04mbc230

Okay. I thought I should do a contribution to this Forum after taking so much knowledge. I just bought and received this HID Convert Kit from VVME Single Beam 35w 6000k that some other poster suggested. Enjoy - took me 30 mins to install, due to tight areas, stuck plug and finding a location for holding the ballast.

Look what was in the mail today! Wasn't the 3 day mail (if bought directly from their company), but it was as good as long as it came.




Removed Cover (Passenger Side)


Remove Black Plug then metal clamp and bulb (Black plug might be stuck like mine, but be careful not to pull to hard or might break something)


Remove Dust Cover (Driver Side)


Remove Black Plug then metal clamp and blub (Driver Side)


Dust Cap, OEM Blub and Metal Clamp (should be 2, it only shows one on this picture)


Install the HID Bulb. Make sure the area that has a tab faces up to ensure a secure install. Here's the hard part. Reinstallation of the metal clamp. As you remember, when you removed the metal clamp, you have to push and slide to the left to unhook it. Then the botton will be held by two hook, one on each side. You would have to crimp to get it out. Now, with the HID bulb installed (carefully, not to touch or scratch it while installing it into it's socket) and the wire harness dangling, make sure you have the wire harness in between the metal clamp and install back the metal clamp back to it's original location. It would be a litte tough since there is lack of space and visual area to see where you are hook this back up. After a few tires (as for myself), take your time and remember to breath when you lose patience, you will get it in there and lock it back up to secure the bulb. At this time you should consider pushing in the wire harness through the modified Dust Cap with the soft rubber as the seal on the new opening you made to the dust cap. <--- Sorry that is a mouth full, I'll get some pictures on this section.

Plug to Car's Plug to Hid Plug. This is not Idiot proof. I decided to go with blue = yellow and black = brown. Hope this is right. Do this on both sides.


Ballast to install


Once again, not idiot proof. I went with clip to the small notch side.




Ready for the Initial Test!!


It works! Came out to be a Blue tint on the picture. Naked eye it is more of a purple tint.


Ballast installation location (Driver Side). It's away from any lines and have all clearances. Hold up with the bracket it came with by zip ties and a metal bracket in the radiator support behind the washer fluid reservoir.


Ballast installation location (Passenger side). Same as driver there is a metal bracket in the radiator support. Tied it down with 2 seperate zip ties to hold down the bracket. It has all clearances to everything and seems to be away from any possible water. I notice there are water stain in the plastic wheel well.


So there it's done!!

Part missing:
I didn't drill a hole on the Dust cap for a clean finish yet. I will do this later and post some pictures on that.

Alright here's what I found and if some of you can confirm. On first start of the lights. It flickers for about 10 secs, then it gets brighter and brighter and as it does this, the flicker went away. Is this NORMAL??

I turned it off and turned it back on. No Flicker.

I turned it off to clean up and let it cool a bit. About 10 mins. Then turned it on again and there is a slight flicker and went away.

Do your install of this product has flicker when it starts up?

infected

It is not going to last long if you let it flicker like that... get a relay or reprogram.

W203E35

The flickering can be easily fixed once you enable Xenon in your Front SAM. Couple of friends had this problem including Rollnnn and after I enabled Xenon the flickering went away.

04mbc230

Oh. But this happen durning the start up? It doesn't flicker after it warms up or brighten up. Is this normal or I have a bad bulb? Or is this what other people who did the programming expereince as well.

04mbc230

The thing is, upon opening up. I notice that the kit was kinda used. I has scratches on the ballast. The blubs white plastic was marked with black marks and the bulb has a burnt residue.

So I am wondering if this a bad bulb or ballast?

They claim it to be new as I had bought it.

W203E35

hmmm, that's interesting. It should have no marks. Where did you buy it? I would return it if it is used. The flickering is wierd, I have seen during startup and later on without any errors. I have seen them running fine with errors. Some of them are a hit or miss. Some members have been running them without any problems but first I would definitely send back the unit and get a new one.

Where did you get it from?

jcnash

My ex installed VVME HID's in her coupe so I know what youre talking about.

If it flickers when you switch it on...liek once or twice and then gets bright (and doesnt lficker after that) youre OK.

If it gets bright and still flickers you have a problem.

W203E35

Can I see the pics of the bulbs? The scratched ballast should be fine. The flickering doesn't seems like a bulb problem to me. More like the traditional flickering issue. Where do you live? You might be able to find a dealer to do it. We can provide a step by step detailed instructions on how to enable this feature which should hopefully fix the flickering (has on every car that I did it to).

04mbc230

Bought it at ebay that claims to be from VVME.COM. Seems to check out fine that they are from VVME on the shipping label and all.

