LED tail light DIY

[tmv]

I'll take one for the team

[deepblonde]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

I have a question about the facelifted models with Brake Force Distribution (BFD)... the BFD signal uses Pulse Wave Modulation (PWM) to modulate the intensity of the tail lights and on the LED lights makes them flicker... this issue is resolved with installing a capacitor that smoothes out the square wave of the PWM and the LEDs stop flickering.

the question is about the programming - there is a line in the LCM programming code that states "LED taillights - nicht active"... I don't remember exact spelling at this moment, i would need to dig up the old file to look it up, but...

I wonder if there is a member who has the LED tail lights, does not have a capacitor (or can remove the capacitor rather easy) and is able to use NCSExpert, could change the line in the programming code to see if the LEDs will stop flickering AND will retain the BFD ability...

Any takers?

When I first put my LED tails in my 2006 X5 a week ago, I had flickering despite having coded the LED tail light option in NCS; and I thought the LED tail lights were too dim ( I could barely see they were on in bright sunshine, although the brake lights were brighter.)
I turned off all cold monitoring as well.
I ended up changing the PCM setting, really just by trying one setting, then test, then try another, until I was happy there that there was no flickering .

[tmv]

Is it possible for you to share your TRC file reading from your LCM? I'd love to check out the setting and compare. Thanks in advance. PM me if you dont want to show it in public.

[deepblonde]

Originally Posted by tmv

Is it possible for you to share your TRC file reading from your LCM? I'd love to check out the setting and compare. Thanks in advance. PM me if you dont want to show it in public.

Ok, tomorrow , it's midnight in my neck of the woods...
Also, even with LED option coded to activ, I don't have two stage brake lights, ie all the brake light LEDs light up regardless of brake pedal pressure.
And changing the PCM value, I've got the tails nice and bright, with no flicker... But I'm not sure if I've got capacitors , if I do , they didn't stop the LEDs from flickering at my X5 original setting...

[jcp240z]

You would have had to install the caps, so if you didn't, then you don't have them. What did you use to do your programming?

[TerminatorX5]

Originally Posted by deepblonde

When I first put my LED tails in my 2006 X5 a week ago, I had flickering despite having coded the LED tail light option in NCS; and I thought the LED tail lights were too dim ( I could barely see they were on in bright sunshine, although the brake lights were brighter.)
I turned off all cold monitoring as well.
I ended up changing the PCM setting, really just by trying one setting, then test, then try another, until I was happy there that there was no flickering .

this is interesting, so somewhere in the programming you managed to remove flickering but it was not the LED-activ...

please do share the file - and there is no personally identifable information in that file, you can post it publicly... unless you still would like to do a PM..

[mrbmwx5]

Originally Posted by flatlander

Tom, Can you also install the rear trunk bottom hatch tail lights with this procedure? I seem to remember a thread in which someone added the taillights on the bottom trunk hatch. Did you do this? If so, were they LEDs?

Yes you need to pop that out to get to lower tail gate lights and yes i did it by added more LEDs in there...

[deepblonde]

Originally Posted by jcp240z

You would have had to install the caps, so if you didn't, then you don't have them. What did you use to do your programming?

Ok, I thought some caps may have already been installed inside the housing due to how the flicker wasn't very bad and almost imperceptible when the brighter brake lights were on.
I just used NCS Expert.

[deepblonde]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

this is interesting, so somewhere in the programming you managed to remove flickering but it was not the LED-activ...

please do share the file - and there is no personally identifable information in that file, you can post it publicly... unless you still would like to do a PM..

Originally Posted by tmv

Is it possible for you to share your TRC file reading from your LCM? I'd love to check out the setting and compare. Thanks in advance. PM me if you dont want to show it in public.

I remember changing this - PWM_ANSTEUERUNG_SL_LHI from value 4 to value 1, which made the tail LED's brighter, but also eliminated the flicker; the lower the number, the brighter it got, and the less flicker I could see...
I'll try to attach trace file...

[tmv]

Thanks for the file deepblonde
I can't read the LCM on my 4.8iS from NCSExpert. This is the error. I can't test the light until I get pass this. Time for some online research.