F25 LED Bulb Error Fix.

Spaceman they look great.

Just ordered 6 bulbs. I tried ambers for the rear turn signals - we'll see how those work out.

Originally Posted by Vortec4800

Spaceman they look great.

Just ordered 6 bulbs. I tried ambers for the rear turn signals - we'll see how those work out.

Cool.

Not sure what you ordered exactly, but in case you missed it further up the thread, the front and rear bulbs are not the same model. The fronts have offset pins on the socket, so they're 5707 (PY21W). The rears don't have offset pins, so they're 5706 (P21W). I have no idea why BMW did this since they seem to be the same bulbs other than the socket (and color of course). samillerfl mentioned he used 5706s all the way around but used a grinder on the PY bulbs to remove the offset pin. Anyway, just wanted to mention that in case you weren't aware of that and wanted to change your order.

I am interested in the ambers in the rear. I think all signal lights should be amber, but I never thought much about doing this in the rear of the X3 because I thought there was a red lens over the turn signal bulb anyway.

Post pics and/or video when you get them going.

Originally Posted by SpaceManGray

Cool.

Not sure what you ordered exactly, but in case you missed it further up the thread, the front and rear bulbs are not the same model. The fronts have offset pins on the socket, so they're 5707 (PY21W). The rears don't have offset pins, so they're 5706 (P21W). I have no idea why BMW did this since they seem to be the same bulbs other than the socket (and color of course). samillerfl mentioned he used 5706s all the way around but used a grinder on the PY bulbs to remove the offset pin. Anyway, just wanted to mention that in case you weren't aware of that and wanted to change your order.

I am interested in the ambers in the rear. I think all signal lights should be amber, but I never thought much about doing this in the rear of the X3 because I thought there was a red lens over the turn signal bulb anyway.

Post pics and/or video when you get them going.

I definitely will. I read about the pins, I thought they had to be modified all around not just some, so I was just planning on grinding them off either way. Shouldn't be too difficult and from what I heard the 5706 was brighter.

I've had a few vehicles with amber bulbs behind red lenses and they look cool, when they're off everything is red but when they light up they're still amber, it's a neat effect. I'll post photos when it's done.

Just for clarification...BMW X3 F25 has stock amber incandescent bulbs inside a clear lens for the front turn/marker lights (Part #7507, these bulbs are Single pole/filament with 150 deg offset retaining pins). The stock rear turn bulbs and brake bulbs are clear incandescent inside a red lens (Part #7506, these bulbs are single pole/filament with 180 deg offset retaining pins). Why BMW did this I do not understand, it probably had something to do with bulb manufacturer agreements. Bottom line is the bulbs are the same except for the retaining pin positions and color. I personnally went with Super Bright because they have been in existance for some time, most of the reviews have been positive and my previous purchases have been positive, (the bulbs may have been a little more, but I just bought a $50K vehicle so a couple of $ more for a bulb that will last the life of the vehicle is worth it). When doing my research on replacement bulbs, I discovered that there are more options (i.e number of leds and shape) when purchasing 7506 (often referred to as 1156) bulbs vs. 7507 bulbs, and that by removing one pin from a 7506 bulb it will work in the 7507 socket (it does and fits well not loose at all). Research "What color bulb shoud I buy?" as bulbs of the same color as the lens are more intense and brilliant than other colors. I believe most all US states require front signals to be Amber/Yellow and Rear signals to be Amber or Red with Brake lights to be Red. The for the Amber or Red for the rear turn signals is that some vehicle manufactorers use dual filament turn/brake lights which would have to be Red.

Originally Posted by samillerfl

Problem, I have not been able to find much about replacing the OEM incandescent turn and brake bulbs with LED’s. Like many I was disappointed that my new X3 did not come with LED’s for the turn signals and brake lights (My two year older F10 does have them) so I started pulling together as much info from all the forums I could find and then started filling in the holes. I have read good and bad about Error Free LED Bulbs and did not wish to cut any wires to add load resistors, so I looked into coding as an alternative (I just started coding on both my FXX vehicles with great success).

Result, I am 99% sure I have figured out the codes which check for front & rear turn signals, brake lights, fog lights and reverse light errors on my F25. I tried it this afternoon by removing a bulb then coding that particular bulb to “not active” and it worked, the BC warning and fast flash rate both went away immediately. Now I am going to order regular LED bulbs and see if there are any problems. If this works I will post the codes for others to use.

I am attaching a PDF of an Excel Spreadsheet with the coding fixes for LED Bulb Errors, using this fix you can install any LED bulb that fits the socket. Coding was done using BMW E-Sys Software and Cable that I purchased from April1. I started coding about 2 months ago after discovering that this was an option to personalize my F10 and F25 BMW’s. This posting is not about “how to code” but will give those coders the directions to fix the bulb errors. This sheet only contains the codes I changed, I was able to figure out the nomenclature for some of the bulbs and I will list those below.
NSW: Front Fog Lights
NSL: Rear Fog Lights
RFS: Reverse Lights
BL: Brake Lights
FRA_HL or HR: Rear Turn Signals (Left or Right)
FRA_VL or VR: Front Turn Signals (Left or Right)
WBL: I am uncertain but believe this is the Rear LED Brake Strips on HID equipped F25’s.

Originally Posted by samillerfl

I am attaching a PDF of an Excel Spreadsheet with the coding fixes for LED Bulb Errors

Awesome, thanks samillerfl.

