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Thread: How To-> FTP brightness improvements

  1. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by moutine View Post
    Isn't those Canadian models useing that 21W bulb all the time? I mean right the way when you fire up the engine theres some light on?

    Wonder how many diffirent combinations there are and what are the diffirences?
    If they are anything like the "Nordic" versions, the light switch has 4 positions, not 3.
    where pos "0" is no lights, then a park pos, a 21w pos and "on" pos.
    Can apparently be modified, but the switches are tricky to get hold of I have heard.

    Where I live DRL's are mandatory, and most are wired so that the low beams come on when you start the engine.
    I the case of my car, they decided to use the FTP lights that way when it was imported from Germany so that you did not have to drive with the pop-up's up all the time.
    As a result, I hardly ever use my pop-up's.
    -Egil (my name)

    2012 ///M550xd touring
    1990 850Ia Hartge Supercharged.
    2004 M3 (sold)


  2. #27
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    95 840Ci
    Quote Originally Posted by Noggie View Post
    If they are anything like the "Nordic" versions, the light switch has 4 positions, not 3.
    where pos "0" is no lights, then a park pos, a 21w pos and "on" pos.
    Can apparently be modified, but the switches are tricky to get hold of I have heard.

    Where I live DRL's are mandatory, and most are wired so that the low beams come on when you start the engine.
    I the case of my car, they decided to use the FTP lights that way when it was imported from Germany so that you did not have to drive with the pop-up's up all the time.
    As a result, I hardly ever use my pop-up's.
    So your DRL/FTP's come on when you start the car? What about the rest of the running lights, as per switch pos?

  3. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by IJustDrive View Post
    So your DRL/FTP's come on when you start the car? What about the rest of the running lights, as per switch pos?
    first of all.. my lighting is custom, done by a previous owner so I don't know how, but it involves relays. have some 18+ year old barely visible pencil sketches somewhere.

    When I start the car the FTP's come on, along with the park light and the 4 rear lights.
    This is with the switch in pos "0".
    If I go to pos "park" the FTP's go out and I have the front park light and the 4 rear lights on.
    When I then switch to "on" the lights pop up, low beams only, in addition to the park light, when selecting high-beams, the low beam, high beam and FTP light come on, so my high beams are great. not that happy with the low beams though, so I'm considering a Xenon mod.
    -Egil (my name)

    2012 ///M550xd touring
    1990 850Ia Hartge Supercharged.
    2004 M3 (sold)


  4. #29
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    '97 840CI
    These bulbs bridged running for about a year.


    Leads to this.





    I believe that only after the bulbs were run for some time did the filament thin and the bulbs overheat. The bulb that caused the excessive melting actually burnt out and the interior surface of the bulb was coated with tungsten.

    The lights were old and already had a few JB Weld repairs. Installed the fairly high power LEDs at this link:

    http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...X1W.htm#photos

    with a resistor.



    Looks good and will probably go with this with new light strips.

  5. #30
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    '94 A8 4.2i, '00 CLK55
    Quote Originally Posted by Noggie View Post
    If they are anything like the "Nordic" versions, the light switch has 4 positions, not 3.
    where pos "0" is no lights, then a park pos, a 21w pos and "on" pos.
    Can apparently be modified, but the switches are tricky to get hold of I have heard.

    Where I live DRL's are mandatory, and most are wired so that the low beams come on when you start the engine.
    I the case of my car, they decided to use the FTP lights that way when it was imported from Germany so that you did not have to drive with the pop-up's up all the time.
    As a result, I hardly ever use my pop-up's.
    I only have 3 pos switch. My car is imported from Sweden to Finland in 2003 but I dunno where it was sold in the first place. I mean dealership.

    My plan is to use relay to cut power off from 21W filament when pop-up lights are up. No big deal b/c I'm converting low beams to bi-xenons and wirelooms are open.

    Mike in CT... In the first pic theres a label that show 27/8W. Original bulb is 21/5W. Maybe that is one reason?

