W210 Depo retrofit w/ W211 projectors
 

Gents,
I decided to replace my stock W210 headlights with the Depo headlights and E55 Bixenon projectors. I'm doing the retrofit myself. I have a few questions that I hope someone can help me with:
-I received the W211 E55 projectors today. They have a small motor/cylinder at the top which moves a metal shield up-and-down. The cylinder has a female plug, with a wire, that runs to it. Does this cylinder actuate the "bright" lights for my headlights? If so, will my current electrical hook-ups accommodate the female plug? If not, where do I find the electrical connection plug to make it work?
-The W211 E55 projectors seem almost identical except for one difference. One projector has a metal plate that is parrallel to the metal plate that the black cylinder moves. It looks like this plate will "square off" the light that is thrown off before it reaches the projector lens. The other projector does not have this plate. Instead of the parrallel plate, it has a metal piece that is formed with the cup projector piece. It is a loose fitting piece that is pressed into place. What is the difference between the two projectors?

I hope I am making sense. Please let me know if anyone can help.

great questions, but I'm at work and have a report due in a few mins. I'll
defer....hoping that Zam is around. otherwise, I'll jump in after work. several
of us on the 210 forum have done this E55-Depo retrofit so you should have
good support with your project.

which city are you in? sounds like you may have two, slightly different
variations of the E55 projector, but it's no big thing. pics?

If you don't mind me asking, where did you purchase the retro fit projectors?

Ray, I'm located in the west suburbs of Chicago. I have uploaded some pics. Thanks for any help with this.

I bought my Depos from this ebay seller: ivm1@msn.com
I bought my W211 projectors from this ebay seller: oem_xenon_parts (wanting888@gmail.com)

It is customary to identify a projector by the car from it was removed. In this
case, the "E55" can also be a Maxima. The top shield is used to control
foreground illumination. Thus, depending on the application and particular
fitment the shield may or may not be needed. The RS6 which I am in the
process of dropping into the Depo also has this top shield. I've not
experimented to where I've concluded it is/not needed for my application.

Apparently, with the Maxima headlight design, it was felt that this shield was
important. The E55s of the same design do not sport this shield.

I inquired as to your location because I thought, had you been nearby, we could
both work on our projects jointly.

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The solenoid you referred to with the plug, is a twin lead. Unlike other solenoids
the E55 is not polarity sensitive. kinda nice - one less thing to worry about.
Yes, when it receives a 12vdc trigger, the shutter swings out of the way to
reveal the full beam...for HIGH beam.

You also have a HIGH beam (already) in the form of the H7 bulb which works
in tandem to the low beam bulb.

What I did was to splice the solenoid leads to the H7/HIGH beam wiring. Thus,
when activated, both the H7 HIGH is lit...as well as the shutter activation.
The result is full HID beam plus H7 HIGH beam.

I'm not sure what the result will be should you use the E55 on one side, and
the Maxima projector in the other. You may want to sample this first.

It would be very useful (and informative) for you to log in to HIDPLANET.COM
and soak up as much as you can from their General HID forum...as well as
their HID UNIVERISTY forum.

upon reflection, you dont have much choice. since you cant add a top shield
to the E55 proj, you option is to remove that from the Maxima proj. or, you
can seek a swap with the seller so that they are balanced.

raymond,
thank you very much for the write-up. I'm going to try and switch out the Maxima projector. Its kind of funny, but both of the projectors have identical markings and serial numbers. The HID planet PDF you attached indicates that the extra shield will distribute more color and prevent the light from being thrown directly in front of the car. This causes a 4.5ft gap between the bumper and beginning of light pattern.
I'll just pull out the plate if I can't swap the projector. I'll post pics, etc. Once I complete the project.

What you have is a matching pair, don't switch it out. It used to be two projectors are identical, but lately, due to complain, car manufacture add additional shield to reduce glare (to other driver) and strong foreground light (cause eyes to lose focus on long beam). They have nothing to do with color or cut off enhancement, it's simply to reduce glare. The light manufacture don't care at all about "color", what matter is light output/distribution & reduce glare & foreground light. The whole color thing is a myth.

Of the two picture you posted, the first one (left) is for driver side, the other is for passenger side.

First of all, you have it reversed. The projector is supposed to mount so that the solenoid & the large flip shield is on the bottom half. At first thought, this make it look like it'll block the light out. Not that, the lens will flip the light output, and the light will be projected on the road, and block light beam to other driver eyes.

More, leaving the additional top shield make it hard to mount it on the headlight housing, you can use the dremel tool to remove them.

The maxima projector (Hella 90mm bi-xenon) is not polarity sensitive, mount it anyway you want.

So again, ignore the perception, mount the projector so that at first look, it block the light output, then you'll be okey :)

http://www.i-car.com/graphics/about_...size/fig_1.jpg

thx for jumping in there, Zam. so, for my notes, what is displayed in the photos
is a pair of Maxima projectors and not ones from E55, right?

Yes. Though they're very much the same, but the Nissan & BMW 5 series have additional shield on top. Guess Mercedes didn't want to pay any extra cents for them :-)

Great info ZAM. Thanks for the guidance on the drivers side and passenger side projectors. I am resting a little bit easier now, knowing that I have a complete set of projectors.

sorry about that, Edz. I steered you wrong. I'm glad, that I followed through
and flagged this for Zam to clarify.

Hey Zam and Raymond G, after reading it seems you two know this business. Was wondering about a few things. I have one of my depo housings apart and ready for the E55 projectors. Both projectors look identical to me, no markings for right or left. The top holes line up but the bottom two do not. Ill have a few pics up in a moment. I really appreciate any assistance you can give.

Gavin,
it's been a few years since I've used the E55 projector so my memory is fuzzy. I do recall
that a pair of plastic posts on the Depo (whether it be the top vs bottom) needed to be
modified slightly. So, if it as you say (top posts align) then you can lightly screw in the
projector to position it....and carefully note how the bottom edge of the projector's metal
flange comes near the other two posts (right?).

This is what I did to secure that side: I simply notched the posts by cutting away 50%
of the post. This made one half unmodified (semi-circle) and the other half a lower
shelf (semi-circle). Does this make sense?

The result is that the metal flange will now sit on the lower half and will be pinched into
place using a screw and locking washers (the serrated design).

go to benzworld.org.
head into the w210 forum
navigate to STICKY #6 which is the alphabetical and scroll down to "light". within, you
should see many HID retrofit threads.

your homework will be to read up on the different techniques applied by other folks. if
it isn't making sense, holler back. or, for price of huge dinner, i'll drive down I-5 :)
dont think that is needed though and many photos back and forth should do the trick