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Thread: Calling all Homelink, alarm, mirror, electrical experts!

  1. #1
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    Calling all Homelink, alarm, mirror, electrical experts!

    OK guys and gals, I'm a few glasses into a bottle of Sav Blanc so please bear with me.

    I've been reading all about this issue with using newer mirrors with the Homelink, not being compatible with factory alarm setups, etc... great information was provided by everyone including this post (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...mirror+pin+out) and still I wondered...

    [me wondering - imagine cloud thought above my head]: "why can't we just take the 'alarm' part of the old mirror out, insert it into the new mirror case, feed it power and get the best of both worlds?"

    So i got to crackin cases... Since I can post pix yet, I present to you this:

    This is my 1995 CSi mirror taken apart:
    http://www.taylorpatterson.com/E31/mirror/P1060096.jpg

    You will note the "alarm" portion of the mirror screwed down on the left with a yellow antenna wire along the bottom. The 'switch' for something hanging down in the middle of the mirror and to the right, the opening for the photo sensitive cell that drives the whole dimming feature (I think). Also note the way the wires are separated for some reason - not sure if that's even relevant...

    Next take a look at the innerds of a non-compass, E36 mirror with Homelink: http://www.taylorpatterson.com/E31/mirror/P1060097.jpg

    The IC board looks much more sophisticated of course - it's like 10 years newer. The Homelink unit is to the left, pretty much self contained, only needs power and ground to make it work, yet there's 10 wires total feeding the 10-pin connector, which is identical, by the way, to my 1995 CSi mirror except that the CSi plug only has 9 wires and obviously the wire to pin assignments are a little different. (yes, I know I need to re-solder/fasten that ground connector for the dimming feature to the outside of the mirror (black loose wire). I will take care of that...

    http://www.taylorpatterson.com/E31/mirror/P1060098.jpg shows my 95 mirror with the alarm receiver portion removed and the internal wires/connector spread apart to help identify their colors.

    And finally http://www.taylorpatterson.com/E31/mirror/P1060099.jpg shows the new E36 mirror's internal connector and wire colors.

    Now I know that in Frankie's post about plugging in the newer mirror to the older socket involved switching a couple wires (3 to be exact). He said:

    original 1 (brown) to new 10 (ground)
    original 2 (blue) to new 1 (reverse signal)
    original 3 (yellow/red) to new 3 (power)

    (http://www.frankies-bmw.com/8series/...s_homelink.php)

    So apparently, since there's so many more wires going on in the 95' mirror, I'm assuming they have something to do with feeding the alarm signals that it needs? (when I tried to just unhook the 95' mirror from the car, the alarm sounded and wouldn't go off unless I re-attached the mirror and hit the unlock on the key fob!)

    My goal is to 'integrate' the previous mirror's alarm module, into the new mirror's chassis so I have Homelink AND the alarm receiver in the new mirror.

    So here's the ask to the gurus:

    How do I need to re-wire this thing to allow me to take the alarm module, and mount it inside the new mirror and still feed everything the appropriate signals?

    Thank you in advance for any and all help you can provide!

    Taylor in Cardiff


    Additional Info: This morning I managed to find this at (http://www.baso.no/load.asp?id=85) which appears to be the pinouts for an E39's electrochromic mirror (my newer mirror with Homelink). Looks like pins 4,5,6,7 are used to send dimming signals to the side rearview mirrors. Do any of the E31s have this?

    Now if I could just find the same information about ALL the pinouts of the E31 alarm mirror, then we can try matching them up, splice them together, and see what happens!

    Last edited by taylorpatterson; 05-20-2010 at 09:22 AM. Reason: Additional information

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    You should be able to post pics.

    Try putting [IMG] before and [/IMG] at the end of each one of those links.....

    Might have to re-arrange your text tho...
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    Quote Originally Posted by taylorpatterson View Post
    My goal is to 'integrate' the previous mirror's alarm module, into the new mirror's chassis so I have Homelink AND the alarm receiver in the new mirror.
    I like your can-do spirit! I didn't consider this approach. I was afraid to open up the mirror's plastic case (didn't you break anything?) but did manage to remove the mounting arm, revealing the extensive wiring.

    I played with it for a few days before running out of both time and patience, concluding - correctly I think - that adaptation was not practical for the average end user. This of course does not mean it's impossible.

