over90

I know this is an old thread but just wanted to update it with some new information for people who land here that google for HID upgrades for their W166 2012+ ML's like I did.

I first bought a Kensun H7 kit with anti-flicker canceler off Amazon and it installed it on my W166 2012 ML350. It was crap. Flickered every time and 95% of the time the right passenger side would not stay on. Also their customer service sucks. They sent generic emails saying they are understaffed and could not help and to just return the product.

So I went on to search for a better product. Found The Retrofit Source located in Atlanta GA. Although they cost twice as much as the Amazon kits I took a chance. I called them and spoke to Matt. He suggested the H7 Morimoto Elite HID Kit with the included standalone canbus. I got the 35w 5k kit as I did not want to blind on coming traffic. When I got the kit I was really impressed with the quality. Install was easy. Plug and play with no relay harnesses to deal with and the bonus is that everything including the ballast fit inside the light housing. I was really skeptical when I first fired them up expecting the passenger side to flicker. Everything worked 100%! No flickering and no error messages. I've had them for about a week now and have had no problems. I was so happy with this company that I ordered two more kits for my new Ford Fusion Energi. Their customer service is excellent too. They pickup the phone every time I've called them. I highly recommend using this companies HID kits if you are in the market for an upgrade.

ex4Rings

Perfect update, thanks. How did the 5k kit match up with the LED driving lights on the 2012? I was debating between 4.3-6k. Also, the 2012's have that little city light under the low beams, did you match that up as well?

Thanks

over90

The 5k match good but I'm sure that the 6k's would be closer in color to the LED's. I wanted better illumination vs. matching the LED's. I changed the city lights to some LED wedge bulbs I bought on Amazon.

ricardo124

over90, thanks again for the review. I just purchased the same kit. I do have a few questions before it arrives.

How did you secure ballast?
Any special modification needed to attach the new bulb to the stock bulb holder?

Any tips/advice you can provide would greatly help with the installation.

Thanks again!!

over90

Glad I could help! The ballast fits inside the head lamp assembly so just hook everything up and shove everything in there. You will need to remove the base clamp from the OEM plug assemble and install it on the new bulb. Use a small flat head and pry it off. It's pretty easy and self explanatory when you see it.

ricardo124

Got it. Appreciate the prompt response.

ricardo124

Unfortunately, the passenger side has started to flicker only on initial startup and when I put the vehicle in either park or reverse within a matter of 5-10 seconds. If I wait for a bit longer, like 30 seconds or so it will not flicker. My guess is the power output from depressing the brake lights and putting in drive/reverse causes an uneven voltage to the ballast. I thought the capacitor in the canbus wiring was suppose to smooth out the voltage so I switched the can bus from the driver side to the passenger side. It didn't fix the problem. Then I thought it might be the ballast, so I switched that out. Didn't fix the problem. Lastly, I switched out the bulbs. Still flickers.

I'll be calling the retrofitsource tech guys tomorrow to see if there might be another option.

I wonder why the flickering is dominant on the passenger side than the driver's side.

mbcy

I order the same kit, and I am waiting for it to arrive
pls kindly update . thanks!
a bit worrying now

ricardo124

After speaking to a tech guy the only suggestion he could provide was to try another canbus wiring. He doesn't believe it will fix the problem just because the other canbus wiring and ballast on the driver side is working perfectly fine. (I would agree but maybe I just received two canbus wirings that are very close to meeting the spec minimums).

Anyhow, he believes there might be an internal wiring issue with the car. (I find it hard to believe but who knows).

One other possibility could be the 'AUTO' setting for the lights. He did mention that other people had to turn off their auto light settings and switch to manual whenever the lights are needed. I didn't like this inconvenience so we either have to resolve it in auto mode or it's just not worth it.

In the meantime, I'll try another canbus wiring to see if the flickering goes away. If not, then these HID aftermarket kits will not be applicable for me. TBC....

mbcy

I have received the retrofitsource kit today. After installation and driving for a while it is fine without flickering issues (braking and reversing are both ok) Hope I test drive it a few days and it will be still fine.

Btw, for the passenger side I have tested if i reverse the polarity when connecting to the power plug (bulb holder) the kit will not be on, so i suspect if Ricardo you have a defective power plug line (from the canbus) so it causes poor contact and hence flickering, hopefully if they have exchanged for you everything will be perfect.

ricardo124

I went back and reread the earlier comments in this thread. Apparently, the 'computer' adjusts the voltage over time. My kit worked flawlessly for 2-3 weeks until for some reason the passenger side flickered when I immediately went into Reverse or Drive.

I wish the problem was a simple contact issue between the power plug and the kit however, if I wait and allow the lights to power up for at least 30 seconds without going into R or D there is no flicker. I have to conclude the computer is adjusting the voltage and/or there is something wrong with the kit. There is a remote chance I might have a faulty factory wiring but I doubt it since I get no errors with OEM bulb.

mbcy

so strange then, has over90 experienced the same conditions ?

ricardo124

New can bus wiring harness came in today. So interestingly it is much different than the one I have. The connector between the can bus to the car's power is solid plastic with gold color prongs. Also, the entire wiring is much shorter. The plastic base around the crimp section of the prongs appears to be a much better design.

The original can bus harness does not have a plastic base. It consists of two separate wires with two separate prongs and rubber sleeves at the end to protect the crimp section of the prongs. Although the connection between the prongs and the car's power is very tight and secure there is a possibility the rubber sleeves could slip down, exposing the metal section of the crimp prongs.

