[calsynergy]

Hi everyone,

I did a bunch of searches but could not find anything about this. Is there anyway you can change the ambient lighting on the door panels of the e92? Is there a mod where you can insert different bulbs to make it brighter or a differcnt color?

Thanks for your help!

[01stang]

i think they are leds so u might have to do some soldering to change colors... (i've seen g35 owners changed all the leds before)

[Chesmu]

didn't sinchan do this?

here:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63649

and here:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73694

Basically, if you want interior LED, search the threads sinchan has started...he's an LED freak.

[01stang]

i think he's talking about the leds from the factory not the interior map light bulb replacement...

[Chesmu]

like these:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40716

[01stang]

i think its this
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30200

[01stang]

[calsynergy]

Originally Posted by 01stang

Ya I am talking about these lights... is there a mod where you can change the color or make them brighter... even brighter than with the Light setting on the steering wheel?

[01stang]

i dont know about u but im planning on doing the floors back and front

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4PC-R...spagenameZWDVW

debating on either just the front 2 or all 4....

[phantom330]

I'm sure it's more of a gimmick thing and that is why it isn't on BMW's, but my wife's new Mini S can change the color of the ambient lighting with the flip of a switch, pretty cool actually, has like 5-6 different colors depending on your mood.

[T-MC-G]

It would be cool f it changed like the new Virgin Airlines interior mood lighting.

[Supacat]

Originally Posted by calsynergy

Ya I am talking about these lights... is there a mod where you can change the color or make them brighter... even brighter than with the Light setting on the steering wheel?

Know it been a while but did you ever get an answer? Thx

[1QuikWS6]

Originally Posted by Supacat

Know it been a while but did you ever get an answer? Thx

The ambient lighting is LED. You can swap out the LED's for different color if you wish, but it entails removing door panels, removing lighting modules from strips, unsoldering the factory LED's & resoldering appropriate value LED's of different color.

I already have ALL the orange LED's in my car switched out for blue:

DS Window Switch
PS Window Switch
Light Switch
Trunk Release
HVAC including blue LCD
Shift Indicator (custom colors P=red/D=green/N=yellow/R=amber/DS=blue)
M3 Gage Cluster (white dial lighting/blue LCD screen)
Ambient Door Strips

Best to do this job with correct tools - like a hot air solder reflow system to ensure that you do not damage any of the surrounding circuit board/components, but it can be done with regular solder iron I expect.

Extra care needs to be taken when removing ambient lighting modules from door panels so as to not break fiber optic line - EZ to snap off the end & then ur SOL

All my work was done by a guy in Texas that some on here may know

[Dark_Knight_335]

Not worth the effort IMO. No way I'm cracking my door panels apart to get to those stupid lights.

[Underground6t9]

then you will get all kinds of rattle....

[Supacat]

Originally Posted by 1QuikWS6

The ambient lighting is LED. You can swap out the LED's for different color if you wish, but it entails removing door panels, removing lighting modules from strips, unsoldering the factory LED's & resoldering appropriate value LED's of different color.

I already have ALL the orange LED's in my car switched out for blue:

DS Window Switch
PS Window Switch
Light Switch
Trunk Release
HVAC including blue LCD
Shift Indicator (custom colors P=red/D=green/N=yellow/R=amber/DS=blue)
M3 Gage Cluster (white dial lighting/blue LCD screen)
Ambient Door Strips

Best to do this job with correct tools - like a hot air solder reflow system to ensure that you do not damage any of the surrounding circuit board/components, but it can be done with regular solder iron I expect.

Extra care needs to be taken when removing ambient lighting modules from door panels so as to not break fiber optic line - EZ to snap off the end & then ur SOL

All my work was done by a guy in Texas that some on here may know

Wow a lot more work than I thought. Thanks so much for getting back to me and explaining what it takes!

[SackOHammers]

And be advised. As I recall, that pic posted there is of the regular stock ambient lighting. It was done at night and with the camera settings set low. The pic makes it look much brighter than it was.

I just got this kit. Watch the second video in the description:
https://led-garage.de/2x-2m-el-licht...ed-neon-orange
I didn't have to pay bad shipping as I was just in Europe and picked it up from my friend there.

[RunFlatOut]

I had a look into this way back when I was naïve and thought how hard can it be. It's tough. As said above, it's very hard to say if you'll get any significant improvement out of it, and it'll be very hard not to do do permanent damage to anything. You can actually pop out the door side panel and have a look at the module, it's a little white connector that contains the LED and sits flush to the entrance of the tunnel holding the fiber optical conductor. Accessing it isn't a problem. If I had a spare of the wiring/led/connector, I might have given it a try. But just when I was wondering what to do I found out about EL wire and went that way.

[FramingLogic]

sub'd, I'm quite interested myself. I have a coral red interior, but there have got to be ways to at least make them brighter. Almost thought about making mine white somehow

[RunFlatOut]

Thing is, it's a narrow entrance into the optical tunnel, so you can't use the method of adding more LEDs, like some sellers do where they put 10 LEDS on a flat panel to give you more lumens output. Plus the optical tunnel itself isn't exactly the clearest, shiniest thing in the world, so there's some loss there. Also, if you go for something like de- and -re-soldering a new LED, you'll need perfect alignment to get a benefit. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it really looks like it could be way too much work for way too little result.

[SackOHammers]

As everyone here, and in the other threads you'll find on this forum and others, it's really difficult. And probably not worth it. If you take off your door, you'll see the white connector at the top that goes into the small LED housing. And from there the long LED optical tube connects. It's all small and fragile. I don't see much of an opportunity to update it on my car. As mentioned above, on some newer model years, there is an alternate part number you can order OEM that has a brighter assembly. But it was only available on F30 I think. I went with a $20 solution and put in some EL wire. As I linked above.

[RunFlatOut]

Originally Posted by SackOHammers

As everyone here, and in the other threads you'll find on this forum and others, it's really difficult. And probably not worth it. If you take off your door, you'll see the white connector at the top that goes into the small LED housing. And from there the long LED optical tube connects. It's all small and fragile. I don't see much of an opportunity to update it on my car. As mentioned above, on some newer model years, there is an alternate part number you can order OEM that has a brighter assembly. But it was only available on F30 I think. I went with a $20 solution and put in some EL wire. As I linked above.

How do you like the EL wire? I love mine, the overall effect is so good. I'll probably have to redo the front ones as I relied on pressure only to hold them in, and that works at the back, but opening and closing the doors has resulted in the front EL dropping out of shape.