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      01-13-2016, 12:46 AM   #324
Chew
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Drives: 2016 F36
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Virginia

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This DIY is for those who have newer vehicles that DO NOT have the cupholder LED installed from the factory.

So here goes... For those of us who do not have the cupholder LED for a power source, this will give you some instructions on how to source power from the drivers side footwell.

If you just want to power the Radio / AC Bezel, you don't need to create the Y adapter that Dante has created. Instead we'll be creating our own Y cable to get power from the drivers side footwell.

If you want to install the cupholder LED as well, you'll need to order this part, and then follow the rest of Dante's original DIY.
  • 1x 63319242162 - LED MODULE FOR CENTER CONSOLE

Parts List for Bezel Only
  • 4x 61131393723 - Pin Contact
  • 1x 61136925611 - 4 Pin Universal Pin Terminal Uncoded
  • 1x 61132359994 - 4 Pin REP. KIT FOR SOCKET HOUSING
  • 1x 61138377072 - 3 Pin Plug Terminal
  • 10mm Socket Wrench

You'll need x3 22AWG wires at about 2.5ft to run from the foot well to the radio. Additionally we'll need 4 pieces of wire roughly 4 inches long to connect to the light that we disconnected.

I highly recommend a crimping tool for the connectors, as well as a cable stripper if you were planning on using scissors.

Here's a list of stuff I either had on hand or bought for the project.
Also, if you do not care about using BMW OEM connectors, purchase a "Dupont Connector Kit" from Amazon like this...
So now that you've got your supplies, first thing's first. Where are we going to get the switched LED power from?

Well look there! There's a light right under our feet!

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Now take your socket wrench, and unscrew the 2 10mm nuts securing the foot well plastic trim piece above your pedals.
Then from there pull on the left part of the panel to unclip the trim from the dash under the light selector. It should pop right down.

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Now remove the two leads from the trim piece you just pulled down. One goes to the light we'll be tapping in to, the other goes to the BMW Emergency Assist speaker.
We'll be working with the 4 wire shown in this picture.
Below the 4 wires are used as follows (#'s are their pin contact numbers on the plug we just removed from the footwell).
  1. Neutral
  2. 2x Bright (Door Open) LED's
  3. Orange LED
  4. White LED

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Now we've got a look at the tools we'll be using for this DIY.
Below you'll see the pin crimper, cable stripper, my box of stranded hook up wire, and the misc pieces of BMW connectors I ordered.

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Next it's time to make our own Y cable. So take your hookup wire and cut 3 pieces, 2.5 ft in length.
If you're like me and have colored wire awesome, otherwise mark your cable with a sharpie to keep track of which leads are which.

Now we need to make the other side of the Y cable. So take and make 4 additional pieces of wire about 4 inches in length.

You'll notice the longer length only has 3 wires and the shorter length has 4 wires.
This is because the LED in the footwell has 2 additional extremely bright LED's that illuminate when the door is open, and our bezel only needs 3 wires.

Once you have your wires cut, take a small and long wire of the same colors or similar markings, and crimp a pin on to the end as shown below.

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And here's the crimped pin on 2 wires.

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Now on the other end of each short wire, crimp a bushing onto the end.

Here you'll see a pin in a bushing on our lone single short wire.
Additionally, on the other end of each of the 3 long wires, crimp a bushing onto the end.
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Now let's push our pins and bushings into their respective connectors.
If you've made it this far the rest should be a piece of cake!
Time to follow along like a coloring book.
My color choices emulate what each wire is doing.
  • Black is neutral
  • Green is wire for the Door Open LED's
  • White is wire for the White LED
  • Red is the wire for the Orange LED

The picture below plugs into the footwell LED that we removed at the beginning.

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The picture below plugs into the wire that we removed from the LED in the footwell.
You'll notice that this is actually a socket and has our pins that were crimped with 2 wires for black, red, and white.
Green is the solo wire in this connection as again it's only used for the footwell LED.

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In the image below this is what we'll run up from the footwell and connect to either Dante's Y connector, or directly to the LCI bezel.

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Running the cable from the footwell to the radio.
I found it easiest to push the Y cable through the space under the radio left towards the footwell.
If you take a small flash light and point it towards the radio from the footwell you'll easily see where the cable needs to go.
From the radio feed a little of the cable and then from the footwell reach up and grab the cable and pull.
Once you've done all that, plug it all in, reinstall your footwell shroud, and validate that it works!

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And in Classic mode...

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If you made it this far, and have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks for looking, and hopefully it helps you guys out!

Last edited by Chew; 01-13-2016 at 01:35 PM..
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