    Quote Originally Posted by taylorpatterson View Post
    ...Frankie's post...said:

    original 1 (brown) to new 10 (ground)
    original 2 (blue) to new 1 (reverse signal)
    original 3 (yellow/red) to new 3 (power)

    How do I...re-wire this thing..and still feed everything the appropriate signals?
    I'm glad you found my write-up useful. As you've discovered, the mirror has an amazing 10 wires in its harness! Unfortunately, the wiring diagrams account for only five: the three above PLUS terminals 6 and 9, both leading to the anti-theft control module, leaving the remaining five terminals a complete mystery. Bentley manual wiring diagrams for the E39 also do not account for all the mirror's wiring. Strange. I know that some E39's had optional rain sensing wipers operating thru the mirror wiring harness, but this was never an option on the E31. So the known wires in our source connector (in the headliner) look like this:

    1) reverse
    3) power
    6) anti-theft
    9) anti-theft
    10) ground

    From my notes, the Homelink mirror I experimented with had only 9 wires on it, with terminal 2 being unused. However, my stock '97 mirror uses all 10 wires. Someone on this board claims he was able to get the clown nose to light (even though I dismissed it in my write-up). Other than that, you're probably on your own.

    I tried re-routing terminals 6 and 9 on my Homelink mirror but tried only a few combinations. You might have to resort to trial and error, making careful notes of the wiring permutations. This will be time consuming.

    Good luck and keep us posted!

    Frankie
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    The clown nose is simple to wire up, It consist of two wires like most alarm led lights.

    hot/ground

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    So I sampled the voltage off the old mirror and this is the story (long)

    OK so I’m no electrical expert so please bear with me. Objective is to take the remote control module out of the old mirror, install it into the new Homelink mirror (this one came from an E39), and splice the wiring appropriately so everything works. The challenge is harder because the old and new wiring colors are not the same (except for maybe ground) and the new mirror does not appear to have any provision for the remote (pin 2 is absent). Add to that the lack of pin out assignments ANYWHERE for the old mirror and my very much less than complete knowledge of how to read electrical schematics and I’ve got a real big challenge!

    At first I thought why not just move the old remote module and glass over to the new case that has the Homelink and be done with it. And of course, the problem there is the new case is wider than the old mirror glass so DRAT! That would have been the simplest way. It’s possible then to maybe take out the Homelink module, cut some holes in the old mirror case and feed it power from the old harness but the cases being so different, with the manual switch thingy in the old mirror (which I would have to remove), and me not having a stamp cutter, and me not being so good with an Exacto blade, I’m leaving that for a last resort.

    My current approach is, if I were able to take the wiring harness from the old mirror out (probably have to cut and re-splice the wires) and transfer it to the new mirror, then the remote module would work plug and play. I just would have to figure out how to properly feed the new mirror’s power and signal requirements from the old wire harness. Since I DO have pin assignments/colors and schematics for the new mirror (at least I *think* I do) from http://www.baso.no/load.asp?id=85 I’m thinking maybe that would be the best approach.

    Problem is this: It’s a one way ticket. Unless I know what I’m doing BEFORE I do it, when I hook up the batteries, the car will bitch at me that the remote isn’t right and the alarm will sound just like it did when I simply removed the old mirror. So I need some help from people more electrically knowledgeable than me to give me the best chance at getting it right before I start cutting. I don’t have a spare mirror. I am hoping the voltage readings might shed some light on the picture of what’s going on inside these wires, at least enough to signal some confirmation of their purpose. If we can swing this conversion, I will fully document it for all to do it themselves.

    Here are my observations about the voltage readings (using a typical volt meter) on all the mirror pins against ground on pin 10. These were taken without the electrochromic mirror plugged in, just the case’s 10-pin connector (with the remote module) into the receptacle. I took measurements when the car was unlocked and locked, off and in ACC, and also monitored any pins that had a voltage change when actually pressing the lock/unlock/arm button on the key to try to determine all wires’ behavior.

    Pins and voltage readings from the 1995 E31 mirror with remote receiver integrated and the switch for activating the dimming feature.

