My friend asked me to upgrade his W124 (E320) headlight to xenon. He wants to keep the OEM headlight, yet wants nice blue-hue & bright output of real xenon system. Another requirement: keep the cost as low as possible (knowing that he has two kids, you could see why )

I've been checking here and there, and surfing the net & Costco last week, I found the solution. In selected (limited) Costo stores, they carry xenon-system spot beam light (yep, real xenon system), for $75/each. I bought two, rip out the xenon ballast & bulb. Even better, the bulbs are H7 based, so they fit straight into any headlight that use H7 (straight in, no mod needed). Another good thing is that they're 6000K bulbs, so you get a good combination of bright light and nice color (kind of blueish tint)

As with everything sold at Costco, the light & its internal is pretty well built. The ballast are quite compact and have buiit-in ignitor. They build the light for marine usage, so that whole ballast was filled with silicon. Never have to worry about water leak in or corrsion. Btw, the battery are heavy duty 12v, rechargeable with either home or car electrical system. So you could use them for any purpose (computer backup, security, car).

The light output is both bright and nice color (given that they're 6000K). <b><i>Since with xenon ballast, it's important get you get the polarity correct, so connect positive YELLOW from the headlight to positive RED on the ballast, and negative BROWN from the headlight to negative BLACK on the ballast. If not, you will fry the ballast </i></b>, and mount the ballast somewhere in the bottom of the headlight.

Cost of two lights: $160.
Sold two battery to my co-worker: $50
Net cost: $110
Labor: 1 million dollars
Final cost: $110 + 5 thousand smiles

If any of you is looking for a good/cheap way to upgrade your light to xenon, you might want to give this a try.

Again, this light is being sold in certain Costo stores only (trial), the item number is 871155

The last picture is from the output of the light compared to some other H4 (I copied this pix from the light forum), you could see that it's much both brighter and whiter.

 

hey zam, i just got my projectors in. i was wondering if there was any way to used my OEM xenons with it, or if there is a cheaper way to get xenons.

 

What does 3x mean?

 

The pix is for the test of this spot beam light (xenon based) against other spot beam lights (using H4 bulbs). That's why you see weir brand (name of spot beam light manufacture). 3X is to refer to the focal setting (like zoom in camera).

It's probably best that you use the xenon ballast from your OEM headlight, but upgrade bulb to D2S type, since these bulbs have no paint to cover them like the D2R (used in stock OEM reflector xenon), its output is about 20-30% brighter. And if you go w/ the stock Depo projector, every bit of brightness count

 

Ah, makes a lot more sense at all.
I thought you added like two other bulbs and what not.

 

Mysticblue999, if you decide to sell your OEM xenons, I may be interested in buying them.

 

Once again Zam, you've gone over the top. That's just badass and very creative. Great job and add yet another smile to your list. If you see security harassing some guy in a white E320 at Costco a couple of hours before they open; don't worry, it's just me

I like the original style lights and not projector types, but I also have 98' - and the lens are looking pretty old/faded. Any suggestions for replacing them, and what about the city lights? What similar colors for them?

Please check your PM, I would like to return the favor of your valuable research.

C2

 

I can sell you mine if you are interested, but of course i need to new set from zam first

 

could i do the same thing with my 97 e 420? how do I connect the ballasts and bulbs to my existing wiring? I am not very handy so you may have to show pix and explain in very simple terms. Thanks

 

lexrex, i don't know if i will sell them or not but i will let you know if i do

zam, what is this d2r bulb you are talking about? i think ill have my dad try out the cool flash light deal you came up with....

 

Awesome. So we just have to grab some Depo projectors and get these and we are set??? Seems like the cheapest and the easy way to upgrade, nice job!

 

I used to love the show MacGyver!!! Zam for president!!!!!

 

Hey Zam,

Now that I am working, married, and have a baby, that's exactly the stuff I need to know. I've been wanting xenons on my car forever, but never bought it because of the cost.

I tried to look the item number up on the costco website but couldn't find anything. Can I find the light at other retailers? Is there a direct website to the manufacturer on the box anywhere? Thanks.

 

These spot beam light are being sold in selected Costco stores in the West Coast, and most of them are sold out quickly, since they're only $20 more than the H4 halogen one, yet much brighter and last longer (battery life).

If you know someone in California, you can ask them to look for you.

 

This is an awesome IDEA!

What kind of Amperage do these pull?

How much brighter are these over silverstars? (what i currently have)

Does this "trigger" a faulty bulb in the MFD? Or cause the lights to go out if the computer is not set to the proper bulb type?

OK, now my dumbest question of all... What is the diff between Xenon and projectors and HID.

 

If you go this route, I would try to wire the ballasts into the stock harness, then check to see if you get "bad bulb" message. I have found that 2.2K ohms is low enough to keep the warning off, but go lower until the warning does not appear.

Please find the diagram in this post:

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w210/48247-installed-catz-hid-99-e320.html

 

ZAM, the real way to do a cost effective conversion to Xenon, is to buy a pair of lights from you and have the dealer install them for free!

 

Can anybody in California help me out? I live in Dayton, OH.

 

One last question, before i run of to Costco...

Replacement bulbs? Expensive/hard to find/universal/life hours?????

seems like taking a flash light bulb and putting it in a car, for a daily commute, may tend to burn out frequntly? Yes/No? please advise...

 

Xenon ballast & bulb last much longer than standard halogen one, and Costo ususally have strict standard for stuffs sold through their store. Turning on HID on light is no difference than on car, they're both hooked to 12v heavy duty battery anyway. If you want to avoid power surges, simply avoid having the headlight on before starting engine.

The bulb use standard AMP adaptor, so it's quite easy to find replacement bulb. You can also buy an AMP/D2R-S adaptor if you want to run standard D2S/R bulb.

The box advertise that bulb suppose to last 3000 hours, and the ballast is filled w/ silicon, so no need to worry about corrosion.

Nevertheless, this stuff is new, so no one can really attest about the longivity and reliability of it.

If you want to run standard xenon bulb, simply get this adaptor for $20.



It pulls 15A during boot (around 1/10 seconds), and less than 8A during operation. Less than typical halogen bulb.

If it cause faulty Lamp Msg, you can always add a resistor.

Xenon and HID is the same, given that we're talking about xenon burner (not halogen filament), not one of those "xenon filled" halogen bulb. On average, they're about 2-3 times brighter than halogen (silverstar). As you go up in color temperature, brightnes (lumen) go down. Xenon bulb (burner) into reflector designed for xenon headlight, or into projector designed for xenon source. 6000K probably give best combination of color and brightness. Anything higher than that will be at great cost to brightness. A pair of Philips Ultinon 6000K run about $200-250. And both Philips and Osram stop at 6000K.

Yea, hard to believe that I sold you a pair of like-new OEM W211 bi-xenon for $650 huh ? But that's good deal I got, so I simply pass back for forum fellow. Too bad the W210 retro cost almost twice as that, part cost is too much.

 

Thanks ZAM2000.

I'm definatly giving this a try, then i'll swap my silverstars into my highbeams, and I'll be able to LIGHT everything up!

also thanks for explaining the diff between xenon burners and filled, been trying to figure that out for the longest time.

 

went to phillips, HUGE savings doing it your route. 160 vs 600+

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...Name=WDVW&rd=1

Maybe there will be more?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=5227811517

 

Do you tap the power from the headlight? or direct from the battery?