[Squibby1996]

Hey guys, so I recently upgraded the radio trim to the led one, and had an idea of extending the led's along the dash trim like the red line in the photo.

Has anyone tried this with leds like these? I was going to splice the wires one with the radio trim wires so they only come on at the same time? And would it work or look tacky?
Thanks

[sqwinny]

You aren't the only person. If I can find a vender who would sell me just the leds and connector, I'm sure I could make something work. The trick is getting the same color as the hvac trim. I have an idea, but it would involve buying the door set of ambient leds and taking the strip out to connect to the hvac wire and control through IDrive.

[Onizukachan]

Not opposed to the idea at all as long as it is dim enough to to not interfere with night vision.
For my illuminated center channel I just reused a cup holder led module.

The issue I see with it is that you will need to space out or trim back the trim to provide an area for the light to shine thru/on like the radio does. I’d probably try using a semi opaque white plastic as a light strip and standard 1206 cool white and amber leds.
That’s what my illuminated b pillars have in them.

Best of luck.

[Squibby1996]

Originally Posted by sqwinny

You aren't the only person. If I can find a vender who would sell me just the leds and connector, I'm sure I could make something work. The trick is getting the same color as the hvac trim. I have an idea, but it would involve buying the door set of ambient leds and taking the strip out to connect to the hvac wire and control through IDrive.

Originally Posted by Onizukachan

Not opposed to the idea at all as long as it is dim enough to to not interfere with night vision.
For my illuminated center channel I just reused a cup holder led module.

The issue I see with it is that you will need to space out or trim back the trim to provide an area for the light to shine thru/on like the radio does. I'd probably try using a semi opaque white plastic as a light strip and standard 1206 cool white and amber leds.
That's what my illuminated b pillars have in them.

Best of luck.

Yeah I ended up buying a strip on eBay with 120leds/metre so hopefully don't see individual spots but that what I'm worried about is the led colour not matching.
Was only a few quid so thought it was worth a try and I was gonna splice the wires into the radio trim so hopefully I can dim them the same as those, and if you take the dash silver trim out I could stick it to the back of there which would give the same effect as the radio trim I think. If it works I'll post some pics😂

[sqwinny]

I was able to find this, and shows the f10 with this "upgrade." I'm debating if I should just order it and connect a strip to the HVAC connector for power and all the hard work is done. All I need is one strip however.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/292773376528

[Squibby1996]

Originally Posted by sqwinny

I was able to find this, and shows the f10 with this "upgrade." I'm debating if I should just order it and connect a strip to the HVAC connector for power and all the hard work is done. All I need is one strip however.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/292773376528

Yeah that looks good nearly £70 thought so if the colour doesn't match or brightness a waste of money, I bought some cheap ones from China as I ain't fussed if it doesn't work.

I'm just gonna splice the wires in with the radio trim led wires so they'll come on the same time

[sqwinny]

From the visual, it should connect right on into where under the radio led comfort light. Perhaps a y wire that most people use to retrofit the LCI radio trim will work. I have both on order as a little experiment

[Squibby1996]

Originally Posted by sqwinny

From the visual, it should connect right on into where under the radio led comfort light. Perhaps a y wire that most people use to retrofit the LCI radio trim will work. I have both on order as a little experiment

Yeah hopefully just hoping the led colour matches, still haven't received it yet but as soon as I do I'll update you

[Squibby1996]

So the led arrived today, light colour and brightness luckily is pretty close and works well. Problem is fitting it, for some reason I thought the upper trim was sitting away from the dash like the radio trim allowing it to fit under and glow around it. But it sits flush with the dash.

I guess the other option is cutting the lower dash part away to allow the led to shine out ?

[Onizukachan]

That’s why I was suggesting using a plastic diffuser under it.

[sqwinny]

From what i have looked at by taking my own car apart, we will have to slightly grind away underneath on the trim piece for the light to shine through (thinking little grind wheel to make 1mm of space and fit the led strip just above it

[Squibby1996]

Originally Posted by Onizukachan

That's why I was suggesting using a plastic diffuser under it.