    PIN color unlocked locked comment
    1 Grey 0 0 goes to 0.5 when ACC is on and 11.89 when in reverse
    2 Red 11.89 11.89
    3 Yellow 0.14 0.14 goes to 11.41 when ACC is on
    4 White 0 0
    5 Green 0 0 quick jump to ~6 volts (& back to 0) when car is locked
    6 Black 0 0 quick jump to ~6 volts (& back to 0) when car is locked
    7 Blue 10.65 10.64
    8 Violet 11.31 11.13 cycles between 11.32 & 11.31 on regular basis
    9 Pink 11.15 11.13
    10 Brown ground

    Posts say that in order to work, one of these pins needs to provide power to the mirror at all times so that it can detect when the key fob is pushed. That looks like pin #2 but could also be pin 7, 8, or 9. Since pin 8 appears to cycle on a tiny draw every second or so, my suspicion was that THAT was the alarm receiver module pulsing some signal out?

    According to the Electrical Manual for the 95 E31, the old mirror has pin 3 coming from fuse 18 and pin 1 coming from the front power distribution box on fuse 17 and is associated with the reverse/backup light signal. What’s with that? Are the mirrors supposed to Undim when you’re in reverse? Pin 1 on the old and new mirror are the same. Also according to the schematic from http://www.baso.no/load.asp?id=85 for the new mirror, pin 2 is an Infrared remote control signal, even though in MY new mirror, there is nothing there. Obviously pin 2 in the old mirror would not mate up like pin 1 because it’s voltage is consistently on – unless you guys think that actually might be accurate, a pin 2 to pin 2 match. See, this is where I know only enough to get into trouble! Here is the E39 new mirror’s schematic:


    Pin 3 is yellow in the old mirror and pin 3 in the new mirror is supposed to be hot in run/start. Pin 8 is violet in the old mirror, has constant voltage in all modes and is the one with the cycling behavior. Pin 8 in the new mirror is supposedly hot all the time. If the fact it pulses in voltage is irrelevant, then pin 8 old to new would be a matchup. Pin 9 is reportedly the LED control for the alarm which is redundant in the form of the center console light but in the old mirror it has constant voltage so that is probably not a match.

    Also the thing I’m trying to wrap my head around is the difference in the auto-dim stuff between the two mirrors. According to the manual: “The mirror gradually darkens to reduce glare whenever the ignition key is in position 2. As glare subsides, the mirror returns to its normal position. Position 0 = the mirror is switched off. Position 1: the mirror is placed in anti-glare position. When put in reverse, the mirror switches to its normal position.”

    So I guess that just means that no matter which position the manual switch on the mirror is in, putting the car in reverse defeats it. And the fact the new mirror has no such manual switch simply means it’s always on, yes? That being the case, perhaps its pin 8 (with the pulsing) that should feed the power to the new mirror’s photocell?

    So I’m left with pins 4, 5, 6, and 7. Pin 4 doesn’t appear to be jack. No voltage in any situation. Pin 5 does a quick jump to about 6 volts when you push the remote button to lock the car then goes back to 0 so this pin is sending some signal out from the module to tell the alarm to arm?
    Pin 6 has the same behavior as pin 5 so what the heck?
    Pin 7 has a pretty constant voltage

    In the schematic of the newer mirror, pins 4 & 5 are paired and pins 7 & 8 are paired. Both sets go to connector X302 and X303 respectively. I suspect they lead to the side mirrors to enable the dimming feature in them when the central mirror detects glare; a feature I’m pretty sure the E31 never came with and I don’t see any similar electrochromic edging in the two side mirrors to indicate they’re capable of dimming. So I’m assuming (in the absence of verification of where connectors X302 and X303 actually go, that’s what they do in E39s (where the new mirror came from). Anyone got an E39 Electrical Manual they can send me or verify from?


    So sorry for the long story but I wanted to put my observations and thoughts out there to see if anyone with more knowledge about these mirrors and their electrical properties could help. Perhaps I’m just over thinking it but if, based on this information and your own, the old harness could just be transferred to the new case and mirror glass, and I can correctly splice in the power/signals to the new mirror’s connector and wires – then life would be good. And we may have solved the Homelink/Alarm mirror integration question once and for all.

    Everyone, I really appreciate if you made it this far and any and all help is surely welcome!

    Taylor
    Last edited by taylorpatterson; 05-21-2010 at 03:22 PM. Reason: Fixed pix

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    Not sure about all this....your way past me on this mod...

    but..I foresee the future.

    BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN RE-INSTALLING THE MIRROR.

