BMW E36 puddle light and inner handle illumination DIY.

[Joylove]

I bought some MQS and Tyco 2.5mm D system connectors from RS and turned a pile of wires

Into a harness.

Next I used a dremel to grind away some of the reformed wood of the door card, folded in the corners and glued them with superglue.



And fittted some narrow BMW puddle lights.

For some reason the camera won't focus on all this grey. Excuse the wet dusty look, they are wet and dusty.


Next I used a pillar drill to put a 3mm hole in the inner door handles. Note the inner door handles on the coupe/cabrio are different on the back to the sedan. The hole is in the corner you cannot see from the vehicle seats. The angle of the LED shines light forward into the handle, not onto the occupant's thigh.

Fitted the amber 605nm LED and used two diodes to allow either the dash illunination or the interior illumination to light the LED.

Sadly I had to use a "rats nest" wiring and some superglue in this, the glue is a strain relief for the rats nest. Take note of the swing in the aluminium part. It comes really very close to the heat-shrink sleeving on the -ve of the LED.

Quick test.


On then to the vehicle.

Access the door multiplug.

Lever it apart.

Unclip all the clips for the harness from the door, and the unplug the window mtor to give you space to work. Use the semi-rigid black plastic tube. Put the new wires in the tube, squirt the tube with a bit of WD40, slide the rubber boot back until the new wires are revealed.


Pull them through. I also ran some new speaker wires at this time.

And fit and secure.

Much the same on the vehicle side.


Fit the harness to the door.

And the lit handles.


To make the connections to the vehicle harness, use the fan connectors, push the connectors home with a screwdriver (stock photos of this below). There are illumination splces on both side of the car, but only one courtesy light illumination which is on the left side. I took the GND from the 10mm nut grounding point just near the top door hinge with a pair of M6 ring terminal, one for each side.



And the final result.
Door open, LED lit with interior illumination 12V.

Door shut LED lit from max dash illumination 10.2V

Max dimming dash illumination 3V (yes they are on)

Angle from the driver's seat 10.2V


Will try to get some night pictures if the camera will do it.

[MParallel]

Good work again. I have seen the puddle light done before years ago, but never looked into it after that. So there is room between the door and doorsill.

The light you used looks a little but nicer than the stock one like for the footwell lights.

The lit doorhandles have been on my wishlist for ages and I finished them late last year, but hadn't time to hook the lights up.

The only thing I didn't want to do was just drill a hole and stick a led through it. The light this produces I wasn't happy with it.
And not OEM enough for me, untill I found out the X5 has a similar setup.

Not sure if you are familiar with the E38/E39 setup, that uses a transparant piece of plexiglass to direct the light?

You could add chrome doorhandles to reflect more of the amber lighting.

[Joylove]

Good work again. I have seen the puddle light done before years ago, but never looked into it after that. So there is room between the door and doorsill.

The light you used looks a little but nicer than the stock one like for the footwell lights.

The lit doorhandles have been on my wishlist for ages and I finished them late last year, but hadn't time to hook the lights up.

The only thing I didn't want to do was just drill a hole and stick a led through it. The light this produces I wasn't happy with it.
And not OEM enough for me, untill I found out the X5 has a similar setup.

Not sure if you are familiar with the E38/E39 setup, that uses a transparant piece of plexiglass to direct the light?

You could add chrome doorhandles to reflect more of the amber lighting.

For me I took a lot of time to get the LED in the corner you cant see unless you lean forward and bend double. Drilling that wasn't easy. The LED has a fairly narrow viewing angle, so it beams into the handle, not out of it.

The one option I would have prefered were the sort of bezeled long thin LEDs that some manufacturers use. But it would have been too difficult to buy and fit neatly.

A hole drilled and filed smooth with a flat LED that you can't even see unless you go looking for it will do for me.

Not sure I like chrome, I don't have any in the car right now I think.

[MParallel]

...

The one option I would have prefered were the sort of bezeled long thin LEDs that some manufacturers use. But it would have been too difficult to buy and fit neatly.

