Hello guys
I know there's topics about headlight conversion on forum, but i couldn't find anywhere informations for DIY conversion...
Can someone who have access to wis send me diagrams of w221 headlights wiring prefacelift and facelift version so I can compare them and try to figure out repining
If someone can do that i will provide my email for files if they are "secrets"
thanks 😊🙂

 

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...etrofit-2.html
If you do a lot of DIY, you could figure out pinout from this: https://www.carpartstuning.com/upgra...ift/5990728-1/ ;-) Their pics are quite high quality...

 

thank you for interest
I already thought about that adapter to carefully look at it and do repining
but in description jt says that connector is for non night vision, afs ... so that will not work

 

I had the same concern but I simply don't understand what does it have to do with night vision... :P I myself have pre-facelift w221 with night vision and I was unable to identify what part of the headlamp is responsible for night vision... there are 3 sources of light in the lamp, nothing more... D2S, H3 & H7 light bulbs ...it's not like there is some IR projector inside or anything like that... when you turn IR on, no additional sources of light magically come out of the lamp... therefore I think there is something missing in this logic...

my second thought - how horrible useless this IR is :P I wouldn't cry if it was not there anyways...

 

I think iner lens in headlight is IR that is only difference I can spot in prefacelift headlights
I have facelift headlights installed and low beams and high beams are on same bulb
I don't know what difference would be without IR but I want to do it like its OEM

 

This is mine... or what's left of it.
Looking from the left - cornering light (h7), high beam (h3), main beam (d2s). There isnt any infra red light in it... at least not on the driver side. So I don't see a reason why would the IR not work with the facelifted lamps that have the same light setup... I mean - just out of curiosity - what makes the night vision work anyways?

 

If you have say a 2008 S550 and get facelift headlights will those new ones have the stuff inside them for your night vision to still work?

 

I have 2009 S63... night vision works... although a lot of ppl agree on is that the pre-facelift night vision was more of a gadget than a real feature - it it absolutely rubbish after all....

Example:


To answer your question - I AM TOTALLY CONFUSED as to WHY WOULDNT it work with facelifted lights? That's why I'm asking myself the same exact question...

 

without night vision
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114115163791
with nights vision
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114115163791
only diference is that those witg NV have two lenses
How do they work and how they are connected I don't know and that is why I am asking for diagrams

 

Quick one: do you have night vision in yours?
I went to check it and it appears that night vision works OK with marker lights on only... the inner lens does not work at all when night vision is on. I went further and tried to turn it on (I was suspecting it being used as high beams) - also not working... wth?

Having said that - if in PRE-facelifted car night vision DOES NOT require inner lenses (clearly, unless my car is somehow modded by previous owner, which I doubt), then why the heck all these folks selling aftermarket lamps claim that your night vision won't work?

What is the magic behind night vision? Does it even require any light to be on after all? (It does from the electrical sensor stand point, since it won't switch on if no lights are on, but if you just put the car on ignition without starting the engine and get the light switch to Auto, then flip the Night VIsion on - viola - working wihtout any lights). Turn the lights on - again - inner lenses do not turn on... only normal low beam D2S hids...

 

Why guess about this stuff when the answer is in the manual?

 

Yes, the manual is one thing but it makes little sense... H11 55W bulb is not an IR emitter. It's just a regular bulb... And it is not working when night vision is on... it is totally off :-)
At least not in my car... that's why I'm asking...

