I'm at the end of my rope with ZKW DDE's - United Bimmer Community

**Spieluhr** · 12-17-2005, 08:28 PM

Ok, off and on my DDE's would come on, come off, be dim, be bright, etc.

Now tonight the whole driver side doesn't work any more. Which means i have to buy ANOTHER ballast from Umnitza. So i disconnected the other side so i dont look like an idiot and for some reason the euro city lights come on? And now my passenger side high beam wont work, I dont think I have the wire wrong.

What else can be wrong with my DDE's? Would it be that bad of an idea to upgrade to Predator Chromium (new DDE) if it's more reliable?

PS: What is teh difference between Predator, and Predator Chromium exactly? Just brighteR?

**Rooz** · 12-17-2005, 09:05 PM

Hey, Pm me about this, might be able to help you out

**///M Power** · 12-17-2005, 09:33 PM

How much is a ballast? $15 for a pair?

**Spieluhr** · 12-17-2005, 09:53 PM

10 each

**///M Power** · 12-17-2005, 10:10 PM

ic. wut deos jlevi charge? i need a pair

**B_w.** · 12-18-2005, 01:01 AM

how old are they? have you tinkered with them before? maybe you messed something up with the wiring

**xsperf** · 12-18-2005, 01:16 AM

did you do that thing that rooz did with the connectors?

**komodo** · 12-18-2005, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rooz

Hey, Pm me about this, might be able to help you out

Can you handle this in the thread? If someone searches and this thread comes up later on and someone else is having a similar problem, it's probably best to have all the info in here, ya know? Otherwise when people complain saying to use the search feature.. it'd be in vein.

**Spieluhr** · 12-18-2005, 02:51 AM

^^^
he just gave me a guy's email at Umnitza.

I have tinkered with them before, so maybe I fucked em up. The lights are not even a year old.

**plash** · 12-21-2005, 02:38 AM

I had the same problem with my driver’s side. The whole drivers side corners and lighting failed to work. Turns out i simply blew a few fuses. I replaced them and low and behold my drivers side city light wont light. I still haven’t found a solution … but the hood stays open and my search continues. I’m new to this forum so I hope I can contribute with solving this issue.

Happy holidays & Safe travels.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spieluhr

Ok, off and on my DDE's would come on, come off, be dim, be bright, etc.

Now tonight the whole driver side doesn't work any more. Which means i have to buy ANOTHER ballast from Umnitza. So i disconnected the other side so i dont look like an idiot and for some reason the euro city lights come on? And now my passenger side high beam wont work, I dont think I have the wire wrong.

What else can be wrong with my DDE's? Would it be that bad of an idea to upgrade to Predator Chromium (new DDE) if it's more reliable?

PS: What is teh difference between Predator, and Predator Chromium exactly? Just brighteR?

**Spieluhr** · 12-21-2005, 02:46 AM

^^^
hey welcome man!

Yeah, stick around, you are sure to learn something around here.

**BaLAnCe17** · 12-22-2005, 03:43 AM

as awesome as zkws are and dde, which i didnt buy, they really suck ass sometimes...my left headlight hardly holds the leveling screw in...its rediculous to keep paying for balasts when they should last you a lot longer...sorry a little off topic

**xxxbimmer** · 12-22-2005, 06:21 AM

do u have subs?

**///Menace328i** · 12-22-2005, 11:20 AM

I think the whole problem is that the ballasts are not made to handle cold weather, I don't know if Rooz spoke to umnitza for me again but I got my ballasts like two weeks ago. What I found out was the following:
During cold weather, the DDE (2 per side) one on each will not lite up... so I experimented "during" the cold weather.
I turned on my car... I had the heater @ 90 degrees smack in the middle.... radio going, and my seat was heating up... turn on the parking lights to see if my DDE would come on... and no cigar...
Then I turned off whatever was going and tryed again and the ones that where not on, then became pink... hmmmm almost there.... then i turned on, off, on, off, on a few times and it started to get a little more brighter... hmm almost there but not fully lit... then I said fuck it... left it like that almost fully on... you know you can tell that one was much brighter that the other... turn everything back on... heater, seat, radio and HEADLIGHTS... drove and by the time I got to my destination they were all on fullblast... another thing that I think helped was the heat from the engine... but that is my little routine in the mornings when it gets like 20 (cold as hell man!). and they come on... Like I said I got my new ballasts but I won't replace them untill the ones I got go out of commission. So try that... I hope it does help cause trust me I know the feeling paying almost $700 bones only to be re-wireing them and junk. I could have gotten my rims by now but in any case I still love my headlights (when they work right

).
Good luck...