  6. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by moutine View Post
    I only have 3 pos switch. My car is imported from Sweden to Finland in 2003 but I dunno where it was sold in the first place. I mean dealership.

    My plan is to use relay to cut power off from 21W filament when pop-up lights are up. No big deal b/c I'm converting low beams to bi-xenons and wirelooms are open.

    Mike in CT... In the first pic theres a label that show 27/8W. Original bulb is 21/5W. Maybe that is one reason?
    Well... in Norway there is about 120 cars, and only 6 was sold new here, including one CSi. the rest are imported.
    In Sweden there are about 300 cars, most of them are also imports, so there is a good chance your car is German.
    Should be easy to figure out by getting the cars build sheet.
    It's easy to make the lights act like you want them to by using relays and such.
    -Egil (my name)

    2012 ///M550xd touring
    1990 850Ia Hartge Supercharged.
    2004 M3 (sold)


  7. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wuffer View Post
    As of today, the BC 8's have 115 cars on the Registry, 33 of which are Canadian spec, including my own car. All of those cars exhibit the same issues - melting of the inner parking light plastic lense and severe cracking and disintegration of the FTP socket for the DRL/parking light bulb! Have never seen the same issue on the 72 J-specs or 10 US spec cars locally....
    so has anyone with a jpn market car been running a P21 bulb in ftp sidemarker holder/housing successfully for a while now? and if so then why are theCDN sped ftps so fragile? it seems many euro owners are able to run a 21w bulb...
    I finally removed my P21 LED bulbs with single centered pole and installed single filament P21 bulbs with a single centered pole for the bulb housing and im impressed with light output, but they do producealot more heat.

    Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
    I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.
    Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.
    Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.
    BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.

  8. #33
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    Fit LED's as detailed here - brighter, cooler etc:

    http://www.meeknet.co.uk/e31/BMW_E31...in_the_FTP.htm
    Timm..2007 E64 650i Individual Sport..1999 E31 840ci Individual Sport..ex owner of 2000 E38 740..1999 E38 740i V8 M62..1998 E38 735i V8..1993 E32 730i V8..1988 E28 518i


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  9. #34
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    I've seen this write up a while back, but honestly I'm not the best solderer around so I didn't bother to buy the PTCs and weld them on.
    Maybe its worth giving them a shot tho since I'm worried the 21w bulbs will get too hot and melt stuff. But how is it that the Euro and Nordic guys are able to run 21w bulbs with no negative repercussions?
    I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.
    Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.
    Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.
    BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.

  10. #35
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    It's (in the main) colder in Europe than it is in the US! I ran 26W of sidelights for ages without any problems, but am a lot happier with LED's - if you are happy to suffer MID warning you can use the LED's without the PTC's.

    But, worth saying, the 'two filament' LED's deliberately dim the light output if electricity is stuffed up the '5W' contact - so, for full light output you still have to short the two contacts together.
    Timm..2007 E64 650i Individual Sport..1999 E31 840ci Individual Sport..ex owner of 2000 E38 740..1999 E38 740i V8 M62..1998 E38 735i V8..1993 E32 730i V8..1988 E28 518i


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  11. #36
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    BMW 850CSi
    Hey Timm, I just google'd P21/5W led and came across a "warm white" version. Maybe this would blend better with the Nightbreaker setup in the Mains/High beams rather than the super-white/blue looking cool-white led in your DRLs?

    These may be an example:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-1157-Whi...-/291966971999

  12. #37
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    i'll be damned if thats a warm white. thats extremely cool white.

    Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
    I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.
    Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.
    Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.
    BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.

  13. #38
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    This is warm white 4000k in my parking lights. Done with Timms instructions, thanks Timm.

    another picture shows 4000k (which i installed) vs 6000k.

    Led that was used (4000k) is this, https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...retrofit/2625/
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by mikae31; 10-20-2017 at 09:52 AM.

