DIY - E36 window switch retrofit

[robrez]

Here's another example of a 4-door with breaker switch console. Someone above said that the bezels would overlap, but as you can see, it's possible to finesse a good fitment with careful trimming. Blackout sold me a full set of switches and did the trimming.

[Blackout]

Looks awesome buddy.
Cool ashtray too; or should i call it a change holder? since you don't smoke. :)

[browntown]

The coin holder is p/n 72601942786

Joshie, can you rehost the pics for the original DIY?

[Blackout]

He probably won't. I have asked the same question, just so that the DIY would make sense. May be i can help you out. What is the issue?

[browntown]

no issue, actually the new zealand how-to ( http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/...hp/t30907.html ) is pretty well laid out. Was just thinking that DIY's could be easier for newbies to use.

The josh/andrew article is mirrored here: http://strictlyeta.net/technical/e36switches.html the links just need to be updated in our diy.

[e30F]

It's so much easier with pics.

Browntown - thanks for the links!

[crazyman]

Thanks to BDSax and flyboyx I was able to finish my wiring. I was starting to pull my hair out Cus the pig tails I got with the switches were different colored wires then most of the write ups I had seen.

[e30vert]

Anyone know where to get replacement LED bulbs and resistors as is shown in the picture here My Blue base e36 switches have LED's and are fine. My white base have incandescent and they are burnt out and I just want to solder in a set of LED's and resistors.

Any info is appreciated.

[Killacortes]

Pics aren't working :(

[Blackout]

Anyone know where to get replacement LED bulbs and resistors as is shown in the picture here My Blue base e36 switches have LED's and are fine. My white base have incandescent and they are burnt out and I just want to solder in a set of LED's and resistors.

Any info is appreciated.

Radioshack.

[glucklich21]

Those are factory LEDs, not RadioShack.

[browntown]

Well crap, I'll have to add led replacement to my list. So I source this kind of stuff from the local electronic supply house (not radioshack if I can help it) or just order from digikey.

Anyone know the specs of the oem bulbs and resistors? My guess would be a 5mm red led (which run around 2v). So you would then take the difference (12v-2v=10v) and divide by .02 (20ma) = 500 ohm resistor right? Match to wattage and you should be good to go.

I'm sure George or Luke could tell us for sure.

[e30vert]

Well crap, I'll have to add led replacement to my list. So I source this kind of stuff from the local electronic supply house (not radioshack if I can help it) or just order from digikey.

Anyone know the specs of the oem bulbs and resistors? My guess would be a 5mm red led (which run around 2v). So you would then take the difference (12v-2v=10v) and divide by .02 (20ma) = 500 ohm resistor right? Match to wattage and you should be good to go.

I'm sure George or Luke could tell us for sure.

Well done! Although since all diodes (including Light Emitting Diodes) drop .7 volts then I would imagine that .7 should be subtracted and not 2 volts. Also 5 mm LED seems way too large for the space that the original OEM LED mounts in though. More like 1 mm or perhaps 2 mm . Its a small area. Perhaps George can chime in. Paging George ...

[e30vert]

-1988 e30 vert wiring for e36 switches

Just finished sorting out all the wiring for my e36 switch installs.
Used 2 Large White Base e36 Switches for the front and rear driver side windows
2 Large Base Blue Switches for the passenger side front and rear windows

Here is a picture of every wire combination used to make these work.
18 total wiring connections needed to be correctly installed for all the switches to work!




Next I may install aftermarket one touch boxes so that I can drop all the windows with one button.!!!!

[AndrewBird]

So, reading back over my wiring test DIY, I honestly have no idea what I was talking about, so let me simplify a bit.

There should be 4 wires essentially on each switch, power, ground (possibly 2 wires), window up and window down. At rest (no buttons pressed), the window up and window down wires are grounded and therefore, are connected to each other and ground. When a button is pressed, either the window up OR the window down wire is connected to power and is also disconnected from ground.

Some switches have more then 4 wires, but two of them will be ground. The e30 is like this, they have 2 brown ground wires.

Start out by finding the 1 wire on the switch that doesn't connect to the other wires when nothing is pressed. This is your power wire and connects to Green/Grey in your e30.

Next, connect one end of your meter to the wire found in the previous step and while pressing up on the switch, find which wire has continuity. This is the up wire. Do the same with down.

The remaining wire(s) is/are ground. Verify this by checking continuity between it/them and your up and down wires you found earlier. You should have continuity with no buttons pressed and should never have continuity with the power wire.

Here is the e30 wiring, as posted before in this thread:

Power - Green/Grey
Window Up - Black
Window Down - Violet
Ground - Brown (2 wires)