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FaRKle! · 12-09-2018, 02:41 AM

Light Carpet/Angel Wings

I've always thought the light carpet/angel wings on the 7-series looked cool, and after learning of cheap retrofits from this thread I decided to have a go at it myself.

This is the set of lights I bought. It's advertised as having a Cree LED, but after looking at the various versions of these lights I'm not sure I believe that.

After waiting 3-4 weeks the lights arrived. The mount they come with is meant for pinch welds, which the F30s don't have, so I'd have to be a bit creative with mounting them. Before I started anything I hooked them up to my PSU to test them, and found that at my car's height, I'd want the lights as high up as possible otherwise the pattern would be too small. I decided since the pinch weld mount doesn't work for me anyways I would just remove the emitter assembly from that and bolt that right onto the undertray.

One of the things I had to figure out was how to route the wires from the emitters into the cabin. I knew I wanted to connect them to the door handle light circuit, but had to get the wires to there first. After unbolting the seat, removing the door sil covers, and the lower outside kick panels from the front footwells I found a hole (plugged) that goes through the floor into the cabin. On the driver's side the hole is just underneath the carpet, but on the passenger's side it's under the carpet and a foam spacer. I routed the wires into the cabin there by cutting a slot from the center of the plug to its outside, and then making a smaller cross slot perpendicular to that one in the center so it'd go around the wires coming in.

Routing the wires from emitter into the cabin

Wires coming into the cabin

Now that the light carpet wires were in the cabin the next step was to connect them to the door harness. To start, the outside of the connector has to be detached by lifting up the locking latch on top, and then pulling it off. Then press down on the tab on the top of the connector in the frame and push it inside.

Door electrical connectors separated

To remove the sills inside the cabin just pull up on them. Sometimes the clips they're attached to will come out with them, but most of the time they won't. Use a plastic pry tool to pop them out of the body and slide them back onto the sill plates. Next remove the two under dash panels by removing the two 10mm nuts on each, then pull down on them and out. The side kick panels are next. The latch for the hood release needs to be removed on the driver's side. There's just a single phillips screw in it. The side kick panels have three plastic clips on them (plus a phillips screw for the driver's side), and can be pulled out with a sharp pulling motion. Some of the clips will probably remain in the body and need to be popped out with a pry tool. Once the kick panels are removed there's one more barrier before getting to the door electrical connector on each side. On the driver's side there's the bracket for the OBD2 port and hatch/trunk release. That has three torx screws. On the passenger side is the FEM. There's just a single long torx screw holding it in, but it might help to remove one of the larger connectors on it.

FEM behind passenger side kick panel

Getting the connector out of the body and into the cabin on the driver's side is pretty easy, but on the passenger's side the large FEM makes it more difficult. You'll need to maneuver the FEM and liner behind it out of the way to get the connector out.

Once you have the connector out, remove the blue cover by prying up on the bottom edge where the catch is and sliding it off. This will expose all of the tabs on the pins that keep them in place.

Door electrical connector with blue cover in place

With the cover removed find the pin that supplies the door handle LEDs. I used the wiring diagram on NewTIS to find the connector pinout. This graphic was helpful in understanding the nomenclature of the wiring diagram. The signal for the door handle LEDs is, "OVT," and on my F31 it's pin 30. The wire is gray with a purple stripe on it according to the diagram, but it looks more like white with a purple stripe. You can see this wire in both of the below photos around the middle of the connector.

Driver's side electrical connector

Passenger's side electrical connector

Pin numbering on the inside of the connector

To remove the pin from the connector press down with a jeweler's screwdriver or pick on the triangle tab uncovered by the blue cover and pull the pin out. I soldered the red wire from the light carpet LED to the OVT wire and then heat shrinked it. You can tap into it other ways though too. For the ground the thicker brown wire in the middle row of pins on the connector can be used, but it's pretty difficult to remove that pin. I just soldered the light carpet ground to the ground wire for the Bimmertech soft close kit I added.

To position the emitter on my undertray I had to go a few iterations with raising and lowering the car to see how the pattern would look on the ground. Thankfully my QuickJack lift made that easy. I drilled a hole in the undertray to pass the screw from the bottom up, and put a lock nut on it from the topside of the undertray. I mounted the emitters pretty close to the side edge of the undertray, and positioned them forward enough such that the carpet would lead to the front two doors.

Mounted emitter under car

The results? Well it works. Not nearly as large as the 7-series one, but part of that is a function of how low my vehicle is. Overall I'm still satisfied.