This is exactly how the E38/E39 lit doorhandles work. They have this bezel as you call it.

I guess I will have to reveal my pics a little earlier, but this is exactly what I have done. It was my hardest mod to date, as it took me a few weeks of prototytping how to get the bezel to fit into the E36 doorhandle. In the end I came up with a design I am happy with. It even used the original BMW led bulb you can click into the bezel, so when you need to change it, you just click it out and insert a new one into the bezel.
It's also behind the dimmer, but I might put it directly on the lightswitch, as I always have the interior lights a bit dimmed, otherwise you can see straight "through" the gauge cluster. BUt I don't want these little lights to dimm as well.

Not sure how you drilled the hole on the puddle light. You say you folded the corners and glued them. Can't you just drill a rectangular hole in the door? The light should then just simply click into thise hole as the light should have a small hook, like the footwell lights/trunk lights.

[MParallel]

btw, how did you pull the car's side door connector back into the interior? Does it fit through the hole in the speaker well? I thought I needed to take out all pins first and that it would only fit from the outside. Man that was so cramped to work in. But you managed to pull it all back.

[adamnur]

Nice diy! I installed amber LEDs into the inner door handles also, and the lower door pockets.

I really wanted to do the outer door handle as well similar to the newer BMWs, but I couldn't see a feasible way without a lot of guesswork for hole placement.

[Joylove]

This is exactly how the E38/E39 lit doorhandles work. They have this bezel as you call it.

I guess I will have to reveal my pics a little earlier, but this is exactly what I have done. It was my hardest mod to date, as it took me a few weeks of prototytping how to get the bezel to fit into the E36 doorhandle. In the end I came up with a design I am happy with. It even used the original BMW led bulb you can click into the bezel, so when you need to change it, you just click it out and insert a new one into the bezel.
It's also behind the dimmer, but I might put it directly on the lightswitch, as I always have the interior lights a bit dimmed, otherwise you can see straight "through" the gauge cluster. BUt I don't want these little lights to dimm as well.

Not sure how you drilled the hole on the puddle light. You say you folded the corners and glued them. Can't you just drill a rectangular hole in the door? The light should then just simply click into thise hole as the light should have a small hook, like the footwell lights/trunk lights.

I wanted to fold the material inside so that no "wood" could be seen on the edges of the hole. Luckily BMW keeps the same thickness of wood all the way through to the E60 and E65 where I sourced these lights from, and the clips are a perfect fit with or without the folded material.

btw, how did you pull the car's side door connector back into the interior? Does it fit through the hole in the speaker well? I thought I needed to take out all pins first and that it would only fit from the outside. Man that was so cramped to work in. But you managed to pull it all back.

Yes the vehicle side comes out through the speaker side.

Nice diy! I installed amber LEDs into the inner door handles also, and the lower door pockets.

I really wanted to do the outer door handle as well similar to the newer BMWs, but I couldn't see a feasible way without a lot of guesswork for hole placement.

There are waiting spaces on my harness for outer door lights and door pocket lights too. I wasn't sure I wanted the latter yet because I don't know the best position for the LEDs. Because the window regulators are coming out soon to be replaced with new ones, and this is a time to remove the outer handles, I'll need the door cards off for the last time and will make a decision what to do at that point, as well as renewing all the butyl tape for the waterproof membrane for the last time.

[tmaxx445]

Yes the e53 x5s do have the puddle lights on the door card and amber LED's in the door handles. They also have cool lights on the underside of the exterior mirrors that come on when the car is unlocked to shine down on the ground before the door is opened. My dad is always giving me a hard time about adding features to my e36 that his 4.8is X5 came with from the factory, but can't close the windows from they key fob and dose not have real metal door handles; but that is about where the list ends of features I have that he does not have. I have all the parts I need to do this including the OEM chrome line metal door handles, bit I have not gotten around to doing this. I can't decide if it is worth it to cut up my door cards to add the puddle lighting or not. I am also going to add amber LED's to the sunglasses tray, storage tray where I place my key to start the car, and possibly the cup holders. This is what I have to use for this project.
http://cgi.ebay.com/20-x-Pre-Wired-12v-5mm-Orange-Amber-LEDs-PreWired-LED-/150610106615?_trksid=p4340.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DS IC%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BF ICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D150588211935%26ps% 3D63%26clkid%3D461889458670918816






tmaxx445

[Joylove]

...

