angel eyes

[NyteRyda]

need everyone's help. I got a pair of e46 style angel eyes a while back and got them installed. only thing that i wasn't statisfied with is that the halo's aren't to bright. I had my mechanic friend wire the halo's up to the turn signal wires. Is there a way I can make them brighter? Is there a stronger power source I can wire the halo's to? If not I probably buy some better ones in the future. Any brand names I should look into and also where can i get some good angel eye headlights for a decent price? Thanks once again

[jrhaile]

everyone will say zxk :P

[jllphan]

Ya know why? Because they are bright, and well made, and everything else you could want in a replacement ellipsoid.

Yes, buy ZKW's :P

BTW, if you wish, you can just buy replacement rings (umnitza.com)

[M3Daemon]

Yep, ZKW's are the way to go!

Daemon

[camnipotent]

I think it is possible to buy LED's that can replace your current LED's in the DDE. It may be umnitza.com that sells them.

[NyteRyda]

thanks everyone for the help. i wonder if zkws are sold on ebay or not haha. the zkw's are pretty expensive. I don't know if I should waste more money. Is there any possible way that I can just wire the halo's to a better power source? I heard about halo's being wired to the cars battery? How is this possible? I know that the corner light wires aren't a strong power source. Anyone know how I can hook the wires up to a more powerful source?

[123NotIt]

Wiring to the corner lights or directly to the battery will have pretty much the same effect on brightness because they have the same voltage. (In a parallel circuit the total current increases but the voltage remains the same). In order to make the angel eyes brighter than they are, you would have to wire them to a higher voltage source, separate from the 12.7v-14v in your car which is maintained by your voltage regulator. Some audio system competitors use a separate voltage regulator which "steps up" the voltage in their cars to something like 16v. They do this because some amplifiers with "unregulated" power supplies can take advantage of a higher voltage and produce higher output, giving them an edge in competition. These systems are pricey though. I think the Jacobs 16V Accuvolt is something like $400.

http://www.jacobselectronics.com/products/...io/caraudio.htm

Better and simpler to just get the better angel eyes.

[kamikazinyc]

Home made / allmost depo / OEM 5er

[bitcore]

What you are experiencing is not a lack of sufficient electrical power, but a lack of sufficient photon production by the LEDS whatever illuminate the DDEs.

Translation: You need brighter LED's (the lights that illuminate the DDE's), not more power. You can either replace the LED's, Get ZKW's, or replace the actual rings (if the ones you have are crap and don't diffuse the light very well)
If you replace the rings, you want something that looks like the E39 like kamikazinyc posted where the ring isn't cut, it's molded that way. Quality shows!!!

[frsy]

jllphan: The lights you have are those ZKW's?

Another question, does ZKW stand for something or is it just the name of it?

[bimmer_boy]

Hey you guys who have angel eyes - do they stay lit up when just your parking lights are on or do you have to put your headlights on? I'm asking this because I'm wondering if they'd be something you could leave on while displaying your vehicle at say a car show or something of that sort.

[jllphan]

Originally posted by bimmer_boy@May 6 2004, 07:00 PM
Hey you guys who have angel eyes - do they stay lit up when just your parking lights are on or do you have to put your headlights on? I'm asking this because I'm wondering if they'd be something you could leave on while displaying your vehicle at say a car show or something of that sort.

You can pretty much wire them any way you wish. I did mine so they come on with the parking lights (and of course headlights), but you could easily install a dash mounted switch to activate them all by their selves.

frsy: Yes they are, and to my knowledge, no they don't. they are the oem manufacturer for BMW in Germany.

[bimmer_boy]

Good to know. Thanks!

[bitcore]

Depo & ZKW are brandnames. I think I read somewhere on this forum that BMW uses ZKW's as replacements or something...
Either way, ZKW is apparently the way to go.

[NyteRyda]

thanks for all the info everyone. I found some selling an angel eyes kit online. He told me they were DDE Generation Fiber Optic KIT. is this a good kit or not?