Side view, the carpet goes to about the middle of the rear door

Front view

12-09-2018, 02:41 AM	#35
FaRKle! Brigadier General 4016 Rep 3,539 Posts Drives: 328d Wagon, M2 Comp, i4 eD35 Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Bay Area, CA iTrader: (4) Garage List 2023 BMW i4 eDrive 35 [0.00] 2017 BMW 328dx Wagon [0.00] 2021 BMW M2 Competi ... [0.00]	Light Carpet/Angel Wings I've always thought the light carpet/angel wings on the 7-series looked cool, and after learning of cheap retrofits from this thread I decided to have a go at it myself. This is the set of lights I bought. It's advertised as having a Cree LED, but after looking at the various versions of these lights I'm not sure I believe that. After waiting 3-4 weeks the lights arrived. The mount they come with is meant for pinch welds, which the F30s don't have, so I'd have to be a bit creative with mounting them. Before I started anything I hooked them up to my PSU to test them, and found that at my car's height, I'd want the lights as high up as possible otherwise the pattern would be too small. I decided since the pinch weld mount doesn't work for me anyways I would just remove the emitter assembly from that and bolt that right onto the undertray. One of the things I had to figure out was how to route the wires from the emitters into the cabin. I knew I wanted to connect them to the door handle light circuit, but had to get the wires to there first. After unbolting the seat, removing the door sil covers, and the lower outside kick panels from the front footwells I found a hole (plugged) that goes through the floor into the cabin. On the driver's side the hole is just underneath the carpet, but on the passenger's side it's under the carpet and a foam spacer. I routed the wires into the cabin there by cutting a slot from the center of the plug to its outside, and then making a smaller cross slot perpendicular to that one in the center so it'd go around the wires coming in. *Routing the wires from emitter into the cabin* *Wires coming into the cabin* Now that the light carpet wires were in the cabin the next step was to connect them to the door harness. To start, the outside of the connector has to be detached by lifting up the locking latch on top, and then pulling it off. Then press down on the tab on the top of the connector in the frame and push it inside. *Door electrical connectors separated* To remove the sills inside the cabin just pull up on them. Sometimes the clips they're attached to will come out with them, but most of the time they won't. Use a plastic pry tool to pop them out of the body and slide them back onto the sill plates. Next remove the two under dash panels by removing the two 10mm nuts on each, then pull down on them and out. The side kick panels are next. The latch for the hood release needs to be removed on the driver's side. There's just a single phillips screw in it. The side kick panels have three plastic clips on them (plus a phillips screw for the driver's side), and can be pulled out with a sharp pulling motion. Some of the clips will probably remain in the body and need to be popped out with a pry tool. Once the kick panels are removed there's one more barrier before getting to the door electrical connector on each side. On the driver's side there's the bracket for the OBD2 port and hatch/trunk release. That has three torx screws. On the passenger side is the FEM. There's just a single long torx screw holding it in, but it might help to remove one of the larger connectors on it. *FEM behind passenger side kick panel* Getting the connector out of the body and into the cabin on the driver's side is pretty easy, but on the passenger's side the large FEM makes it more difficult. You'll need to maneuver the FEM and liner behind it out of the way to get the connector out. Once you have the connector out, remove the blue cover by prying up on the bottom edge where the catch is and sliding it off. This will expose all of the tabs on the pins that keep them in place. *Door electrical connector with blue cover in place* With the cover removed find the pin that supplies the door handle LEDs. I used the wiring diagram on NewTIS to find the connector pinout. This graphic was helpful in understanding the nomenclature of the wiring diagram. The signal for the door handle LEDs is, "OVT," and on my F31 it's pin 30. The wire is gray with a purple stripe on it according to the diagram, but it looks more like white with a purple stripe. You can see this wire in both of the below photos around the middle of the connector. *Driver's side electrical connector* *Passenger's side electrical connector* *Pin numbering on the inside of the connector* To remove the pin from the connector press down with a jeweler's screwdriver or pick on the triangle tab uncovered by the blue cover and pull the pin out. I soldered the red wire from the light carpet LED to the OVT wire and then heat shrinked it. You can tap into it other ways though too. For the ground the thicker brown wire in the middle row of pins on the connector can be used, but it's pretty difficult to remove that pin. I just soldered the light carpet ground to the ground wire for the Bimmertech soft close kit I added. To position the emitter on my undertray I had to go a few iterations with raising and lowering the car to see how the pattern would look on the ground. Thankfully my QuickJack lift made that easy. I drilled a hole in the undertray to pass the screw from the bottom up, and put a lock nut on it from the topside of the undertray. I mounted the emitters pretty close to the side edge of the undertray, and positioned them forward enough such that the carpet would lead to the front two doors. *Mounted emitter under car* The results? Well it works. Not nearly as large as the 7-series one, but part of that is a function of how low my vehicle is. Overall I'm still satisfied. *Side view, the carpet goes to about the middle of the rear door* *Front view* Last edited by FaRKle!; 12-09-2018 at 02:55 AM..
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