04mbc230

Yea.. Here it is. I sent them an email with a piece of my mind. Sending me use stuff that claim it's new. Well, I went ahead and installed it to see if it works, that way I can support my cliam that it's really used and broken. Well, it works.. kinda..

It came out smaller picture than I thought. Can't get it bigger. Well, The white plastic strip is all marked with black and the center bulb has a burnt residue inside. I live in Northern California. San Francisco.

04mbc230

Oh... That's what I am experiencing. Hope this is normal.

W203E35

You're fine bro. The kit looks perfectly fine and what you are experiencing is the typical flickering. Are you located in SoCal?

If not find a dealer to do this for you and that should fix your problem. The dealers don't know by heart so print it and take it with you.

Good luck my friend

04mbc230

Wow!! Thanks Karo!!

I like how you brand every picture with your name on it. HAHAH

fookoo303

as karo says you should get xenon set to present and see if it fixes it. I beleive the flickering occurs because your ballast cant get enough steady current upon startup. It probably stops because after your car is started, its running off the alternator. this gives a boost in voltage. You should have your battery checked to see if its still running optimally.

most of the time this can be fixed by running a harness directly to the battery, but with mercedes, if you do this you will get a "bulb out" error.


try turning on your lights on with your car off and see if it stops flickering. If it never stops flickering, i can bet that your battery is starting to go bad.

04mbc230

Hmmz.. That might be true. But I am seeing this when my car is running though. I will check the battery regardless. Thanks.

fookoo303

are you using oem headlights?

04mbc230

Yup.. It used to be Halogen blubs. I know the HID should be paired with the projector. I can live with what I have now.

04mbc230

So guys, what is a good pairup for the city light with this HID?

fookoo303

oh i was wondering because aftermarket headlights can come equipped with wires that cant handle the hid which could also cause problems.

04mbc230

Oh. Speaking of wires, I am wondering if pluggin in the right color wire to the right side of the plug would cause an issue?

I had yellow = blue , brown = black. The darn instruction paper didn't say anything about which goes to which. I did a gamble on it. So wonder if this would be the cause? Haven't tried the other way around yet though.

fookoo303

your wiring should be right. If it wasn't, the lights wouldn't even power up.

04mbc230

Alright, tonight I did a test drive with the new toy (enhancement). WOW is all I can say. Totally different from the Halogen OEM for sure. I would definitely suggest for this upgrade. Not only that it looks cool, but it really helps visibility of the road (lights up the road more).

I was worried about if this will create problems for other drivers coming head on. I looked at the height of the lights and it's at the same height with OEM. Among all the driver I pass by, there is only one driver that High Beam me. Don't know if they are saying I have some Kick A$$ lights or was it too bright to their taste. Here's the kicker, it was a fellow white Mercedes C class since I recognize their style of headlights. But for sure, my lights were way more brighter. HAHA.

I got home. I left the lights on and walked down one block. Look back and wow, it looks cool. It was pretty bright at the headlights, but not that it is in high beam, just much brighter.

Here's also another thing I notice. As I turn it down a notch, from headlights to parking lights only. I notice that when I did that, it doesn't turn off instantly. It took like 3 secs after I switch it before it turns off. That goes the same when I had it in auto and switch it to parking lights, the lights don't turn right off, but waited 3 secs before it turns off. It's like there is lingering power to be spent before it turns off. If I switch it completely off at 0, then it turns off instantly.

Also, I notice that when i turn on the lights, it takes about 5 seconds before it is in full brightness.

Is this normal?

Sathinas

Har... har... har... Brightness does not equal lighting quality. I've seen 5Watt lights that will outdrive your new HID's. It's all about in how you focus the light output... hence a projector is recommended for HID unless the reflector was designed for HID lights.

That's normal for Xenon equipped Mercedes vehicles. The lights stay on that extra few seconds after turning them off because of the way the rotary knob is laid out. Off, Auto, Parking lights, manual. It wouldn't do the HID ballasts any good if you went from manual to auto (crossing into parking lights). You would lose the headlamps for a few seconds, otherwise.

Another reason why they stay on for a few seconds after you turn them off.

04mbc230

I know, there is no way unless full equipment is obtain, hence the projectors. At least, there is some kind of enhancement from what I had before. Not wishing for the moon right now, but getting a step off does help.

fookoo303

the majority of the light will look like its the same as stock but the reason you got high beamed is probably because you have glare coming up above the cutoff line. That is whats giving you the appearance that it seems brighter. If you look at a projector equipped vehicle head on, the lights will not seem any brighter than any other car. It will only be noticeably brighter when your lower your head below its cutoff line.

If you park your car against a wall and look at your light, i can bet you will notice small amounts of light that dont seem very bright scattered above your main beam. Those glare spots are whats causing the blinding effect.

Also, xenons take a few seconds to fully charge up before it becomes bright so that's normal.