    The E31s have the stiffest, crankiest, windshield cracking mount Ive ever seen.
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  7. #7
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    Yes, I am very very careful when working with the mounts. Thanks for the heads up!

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    Quote Originally Posted by taylorpatterson View Post
    ...My current approach is, if I were able to take the wiring harness from the old mirror out (probably have to cut and re-splice the wires) and transfer it to the new mirror, then the remote module would work plug and play....
    I think you're on to something here.

    Forget the pin-out issue. Go with what we know:

    Transfer the old wiring harness to the new mirror. (Easy: dismantle the plug harness on the mounting arm side and pull the wires thru.) Then, mount the old alarm board in the new mirror.

    Next, splice extra wires into the power, ground, and reverse signal (pin 3, 10, and 1 respectively) and run them to the new mirror board. Plug the Homelink into its connector on the mirror board and Voila!

    ============

    BTW: Where did you get that wiring schematic for the E39 mirror? I have the Bentley manual which shows a different (less complete) diagram (page ELE-495).
    Last edited by Frankie; 05-22-2010 at 12:15 AM.

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    Frankie, where on the new mirror board would I solder those 3 leads? Or should I just splice them into their cooresponding old mirror wires?

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    Quote Originally Posted by taylorpatterson View Post
    Frankie, where on the new mirror board would I solder those 3 leads? Or should I just splice them into their cooresponding old mirror wires?
    I'd snip the connector from the new mirror harness and then splice in the 3 leads.

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    Homelink + Alarm Module integration - The operation was a success!!!

    Quote Originally Posted by Frankie View Post
    I'd snip the connector from the new mirror harness and then splice in the 3 leads.
    Finally some success!

    OK so here we go... Mounted the alarm module on the right side of the new mirror and pulled the old mirror's wiring harness through. Because of the way I had to mount the alarm module, I had to actually extend the length of the wiring so it could be fed through to the car's plug.





    Then I wired up like Frankie said, using the new mirror's wire connector. I removed the other six, unnecessary wires from that plug as well.



    Putting car in reverse correctly un-darkens the mirror, the alarm module is fed a constant power signal and receives my keyfob inputs, and the Homelink works perfectly.

    Only problem is because of where I had to add the alarm module, it blocks the light signal from the back of the mirror (facing forward of the car). That results in a constantly darkened mirror, even though reverse temporarily undarkens the mirror.

    Now I have to just figure out how to 'feed' that light diode with natural light from the outside of the mirror. I am thinking of mounting some sort of redirection 'tube' of clear plastic that would be long enough to go around the alarm module and into the back side of the mirror where the diode is.

    Anyone got any clever ideas for that?

    Taylor

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    Wow, Great job! Can you cut/disconnect the feed to the auto dim? I'ts not my best feature of the mirror i guess.

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    Quote Originally Posted by 8eights View Post
    Wow, Great job! Can you cut/disconnect the feed to the auto dim? I'ts not my best feature of the mirror i guess.
    Yeah that's what I thought. I suppose I could just install a quick plug there in case i ever wanted it turned back on again... on the other hand, as much as I hated the original mirror's manual switch used to defeat the 'auto' dim, I wonder if now it might not make use of itself in the new mirror as a way to externally turn it off in case I want to... that is, if I can't figure out an elegant way to somehow redirect outside light around two 90 degree turns!

    I don't want to get crazy with special little mirrors and stuff. I thought maybe some clear plastic with a U-turn bend in it, like the kind used inside the environment control box to move light from its source out to all the little icons... I thought that might work. Just gotta find me a piece of clear plastic with a U-turn small enough to fit but with about 2 inches of length on both ends...

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    Drill a hole in the right spot if on the back? If on the glass side, scrape away the reflective mirror backing?

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    Unfortunately, if that would work it would leave two holes on the front glass part of the mirror. I wanted to drill a hole through the alarm module's IC board but there's not a big enough space in the spot it needs to be.

    What do you guys think about somehow leveraging the on/off mechanism of the reverse signal pin because when in reverse, it certainly undims properly...

    Taylor

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    Fantastic!

    Congratulations on getting this to work. I assume the clown nose works too?

    The reason I failed in my attempt was that I never opened up the mirror case. Since these mirrors are quite expensive ($400-up), I didn't attempt it thinking they were sealed units.

    Please tell us how you got the mirror case open.

