fe342185

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Perform these steps at your own risk and I do not take any resposibilities for any issues or problems that you may encounter
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I do not use the foglights that often for driving. Mainly because you must manually turn them on. So their main use is for the coming home option. I also had the ballast and Error cancellors from the car I traded in so all I needed was the bulb (H7). So here it goes.

My method of installing does not alter the wiring although it permanently affects the foglight housing.

FYI - With the right tools the install is a 2 out of 5 in difficulty in my opinion.

Tools
1. Drill
2. Torx Screwdriver or bit. Sorry I forgot the size
3. 1" Forcer bit or hole saw bit
4. Wire cutter but just to cut wire ties
5. Flat head screwdriver

Parts used All parts bought from Ebay
HID Digital Ballast
Error Canceller Capacitors/resistors (Eliminates the bulb out error)
HID H7 Bulbs (I used 6000k btu it does not match the headlight. Headlight is 4300k)
Wire ties

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40511831@N06/4647601633/" title="IMG_0346 by fe342185, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/4647601633_9d59f96902_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="IMG_0346" /></a>

Step 1:
Remove the grille and unscrew the 2 star bit screws that hold the fog lights in place. Tip- Pull from the inner part of the grille opposite the fog lights.

Step 2:
Unplug the Factory Harness from the light housing
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40511831@N06/4647600975/" title="IMG_0330 by fe342185, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4647600975_4f181a890e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="IMG_0330" /></a>

Step 3:
Using the flat head pry the 3 tabs up to separate the front of the housing from the rear.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40511831@N06/4648215096/" title="IMG_0331 by fe342185, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4648215096_79f252beae_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="IMG_0331" /></a>

Step 4:
Wiggle the inner harness off the halogen bulb. Easier to wiggle it parallel to the pins while pulling up. Pulling straight out does not work and may bend the retainer clips.

Step 5: Warning!!! Make sure you drill in the middle. The HID bulbs are sometimes longer in length and part of it sits inside of the grommet.
Take the back part of the housing and drill a 1" hole in the center. The center is marked already from the factory. (Make sure your rubber grommet is set for a 1" hole.) Drilling tip - Make the bit work and dont put too much pressure so you dont crack the housing. Sorry forgot to take a picture before drilling.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40511831@N06/4647601429/" title="IMG_0329 by fe342185, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4647601429_c641ab51d6_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="IMG_0329" /></a>

Step 6:
File the edges of the hole then put the wires and grommet through.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40511831@N06/4647601231/" title="IMG_0335 by fe342185, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/4647601231_36e840b85d_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="IMG_0335" /></a>

Step 7:
In the lens side of the housing, unclip the old halogen and put it in a safe place then insert and clip the HID bulb.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40511831@N06/4648215388/" title="IMG_0336 by fe342185, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4648215388_62a409c1e0_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="IMG_0336" /></a>


Step 8:
Plug the positive and Negative side of the wires that go to the Error canceller(EC) to the the black harness mounted on the housing. Tip - The way to find out which is positive is plug the factory harness in temprarily into the housing and follow the wires in. The brown is Ground and the other is of course the positive. In my case the wire going to the EC is Blue.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40511831@N06/4648215344/" title="IMG_0337 by fe342185, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4648215344_da0ddd1006_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="IMG_0337" /></a>


Step 9:
Plug the EC to the ballast then plug the 2 wires for the HID bulb into the ballast.
Tip -
Halogen wiring = Factory harness --> Foglight Housing --> halogen Bulb
HID Wiring = Factory harness --> foglight housing --> back out to the EC --> HID Ballast --> HID Bulb.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40511831@N06/4647600939/" title="IMG_0343 by fe342185, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4647600939_d1f2f7e9dc_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="IMG_0343" /></a>


Step 10:
Plug the factory harness to the factory plug on the foglight housing then TEST TEST TEST before securing the parts in your bumper. I used wire ties since the double sided tape no longer sticks and the inside of the bumper is not very smooth.

Picture was taken 5 secs after turning it on. Color is still a little blue but it becomes a bright white light. Unfortunately our headlight bulb is 4300k and this one is 6000k. Compared to the halogen fogs on the right it is much brighter.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40511831@N06/4648214770/" title="IMG_0342 by fe342185, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4648214770_9e0357f9a0_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="IMG_0342" /></a>

mystrodo

Excellent job showing us your step by step process for the foggies, I strongly suspect this will convince a few here to do this mod.
My personal concern concerns the Chinese made components, there have been many articles and personal experience's reguarding their poor workmanship especially in voltage fluctuations..but that being said, your project end result looks great and very professional. Please keep us posted if you have any issues or reports.

jujuC6

Thanks for the write up, I have had this same idea for a couple of weeks now. I however will be going the OEM way and use Hella or Philips ballast. For bulbs I will use OEM Philips DR2 with a (H7 to DR2) adapter ring to retain the OEM H7 reflector focus point. Will report when I pull the trigger on this project.

fe342185

Follow up...

Today I noticed on one of the foglights I have some condensation insode. It looks like the rubber grommet did not seal well on one of them. Just another thing to look out for if you are doing this. I plan on taking it back out and reseating the grommet.

mystrodo

Smart thinking to keep an eye on them in the begining..you may have saved an expensive HID bulb. Thanks for the update.

audi516

I ordered all of the parts to do this upgrade, but the error cancelers wont show up for a few days. I have the day off tomorrow and would like to do the install... will I be able to install these without the error canceler or do I need to wait?

cal3thousand

Cheap DIY way is to get capacitors and wire them up in parallel (positive to negative) between the ballast and the car. Waterproofing is a must.

Otherwise, shell out the $30~40

audia6s

Capacitors will get so hot and melt everything abound

NR04

Thanks for the detailed post. I have LED DRL and hated the difference between the LED and yellow fogs. I thought about doing the same exact mod a while back but decided on just getting a whiter bulbs.

I purchased a set of Xenon matching bulbs from Hoen-USA and I like the result. It lost some of the brightness due to higher kelvin rating, but overall it matches my LED fairly well. (I'll post the pic later)

For people who prefer simpler mod, changing the bulbs might be a good option as well.

eazy211187

What bulbs did you get?