Genuine Xenon headlight retrofit - Help required! Scraggles?

18581 Views 21 Replies 10 Participants Last post by scoubt, Aug 1, 2020

Grant

Discussion Starter · Feb 4, 2011

Hi Guys

First post so please be nice

I've got a 06 Cooper (R50) but I have a small dilema. I've bought a set of genuine and complete Mini xenon headlights (The facelift ones with projectors):

I've followed the instructions given by "Scraggles" in this the below thread but my xenon low beam lights still dont work properly. I've spliced the 1800uf capacitor into the yellow and brown wires of the input power in the lights access cover at the back (luckily i havent potted them yet as he did) All the other lights work fine but the xenon low beam is the issue

http://www.minitorque.com/forum/f23/retrofitting-oem-facelift-xenon-headlights-03-car-12632/

When the engine isnt running you can switch them on and they work perfectly. If you turn them on and then start the car they go out (as on the cars with xenons as standard) and come back on again which is as they should do ...however....

If you start the car and then want to switch them on they strobe like mad. They only work properly when the engine is off or if you start them before you start the car up. So if you want to put them on whilst your moving they will just strobe and wont stablise. :scared:

I cant' see whats gone wrong, does anybody else have the same issue? Do i require a bigger capcitor like 2700uf? Scraggles said this one would be fine?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Grant

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scraggles

· #2 · Feb 4, 2011

Hi GRant, sorry they're not working for you. Are you confident you wired the correctly and got the polarity right? A larger capacitor would be worth trying, perhaps you could test it by using two wired in parallel.

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scraggles

· #5 · Mar 9, 2012

Andy, suggest you plug them in first and see whether they flicker or not. Seems to be dependent on the version of firmware in the BCU. Let us know how you come on. Would also be good to hear from Grant on his progress.

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scraggles

· #9 · Mar 9, 2012

^^ this
or you can fit a capacitor as I did per the link in the original post, which smooths out the unused canbus signal
or you can have them coded with GT1/Progman

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scraggles

· #13 · Mar 9, 2012

The BCU / BC1 is located in the drivers footwell, behind the bonnet release lever. It is essentially the central part of all the cars electronics systems, controlling every aspect of the car. There are dozens of wires coming from it. It is programmed to know what options your car is fitted with so they can be operated. Eg fitting a BCU from no sunroof car into a car which does have a sunroof would stop all the controls for that sunroof working. etc. etc. It also contains the chassis number of your car, so its not a simple job to swap them between cars.

Progman/SSS is one of the computer tools which a dealer uses for programming the features in the cars electronic modules such as the BC1. If you've got a contact at a dealer they may program your car to work with the headlights, but normally they refuse unless you have the rest of the associated washers and levelers. It can be done though.

Your best thing to do first is to simply try one of your friends lights fitted to your car. If it works without flicker then you've nothing to worry about. Otherwise you'd need to explore the options above.

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scraggles

· #15 · Mar 9, 2012

Not just dealers. The software can be obtained off the internet. And can be made to work by anyone who dares to risk it and can work it out - its pretty complex.

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