AE on when unlocking? 2005 3.0i

patrickkc · #1 04-22-2012, 11:54 PM

IS there a DIY on how to set your AEs to light up when you unlock the door? I know you cannot program it, but it seems people have done it by tapping into their foot well lights. I found some old thread about some harnesses you can buy / make, but being the threads were from years ago, many of the links mentioned in those threads do not work anymore.

I don't know a thing about electrical wiring at all, so if there was a DIY on how to tap the AEs into foot well light, that would be amazing

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sockethead · #2 04-23-2012, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickkc

IS there a DIY on how to set your AEs to light up when you unlock the door? I know you cannot program it, but it seems people have done it by tapping into their foot well lights. I found some old thread about some harnesses you can buy / make, but being the threads were from years ago, many of the links mentioned in those threads do not work anymore.

I don't know a thing about electrical wiring at all, so if there was a DIY on how to tap the AEs into foot well light, that would be amazing

When I bought my Angel eyes for my e46, it came with a harness to tie it into the DME wiring and the foot well lights. The end result is that the AEs come on with the ignition and when opening or unlocking the door. when you lock the door, you get a nice fade effect when they turn off. The harness is available separately and is hight quality.
I never thought of doing it this way until your post but I don't see why it wouldn't work... The only problem I can see is if the system throws warning when those bulbs are disconnected from the system...

here's the link for the harness: eas - CCFL/LED Angel Eye Wiring Harness with Remote Feature

patrickkc · #3 04-23-2012, 07:11 PM

I actually found a similar harness from Umnitza and messaged them about if tapping into the foot well light will work. The reply I got back was that by using the harness will give me a error on my dash. Is there a way to get my angel eyes to light up when I unlock that won't throw any errors?

Mercedes Benz always have had this feature and I had always found it very useful, so when I got the E53 last year,I've been trying to look for a way to have the angel eyes and license plate lights to illuminate on unlock.

Here is the harness I found on the Umnitza website. It looks the same as the one from eas that you posted?

http://www.umnitza.com/wiring-harnes...es-p-1230.html

04X3 · #4 04-23-2012, 08:15 PM

Also interested in this, have a 2004 X3 3.0

relentlessone · #5 04-23-2012, 08:54 PM

I purchased the E46 harness from Khoalty, but never got around to installing it because I couldn't find which wire in the DME to tap. The harness allows you to be connected to a switched power source, but also pull power from the footwell lighting when the car is unlocked. One of these days I will extend the wire and tap a switched power source from the cabin. As for the errors, I know some guys just leave an additional set of bulbs attached to the stock connection, but don't use them to illuminate the AEs. Maybe somebody can chime in on whether resistors would work.

patrickkc · #6 04-23-2012, 09:02 PM

I am a bit confused, because many people that use the harness is for headlights that don't have angel eyes already. They all use those led rings where they have to open up their headlights and install them. I have factory angel eyes already so I think it is different.

sockethead · #7 04-23-2012, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickkc

I am a bit confused, because many people that use the harness is for headlights that don't have angel eyes already. They all use those led rings where they have to open up their headlights and install them. I have factory angel eyes already so I think it is different.

All the harness is doing is providing a different powersource for the existing angel eyes... In other words, you are disonecting the bulbs from the original harness and plugging into the new harness that provids a different power source.

The problem lies in the fact that BMWs have a warning system for when a bulb fails... it lights up on the dashboard. Since the bulbs will be connected to the new harness, the system will think that the bulbs are bad and throw a warning on the dashboard. I didn't know wether the X5's angel eyes did that but apparently they do..

patrickkc · #8 04-23-2012, 10:25 PM

I see, thanks for clarifying

.

So has anybody here been able to do it without it throwing a bulb out on the dashboard? and not by having a bulb hanging out to fool the BMW computer?

patrickkc · #9 04-28-2012, 03:35 AM

Found this DIY on e90post on how to tap factory angel eyes into the foot well lights. Most DIYs I have seen are all from CCFLs which I think have different wires. Maybe somebody here with more electrical wiring knowledge can attempt this on their E53s? It appears that different watt angel eyes will require different diodes. I have 10w Umnitza VXX, so I probably cannot use the same diodes they recommend in the DIY.

I don't know a thing about wiring and keep reading about the different outcomes people are having only confuses me more. I don't even know which one is the angel eyes 12v wire.. lol

*edit*
oops, forgot to post the link

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=388252

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