    As far as the dimming problem goes, I probably could offer no more advice since I'd have to physically look at the mirror set-up to come up with anything. If you can overcome this problem, then an attractive modification procedure would be at hand!

    Frankie
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frankie View Post
    Fantastic!

    Congratulations on getting this to work. I assume the clown nose works too?

    The reason I failed in my attempt was that I never opened up the mirror case. Since these mirrors are quite expensive ($400-up), I didn't attempt it thinking they were sealed units.

    Please tell us how you got the mirror case open.

    As far as the dimming problem goes, I probably could offer no more advice since I'd have to physically look at the mirror set-up to come up with anything. If you can overcome this problem, then an attractive modification procedure would be at hand!
    The mirror case comes apart quite easily. They use the typical interlocking plastic tab stuff like on the steering wheel housing. Nothing out of the ordinary. Simply find "the weak spot" by pushing into the groove around the mirror housing carefully until you see where the plastic is a little thinner than the rest. That's where a locking tab is. Carefully wiggle in a thin screw driver until you can pry open a section and then I used a plastic putty knife to crack the case open.

    Careful as you don't want to bend or break any of the plastic on the outside. Once you get it cracked open at one end, the rest of the locks should be more easily opened up. Then you're left with the rear housing, the mirror (with electronics on the back) itself and the thin plastic front of the housing which holds in the guts.

    Check first for srews on the outside. My original mirror from the CSi had three screws on the top rear of the housing. That one was easier to get apart.

    The clown nose does not work. I've never seen one in normal operation so what do I expect? Does it light up with the headlights turned on? Is it supposed to flash if the alarm is set (I don't see how unless it was installed in its original car with an OEM alarm).

    Do you know what pin should be the power to it?

    Maybe I can get it working when I take apart the mirror again to work the autodim issue...

    Taylor

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    I hope this helps!
    I use a aftermarket alarm which turns the factory alarm also, There was just a matter of using the clown nose just like any other led, Two wires, One ground and the other positive with pulse signal from the alarm, If you hook constant positive to one side it will stay on like any other light, Anywoo! Here are the pinouts for 2 different highly used Mirror, Having the older car, I only used 3/4 wires and done.

    Pin 1 +12V when car is put in reverse, I believe so AD is disabled while backing up
    Pin 2 +12V Constant source (Power "reciever" for remotes)
    Pin 3 +12V Ignition source (Power AD circuitry)
    Pin 4 O/S (-) Optical Sensor
    Pin 5 O/S (+) Optical Sensor
    Pin 6 O/S (-) Optical Sensor
    Pin 7 O/S (+) Optical Sensor
    Pin 8 ????
    Pin 9 LED kathode (-) This is the clown nose LED
    Pin 10 Ground
    Note: that the O/S pins 4, 5, 6, 7 take up four pins and loop into each other (ie 4/6 and 5/7)

    Pin 1 +12V when car is put in reverse, I believe so AD is disabled while
    Pin 2 -BLANK- NO CONNECTION
    Pin 3 +12V Ignition source (Power AD circuitry)
    Pin 4 +12V Constant source (I-Bus for Assist)
    Pin 5 Parking light +1.5V (used to light the Assist buttons)
    Pin 6 ?????
    Pin 7 +12V Constant source (Power "reciever" for remotes)
    Pin 8 +12V Constant source
    Pin 9 LED kathode (-) This is the clown nose LED
    Pin 10 Ground

    **It seems you only need to hook up 2 new wires if you originally had a clown nose in your car**

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by taylorpatterson View Post
    The clown nose does not work....

    Do you know what pin should be the power to it?
    Doh! Gotta get that clown nose working for the full effect. It should flash in unison with the center console-mounted alarm light, whenever the alarm is armed.

    I'm having trouble following 8eights previous post, but it seems to me that it needs a pulsing power signal to operate, probably from the general module. That means pin 9 or 2, based on your posted wiring diagram. Of course, this assumes that signal is even present in our cars.

    Looks like some trial and error will be required.

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    OK so this brings me back to my voltage testing where PINs 5 & 6 (green & black wires) in my original wiring jumped to ~6 volts and then back to zero when the car was locked with the remote key.

    Could one of those be used to make the clown nose flash when the car is armed? If so, not sure if it would also light up the way the console alarm light would if the car was jimmied with.

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    Did you ever finish this project?

    Sorry to kick this up, but I might be of a little help.

