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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > DIY Guides > DIY - Sunglass holder (replaces ashtray)



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      03-30-2008, 11:40 AM   #177
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E93 Install

Quote:
Originally Posted by doku View Post
I just did mine yesterday. I put it in "N" to slide the console over the boot. It wasn't so difficult. I was just extra careful pulling the trim up.

BTW, the e93 has an extra plug to unhook.
Yeah, I found that out and have been unable or unwilling to try and unhook all of the wires so I just left them hooked while I carefully removed the ashtray. I guess the extra one is for the roof. Everything is still disassembled as I await my part. I really thought it would arrive yesterday so I'm just going to leave everything as is, and hopefully install it one evening next week. Glad I have my R32 to drive to work.
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      03-30-2008, 04:09 PM   #178
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My sunglass holder install with the amber LED DIY...

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      03-30-2008, 05:57 PM   #179
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Here's a DIY on re-using the cigarette lighter power after do the sunglasses tray mod. Refer to my post on the previous page for details about getting the power plug under the trim on the passenger side of the transmission tunnel.

I used a 2-Outlet Car Power Y-Adapter from Radio Shack and took one side of the Y to get a floating socket as follows...

First and second photos show the plug dismantled.

Then I cut the wires that fed one of the Y-sockets and pulled it out, stripped the ends and tinned them slightly with a soldering iron to provide some stiffness to the exposed wires. This is shown in the third photo.
P.S. You need to push the wires far enough in (hence stiffening them with some solder) that they contact the tops of the pins inside the top of the plug and then hold in place with tape. Or, if you own your car you could the plug and splice the wires.
I pushed the exposed ends of the socket wires into the back of the plug that I had pulled through under the trim on the passenger side of the transmission tunnel. This is shown in the fourth photo. For the socket wires, the wire with the white writing on it is positive (goes to the tip of the cigarette lighter socket) and is pushed into the center (yellow/green wire) of the plug. The other is the ground and is pushed into the outside of the plug (thick brown wire) as shown in the fourth photo. Then I wrapped electrician's tape around the wires to hold them in place (not shown).

Finally I pushed the plug back up under the trim leaving the socket dangling as shown in the fifth photo.

Then I had an idea to have the socket wire come out of the top of the gap between the trim and used a strip of double-sided velcro tape to hold it to the trim as shown in the sixth photo. To do this you need to separate the trim quite a bit to get the wire up to the top of it where this is a notch into the which the wire sits nicely. Now I can plug my cell phone adapter or whatever into the socket (which unfortunately is only powered when the ignition is on)
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Last edited by mrvuml; 03-30-2008 at 07:08 PM.. Reason: Added P.S.
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      03-30-2008, 06:17 PM   #180
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Here's a photo of the connector after wrapped it with electrical tape and double-sided velcro tape applied to socket.
If you want to tidy up the wiring behind the trim and move the wire up to the top you can drop the glovebox trim down by removing the screw using a #15 Torx driver and moving the wire behind the tab of the fixed part. See second photo. Be careful not to pinch the wire when reassembling glovebox trim piece.

Note: As an alternative to letting the socket dangle or sticking it to the trim you could apply it to the underside of the glovebox or route out of site behind the trim up under the glovebox. You could probably even extend the wire and route it inside the glovebox.
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      03-30-2008, 06:28 PM   #181
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Nice Job!
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      03-30-2008, 06:29 PM   #182
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheJackal View Post
My sunglass holder install with the amber LED DIY...
Looks Great!!!
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      03-30-2008, 07:06 PM   #183
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Thanks. Just in case anyone is wondering why I did it the way I did...its because my car is leased so I didn't want to do anything that couldn't be easily undone at the end of the lease. If you own your car you could do a better job by cutting the plug off and splicing the feed to the socket.
There are also a couple of alternative socket types available from Radio Shack to provide different kinds of outlets. Here they are:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=family I used older version of this I've had for a few years.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=family You could cut the plug off and insert the wires into the plug it like I did, or splice it in.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=family
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      03-30-2008, 08:56 PM   #184
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Can you feed the new charger outlet to the driver's side instead of passenger?
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      03-30-2008, 11:03 PM   #185
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aznshrek88 View Post
Can you feed the new charger outlet to the driver's side instead of passenger?
I doubt it because the wires wouldn't be long enough as they come from the loom on the passenger side of the transmission tunnel. However, you could move the plug as far over to the driver's side as you can and splice into it there with wires under the driver's side trim, though you wouldn't be able to get to the plug after you put the center console top trim back.
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      04-10-2008, 03:24 PM   #186
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Just complete two installs

I just did both my car and my wife's car.