[Joylove]

I was thinking to combine the outer door handle lighting with a puddle light for before the door is opened. Using a lens or a highly directional LED, you could get soft scattered lighting for the door handle and a focused circle on the floor from the same source.

The inner door handles (black ones) are solid aluminium, so still made from metal, so no worries there


The puddle light is actually really useful, a feature I missed a lot from my old A8. I go camping, and it has stopped me stepping out into a muddy nastiness and also been handy when I drop stuff or change my shoes in the dark.

[MParallel]

Yes many think the black handles are plastic, but when I changed mine for chrome a few years ago, I noticed they are metal with a thing plastic-ish coating.

[M3C]

I'm in a process of doing this (puddle and door handle illum.) using original BMW parts with chrome door handle pullers but slightly different way for hanle illumination, will post pics when done.

[JDStrickland]

I'm an idiot. I am not seeing the Puddle Lights. Are these lights that are on the bottom of the door that shine where you are going to be putting your foot when the door is open?

I was reading puddle lights as something that is way to Ricer for my car. I was reading something that lights up the bottom of the car while driving, and I thought, "Yuck..." But after reading this, I think there might be merit if we are talking about lights that come on when the door is open so you can see where your feet are going. I like the lights in the door handle. That part is pretty cool...

[johnf]

... after reading this, I think there might be merit if we are talking about lights that come on when the door is open so you can see where your feet are going....

Yes, that's the ticket, something to light the ground so that you and your passengers don't stomp into puddles.

After a few years wait, I'm about to add my first one on the passenger side while I replace the lock actuator.

[dancerst]

[M3C]

dancerst,
thanks for posting the picture...when you open the door do both side puddle lights turn on or only the one on the open door?

[dancerst]

dancerst,
thanks for posting the picture...when you open the door do both side puddle lights turn on or only the one on the open door?

both of them )

[M3C]

both of them )

It was a pain trying to resolve this as I wanted to have only the open door light on and as soon the door closes the light turns off. Have added relays in order to have this feature. I think it will be cool when finished, almost there.

[dancerst]

It was a pain trying to resolve this as I wanted to have only the open door light on and as soon the door closes the light turns off. Have added relays in order to have this feature. I think it will be cool when finished, almost there.

Actually you don’t need relayes for that, you need diodes.

Take a wire that have +12V on it when key in the 1 position, and find ground wire from the door microswith. Use a diode on ground wire.

[M3C]

Actually you don’t need relayes for that, you need diodes.

Take a wire that have +12V on it when key in the 1 position, and find ground wire from the door microswith. Use a diode on ground wire.

I wanted to have the puddle light even when the key is not in position 1, for example when you get into the car first.
I used relays with diodes combined in order not to load too much the door microswitches and to protect the circuits as well.

[MParallel]

I'm in a process of doing this (puddle and door handle illum.) using original BMW parts with chrome door handle pullers but slightly different way for hanle illumination, will post pics when done.

OK I'm curious.

[johnf]

I had a chance to test an E90 interior light, 63 31 6 972 605, as a puddle light. It has similar dimensions, casts more diffuse light off to the sides but less total light.

[Joylove]

[ame="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130605377081"]Here's [/ame]an interesting little product. 4 LEDs with flexi light pipes.

[MParallel]

^^

I don'tl like how that flex pipe just hangs in there.

[M3C]

BMW did very good in general with E36 M3 but wanted to have some extras that would be unique to this car. If only BMW did this as factory option, how interesting would have been.
So in regards to doors, here we go:
door puddle light, door open warning light, inner door handle ilumination, door pockets ilumination, mirror switch ilumination, door button controls, exterior door handle ilumination.