DIY: Highbeam Headlamp Replacement / Upgrade

The halogen high beams that ship with the i3 are very yellow in color compared to the LED headlamps. Here's a DIY on how to replace the high beams in your i3. The following steps are also applicable if you need to replace the turn signal bulb next to the high beam. These steps are not documented in the US users manual.

The high beam is located below the main headlamp assembly. Here's AndyW's car showing the difference in color temperature between the LED headlights and the Halogen high beams.



No tools are required. The stock bulb is an Osram H11 55 Watt bulb, which is BMW Part Number 63217160784. I chose to replace this with a Philips H11 CrystalVision Ultra bulb. Any H11 headlamp will work.

Before beginning make sure that the car is powered off and it is safe to make the repairs.

The access for the high beam bulbs is in the front wheel well. First step is to turn the wheels all the way to one direction in order to gain access:





The access panel is circular plastic piece with the cross through the middle and three tabs pictured above. To remove the access panel, rotate it counterclockwise until it releases.



Once it is removed, you'll have access to the high beam and turn signal lamp. Depress the tabs on the bottom of the electrical connector to release.



After the plug is disconnected, rotate the entire bulb counter clockwise until you are able to pull it out of the housing. Reverse this process to install the new bulb.



The above image shows the original high beam bulb on the left, and the new "bluer" bulb on the right. And here's AndyW's car showing the same comparison:

thx for posting this, very informative.

I understand the desire to color match but are you sure that the yellow color was not because those are fog lights? There are no other fog lights on the car and those need be mounted low, just like what you show, and need to be yellow-ish light in order to reduce glare in foggy conditions... For $16 (ebay) maybe worth trying, changing them seems easy enough.

bxb40 said:

I understand the desire to color match but are you sure that the yellow color was not because those are fog lights? There are no other fog lights on the car and those need be mounted low, just like what you show, and need to be yellow-ish light in order to reduce glare in foggy conditions... For $16 (ebay) maybe worth trying, changing them seems easy enough.

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Those low mounted beams are the main beams not the fog lights. There are no front fogs.

Bill

Also note that the left hand side access panel turns anticlockwise to open but the right hand access panel turns clockwise to open.

Bill

Thanks for the tips. Replaced the high beams and the turn signals with LED's. Much better!

Bigbiscuits said:

Thanks for the tips. Replaced the high beams and the turn signals with LED's. Much better!

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Which LEDs did you use for the main beams?

Philips H11 CrystalVision Ultra bulb. Same as the photos above.

Oh, I see now. You put LEDs in the turn signals, not the main beams...

Yup, that's correct. I already had the LED option for the main lights. That one is much more complicated with lenses so not too sure about upgrading from a standard to LED. For the turn signals I found these through a Facebook discussion and purchased them through Amazon:

iJDMTOY (2) Amber Yellow Error Free PWY24W LED Bulbs
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KO6UBBS

Thx for this info. I have read other posts where LED high beam bulbs have been substituted for standard halogen bulbs and all agree they look and perform better - are there any downsides and why don't BMW fit these as standard? ... Better light, lower power consumption , much longer life and look better ... Am I missing something ... Cost?

I have changed the High beams (should I say the lowest beams because they sit even below the low beams) for LEDs of 55W each. I barely see the difference between the low beams and the high beams. So little, that oncoming traffic doesn't even ask me (through light flashing) to lower my beams please. But I can clearly see a wider pattern of light, so they act as fog lights, what you would expect from the low placement.
So, what did I do wrong? Or do I have the wrong LED light bulbs?
The i3 tells me at start-up that my left and right high beams are defective (they aren't, they both work, although as described above), but it has no further consequences.

Which LED globes did you install?

Many monitoring circuits look for a certain load from the bulbs, and if the aftermarket bulbs are not configured right, the monitoring circuit can become confused. Often, you have to add a resistor in there to make that load look 'proper'. OFten, the details on how to do that are available on the website where you bought the bulbs. Some bulbs have that 'built-in'.

Which LEDs did you use for the main beams?[/quote]

I used LED's from an unknown brand, but from a company dealing strictly in vehicle lights, whereby LED represents a great portion; their website: "www.xenonlamp.nl" . I used and installed article # 4620.01.71, 50 W, at €44,95 for the two, VAT included.
I did not use (and pay for) the resistor (canbus as it is called) which would supposedly eleminate the warning on the i3 display. All it does now is giving a warning, nothing more, so I let it do its song and dance at every startup.
For oncoming traffic it looks nice: all equal blue-ish lights (although I can't see any father with the things).

