LCI Headlight Retrofit help

[BeardyJon]

I've got my hands on a pair of LCI headlights and would like some advice on retrofitting them from someone who has done it before or knows about it please. Have searched the topic widely but mostly just found people giving opinions along the lines of "its so expensive why bother" which is of no use to anyone.

I did a VIN check on my car and it doesn't have adaptive pre-lci headlights, so the LCI headlights I got are also (to the best of my knowledge) not adaptive version. I got them on eBay as complete units, so bulbs, ballast, drivers, etc all there (each one from a separate seller for what its worth). My E89 is a 2012 pre-lci model, so as far as I can tell from what I've read so far, it should have the FRM3 module which makes LCI headlights plug and play (though I've not physically checked the FRM module yet).

I've now removed the old headlights and fit the new ones and they are a direct plug and play replacement in terms of fit, however the LED angel eyes & brows flicker. I've got a Carly adapter and the app and have tried coding the brightness to maximum (very high as the app calls it) for the angel eyes and have turned off voltage monitoring/warnings, yet the flickering remains, but only when the main headlights are on at the same time as the angel eyes, and the flickering only starts after about 3 seconds of the headlights being on. When I switch back to "0" the DRLs/Angel Eyes/Brows stop flickering.

I don't think the LED Modules need replacing as the problem affects both headlights and they were taken from separate donor vehicles and as mentioned, the flickering only happens when the main headlights are on.

From what I've read, it's likely the voltage is too low which causes the flickering, but I can't find an option to change that for when the main lights are on. It seems like the DRLs/Angel Eyes might be dimming when the main headlights come on, causing the flickering but I think I've exhausted all of the coding options Carly provides. In another forum, someone mentioned that you have to change the car's model year to an LCI year, and for that person that fixed the flickering, but I've no idea where to change that and Carly doesn't seem to give any options for that.

Does anyone have any ideas what might fix this?

Thanks!

 

[matsmith749]

Have you any issues with the indicators?

When I google for this change, seems there are about 10 different elements that you need to code to make the jump from preLCI to postLCI headlight assemblies - not just a voltage tweak.

 

[BeardyJon]

Indicators & headlights work no problem. Do you have a link to the page with the 10 different elements so I can give that a try?

 

[BeardyJon]

Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[BeardyJon]

I've done more searching and tried to find anything useful on retrofitting LCI lights and coming up with not much that helps.

Currently the lights operate as follows:

Angel Eyes ON only (DRLs) - perfect, no flickering from halos or eyebrows.
Angel Eyes ON & Low Beams ON - Low beams work fine, halos flicker slightly
Angel Eyes ON & High Beams ON - High beams work find, halos flicker slightly
Flickering stops when I switch back to Angel Eyes ON only (DRLs)
Indicators work no problem, no influence on DRLs

Basically all the lights work fine independently of each other. Just when the halos are on with the headlights they start to flicker.

Carly has options for coding brightness of Angel Eyes, all coded to VERY BRIGHT. But no option to code brightness of Angel Eyes when Low beams are ON.

I have seen that Bimmergeeks have a coding app/cable that offers more coding options than Carly does (which I've exhausted), but can anyone who has coded their lights tell me if this is going to be the fix? I'd rather not fork out £150+ for a cable and software if it isn't going to be able to fix the flickering angel eyes any better than Carly could.

I don't have a laptop so ISTA/P (or whatever its called) isn't an option without forking out £100s for a laptop as well as all the cables and software.

 

[BeardyJon]

I got the ProTool app and Bluetooth adapter and coded the DRLs brightnesses up and eliminated the flickering, so that's all sorted. All the lights/bulbs work nicely now.

However I've discovered a new issue and that is that the automatic lights control doesn't work anymore. It did work on the pre-lci headlights I had installed but it isn't working on the new LCI headlight units that I retro-fitted.

I've checked the coding and it is enabled in ProTool to make the lights turn on when it's dark, but the lights don't come on in the dark when set to automatic mode.

Does anyone know of any other settings that might be affecting this? I'm getting no error messages or codes at all when I scan the car.

There is an option in ProTool for a Rain Light Sensor (RLS) unit but when I tap that it says there's no RLS module installed in the car. Is that right? I would imagine a car that has the auto-wipers and auto-lights functions would have an RLS to control that? Has the RLS unit failed? Also where is that if so?

 

[Chippie]

Do the auto wipers work with the little button pressed on the end of the stalk

 

[BeardyJon]

Just checked them this afternoon and pressing the auto wipers button does turn them on, but when it was raining the wipers didn't really seem to adapt their speed to how much it was raining, they just constantly wiped every 3-5 seconds, so maybe the sensor is duff?