LED's. I'll make a unit to allow installation in a W203 for you.

yes that is the exact kit i have. please help me Ric!
the problem is my friend is afraid i might have blown the ballast when i gorunded it over. i dont know! all i know is today when i put them inline they dont work, and i cant read the writing on the directions!