    I ran into much the same problem as you when trying to retrofit a 2007+ compass mirror from a new model BMW into my 1997MY E36 (the mirror you keep refering to as E36 mirror isn't. That mirror didn't even exist yet in time of the E36). E36 got an autodimm/keyless entry mirror only.

    Anyways, to make a long story short, why not simply put the keyless entry receiver somewhere else?

    I put mine under the dashboard and lenghtened the antenna wire, back the the mirror's base under the windshield frame trim and reception is even better than before (at least it looks to be and sure isn't worse).

    Now my compass mirror I used doesn't have the homelink module installed so I might have used that spot to put the remote receiver (would be the most elegant option) but after experiencing how hard it was to open the factory mirror (I read you found it easy) which I luckely didn't break in the end, I didn't dare opening the expensive compass mirror. So for install version 1.0, I put the keyless entry receiver under the dash.

    The rest as you know is easy. The mirror just need +12v switched and ground and everything works.

    Ok the alarm led uses its own +12v and ground. I simply took the 2 wires of the factory alarm led in the center console and routed these to the mirror. So obviously, that makes it to blink in the exact same way as the factory one. Specially the flat alarm led as opposed to the ugly clownnose, looks pretty good.

    You also wrote "What do you guys think about somehow leveraging the on/off mechanism of the reverse signal pin because when in reverse, it certainly undims properly..."

    That won't work. To lever the signal off, the reverse wire must have power, which means the car needs to be in reverse to be able to lever a signal off, which defeats the idea as the mirror has this feed.

    But as you know, it just needs a +12v to pin 1. So you can take any +12v source from the car, wire in a switch and be done with. Preferably laying a new wire you can insert into one of the many comb connectors that are throughout the car.

    Then fit the mirror, get the 2 trimpieces for the base (the none-auto wiper/none-auto light pieces, unless the 8 series came with such an option, which I believe it didn't), get the new style grommet and put it all together.

    You should end up with something looking like this.




    Sidenote: my car came factory fitted with an autodimm/keyless entry mirror and factory alarm, so I already had a 10-wire loom (which I kinda funny as the factory mirror only has 9 pins)
    1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio • Alpinweiί III on Schwarz • German spec • 1 of 12
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  22. #22
    Join Date
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    1994 850CSi #125
    Well yes and no. I got the alarm module mounted into the mirror, used the original car's wiring harness and everything seems to work just fine. I feel kinda stupid in that I never thought of just relocating the alarm module somewhere else although now that I think about it, that would have also involved changing the wiring scheme a bit to take it from the mirror to somewhere else in the car. Probably would have been no biggie but I was looking for something easier.

    So the thing that vexes me is that I don't understand enough about the new mirror's wiring to fix two things: 1) the auto dim is always on b/c the alarm module is physically blocking the light hole from reaching the photovoltaic sensor which tells it how much light there is out there.. Makes driving at night a little daunting. It only goes off when I put the car in reverse (as it's supposed to). So I think I just need to un-solder the cell from the board and use some wires to make it a 'remote' cell, then mount it on the other side of the alarm module.

    2) the red light inside the smaller clown nose thingy doesn't light up when you set the alarm. Not sure if it's supposed to or not but thought I would try to wire that to a signal from the alarm module sometime.

    Probably more work than it's worth but once I started I was on a mission! At least now though I have a Homelink mirror which works just fine. Although I wish I had bought one with the embedded compass. Maybe when I have some $$$ to spare, I can upgrade.
    Taylor in Carlsbad

    P=(p x v3 x Cd x A)/2

  23. #23
    Join Date
    May 2006
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    DE-spec E36 328i/M3 cab
    Quote Originally Posted by taylorpatterson View Post
    Well yes and no. I got the alarm module mounted into the mirror, used the original car's wiring harness and everything seems to work just fine. I feel kinda stupid in that I never thought of just relocating the alarm module somewhere else although now that I think about it, that would have also involved changing the wiring scheme a bit to take it from the mirror to somewhere else in the car. Probably would have been no biggie but I was looking for something easier.

    So the thing that vexes me is that I don't understand enough about the new mirror's wiring to fix two things: 1) the auto dim is always on b/c the alarm module is physically blocking the light hole from reaching the photovoltaic sensor which tells it how much light there is out there.. Makes driving at night a little daunting. It only goes off when I put the car in reverse (as it's supposed to). So I think I just need to un-solder the cell from the board and use some wires to make it a 'remote' cell, then mount it on the other side of the alarm module.

