Interior light upgrade (e39 fade on/off lights)

**Dave V** · 08-02-2011, 10:51 AM

I was thinking of changing my interior lights in my e34 to e39 ones, when I had an e39 I liked the ambient lighting and the way the lights faded on and off.

Im fairly sure I'll be ok with the fitting and all that but does anybody know how I can get the lights to fade on and off?

Will I have to get some e39 bits or is there a circuit that I can build to do this for me?

I also want to fit some sort of lights to the bottom of the doorcards to light the ground as you open the door, I always thought it was an nice feature. Im unsure about how I will go about this though as I don't think the e34 door card is wide enough to fit the e39 items in nicely. I was thinking maybe LED strip lights, but they might look kinda shit and I want it all to look factory.

If anyone has any input especially on the fade on/off wiring that'd be great!

**3axap** · 08-02-2011, 11:31 AM

A capacitor can easily create the fading effect. Not sure if there is a central power supply for the lights or if you'd need to install a capacitor at every light socket. As I recall, Shogun had something made up for this purpose, but he used a modulator rather than a capacitor. Its definitely been done though.

**IT Jedi** · 08-02-2011, 01:29 PM

Here is Shogun's kit

It handles led or incandescent bulbs, programmable, well built and easy to install.

**richinvan** · 08-02-2011, 06:34 PM

I was going to mention shogun's stuff - he has an amazing website almost completely dedicated to lighting upgrades on his E32 - all of which applies to the E34.

Make sure you have Google Translate installed.

**Dave V** · 08-02-2011, 08:18 PM

Thanks for the replys!! I pm'd him about it, but I would love to build it myself if anyone had a circuit diagram I'd be grateful!

**sse34** · 08-02-2011, 09:24 PM

Dave check out my thread "Ambient light retrofit **updated**" its in the classified section....

**shogun** · 08-02-2011, 11:59 PM

Dave, a circuit diagram will not help complete, I have also a programmed chip inside.
Even the Ferrari guys like my dimmer module.
copied from Ferrari chat about installation in Ferrari:

I tested many dimmers and studied several electronic schematics. None of them where satisfying enough to be implemented in a Ferrari and especially behind the M032 ECU. Dirtly electronic modules would seriously mess up this ECU! My specs were quite severe: I wanted it programmable and configurable, ground based control (I initialy thought that we would need a +12V based control), almost no power consumption in standby mode, limited heat at the heat sink and a PWM based control (Pulse Width Modulation).

On a good day, I discovered on a BMW forum a guy from Japan who is making what seemed to be the perfect dimmer. I got in contact with him and after many email exchanges and studying his schematics, I got convinced that we have here the right product. His module is entirely programmed using a PIC12F629, just perfect! The MOS FET used is a 2SK3140 using a 4V gate and is attached to a small heat sink.

Here a the characteristics of this dimmer module :

- Support of normal bulbs or additional LED’s
- Maximum control of 200W (15A)
- Standby current drain of 1mA
- A noise signal is applied to prevent line noise from generating false-starts or miss-functioning
- Uses a digital IC (PIC12F629) to realize control by PWM adjustment

The dimmer module has 4 wires
- white : OUT ground to the dome light and LEDs
- yellow : IN delayed ground from the M032 ECU
- red : +12V HOT (module power)
- black : ground (module power)

The dimmer module can be configured using DIL switches :

- SW1 OFF : LED + normal bulbs
- SW1 ON : normal bulbs
- SW2 OFF : Fade In time of 0.5 secs
- SW2 ON : Fade In time of 2 secs
- SW3 OFF – SW4 OFF : Fade out time of 2 secs
- SW3 ON – SW4 OFF : Fade out time of 4 secs
- SW3 OFF – SW4 ON : Fade out time of 6 secs
- SW3 ON – SW4 ON : Fade out time of 8 secs

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=319055

installation instructions
http://www.quebecman.net/e34/InteriorDimmerModule.pdf

have them on stock

also the one touch up and down module for all 4 windows is available ex stock at the moment

**Smokey Bear** · 11-08-2011, 04:09 AM

Having looked at the installation instructions I'm just wondering will this fade off the rear lights also or will they need to be tapped into separately or will another unit need to be used?

**shogun** · 11-08-2011, 05:20 AM

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