Xenon Control Unit Part Number????

[Toby Pennycuff]

Loren,

I have scoured my copy of PET and cannot find any specific reference to the Xenon Control Unit. From what I can glean from my "Service Information Technik" manual, the Xenon control unit interfaces on the CAN-bus to help calculate light bending characteristics for the Bi-Xenon headlight unit (page 9.18). The control unit is described in the schematic found on pp. 9.8-9.9. Specifically, the Xenon control unit is depicted as control unit number 12 attached to the CAN drive unit.

Since I'm giving serious consideration to trying to do the science project and upgrade my headlights to the Bi-Xenon units, I'm really curious if this Xenon Control Unit is an actual part or merely part of the programming maps on the CAN drive unit.

Can you offer any suggestions or information????

Toby

(P.S. - is my-porsche.com dead? They seem to have been off-line for quite some time. I still have not found a source for the Cayenne manual sets!)

[Tool Pants]

For some reason this Boxster owner also has the Cayenne tech intro booklet and I see your references. No clue. If you belong to PCA you might try Peter Smith who is the shop foreman at my local dealer. He put on a Cayenne tech session for us last year. http://www.pca.org/tech/tech_qa.asp

[Toby Pennycuff]

Loren,

Did you see my original request on this topic? I still have not been able to find a source that can tell me whether there is a dedicated Xenon control unit on the CAN bus and if so, what its part number is. Do you have any clues on this?

Also, have you broken down one of the Bi-Xenon headlight units? I'm curious about two things...

1. Is there a connection from the ballast to the bulb via part 955 631 239 20? I am assuming that the ballast component (955 631 193 00) depicts the two connectors in illustration 905-01 (the left-most in the drawing being the connection from the main harness connector and the right, smaller connector where 955 631 239 20 would plug in, with the other end of the connection onto the D1S 35W bulb (N 105 661 01). Does that look correct to you?

2. Is there any wiring diagram that shows the pin-outs of the connectors on the Bi-Xenon housing versus the Halogen housing? In other words, is 955 631 239 10 for the Bi-Xenon assembly (the Headlamp Harness) pinned differently in one or both connectors when compared to 955 631 239 00 (the Headlamp Harness) for the Halogen connector? The reason I'm asking is that if the Headlamp Harness is wired the same way, this could be a pretty straightforward conversion project. I'm just trying to find a way to figure out if the wiring and connectors are different for these two parts.

Any help or direction you might be able to offer would be most appreciated!

Gert, if you're reading this, perhaps this is an upgrade that Carnewal can offer to us poor schmucks who wanted Bi-Xenons but didn't want to wait for a vehicle to arrive with them, thus were stuck (like me!) with halogen headlights instead! Just a thought. I know Performance Products sold the Bi-Xenon projector units for ML owners and did pretty well. The problem was that the connecting harness was not pinned properly. Once you got the wires connected properly..... VOILA! former halogen vehicles were suddenly Bi-Xenon vehicles!

Toby

[wingless]

Given that the head lamps are connected through the CAN bus, it would be good to connect to the bus and tell the vehicle that these are now Xenon lamps.

[Toby Pennycuff]

wingless,

It's not clear that they are connected (directly) to the CAN-bus. The Technik manual clearly notes a Xenon control unit, but I cannot find any reference in PET to such a control unit. If this control unit does exist, I am guessing that it controls the bending of the headlight beam as you turn, and works in conjunction with the leveling sensors and speed sensors on the vehicle to keep the lights properly leveled.

There's no doubt in my mind that the PST2 is required to hook in and update the system to the fact that Bi-Xenons are present. I had to do exactly that on my 03 ML350. Once that change was made, my Bi-Xenon projectors worked just fine. I'm pretty sure that Porsche would do something similar.

I'm still unclear on whether there is a (physical) Xenon control unit or not and how the wiring is pinned in the connectors. With those pieces of info, I think I can come up with a Bi-Xenon upgrade for Cayenne owners who are stuck with halogens and want Bi-Xenons.

TBP

Edited February 19, 2004 by Toby Pennycuff

[Loren]

Did you see my original request on this topic? I still have not been able to find a source that can tell me whether there is a dedicated Xenon control unit on the CAN bus and if so, what its part number is. Do you have any clues on this?

Yes, sorry been kind of busy so I haven't had as much "research" time as I'd like.

I think the Cayenne headlight leveling is part of the vehicle leveling system. So I think they get the signals from the existing system (unlike the carrera that needs a level sensor for each wheel).

Is there any wiring diagram that shows the pin-outs of the connectors on the Bi-Xenon housing versus the Halogen housing?

Porsche provides wiring diagrams in the service manuals. These (specifically) simply cover US/Canada lighting and RoW lighting and usually have insets for standard lights vs. Xenon. So you would have to read the schematics and compare.

Alas, I do not have a Cayenne service manual. I thought they were outrageous at $1500 last year when they came out (no Porsche repair manual had previously been over $500). I even thought I had a dealer that was going to give me one and then he looked at HIS cost and it was over $2500. Then in January of this year Porsche raised all manual prices by more than three times! As an example an OBD II manual that was $250 is now $896! Yikes! What the heck is Porsche thinking?

Anyway, it is likely possible to this but we need to see the schematics...

[Gert]

Gert, if you're reading this, ...

We are working on it :P