Anyhow, just an observation. Will see how this new can bus wiring holds up....

mbcy

Hope everything is well
I am using the same kind of canbus (with black plastic base + 2 golden prongs)
but i think i need to secure it with electric tape to prevent dislocation / poor contact in view of your previous experience (though is already quite tight)

mbcy

Bad news today. My lamps doesn't work with error message Left / Right dipped beam(light) and with them automatically cut off when i enter the carpark today

after a while i start up the car it comes on, but seems it is unstable.

I have changed back to the OEM halogens... i think the only way to get HID is to do a real retrofit. (though no one willing to do so in my country)

jtorrebl

My cheapo eBay xentec kit with error cancellers have worked for 1.5 years since car was new in US since oct 2011. I have a post with the parts I bought about for About $70

ricardo124

Sorry to hear MBCY. I had high hopes for this kit but it just looks like it might not work for us. As another poster had indicated, the computer probably adjusts the voltage over time and this slight variation causes an uneven flow to the ballast thus leading to the flicker we experience.

Thanks JTORREBL for the info on the xentec kit. I'll have to check it out.

OVER90, how's your kit treating you? Any issues like the one we're experiencing?

stevenross

Hello everyone. I got my kit from john in Motorcepts here in queens ny. I'm sure if u ask he can ship you a kit. It's been running error free for over a year. Prior to this I purchased one from a so called Mercedes tuning shop and both sides were flickering constantly with no end in sight. Luckily I remembered Motorcepts from my m3 tuning days. Their info is

Motorcepts
126-10 89th Ave, Richmond Hill, NY
(347) 644-5363

ricardo124

Well....the new canbus wiring did not solve the flickering problem. Unfortunately, this kit is simply unreliable and quite frankly dangerous.

I did observe the flickering tends to rear it's ugly head more often when there is some ambient light outside (i.e. dusk/dawn, garage, carports, etc...). During this time period when there is just enough ambient light outside, I couldn't get the flickering to stop no matter what I did - resetting the car by turning it off and on after a few minutes, to turning the light switch from AUTO to always ON, to manually turning on the light switch after the car has started up and 'stabilized'. Nothing worked until it was dark enough that the flickering stop.

Perhaps the computer changes power output to the bulbs?

Going back to the crappy OEM bulbs until I can get a reliable kit. I checked the xentec kits. It's a 50/50 maybe less if you get a good one. Also, the customer service is non existence so don't want to take a chance.

Any other ideas besides Motercepts?

Thanks!

mbcy

Agree 100% to ricardo, the kit is really crappy and unreliable. I get no response from the company via email. I have in mind giving up this kit (and again = losing money again)

I am planning to give the last try to the Philips (Genuine - i have contact Philips in my country) HID conversion kit which there is a company here can help me to install. and it is the last time i might try HID kit.

I think i will just go to 4750 Mtec blue bulbs for cosmetic looking if it fails again. Meanwhile i am using the cool blue intense (by Osram)

Jb66

There are NO HID aftermarket kits that are legal for on road use in the US! By placing an aftermarket HID kit in your on road vehicle, you are accepting a liability that any attorney won't be able to assist with.

FMVS 108...review it!

http://isearch.nhtsa.gov/files/kim.ztv.html

I don't like to be the bearer of bad news, but the tickets and/ or lawsuits are more expensive that the kits your are purchasing.

MetaL63

Purchased a kit from retrofitsource which consisted of the Morimoto 35 SS ballastists, standalong canbus harness and upgraded XB35 bulbs. After reading the posts and guides in this thread figured I would put my 2 cents in.

FYI: As mentioned in a previous post about needing to let the bulbs warm up before driving off, my experience with this is if you are going to be driving off with high beams as soon as you start your drive and the car has been off for a while, this statment is true. If you run into this simply turn off you high beams and the HIDs will statrt to work again. I have not yet experienced the issue with the brake lights causing flickering.

Removal: Jacking the vehicle up makes it much easier to remove the access panels in the fender wells. At the bottom of the access panel is a plastic push pin which is a PITA to pry off without breaking even with the tool specifically made for removing them. Once you get the panel off the rest of the removal process is pretty straight forward.

Installation: This may be specific to the upgraded bulbs I purchased. Aside from cutting off the gromit from the new bulb setup, there is a hard plastic cap that covers the bottom of the XB35 bulb where the wires are coming out that must be removed. To do so use a small common screw driver and gently pry one side loose, then the other until the cover can slide down. Then using some wire snips cut notches into the cover so you can slide the wires out. Be careful to not damage the rubber membrane underneath the cover. This process is required to allow the factory metal clip that came off the old bulb connector to slide over the base of the new bulb. It will be a tight fit so just take your time and it will wiggle in there snugly. Lastly, in one case it was mentioned to tape the bottom of the metal clip to the bottom of the new bulb to keep it stationary. As an alternative to tape, if possible use some heat shrink instead as the adhesive from the tape will goop up over time with the heat inside the headlight. Just take precaution when applying heat to shrink as short applications of heat will yield the best results.

zoomx2ian

any members here tried to enable HID from MB factory software? I was told to do that since 55W is standard for halogen. If that enable CPU tell headlight now is 35W HID. Then you don't need canceller or resistor at all only a 35W ballasts. No flicker, error message, DRL issues. Can anyone here confirm that works or not please.

misra

How do you enable? I still have my Keysun setup and about 5% of the time get an error on the passenger side (with the lights on auto). I will enable and get back if someone explains how.

leandrowlat

Just to let your know that for those who are in Canada or nearby, my 2012 ML350 HID has been installed by a Canadian installer based in South East area of Calgary. This is the perfect installation without any error or blinking in auto or manual and I have them for more two weeks now. He said he installed the Mercedes Benz accepted ballast. Now I have the bright and clear vision at night and have no problem at all. Depending on the interest on this HID installation, then will post the address and contact of the company. Thanks.