E30 driver door light fix and LED upgrade Write-Up.
I posted this over on e30tech as well, i know many people here do not check over there. and many people could benefit from this.
My light, if you called it that, never was bright and never worked when my drivers door opened. i got fed up one day and went to work. that day ended in a broken overhead light fixture and no light at all.
i finally figured it out though.
This is for a convertible, But this will work with a coupe which has two seperate light fixtures too.
These are the 3 wires i have. 12v+(red &?) , Always Grnd(Brwn), and switched Ground(brown/purple)
This is what you'll find when you pull out (forcefully) the plugs and switch from the door jamb.
you want the Brown/Purple wire (the one shown with the large white connector. not connected to the switch) it is a tight squeeze through that little hole, so if you can't find it, you may need to remove the panel and speaker to find it.
To fix the problem of the drivers door not opening you simply unplug this big white connector and plug the brown/purple wire straight into the door switch. unplug the original two, and cover the explosed terminal with a spare connector.
now for the light modification:
i destroyed my previous housing and the insides that hold the bulb.
so i went to radioshack to find the brightest leds they have. each is brighter than my original halogen 12v bulb. i Used two.
Mock up the general positioning.
[Each LED is a White LED 3.6V 20mA 1100mcd (RS # 276-320)]
Solder the LEDs together, and put a resistor on the + side. I used a 100-Ohm glue the leds into place (try to keep it even and aimed correctly)
Wiring is as such:
12v+ >> Resistor >> long end of led1 > short end(1) to long end led2 > short end(2) >> ground.
add wires and connectors and loads of hot glue to secure it all (dont be confused, the red explosed wire is the ground side, and the fully black (heatshrunk wire is +++) #-o
replace it and Voila!
Plenty of light.
ENJOY!
**
This was done to a bare (broken) light lense/ switch/ holder. i wish i had the ability to switch it always off or always on as well as door controlled. i will do this when it becomes a problem of only working when the door is opened.
The always ground is not used when plugging in the new LED light, if i added a switch, then it would be used attached to the ground side of the LEDs.
My light, if you called it that, never was bright and never worked when my drivers door opened. i got fed up one day and went to work. that day ended in a broken overhead light fixture and no light at all.
i finally figured it out though.
This is for a convertible, But this will work with a coupe which has two seperate light fixtures too.
These are the 3 wires i have. 12v+(red &?) , Always Grnd(Brwn), and switched Ground(brown/purple)
This is what you'll find when you pull out (forcefully) the plugs and switch from the door jamb.
you want the Brown/Purple wire (the one shown with the large white connector. not connected to the switch) it is a tight squeeze through that little hole, so if you can't find it, you may need to remove the panel and speaker to find it.
To fix the problem of the drivers door not opening you simply unplug this big white connector and plug the brown/purple wire straight into the door switch. unplug the original two, and cover the explosed terminal with a spare connector.
now for the light modification:
i destroyed my previous housing and the insides that hold the bulb.
so i went to radioshack to find the brightest leds they have. each is brighter than my original halogen 12v bulb. i Used two.
Mock up the general positioning.
[Each LED is a White LED 3.6V 20mA 1100mcd (RS # 276-320)]
Solder the LEDs together, and put a resistor on the + side. I used a 100-Ohm glue the leds into place (try to keep it even and aimed correctly)
Wiring is as such:
12v+ >> Resistor >> long end of led1 > short end(1) to long end led2 > short end(2) >> ground.
add wires and connectors and loads of hot glue to secure it all (dont be confused, the red explosed wire is the ground side, and the fully black (heatshrunk wire is +++) #-o
replace it and Voila!
Plenty of light.
ENJOY!
**
This was done to a bare (broken) light lense/ switch/ holder. i wish i had the ability to switch it always off or always on as well as door controlled. i will do this when it becomes a problem of only working when the door is opened.
The always ground is not used when plugging in the new LED light, if i added a switch, then it would be used attached to the ground side of the LEDs.
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