edtv82

the auto leveling depo's i have use the factory ballast... all the cables from the car plug into the lights themselves... the ballasts are located on the bottom of the headlight just like OEM... its the exact same on the Depos
9006 is the bulb types... we with the frosty xenon set up use a D2R bulb non xenons are a H7 bulb like the highbeams (i think)

i'm not sure on this either but the ballast also helps with the auto leveling thats why i had to use OEM ballast when i got my Depos...

hope that helps.

Dingleberry

bummer, i guess i'm not switching to 55w HID then

maybe the wiring inside the depo headlights is messed up. hopefully they will get warrantied if that is the case

02C32guy

I actually have a spare set of factory ballasts sitting around just in case mine crap the bed. I'd be willing to send them to you if you'd like. If they fix it you can toss me a few bucks, if not just send them back.

MountainStone

Please update this thread when you resolve the problem. If these are quality items I would very much like to have a pair myself. Do you feel like you lost any light output by going from the frostys to the projector-style lamps? Does the cut-off look good?

I'll keep my fingers crossed you just got a bad batch of bulbs...

SGTzAMG

you know for some reason, i have to say that a car with HID/Xenon lighting mounted on a reflector headlamp assembly seems to have much more better lighting output as opposed to a car with HID/Xenon lighting with the Projectors :-/ my Z and my C32 now both have 6000K lighting.
and the Z's light output with the projectors arent as great compared to the C32's light output.
the C32's have the frosties :-(

But ive been considering these projector DEPOS headlamps...most likely withought the auto-level feature..
if would be nice, but my car didnt come with xenos, so im guessin if i buy the Depos with the auto-level feature, it wouldnt be functional?

TemjinX2

Thats because the projectors in the depos are total crap. You need to either replace it with a real HID projector or just buy the oem projector head lights.

MountainStone

They are total crap? The eBay seller advertises that the projector lens is glass (as opposed to plastic, I assume) and 'made in Germany' as opposed to lesser-quality items manufactured in China. I am tempted by the claim of quality; is it a false claim? I don't want to pay $500 for these headlamps and be disappointed by the result...

edtv82: can you comment on your impression of the quality of light output and the quality of the units as a whole?

What we need are some before and after (or side-by-side) photos of xenon frostys and depo xenon projectors...

TemjinX2

Depos are made in taiwan man. So i dont know why he's saying there made in germany. The depos projectors are designed to work with halogens.

The frosty xenons are designed to work specify with hids. Hence why the output on the Frosty would be better then the depos.

Just do a search and look at the depo cut off pics...there not even gonna come close to real HID projectors.

oh yeah depo head lights for around $300 on ebay. If your not gonna do a hid retrofit, and your willing to pay $500. I say save a bit more and just buy the oem bixenons for around $1100.

edtv82

i'll update as to what the issue is... with the flickering. I'm still waiting on the bulbs to arrive.
Also, granted depo housings are made in taiwan but you can also get different lenses... and most depo's dont autolevel. but i'm not going to justify this Depo compared to OEM... OEM would be ideal but i'd rather buy a new iMac or Macbook for 1100$ then factory bi xenons. 1100$ is also on the lower end of OEM bi xenons and sometimes when you buy things used its you could be getting a defective part (then your out 1100$ b/c 95% of the time you can't return it)

but thats how it goes.

TemjinX2

The lens doesn't effect output. The head lights beam brightness and width is determined by the reflector bowl itself. A better lens will give off more color and sharper cut off.

If you do a search there was a vendor that was selling the oem bixenons for $1100 new in the w203 forum.

SilverBulletAMG

I can also attest to the fact that the stock depo lights are crap. They can be modded into a "decent" head lamp and temjin has a great DIY and several other comparisons already posted in the forums.
I also agree the price for OEM Bi-X is retarded. If you don't have a lot to spend and don't do a lot of night driving, the modded depos (to me) are worth the savings for an updated look to your car.

MountainStone

Ah. I would never have guessed the reflector bowl was the limiting factor in a projector-equipped headlamp fixture; I assumed the bulb itself threw all of its light output at the projector lens and the lens did all the focusing. I thought that was why bulbs were made with or without integral reflectors (D2S versus D2R). Thanks for the education!

TemjinX2

yeah the majority of the output is determined by the reflector bowl of the projector but they all have effect. Thats why you can greatly improve your light output by replacing the depo projector with a OEM HID projector.

my tsx retro to give you an idea.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...t-project.html

AMG7

Hey guys, I have also purchased the depo headlights off ebay with the auto leveling. The auto leveling feature does work. The lights look really nice and the lighting is not bad. The ebay seller claims that the projector inside is made in Germany but the light says on it made in Tawain, so I really doubt it. However, I am getting that same flickering problem mentioned on this thread. I know its not the ballast or the bulbs because they were working just fine before I just replaced them!! I used my stock ballast and bulbs which mounted on to the Depo headlights. I think it might be the wiring inside the headlights. If anyone has any input that would be great. Basically the headlights flicker and at times just turn off, but if I turn my lights off and then back on which every head light that was acting up turns back on and the cycle restarts. Gotta love after market stuff!

SilverBulletAMG

Interesting. Mine never made the headlight go completely out and it was/is only the drivers side headlight. It sounds like both of yours are doing this?
I'm about to take mine to the stealership and have them check it out. It's embarrassing and I'm sure not at all appreciated by oncoming traffic.

Dingleberry

why dont you try buying another set of depo headlights and returning this set

SilverBulletAMG

Would if I could. I purchased mine over a year ago from some peddler on ebay. You get what you pay for I suppose....

Dingleberry

buy the same headlights...return the old headlights as if they were the new ones...

raymond g-

that is f*****

Dingleberry

so are the ebay seller's customers.

AMG7

Hey guys got an update on the flickering headlights issue, hope this helps!! I was doing some reading on other forumns and people had resolved their flickering issue by replacing their bulbs, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I had originally kept the bulbs I had in my original xenons which were bought off-line. Anyways when I replaced them with the bulbs that were included with the head lights whola they work just fine now!! No flickering no nothing. I dunno, I guess you need a specific hid bulb to run the depo headlights! The other hid bulbs had worked just fine in my stock xenons, so kind of interesting..I'm just glad they work now!! So if you got a similar issue I would start with replacing the bulbs because they are the cheapest!

SilverBulletAMG

Do you happen to have the part # or specs on the bulb you used? Or does anyone else have the OEM spec? I sold my stock frosty xenons or I'd give it a shot with the swap as well...

AMG7

Hey here is the link to the lights that were included with my headlights, that I used. This is the ebay seller I bought my headlights from as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/8000K...item1c0f3eee5f

And the link to his Ebay store since that link above will expire.

http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/fishcake321/

SilverBulletAMG

Thanks for the links. $55 is dirt cheap for two bulbs! And those 8k bulbs are what you put in your Depos and no longer have the flicker? It says its for an '05-'07 SLK so I just want to make sure.

AMG7

Well my bulbs were included with the depo headlights I bought, but they were the 8k bulbs and they looked exactly like those ones in the link. They had the same writing on them (D2C 8k 35w) and everything. I guess you could message the guy and see if they would work because I know the connector that connects to the bulb in the back is a bit different in the depo headlight then the stock xenon. But I am pretty confident that those are the ones because I bought my headlights from the same guy. Another thing, I dont think the year and module matters because they arent going into the stock xenons.