Update and Night Shots of the Ambient Lighting
 

Hi everyone!

It's been 8+ years on the X5, 128,000 miles, + 5 years on this forum!!! (I lurked for a bit lol), and everything is still working great. A regular oil change every 5000 miles has this car plowing down roads with no sweat. I do think I might change the transmission fluid just as a preventative measure, but so far, it's still acting normal. I will be tackling that and fuel filter that I've had for the past year, but never changed. :rolleyes:

This is a update of my other thread from two years ago.

So, I thought I should add some more ambient lights. So I bought 10 LEDs from ebay for $8 and some wires, and I started ripping out the door panels. :D

The lights under the door wood trim were done before, but I extended the wire so the front doors were in a better position. The front wires for the OEM LEDs are very short. Now I have added lights for the door handle pulls and the door pocket for each door. These were tapped from the existing LED wiring. I also added lighting for the passenger side dash trim with power tapped from the radio, but not so sure I like it there. Am I going overboard with the lighting? :yikes:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...u/IMG_4419.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...u/IMG_4414.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...u/IMG_4411.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...u/IMG_4405.jpg

COOL. Is it red or amber?

Nice work.. You need two more lights for the cups holder.;)

I dont think its possible to go overboard with lighting.

wow
 

so my next mission is this where is the diy? its beautiful:iagree:

Very cool looking....I love the way that looks!

Rich:thumbup:

They are orange. Don't buy Red, Red/Orange, Amber, Orange/Amber, I've tried those and those don't match, just buy orange :thumbup:

I should stick some in my popped off clips! :rofl:

Thanks! I didn't do a DIY, but this will help you:
http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...nt-bmw-x5.html

Look for the LED wire and tap it from there. I ran one eBay LED down to the door pocket and strung it through the screw hole and tightened the screw back in with no problems (I hope). The LED under the wood trim is lit by the original LED which is supposed to be used for the door handle. Between where you see the two intense glows behind the wood trim is where the LED is located. And I ran another eBay LED and jammed it into the light tube for the door handle. To tap, I didn't use any special wire tapping things, I just stripped and tied wires (bought 16 gauge) and bundled it back up with electrical tape. :D

Waaaaay cool!

Very cool. I was in a RR the other night and just admiring all the lighting in the pockets, etc. (maybe bc i had 1 too many jack and cokes lol) Looks very similar here. Love it. Keep up the good work

Now post pictures of where all the lights are mounted!

Were the LEDs you bought designed for 12v or did you have to add resistors for all of them? I've been putting of adding LEDs on just because of a lack of electrical knowledge.

I bought specific 12v LEDs which came prewired. No need for resistors. The last pic shows the door pocket light, which I added a "diffuser" made out of tape (same used in pic 2) and wrapped everything with electrical tape.

I bought the LEDs from this seller: eBay My World - 1michiganger

Some pics for you:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...edu/photo3.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...edu/photo2.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...edu/photo1.jpg

How about those Lights in the Door Handles? I recently got my handles which had hole in it, however the plastic light wiring kind was all broken off. and the bulb doesn't sit in that hole (doesn't stay there) made me so mad I left all them off door covering. There is no Other way then to get once that have all plastic on them right?

Awesome, thanks! I've looked at that seller but was wary of how they advertise 12V LEDs since most only require ~3V. I guess it is fine since nothing has blown up for you.

Also, thanks for pictures of where you mounted them. I'll try and do the same if I decide to take on this project later on.

just did a similar mod using the stock led bulbs.only thing is i wired it to the interior lights.as i was doing the install i thought to myself wait why don't wire this with interior lights that come on with the headlight switch, but it looks like you beat me too it.only question is what wire did you tap into such that they come on when your headlights are on?

Nice,

Where do you tap the power from the radio for the rear doors? In the trunk?

same question i asked.looked into a little bit and i think you tap into this red/gray wire.you can actuallt find it in the wire harness used to move the window up and down.makes sense since that lights up as well with the "radio" lights.gonna give it a try when the extra bulbs i ordered come in