2000 Headlight Upgrade Issue -- Battery Drain

[Rumzdizzle]

Hey guys... Hoping you can give me some input on this.

I have a pre-facelift 2000 528i and my dad bought some headlight upgrades (entire housing unit). He installed them and had a battery draining issue. Anyone have this issue when upgrading your pre-facelift headlights?

I am thinking he might have wired them incorrectly. Any tips on this upgrade? Brands you have used to upgrade?

Thanks.

[Pelican Parts]

Hello - take a look at the link below for a PDF wiring diagram of your E39.

https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...1&d=1401378544

[Mach540]

Hey, that's some nifty information!

I like how every diagram is "typical." BMW cannot leave well enough alone.

[schatzy62]

A little more information on what lights you have would be helpful. without knowing what headlights you have, as there are many knockoff brands out there that work and many that are just truly junk, we don't know where the problem might be. Depo, and Spyder have lights and should be okay brands, and although they have a similar look to OEM Facelift lights they sometimes have added LED DRL lights.

I personally ordered a set from Amazon for $149 and when they arrived the package told me I had to "seal" the headlights by using caulking around the area where the lens met the rear casing. That absolutely flabbergasted me that I would have to "seal" the headlights that should have been sealed when they were put together. And then when I actually tested them one of the Halos did not work so they went straight back.

If they have Halo rings in them then that could easily be the issue if they were wired to a continuous 12vdc source rather than one that is switched. If they have extra LED DRL in them that could also be a problem if not wired correctly.

Another possibility is that if they are HID style rather than Halogen again a wiring issue could be to blame.

Maybe if there is someone local to you that knows about these cars can take a look at them for you.

[Rumzdizzle]

If they have Halo rings in them then that could easily be the issue if they were wired to a continuous 12vdc source rather than one that is switched. If they have extra LED DRL in them that could also be a problem if not wired correctly.

This was my guess... I am not sure exactly what brand they are as I got them in a box with the car. I don't remember the brand as I just quickly visually inspected them. I asked my dad if he did any splicing or anything when installing them and he said no so this may be the culprit. I will try and get some more info on what they are, I can't imagine they are anything fancy as my dad bought them off of someone he knew.

[6spd540]

There's really no way if he only touched the wires that go to the lights, the LCM only puts power on them when it's told to turn them on or for cold checks(ignition on-alot more power loads the cold checks).

Even if he added hard wired DRL if something was wrong to cause battery drain the DRLs would be on. Or if he had the signal and power leads swapped the load of the relay is insignificant would drain the battery slightly faster. You didn't mention how quickly it's draining but I assuming at least over night. while if these wires are swapped and shouldn't be a problem for battery drain (unless battery is weak and relay draws abnormally high current) it should be corrected if the signal line can't handle can't handle the extra current from the DRLs plus the relay will drain the battery faster not being driven. You said he didn't splice so this shouldn't be an issue.

I can't think of any wires in the head light area that always carry power that could have potentially gotten shorted.

I'm also an advocate to check thing you've touched and around it, but sometimes other things just go wrong. Maybe your battery just happened to go bad around the same time he did the headlights.

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[schatzy62]

There's really no way if he only touched the wires that go to the lights, the LCM only puts power on them when it's told to turn them on or for cold checks(ignition on-alot more power loads the cold checks).

Car is stated as being Pre-Facelift so no wiring exists for the halo rings so they have to be wired to something to come on. I have seen many people just find a wire to connect them to that has 12 vdc on it while they have the hood open and car is off (i.e. headlights off). Now as bad as some of the crappy Halos are on some of the crappy headlights from Amazon and Ebay you can not tell if they are on or off during the day. Not being able to see them int eh day time means you can get out of the car and not realize they are on at 5 pm and then go back to the car in the morning and boom dead battery.

I am not saying that is definitely the OP's problem but I have seen it happen.

There are also some out there where you have to cut the wires for the high and low beam sockets and wire it directly to the light. Those really suck and cost in teh range of $99 a pair. I have not seen them recently but I know they were out there at one time.

I would check all wiring and see where things are attached to.

[6spd540]

I wired mine up the same way the facelift cars do and re-coded my LCM so things work as they should. I also did it without spicing so if anyone wanted to put it back to stock they could by making an adapter cable that plugs into the pre-facelift dual filament side light to the single filament facelift side light and AE.

I use an Intravee for AE as DRLs among a few other things (I don't use any of the audio side).

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