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Few electrical mods DRL's and auto lights on/off with central locking

Discuss your latest mods or ideas, and anything to do with the BMW X5 (E53).
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dpbayly
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Few electrical mods DRL's and auto lights on/off with central locking

Post by dpbayly » Sun Jun 09, 2013 3:27 pm

I was considering this mod after fitting the CCFL's so popped to Maplins and picked up a 5 pin relay, wire, terminals, 2 fuse holders and a couple of diodes then last night set to it, first I had to locate the LCM (light control module) unfortunately no one on the forum replied to my post on it's location but it ended up being easy to find its behind the kick panel in the passener foot well, once I had located it I then needed to find all the wires and power feeds needed to wire up the relay, here's a list of what was needed and where I found it (all found in the passenger footwell):

1- The 2 switched live feeds to the front side lights which are now running my CCFL rings then after tapping into them and fitting in the 2 wires the 2 diodes to ensure there is no feed back issues if these are not fitted it confuses the bulb out system.

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once the diodes are soldered in (the correct way round remember power will only flow one direction) then insulate them I heat shrunk them.

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2- Then I had to find a switched ignition live feed which I found in the fuse box in the glove box there was an empty fuse location which had a switched 12v feed so took it off that which a I put a 10a fuse in the line.

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3- Next I needed to find a constant 12v this I found going to the LCM there's a thick power wire in the lower plug (big red wire bottom left in lower plug) which  tapped into again fused with a 10a fuse.

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4- Now tap into the switched live feed for the passenger side foot well light

5- Finally I needed to locate an earth which conveniently there is an earth point that is positioned right below the LCM behind the kick panel 

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Once all the wires are connected the relay can now be hooked up:

Here's how

pin 85 = earth
pin 86 = Ignition switched 12v fused 10a (from the fuse box)
pin 87a = switched 12v (foot well light)
pin 87 = constant 12v fused 10a
pin 30 = the 2 wires tapped into the switched 12v side light feeds with inline diodes joined together

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Once this is all done your good to go the side light circuit fronts only will now be activated when unlocking when the interior lights come on and also when the ignition is turned on,  and because of the way there wired with the diodes when the side lights are switched on so rears aswell there are no OBD issues also the way there wired through the relay there will be no back feed issues causing the interior lights to come on when the side lights are turned on.

This vid shows the front rings and rear lights on when switched with the light switch then I turn them off before the fronts only come on when the ignition is turned on and once the engine is running I then turn the side lights back on so rears are back on too before turning them off again leaving just the fronts then turn off the engine.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/B7j1V-eQ6kU[/youtube]

This vid shows the rings only coming on when unlocking and going off when locking (being CCFL they take 30secs to get to full brightness) They show as flickering as the come on and go off but I think thats just how the camera picks them up (down to frame rate) they actually fade on and fade off.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/mvOLOa_e-uE[/youtube]
Last edited by dpbayly on Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Greydog
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Re: Few electrical mods DRL's and auto lights on/off with central locking

Post by Greydog » Sun Jun 09, 2013 6:38 pm

DP you have done it again a fantastic modification with a great how to.

I applaud you, young man your energy and ingenuity are amazing.
4.6is X5 Estoril Blue (current)
4.4 X5 Sport Topaz Blue LPG (now gone squashed by a tree)
Subaru Outback 3.0 Rn Star Silver (current)
AMG 6.3 CLS Obsidian Black (sold)

dpbayly
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Posts: 227
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2013 9:05 pm

Re: Few electrical mods DRL's and auto lights on/off with central locking

Post by dpbayly » Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:08 pm

Thanks,

If anyone is interested these are the diodes I used:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/1a-silicon-rectifiers-46385

Also you could carry out this mod to any light i.e. the fogs or dip beam (hid) easiest way is check the wiring colour of the lights you want to connect into for example the side lights I tapped into on the back of the lights they were brown (earth's) and one side grey with a blue strip and black with a green strip then look for them at the LCM the just double check with a multi meter I used a Power Scope but a multi meter will be fine and check the line goes live with the activation of the lights you want.

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