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Chase (Sweeping) Indicators - Quick reference

2003 - 2009, roadster, coupe, facelift
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thanatu55
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Chase (Sweeping) Indicators - Quick reference

Post by thanatu55 » Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:58 pm

A few people have asked me about the indicator setup on my headlights. Now I'm no electrician and unfortunately I didn't record a step by step process but hopefully this brief reference piece might help a few people who are interested. Please note this requires cutting open your headlights with a dremmel sealing them back up with silicone.



The halo conversion has been done to death on here already so I won't go into it here. I simply followed one of the few guides on here, but for anyone who isn't so clued up on wiring up your drl's I used this http://drldimmer.weebly.com/ little gizmo which does much of the work for you. This will switch on your halo's or whatever you choose to use as your drl's when you switch on your ignition, and it will also dim them by 50% when you switch on your headlights at night (required for road legality). This is much safer than alternative wiring harnesses that operate according to the power drain on your battery.

Since my lights are sealed up and I don't fancy prising them open again I have tried to show what I can with some bits I have left over, which may or may not be useful to anybody. I spent quite a lot getting these over here from the States, there are cheaper alternatives but I can't vouch for their quality or reliability.

First off, when you actually look at what you're getting for your money it's all rather underwhelming. You will receive a white rubber sheath which is a lot longer and a lot thicker than I had expected, and will therefore need cutting down and shaping in order to fit into your headlights.

Inside this sheath are two inexpensive looking LED strips, one with white LEDs and the other with amber LEDs. The white LEDs are your constants, these are meant to be used as your DRLs but having already fitted my halo's I had no use for this feature so I didn't connect the feed for the white strip. Of course you could hook this up if you want to but for me it was too much.

[IMG]http://i67.tinypic.com/33e34uu.jpg[/IMG]

It's all pretty straight forward from here. Your red wire goes to your live, black is your earth, if you want to hook the white LEDs up then the white wire can hook up to your halo's, and your yellow wire hooks up directly to your indicator bulb feed.

[IMG]http://i67.tinypic.com/k0ozfo.jpg[/IMG]

These then feed into your driver which in turn controls the LED strips. When you switch on your indicators or hazard lights, this will signal the driver to cut off the white strip and ignite the amber LEDs in a sweeping motion. With the LEDs inside the rubber sheath this emits a nice smooth beam of amber light.

[IMG]http://i67.tinypic.com/2wmpe0k.jpg[/IMG]

As for the original indicator bulbs I pulled these back and tied them up behind the headlight as you never know when you might need them again. I also needed a resistor on each indicator to cancel out any bulb errors which I got from here http://www.horizonleds.co.uk/50w-canbus-led-resistor. Seal your headlights back up and thats your lot. For reference here are the instructions that came with which covers all of the above:

[IMG]http://i68.tinypic.com/mtuywm.jpg[/IMG]

Sorry for such a basic guide but like I said, I'm not an electrician or anything, just passing on for those who have asked. Cheers everyone!
Last edited by thanatu55 on Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:34 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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ranski
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Chasing Indicators - Quick reference

Post by ranski » Mon Jul 17, 2017 7:30 pm

very nice mod. :thumbsup:
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thanatu55
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Chasing Indicators - Quick reference

Post by thanatu55 » Mon Jul 17, 2017 7:41 pm

Cheers ranski :wink:
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kis
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Chasing Indicators - Quick reference

Post by kis » Tue Jul 18, 2017 9:01 am

Very nice! I was actually searching for this very post yesterday (okay not specifically your post, but some guidance on the indicator).

I'm looking to getting something similar but worried about the brightness during the day. Yours seems okay, but the ones I'm interested in are a different style... slightly! I guess I'll have to buy and give it a test run!

Also may be a good idea to add "sweeping" to the title, that's also a common term! :thumbsup:

Cheers! Kis
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thanatu55
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Chasing (Sweeping) Indicators - Quick reference

Post by thanatu55 » Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:22 pm

Cheers kis I've amended the title.

Yeah the ones I have are perfectly visible during the day, in fact they are much brighter than the original indicator bulbs, but you get the best effect later on when it starts getting a bit darker (or Winter I suppose) when the light reflects and fills the entire indicator section rather than just the breadth of the rubber tube.

I must say however that in person there is a much better spread of light and the halo's are a perfectly bright crisp white, the camera doesn't appear to pick this up very well to do them justice.
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Chasing (Sweeping) Indicators - Quick reference

Post by Leesfarm07 » Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:29 pm

Excellent write up :thumbsup: id be interested in seeing how bright the white strip would be as drls in daylight
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Chase (Sweeping) Indicators - Quick reference

Post by thanatu55 » Thu Jul 20, 2017 11:27 am

The white strip is extremely bright, equal to or maybe slightly brighter than my halo's. Very visible in daylight.
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Chase (Sweeping) Indicators - Quick reference

Post by IAmOrion » Fri Jul 21, 2017 7:52 pm

I'm thinking of doing something similar on mine. I have the 2003 Bi-Xenons... Can you tell me what size the 2 halo rings are please? And also, where did you purchase those chasers from? I've tried to get sets off eBay etc before and they were always sh*t so sent them back - they never chased smoothly like in your vid.

Also, Did you literally just use a Dremel to cut open the lights?

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Chase (Sweeping) Indicators - Quick reference

Post by dans6490 » Fri Jul 21, 2017 9:16 pm

After rushing the halos on my last zed, I'm saving that job for the winter. These chasing indicators are now added to the "to do" winter list.

Would you mind linking to where you got the chasing lights from?

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Chase (Sweeping) Indicators - Quick reference

Post by JINGLE » Mon Jul 24, 2017 10:47 pm

I like them a lot!!!

I've currently got 3 sets of lights!!! When I finally get around to doing the upgrade I think I'll do the halo and now I've seen this, I'm 100% going to give it a go!! Have you got a link for the chasers as mentioned above, hopefully if I buy them it will give me a kick up the arse to actually start the split lol

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thanatu55
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Chase (Sweeping) Indicators - Quick reference

Post by thanatu55 » Wed Jul 26, 2017 5:27 pm

IAmOrion wrote: Fri Jul 21, 2017 7:52 pm I'm thinking of doing something similar on mine. I have the 2003 Bi-Xenons... Can you tell me what size the 2 halo rings are please? And also, where did you purchase those chasers from? I've tried to get sets off eBay etc before and they were always sh*t so sent them back - they never chased smoothly like in your vid.

Also, Did you literally just use a Dremel to cut open the lights?

TIA
Yep Dremel along the seam where the clear plastic edge meets the black. Just take it slow and use a '426' cutting wheel, it's less harsh and doesn't melt the plastic if you go bit by bit. Z4 headlights are famous for being impossible to open without drastic measures!

The halo's are 80mm,

The indicators I shipped from America (see below)
dans6490 wrote: Fri Jul 21, 2017 9:16 pm After rushing the halos on my last zed, I'm saving that job for the winter. These chasing indicators are now added to the "to do" winter list.

Would you mind linking to where you got the chasing lights from?
JINGLE wrote: Mon Jul 24, 2017 10:47 pm I like them a lot!!!

I've currently got 3 sets of lights!!! When I finally get around to doing the upgrade I think I'll do the halo and now I've seen this, I'm 100% going to give it a go!! Have you got a link for the chasers as mentioned above, hopefully if I buy them it will give me a kick up the arse to actually start the split lol
No problem, I shipped them from America but be prepared they weren't cheap (especially including shipping costs)...

http://www.xkglow.com/XKGLOW_Sequential ... 043001.htm

Here's one of their video's:

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