 

The way I understand the night vision works, at least in my 2008 S550, is in each headlight there is a Infrared light, that shines a type of light that your eye cannot see, and above the windshield there is an infrared camera that sees that illuminated area. Someone on here said it is rubbish but it is at least something most other cars don't have. I don't drive very much at night but when I have used it, it seemed pretty useful. Where I live, for some reason there are always people with NO brains walking at night close to the side of the road, wearing dark clothes, what is wrong with people!!! You know what, you get hit once by a moving car, your life will never be the same. I can guarantee that!! I like the look of my 08 and I don't find the headlights lacking, as I have in some other Benzo's I have owned. My 1990 300CE W124 had incredible headlights once I replaced them with some real high quality DEPO hard glass ones, never wanted for light again. My 1987 300E W124 also was greatly improved with some lights I got for that car on eBay and installed myself. And my W140 had some aftermarket lights that the previous owner had paid a lot for, those were awesome. This S550 I got I don't feel the need to facelift but was just curious. Maybe I need to do more night driving to truly evaluate the headlights. Probably not any time soon though, with all that's going on in our world. Best of luck to everyone!!

 

Resurrecting this thread because I couldn't find a single guide to W221 headlights, the pre-facelift model between 2005 and 2009.

I will update this thread as needed. Based on what I gather, there are three distinct types of headlights.

Type 1: This is a basic headlight with regular H7 55W for the dipped-beam, H9 65W Main-beam - It has no cornering function and no ballast.


Type 2: bi-xenon with no nightvision, cornering might be a feature (yet to see a bi-xenon without it), dipped-beam is D1S 35W, Main-beam spot lamp is H7 55W


Type 3: bi-xenon with IR emitter (also not sure if cornering light is standard in this model or optional - yet to see one without it), dipped-beam is D1S, IR Emitter H11 55W (not sure how high-beam works).


Now this is where it gets complex. There are RHD and LHD headlight versions (beam projection cannot be changed). And there ECE approved and non-ECE approved (depending on the markets - i.e. USA/Japan).

I am guessing type 1 was not an option or standard in some markets (North America / Australia), type 2 was standard in some markets.

When you look up the headlight models, it's VERY difficult to distinguish them from the code because of the above. But all begin with A221 820 XX XX. It would be great if we can decode the 4 last digits once and for all. Any help is appreciaterd.

 

There is a diffuser that filters the IR light from a standard H1 bulb. The camera then registers the reflected IR light and relays that image to the cluster. Basically, it should only activate with headlights on and the car in D with the parking brake released and ambient light below a certain level. Not surprisingly, it's covered in the manual.


This is a NV Xenon light with Active cornering.

Having retrofitted NV to my '06 S500, I can categorically state that the wiring for the headlights is identical for Bixenon with cornering 600+615/6, and Bixenon with NV and cornering 600+610+615/6.

The difference between NV and non NV is the headlamp assemblies, a wiring harness, light switch, camera ECU, camera, a different winscreen and some software. The wiring harness is only to connect the camera system to the car. The headlamp side of things is down to the differences within the headlamp assembly and software.

The beam pattern can be changed for driving on the opposite side, but is 'dealer only' due the the voltages inside the light assembly for xenons. Some cars have a lever inside the lamp to alter the beam pattern, Others need programming. I took one of my lights apart to replace the xenon lens gimbal, (broken in shipping) and I can't recall if it was a mechanical adjustment or not. WIS might be able to shed some light on this.

I know the xenons on my Omega had a lever to switch the beam pattern even though the light assemblies were officially left or right hand drive with different part numbers.

To answer your question re part numbers... here do

https://mb-teilekatalog.info/view_SubGroupAction.php?lang=E&mode=BM&class=1&agg typ=FG&catalog=63W%20%20%20&model=221071&group=82& subgrp=175

 

Wow thanks!
Have you shared the specifics on retrofitting NV?

I will be replacin the windscreen at some point, someone offered me a harness from a JP wreck with NV (all the way to the boot), and they also have the cameras (including the boot which I don't have).

 

NEVER fit night vision you end up with almost no high beam - its a very sick joke - NV is an utterly pathetic gimmick to show off, but of no practical use at all

if you have a willing second driver they could get sea sick and a bad neck trying to lean across to help and late to the party inform you of what you just hit - if you had the other two headlights the real cars get you'd have slowed down safely coz you saw it 100m earlier

 

You’ve got a story to tell! Please share.

Not totally convinced in NV tbh.