I did mine first (manual). No issues at all taking everything apart. Just pull straight up and the trim will come out.
I had an issue getting the trim piece cover off the door. Make sure you get a small screw driver and put it in as far as you can. This will allow you to pry on the plastic that the trim is mounted to. Once one side pops, work your way down. The tabs are about 1" in and definitely do it where the tab cut-outs are located in the back.
My biggest issue was putting the trim on the new sunglass holder. I just tried to push it on and I bent the mechanism that releases the door and had to mess with it for about 20 minutes before I could get it to work properly. Do yourself a favor, when you put the trim piece on, hold it in place, open the door slightly and move your fingers underneath where the tabs are located. This way you won't put pressue on the plastic pieces and bend anything.
I did my wife's car second (auto). Just start the car and pull the leaver back to D and shut the car off. It's really easy to get the knob off too. Just pull upwards and it'll come off. I pulled the shift boot off from the back. I stuck my fingers in underneath and pulled up in the back and then in the front. It came out really easy. Next, I used the tips I stated above and had her car done in 10 minutes flat.
The sunglass holder works great!
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      04-13-2008, 10:03 AM   #187
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nice
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      04-19-2008, 09:20 AM   #188
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What part of the lighter plug do you unplug? My car (08 M3 sedan) has a black piece holding the whole unit in place but there doesnt appear to be an actual plug to unplug....
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      04-19-2008, 12:19 PM   #189
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I just did my car, I wanted to pull the lighter out of the old ashtray and use the LED's on the new part, without having to cut the wires, but it's a pain to pull the lighter out, anyone with ideas or done it before?
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      04-19-2008, 08:03 PM   #190
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleBlue View Post
I just did my car, I wanted to pull the lighter out of the old ashtray and use the LED's on the new part, without having to cut the wires, but it's a pain to pull the lighter out, anyone with ideas or done it before?
search for illuminated sun glass tray
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      04-20-2008, 09:40 AM   #191
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankoQ View Post
search for illuminated sun glass tray
thanks, but hence that I am looking for ways to remove the lighter from the old ashtray WITHOUT cutting the wires, if anyone has done that task please let me know. Thanks
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      04-22-2008, 07:49 AM   #192
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Quote:
Originally Posted by japac1 View Post
I paid around $40 from Towson BMW...looks like you got a good deal.
I laughed at them too... they couldn't figure out how i was getting my prices, and when i told them, they were like... oh. So i just ended up getting it from Tischer -- the best OEM BMW parts guys out there!

Oh yea, i'm doing the CF trim install... so i needed the bolts also, and although tischer wanted like $0.90 for a bolt, Towson was charging me like $2 each... f'ing bullsh!t. Still, Towson has great customer service -- so i keep going to them regarding servicing.
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      05-02-2008, 01:58 PM   #193
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This is one of the best mods for the 3-series. Those sun/cloudy days drove me nuts trying to dig out the shades all the time.

Would that be a dealer option when you buy a car? My dealer had to order it in, but it was a 2 day delivery, so no issue there. Just wondering, as I never heard about it from BMW or from any of the literature.
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      05-02-2008, 05:32 PM   #194
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Can someone confirm the depth of the glasses holder? My glasses are kinda big...don't want to do this mod if it doesnt fit.
( i have big eyes...lol) thx
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      05-02-2008, 05:58 PM   #195
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It's about 5" wide, 3" high, and it's hard to measure the depth since it tapers, but about 1.6" in the middle (you can go higher with the glasses since the lid folds overtop).

It fits my Raybans no sweat (and they seem to be large).
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      05-02-2008, 10:15 PM   #196
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oakleys Zeros won't fit.
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      05-02-2008, 10:21 PM   #197
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankoQ View Post
oakleys Zeros won't fit.
Fathead.
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      06-09-2008, 10:04 PM   #198
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I posted the following in the Illuminated Sunglass Tray DIY thread as well. Wanted to see if anyone on here has had the following issue.

Got the sunglass tray installed with the LEDs mounted on the front rather than back. One thing I noticed after the install was that the gear selector light on the auto shifter base plate remains on even after the car has been turned off and all the lights go off. Anyone else have this happen? Mine's a 2008 335 Coupe.

I even disconnected the sunglass tray LEDs from the socket to see if I messed up on connecting the brown wires together. If I disconnect the blue plug on the left side of the auto shifter, the light turns off but without that plug connected you cannot switch to DS mode.

Any ideas? I haven't seen or experienced any other problems. How long might it take for that light staying on to drain the battery?

EDIT: I've read about other BMW models that go into sleep mode after 16 mins and that's when the light goes out. I checked after 16 mins and the light's still on. Does anyone know if the time to sleep for the 07-08 s-series is also 16 mins? Could something be keeping it from going to sleep?
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Last edited by va_lemon; 06-09-2008 at 10:25 PM..
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