    2) the red light inside the smaller clown nose thingy doesn't light up when you set the alarm. Not sure if it's supposed to or not but thought I would try to wire that to a signal from the alarm module sometime.

    Probably more work than it's worth but once I started I was on a mission! At least now though I have a Homelink mirror which works just fine. Although I wish I had bought one with the embedded compass. Maybe when I have some $$$ to spare, I can upgrade.
    Relocating the remote receiver (keyless entry if you will) is pretty easy. All the wires in the mirror are dedicated to either the mirror or the remote module. Only ground is shared, so you only need to double that wire. As I have a whole E36 loom as a spare, I have plenty of comb connectors to double wires without having to cut or scotch-lock new wires in. So everything is fully reversible (as with all my mods, that is mandatory).

    So all I had to do was to take the wires needed for the remote module, was route them back to under the dash. As they come from under the dash in the first place, makes it easy. Just run the wire back above the sun visor trim (or headliner, which I can't as I have a vert) down the a-pillar and back under the dash.

    And it's definitely more easy than have to make a "remote light sensor" to get the auto dimming to work.

    Of course for now, if I was you I would wire in a switch in any +12v feed and run it to pin 1, so the mirror is always fully bright. If you want it to dimm, just flip the switch. Although in your case, it's either always on full bright, or full dimming more.
    Unless maybe you wire in a potentiometer to control the voltage, if that is how the auto dimming works.
    But still lot of more trouble then just relocating the little module.


    As I used the factory +12v/ground that go to my factory alarm led, the led under the mirror works identical to the original one.

    When locking the car/arming, the led blinks a single time, then goes into the alarm-armed blinking frequency. When a door, boot or trunk (or roof) is open, and you arm it, the led blinks 20 times in a fast frequency, letting you know you left something open.

    And when you arm and press the arm button a second time within a second or 5, this disables the tilt and/ or interior sensor, which the led tells my staying continuously lit up for a couple of seconds, then goes into the normal armed frequency.

    Does yours only not light up when you arm it, or not at all?
    1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio • Alpinweiί III on Schwarz • German spec • 1 of 12
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  24. #24
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
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    1994 850CSi #125
    OK well you got me thinking I should finally fix the auto dim and the problem of my alarm module blocking the photocell sensor so I picked up some photocells at radio shack this afternoon and dismantled the mirror again. Below is the circuit board.

    There are two photocells. One for detecting light coming from the front (the one that's blocked) and one facing to the back of the car detecting headlights behind me.

    I want to simply take this new photocell and wire it into the existing solder joint with enough wire to reach around the alarm module. Then I'll be right as rain.

    However, this being a newer circuit board, it's micro soldered, not easy to just splice in a new one so I don't want to make any mistakes and so I have a few questions.

    As you can see I'm using red arrows to point to where I THINK I need to splice in the new photocell. Yet the factory photocell is mounted on 4 points. But it looks like only two of those points (the red arrows) are electrical. The other two appear to be just mount points.

    In the 2nd photo you can see the same micro photocell but from the opposite side. This is the one that faces to the rear of the car. Same sort of thing, two mount points, two electrical connections.

    Before I solder, does anybody know electrically what the capacitors would do as pointed out by the green arrows and why would they (at least in appearance) be at "the end point" of the electrical connection?

    I hope I'm explaining my question well enough but it looks like they are capacitors (C13, C15, C for capacitor versus R for resistor) I'm assuming, right?

    Do you think it should be safe to carefully solder my new photocell where the red arrows are pointing? And what effect would an extra say six inches of thin wire lead have on the resistance produced by the photocell? Do I need to be concerned about that? Does using a larger photocell help overcome additional resistance by having the extra wires or would that have no effect?
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by taylorpatterson; 09-25-2010 at 08:40 PM.
    Taylor in Carlsbad

    P=(p x v3 x Cd x A)/2

  25. #25
    Join Date
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    DE-spec E36 328i/M3 cab
    Sorry, I have really no clue about the circuitry of the auto-dimming. That's way beyond my knowledge.
    1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio • Alpinweiί III on Schwarz • German spec • 1 of 12
    SMG • SRA • PDC • AUC • OBC • GSM • HK • UURS • IHKA • FGR • MFL

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