Has anyone tried a HID conversion on the i3? An HID bulb generally uses less power than a halogen, and produces more light than a typical LED. Just not sure if the housing is deep enough to fit one, or by moving the light source, what the light pattern would be.

Not sure what I'm missing here...

H11 halogen bulb - 55W, about 525 Lumens, maybe 500 hours life (varies) - $20 each (rough idea)
H11 equivalent LED bulb, about 2400 Lumens (on average), thousands of hours life (one I was looking at claimed 25K-hours), instant on - $100+ each (more or less, depending on quality and color temp - some as much as $250 ea) IOW, price varies
H11 equivalent HID bulb, 35W versions, about 3000 Lumens, 15000 hours life (and free replacements on one I was looking at), take a moment to reach full brightness, about $50 each with the ballast. For most people, the bulb will outlast the time they have the car. You can say the same for the LED, but how many people would pull it back out to move to their next car to make use of it? probably nobody. With the traffic, I don't get a chance to use my high beams much anyway, but might consider upgrading for those times I am out of town and there is no traffic. Might save a deer and the car! Certainly will if I get a bulb die rather than just putting back a halogen.

Given the price/performance, why not an HID upgrade verses LED? Is it the on/off cycles? Some reach full color temp pretty quickly. If you want more light, you can get a 55W HID bulb for not much more and increase that output quite a bit. But, a nearly 60% power savings and 6x the lumens using a 35W version seems like a good compromise.

If I did lots of driving where I regularly used high beams, I'd probably go that route, and may just for the hell of it to try. Thoughts?

Here's a post I read on another forum I follow that discusses the conversion process including specific bulb references: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=800820&highlight=

jadnashuanh said:

Not sure what I'm missing here...

H11 halogen bulb - 55W, about 525 Lumens, maybe 500 hours life (varies) - $20 each (rough idea)
H11 equivalent LED bulb, about 2400 Lumens (on average), thousands of hours life (one I was looking at claimed 25K-hours), instant on - $100+ each (more or less, depending on quality and color temp - some as much as $250 ea) IOW, price varies
H11 equivalent HID bulb, 35W versions, about 3000 Lumens, 15000 hours life (and free replacements on one I was looking at), take a moment to reach full brightness, about $50 each with the ballast. For most people, the bulb will outlast the time they have the car. You can say the same for the LED, but how many people would pull it back out to move to their next car to make use of it? probably nobody. With the traffic, I don't get a chance to use my high beams much anyway, but might consider upgrading for those times I am out of town and there is no traffic. Might save a deer and the car! Certainly will if I get a bulb die rather than just putting back a halogen.

Given the price/performance, why not an HID upgrade verses LED? Is it the on/off cycles? Some reach full color temp pretty quickly. If you want more light, you can get a 55W HID bulb for not much more and increase that output quite a bit. But, a nearly 60% power savings and 6x the lumens using a 35W version seems like a good compromise.

If I did lots of driving where I regularly used high beams, I'd probably go that route, and may just for the hell of it to try. Thoughts?

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Wondering where you found the lumen ratings?

HomelessDude said:

Wondering where you found the lumen ratings?

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Scanned the spec sheets of a sampling of different offerings. For the incandescent H11 bulb and the HID versions, those are pretty good averages. For an LED bulb, those will vary all over the place - the more money you spend, the more lumens - depends on the type and quantity of LEDs used. BUT, the LED bulbs almost all require some sort of cooling to keep them from burning themselves up. One pair I saw actually had a built-in fan. I can just see that after a few years with dust and dirt clogging it, and then, just how long will a small fan operate? I doubt it will run the claimed 25K hours! THen, see how long the bulb lasts! Most others use a heat sink, which adds to the overall part sticking out the back end. There isn't a huge amount of room there, at least from what I saw from the pictures on the i3 (I haven't taken the cover off of mine to look). At least on the i3, it isn't sitting in a hot engine compartment which should help. It might get hot enough to melt the plastic cover behind it, though! TIme will tell. That housing should handle a moderate amount of heat, but heat centered in the bulb, not the base like it will be with an LED version. Maybe the saving grace is that most people don't run with high beams on all that often, so things get a chance to cool off.

As I said, though, I don't get out of the city all that often or drive at night where better lights would be more than an occasional benefit on the i3. Some people would have occasion to use them daily. Personally, the fact that the halogens don't match the color temp of the LED low-beams is a non-issue for me. Seeing down the road is the key, and most of the roads I do travel at night are highways that are lighted around my small city, and brighter lights can't be used all that often or are necessary. I may still change them out just for the hell of it, but it's not a priority.