Yeah I just wanted the light to shine like the radio surround so it's the same rather than it glowing through the plastic

[Squibby1996]

Originally Posted by Squibby1996

Yeah I just wanted the light to shine like the radio surround so it's the same rather than it glowing through the plastic

Yeah that's what I was thinking, but the trim towards the door side doesn't have a lot of room so I'm hoping the led isn't exposed

[mia_chem]

Do kindly post pictures of the results if you have any

[Dang3r]

This LED chain crap is way too much. Just change the referring SMD LED into the fairing and you'll get a very clean result with minimum efforts.
View my change from amber/white (aka classic/sport) to blue/white.
There are more colors available and the change had cost me less than 30 minutes plus the intense and brightness is much more visible.

[Ahmaddoski]

Originally Posted by Dang3r

This LED chain crap is way too much. Just change the referring SMD LED into the fairing and you'll get a very clean result with minimum efforts.
View my change from amber/white (aka classic/sport) to blue/white.
There are more colors available and the change had cost me less than 30 minutes plus the intense and brightness is much more visible.

Hello, can you send me the link to leds you used ?

[Dang3r]

Originally Posted by Ahmaddoski

Hello, can you send me the link to leds you used ?

Sure, those are the packings with link onto them to the German supplier.

[eff32fl]

Originally Posted by Dang3r

Sure, those are the packings with link onto them to the German supplier.

Awesome thank you for the information. I've always wanted to upgrade my ambient lighting to blue/white and was about to order a Chinese upgrade kit but this is much better. Would just like to clarify the ones you purchased.

For the door ambient lighting strips:

https://www.benzinfabrik.com/de/led-...htung-fuer-bmw

For the floor board:

https://www.benzinfabrik.com/de/led-...htung-fuer-bmw

I'm not seeing one that can replace the LED strip in the radio trim that enables two colors (white/blue) to replace the OEM white/amber I'm just seeing single color LED strips. Do you know if they sell any 2 color LED strips for this purpose?

[Dang3r]

Those listed are the correct ordered LED modules.

You'll need 4EA (the smaller blacks) for the door linings front/rear and 2EA (bigger whites) for the foot well.

The LED strip at the center dash/radio trim isnt replaceable by LED because this is a LED chain. When you would like to replace this too, you have to find an adequate substitute, until now I hadnt search for one. Would update this as soon as I start to work this out.

[eff32fl]

Originally Posted by Dang3r

Those listed are the correct ordered LED modules.

You'll need 4EA (the smaller blacks) for the door linings front/rear and 2EA (bigger whites) for the foot well.

The LED strip at the center dash/radio trim isnt replaceable by LED because this is a LED chain. When you would like to replace this too, you have to find an adequate substitute, until now I hadnt search for one. Would update this as soon as I start to work this out.

Thanks for the confirmation! I ordered some white/blue LED's and hopefully they'll be in soon.

Also if anyone is wanting to try it, the guy in the video below installs a custom ambient light under the main dash trim using these LED's. His car is an F10 M5 but the gist is the same. Just wanted to share this video in case anyone wants to try expanding their ambient lighting.

[mia_chem]

Originally Posted by eff32fl

Thanks for the confirmation! I ordered some white/blue LED's and hopefully they'll be in soon.

Also if anyone is wanting to try it, the guy in the video below installs a custom ambient light under the main dash trim using these LED's. His car is an F10 M5 but the gist is the same. Just wanted to share this video in case anyone wants to try expanding their ambient lighting.

He uses fiberoptic for the dashboard, like the OEM f30 ambient light. I wonder if that will look good in combination with the aftermarket led ambient light, or if the color / intensity difference will be too large

[eff32fl]

Originally Posted by mia_chem

He uses fiberoptic for the dashboard, like the OEM f30 ambient light. I wonder if that will look good in combination with the aftermarket led ambient light, or if the color / intensity difference will be too large

Yup everything OEM is used except for the custom wiring (and of course the updated LED). You could always turn down the brightness or maybe add a resistor for just the dash light so that one is not as bright.