  14. #39
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    With ALL the LED's on Ebay you have to buy them and test them - you cannot believe a word in the text - I've got drawers full of the things that don't fit, fizzle out, too dim etc etc......
    Timm..2007 E64 650i Individual Sport..1999 E31 840ci Individual Sport..ex owner of 2000 E38 740..1999 E38 740i V8 M62..1998 E38 735i V8..1993 E32 730i V8..1988 E28 518i


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  15. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by mikae31 View Post
    This is warm white 4000k in my parking lights. Done with Timms instructions, thanks Timm.

    another picture shows 4000k (which i installed) vs 6000k.

    Led that was used (4000k) is this, https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...retrofit/2625/
    These warm white look amazing. Perfect lights for the time period it was from.

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
    I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.
    Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.
    Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.
    BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.

  16. #41
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    '95 E31 840Ci manual
    Hi, I am new to E31 as I bought one a week ago...
    I wanted to change front bulbs to Osram Nightbreaker; it was easy with pop-ups but with FTP main beam I am confused.
    Owner manual says H1 bulb but in my FTPs there is H3 bulb.
    Bulb socket look identical like the one from Timm's picture
    DSCF5587.JPG

    I believe it is H3 socket.
    What is wrong? my FTPs or owner manual has an error?

    The other question I have concerns the original round FTP plug and socket. Who is the manufacturer, type, part number?
    Someone cut it off in one FTP and I want to bring it back to factory standard.

    IMG_8321.jpg

    Thanks for help!

  17. #42
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    It's an H3, not an H1. I don't know the original manufacturer of the plug/socket - but finding one from a scrapper is the usual plan.
    Timm..2007 E64 650i Individual Sport..1999 E31 840ci Individual Sport..ex owner of 2000 E38 740..1999 E38 740i V8 M62..1998 E38 735i V8..1993 E32 730i V8..1988 E28 518i


    My BMW Repair YouTube Channel
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  18. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by Timm View Post
    It's an H3, not an H1. I don't know the original manufacturer of the plug/socket - but finding one from a scrapper is the usual plan.
    thank you, Timm!

  19. #44
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    one more question...
    please see my right side FTP wiring - the blue wire with connector - where it belongs to / shall be connected?
    IMG_8317.jpg

  20. #45
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    Our cars wiring is old and getting older + the inner housing was fragile plastic when new let alone 30 years later. I would never run higher than recommended wattages through them!
    I wish there was a way to disable the lamp bulb warning so we could run proper low wattage LEDs without adding resisters instead.

  21. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by Auraraptor View Post
    Our cars wiring is old and getting older + the inner housing was fragile plastic when new let alone 30 years later. I would never run higher than recommended wattages through them!
    I wish there was a way to disable the lamp bulb warning so we could run proper low wattage LEDs without adding resisters instead.
    If you are talking about the FTP H3 bulbs - then Osram Nightbreakers are 55W just the same as the standard H3. I run LED's without errors - the FTP main beams and the pop-up main beams are not checked by the LKM.

    If you are talking about the FTP sidelights then the enclosure is designed for 26W - that is the wattage run in Canada (they run the 21W as DRL's). Again, I run LED's (and have done for 10 years) and they are error-free as well - not by big resistors but by a PTC device.

    I would certainly agree though, the FTP housings get brittle and start falling apart - only do the mods if you really want to - and be aware that the fixing lugs may fall off! However, the work is no more involved than changing the bulbs after a failure - and we all have to do that at some point.
    Last edited by Timm; 06-28-2021 at 05:04 PM.
    Timm..2007 E64 650i Individual Sport..1999 E31 840ci Individual Sport..ex owner of 2000 E38 740..1999 E38 740i V8 M62..1998 E38 735i V8..1993 E32 730i V8..1988 E28 518i


    My BMW Repair YouTube Channel
    My Current 840ci Sport Individual
    My Current 650ci Sport Individual
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    Chase - Heroes to a generation

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