 

most W221s get bi xenon dip beam - (bi xenon does not mean 4 headlamps) - it means there's a lump of metal that flips down, creating a blind in the outer lamp unit to bring dipped beam, when you switch on high beam the metal flips out of the way to get better spread of light from that unit.

then you have a choice:

a) - glow worm halogen - secondary main beam lighting, so you get the needed 4 lamps on - but only the outer pair is xenon.
b) - you spend thousands on a stupid NV set up that throws what you need in a skip and replaces the useful inner halogens with something you'll NEVER EVER turn on.... as it does nothing at all - other than give a pathetic black and white image you can't see in your peripheral vision - where the usual speedo display is.

Trying to use NV you have to swap your gaze back and forth, between a tiny black and white image the size of a post card - taking 1 to 2 seconds to get used to what you can see - that only reaches in reality about 4 yards further than your dip beam manages - then to really see what you need, you take another few seconds acclimatising back to the dip naff std xenon view out of the windscreen

NV should be illegal - you are limited to 70mph sensibly or 90mph if you have a death wish
Whereas if you had the std set up and swapped the halogens for some decent modern LEDs bulbs you'd be able to drive unlit roads at 120mph easily

-

cornering illumination is a muddle up - the high end ones get two systems

active curve light on the original software gives an uncanny beam movement to the outer headlights - so they gently meander with the steering to kind of look around corners - its subtle but it works very well - then you update the software and wish you never had the feature - as it jumps around like an irritating halfwit

slow speed curve light is a fixed inner halogen (3rd set of headlight bulbs) that illuminates one bulb at a time giving a dim yellow glow around 4 yards from the car, on the inner corner you are going around. It basically achieves nothing, but makes you think it helps. When set to std goes off at around 15mph. But in the cluster hidden menus you can set to comfort and it stays on till about 35 mph

 

I installed new headlamps on my 2008 CL550, or rather had a body shop do it as part of them installing/painting a new bumper cover. I'd suggest you get the part number off your current headlamps. It is very difficult to figure out, and I think I ended up with the correct units by chance. There was almost no stock left for CL's and I bought what I could, and now the OEM manufacturer is bankrupt so likely no more ever. NV is a complete waste--you'll use it once thinking it might be useful, and you'll immediately see why it was just a party trick. I had to have @BenzNinja recode one of my headlamps because the non MB body shop did not code it correctly, but as usual he did his magic and problem fixed.

 

Parts list here:

https://mb-teilekatalog.info/view_Su...=54&subgrp=588

Plus screen and trim cover for the camera, correct headlight switch and obviously the correct headlights.

 

After scouring the list shared by AL5461 I managed to figure out the headlights I want (bi-xenon + halogen H7 - not the IR). The ones that came standard with the car are the all halogen which are also impossible to find.

Since I am after the EU version, right hand traffic (as in steering wheel is on the left) with cornering function, it boiled down to two sets
Left Headlight
A2218203161
A2218205561

Right Headlight
A2218203261
A2218205661

I am not sure what the difference is between the 03 and 05, though both are still sold by MB Germany. Magneti Marelli has them in either with seal and bulbs but without the ballast, OR without the seal but with the ballast and the bulbs (go figure)

The MM are Polish made

There is also an aftermarket Taiwan-based maker Depo that makes them but there's a lead time (the bog down version is available for like 300EUR per side which is a bargain, bi-xenon is double that).

 

Located a used pair off a dismantled w221, in excellent condition, A2218207761 and A2218207861 (LH traffic) ECE approved (they sold these in UK/IE/KR). Can the beam be adjusted for RH traffic without tinkering inside the unit?? I recall reading somewhere that it can, but didn't bookmark it (might have been in German)

 

Have a read of the manual. It should be covered in there. It will either be a lever behind the xenon bulb or via the light ECUs.

It's not something I have had to do as yet, so haven't looked into it.

 

Nothing in the manual about this point, only how to operates the headlights, how various features work etc.