Thank you both @samillerfl & @SpaceManGray for your contribution to this great forum... I'm going with the brightest led Option available and coding to correct any problems, will post the result

Originally Posted by samillerfl

Just for clarification...BMW X3 F25 has stock amber incandescent bulbs inside a clear lens for the front turn/marker lights (Part #7507, these bulbs are Single pole/filament with 150 deg offset retaining pins). The stock rear turn bulbs and brake bulbs are clear incandescent inside a red lens (Part #7506, these bulbs are single pole/filament with 180 deg offset retaining pins). Why BMW did this I do not understand, it probably had something to do with bulb manufacturer agreements. Bottom line is the bulbs are the same except for the retaining pin positions and color. I personnally went with Super Bright because they have been in existance for some time, most of the reviews have been positive and my previous purchases have been positive, (the bulbs may have been a little more, but I just bought a $50K vehicle so a couple of $ more for a bulb that will last the life of the vehicle is worth it). When doing my research on replacement bulbs, I discovered that there are more options (i.e number of leds and shape) when purchasing 7506 (often referred to as 1156) bulbs vs. 7507 bulbs, and that by removing one pin from a 7506 bulb it will work in the 7507 socket (it does and fits well not loose at all). Research "What color bulb shoud I buy?" as bulbs of the same color as the lens are more intense and brilliant than other colors. I believe most all US states require front signals to be Amber/Yellow and Rear signals to be Amber or Red with Brake lights to be Red. The for the Amber or Red for the rear turn signals is that some vehicle manufactorers use dual filament turn/brake lights which would have to be Red.

When filing down the pin from the 7506 bulb, does it matter which one you remove?

Here is a video comparison of the new LEDs and the original:



And some photos, you can see I used amber bulbs for the turn signals so they light up amber behind the red lens. They are very bright, and I'm not at all worried about them during the day.

In the last photo of the front of the truck, the LED is on the left and the original bulb is on the right.

EDIT: Sorry double post

Originally Posted by Vortec4800

When filing down the pin from the 7506 bulb, does it matter which one you remove?

No, you can file either one.

Originally Posted by samillerfl

I purchased my bulbs from Superbrightleds.com (7506) 48 SMD bulbs.

Hey samillerfl,

I was going to pickup some of these for my brake lights and rear turns. Was it the 45 SMD bulbs... I couldn't find any 48 SMDs. Could you post a link to the ones you got?

Same comment here...could not find the 48 smd's

My misstake it was a typo should have read 45 SMD not 48...

Update : installed amber 60 SMD led's front and rear turn signal. And red ones for the brake lights. I find that the rear amber turn signal led's behind the red lens are not bright enough. I will replace by red ones. It would have been cool to have hidden amber turn signals, but what can I say.

I have also removed the bulb errors by coding and it worked perfectly the first time, thanks to samillerfl for posting !

That's interesting, did you use the same ones posted earlier in the threads? I find the amber to be plenty bright enough, especially because the change in color catches the eye. If it were the brake lights I may be more concerned, but the turn signals I don't really care. I want people to know if I'm stopping, to know if I'm turning is just a courtesy.

For the red ones, I bought 4 of these (brake + rear turn signals) :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TWO-RED-1156...item336b8454c5

But as I had mentioned, the amber ones for front turn signals seemed a little weak for my taste and in comparison to the stock bulbs. So I called to exchange them.

After talking to support at Extremebrightleds, they suggested these "Cree" amber leds instead that I received yesterday :

http://stores.ebay.com/ExtremeBright...ee&_sid=711665

And they gave me this info : "In general, for the LEDs colours, the brightest are white, then green, blue, red and amber."

Wow !! The Cree model rocks ! There is a focusing lens in front that makes it appear brighter. A little more expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

Of course they are not "error free" so I had to deactivate the bulb monitoring through coding...

Originally Posted by larrylotus

Wow !! The Cree model rocks ! There is a focusing lens in front that makes it appear brighter. A little more expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

Larry, the lens model looks pretty cool... can you post pic(s) or a video of the front turn ambers for people to compare to the others?

Originally Posted by SpaceManGray

Larry, the lens model looks pretty cool... can you post pic(s) or a video of the front turn ambers for people to compare to the others?

Ok, here are two videos, one in daytime (four way flashers) , the other at night (left turn). This last one is not perfect, the angel eyes appear very bright. Anyway, it gives a good idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=PtUsFJWVN6M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=sC6BuanSevc

I've been happy with my LED's in all turn signals and rear brake lights. I have the ones from SuperBrighetLEDs, 45 SMD. Turn signals were a bit problematic for the rear. I wanted the amber color for the rear turn signals, but the red lens just took the intensity down too much. Not too bad for at night, but on a bright day they were not all that noticeable. Switched those out for the same red ones and illumination was MUCH better and stuck with that. The amber LED's up front work just fine.

It is interesting to note that the coding appears to modify the timing of illumination for turn signals. While the cycle is still 1Hz (500ms on, 500ms off, repeat), when in LED mode through programming it's more like 400ms on, 600ms off, repeat). This matches the side repeater as well (which is already LED).

Originally Posted by snowboardjoe

I've been happy with my LED's in all turn signals and rear brake lights. I have the ones from SuperBrighetLEDs, 45 SMD. Turn signals were a bit problematic for the rear. I wanted the amber color for the rear turn signals, but the red lens just took the intensity down too much. Not too bad for at night, but on a bright day they were not all that noticeable. Switched those out for the same red ones and illumination was MUCH better and stuck with that. The amber LED's up front work just fine.

It is interesting to note that the coding appears to modify the timing of illumination for turn signals. While the cycle is still 1Hz (500ms on, 500ms off, repeat), when in LED mode through programming it's more like 400ms on, 600ms off, repeat). This matches the side repeater as well (which is already LED).

Good comment, I also have noticed the same timing change on the turn signals. The green dashboard indicators are also out of sync with the exterior leds...