Check Low Beam Lights with Zenon lights fitted

[Hugh Jarse]

I just retro fitted a set of Zenon lights to my E39 and now keep getting a Check Low Beam lights message on the message centre. The message disappears when the lights are on. I understand this may be due to a different manner in which the 2 types of lights are monitored for faults. Does anyone have any clues on how to stop this occuring?

 

[bmw4life13]

what type of hids did you retrofit? the obc error message is due to the lower resistance that is provided by the xenon lights as compared to the halogen bulbs. as a result the check control module thinks the halogen bulb is burned out. the key is tricking the ccm. hella makes a reistance relay pack for the 5 series that probably would work. if this doesn't work you can try to piggy back one of the wires on the check control module which will fool the obc. that's what my mechanic did in order to solve the same problem. let me know how it goes.

 

[epj3]

The check lights check for resistance, and the xenon lights probably have a different resistance than what it's looking for. An easy fix? Find out how much resistance the check light needs and how much the xenons are, and then find a fix that way (i am not good with stuff like that -- i'm sure someone has schematics somewhere)

edit: my post got beat

 

[MrElussive]

Yeah, typical Halogen bulbs are like 50-60 watts, Xenons only draw 35 watts. You can attach a resistor to make the electrical system think the bulbs are drawing the regular wattage. It is a very easy fix.