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      11-18-2020, 12:07 PM   #2
NewWorldOrder
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Drives: 2018 BMW M240ix vert
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Portland, Oregon

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Beau2795 View Post
I'm going to have a try at adding more ambient lighting to my BMW F20 LCI. I'm posting it here since the F20 forums are dead and a mess and because this will be compatible with practically any BMW.
I'm going to document my journey as best I can here.
My car is equipped from factory with the Extended Lighting Package. Basically it means I have the lights on the door handles on the exterior and dual colour (white and orange) ambient lighting on the interior. Now, I find that the number of lighting modules is insufficient to have a nice effect while driving at night. The only lighting modules I've got with ambient lighting are:
  • Lights in the footwell which are barely visible (even on full brightness)
  • Tiny "dots" on the headliner lighting units front and back
  • Front only door handle lighting units

I don't want to mess around with ambient lighting kits that may or may not work or look like a giant ricer with RGB lighting on my interior. That's why I'm going the OEM route. Everything is then accessible through the iDrive and it looks like it's always meant to be there. Also, I don't back away from a challenge and I want to try and figure out if everything I want is possible.

Lights to be retrofitted:
  • Door handle ambient lighting for rear passengers
  • Center console (cup holder) ambient lighting. The hole for this LED module is already present, but there is no module installed. Why, you ask? I have no clue.
  • Ground lights for rear passengers
  • I'll also try and have ambient lighting by means of optical wire on the door cards and dashboard trim. (More updates when I can see if worth it or not)

Parts needed: (will update as project comes along)
  • 51417274489 Door handle opener trim
  • 51417274490 Door handle opener trim
  • 2X 63319237712 Door handle opener LED Module F2X
  • 63319242162 LED Module center console

Research
I know almost all lighting is handled through the FEM (Front Electronics Module). I had a litte look around on the interior lighting wiring diagram on newTIS for my car and found the following:
  • The ambient lighting modules have 3 pins. A brown for ground and a white/red and white/blue cable to switch between the orange "classic" mode and the white "sport" mode. Those 2 last ones are connected to the FEM via plug A173*9B on pins 51 and 50 respectively. All ambient lighting modules branch from those 2 connections so to add other ones is as simple as creating more branches as needed. I don't worry about blowing a fuse since those modules are all LED and draw little current, also there are models like the F30 that have many more ambient lighting modules installed from factory connected to the same pins on the FEM.
  • For connecting the rear puddle or ground lights I've had a look at the wiring diagram of a F30. On the diagram you can see that the ground lights for the front are connected to pin 54 of the same A173*9B connector on the FEM as the ambient lights. That's also the case for the F20 FEM. Pin 53 is used for the rear ones, so that's what I'm going to do on the F20.
  • Connecting the front ambient lights (with optical cable) is simple. I'm going to make a Y splitter cable that branches off the existing door handle ambient light to add another.
  • Connecting the rear ground and ambient lights is a little more challenging. You have 1 major obstacle in the way, and that is the door connectors X8*1B and X9*1B. In the F30, the ambient lighting is connected through pins 17 for white/red and pin 18 for white/blue. Pin 13 is used for the ground lights.
Once I know all the correct pin numbers and part numbers for the door connector terminals, I'll update everything accordingly.
This is something I'd seriously be interested in. Will be following the thread.
Appreciate 0