City lights in Euros

[bmw325iman]

For those who installed their euro headlights, did anyone connect the wire for the city lights? If you did, how does it look? If you didn't, why not?

[toddman35]

When I upgrade to zkw's I plan on hooking up the city light feature. I think it looks pretty cool when combined with the fogs.

[Daved]

It looks really nice, I love it. It's stock in my car so I didn't have to do anything.

[shragon]

connect the city light, and disconnect the parking light. use the corner lights as flashers only.

[Def]

City lights look GREAT! Probably the most asthetically pleasing part of the car at night.

[1995red318i]

i think they look good w/the parking lights disconnected too. i don't have my ellipsoids wired for it though.

i guess i just didn't want too...i have HIDs and DDEs so i figured city lights would take away from those.

plus theres a lot of acuras w/both lights wired on( looks horrible and its getting trendy around here:( ). they don't use city lights or anything like that just both headlights are on. at least they highs aren't on its just four "cool blue" low beams.

[shragon]

yea, if you have angel/demon eyes, you shouldn't hook up the city lights as the angel/demon eyes should serve as your parking lights.

[bmw325iman]

I don't have AEs, I'm not into them. I have a new set of Euros that I'm going to install this week when I get the chance and was curious about the city lights. How do I disconnect the parking lights but keep the turn signals active?

[Mpowered02]

Yeah...I think the city lights look good on the euro ellipsoids. I much prefer them over the DDE/Angel Eyes. Not really feeling the DDE/AE's on the E36. It looks good on the 5ser but out of place on the E36, IMHO. Wire up the city lights, do the full euro conversion and disconnect the parking lights (corners only serve as turn signals) and you're done....looks badass....

[shragon]

Originally posted by bmw325iman
I don't have AEs, I'm not into them. I have a new set of Euros that I'm going to install this week when I get the chance and was curious about the city lights. How do I disconnect the parking lights but keep the turn signals active?

this is how i did it... your corner lights will have 3 wires, turn signal, parking light, and ground. i used a test light to determine what wire was what. then i cut the parking lot wire. from the cut parking light wire, i used a butt-connector and ran a new wire to the city light and wired it up. i also ran a new ground for the city lights.

did this for each side.

[Mikey52]

I read a much easier way to kill the parking lights. Just look on the back of the signal bulb, you can see 2 contacts. Use electrical tape on one of the contatcs and put them back in. You have a 50/50 shot of getting the right on, if not just tape the other one.

I did this so my white HIDs wouldnt clash with my orange parking lights, it looks great.

[Kramer]

AE's or DDE's don't look right on a 3, not a fan. But the city lights look awesome. I currently have DRLs so I haven't hooked my city lights up yet, but I plan to once I disable the DRLs. Still debating if I should disconnect the cornenrs when I do this. Do the Euro's have the amber's burning with the city lights?

[BlackMagic318Ti]

I think they look sweet. Here's a pic of mine

http://images.cardomain.com/member_img_a/407000-407999/407088_8_full.jpg


I put a super white bulb in there and it look better for real. :D

[BlackMagic318Ti]

Originally posted by shragon
this is how i did it... your corner lights will have 3 wires, turn signal, parking light, and ground. i used a test light to determine what wire was what. then i cut the parking lot wire. from the cut parking light wire, i used a butt-connector and ran a new wire to the city light and wired it up. i also ran a new ground for the city lights.

did this for each side.

You could also use a quick crimp. No cuttin involved. These are what I used, but the red ones because of the gauge.

http://www.radioshack.com/images/ProductCatalog/ProductImage/64/64-3052.jpg

[Mpowered02]

My suggestion would be to wire the city lights into the parking light circuit, but don't actually cut the parking light wire to disable the parking lights. For the parking light disable I would use Mikey52's suggestion of putting electrical tape over one of the connections. That way the mod is easily reversible if you ever need to get it inspected or need to sell the car, etc.

On a side note, I wouldn't recommend those splice connectors (quick crimp)...they really have no place in the engine bay of an automobile, IMHO. They do a good job of splicing into the wire, but the problem is that the thing cuts through the insulation (and partially through the wire) and leaves the wire itself exposed to the elements. This exposure subjects the wire to corrosion and degrades the integrity of the wire over time in addition to weakening the wire itself. If enough corrosion builds up on the wire, it can actually act as a resistor and prevent electricity from properly flowing through the wire. A better, and stronger choice would be to stip the insulation where you want to splice in the wire, twist the spliced wire onto the exposed wire, and do a proper soldering job. Finish this off with a proper wrap of electrical tape and Voila!...you have a strong and watertight electrical connection that should last the life of the car. Hope this helps...sprry for the long post...

[Daved]

Originally posted by BlackMagic318Ti
I think they look sweet. Here's a pic of mine

http://images.cardomain.com/member_img_a/407000-407999/407088_8_full.jpg


I put a super white bulb in there and it look better for real. :D

Looks nice but it will look better if you kill the parking lights on your corners.

[bmw3er]

I love the look of city lights at night. Here is a pic of mine the day i installed them.

[M-Theory]

Dude Blackmagic, where do I get a set of those, and how hard are they to install??

[motosport3]

Is there a write up on how to wire the city lights w/ pictures?

[Daved]

bmw3er, yours look pretty bright. The stock city lights are very dim, IIRC they use a 5w bulb.

[motosport3]

bmw3er, did you switch the 5w bulbs out. If you did, which ones?

[BlackMagic318Ti]

Originally posted by Daved
Looks nice but it will look better if you kill the parking lights on your corners.


Toggle switch :D


Project for tommorow.

[BlackMagic318Ti]

Originally posted by motosport3
Is there a write up on how to wire the city lights w/ pictures?


http://www.mz3.net/articles/223.html

[UserName]

I put amber bulbs in mine....matches the corner lamps

[bmw325iman]

Thanks alot for the pictures, that gives me a great idea of how it will look. I'm going to use the "electrical tape over connector" trick and then splice like Mpowered suggested. I'm a good solderer so this is an easy job.

bmw3er - As asked already, are you using the standard 5W bulbs? Those look pretty bright!

[bmw3er]

No, those are the factory bulbs. It was just very dark when that pic was taken, and this might be the reason they look so bright.

[bmw3er]

Here is another pic that is not so dark.

[BlackMagic318Ti]

Originally posted by bmw325iman


bmw3er - As asked already, are you using the standard 5W bulbs? Those look pretty bright!


They are 194 bulbs. That's what I got.

[Nero-3]

I love those Euro City lights! :cool: I remember the first time I seen those was in 1994 while I was driving a rental car (Grand Prix) in Boston. I seen an Alpine White M3 all decked out in on-coming traffic down I93(5). It had those Euro City lights and it has been one of those things that has stuck with me ever since.

Sorry, I don't know why I broke into that..... :dunno

For my city lights I'm going to try these Toucan 7W LED lights. The 194 replacement has 2 Amber LEDs that add a very nice effect to the high beam reflector. It may get a bit washed out in broad day light, but does it ever look nice in the late afternoon or at dusk.

http://www.bingtech.com/euro.jpg

http://www.bingtech.com/euro2.jpg
Here it has a partial AE look. BTW, I like the AE/DDE look, but not for my car.. Esp now that Hondas, and everything else will have them.

I haven't had a chance to try these in my car yet as the lights are not yet mounted. I'm in-process of installing E65 Bi-Xenon Projectors and Phillips D2S HID's into the Euro buckets.