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Thread: DIY: Remote Wire (Angel Eyes) Without Footwell Lights

  1. #1
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    DIY: Remote Wire (Angel Eyes) Without Footwell Lights

    Ok, so I decided to set up my remote wire for my angel eyes, I open up my door and I don't have footwell lights, alright now what? I searched around the forums for a while to see how to do this, I read some guide lines of how do to do it but no pictures or details, so I decided to go ahead and make it up as I was going along. Here is the way I installed them, there is many ways to do this.

    I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT GOES WRONG!

    Here goes:
    the red wire is what i plan on using to have my angel eyes lit. ( i just bought it from my local auto parts store) also you need a clip similar to this:


    the other parts needed you should have in a normal too kit.

    i wanted this to look as OEM as possible and hide everything i did

    1. Disconnect the battery


    2. Open up the area for the sun roof/dome lights.
    (just stick a screw driver up there and pry down, the clips are kind of brittle and i broke one, so just be careful, you also don't want to rip your headliner)


    a picture of it opened up:


    3. Look for that little slit up top, I decided to stick the wire through there so i can access the wire easily.



    It comes out the other side by the rear view mirror:


    4. Take out the glove box
    there is one screw on each side of the hinges of the glove box once opened and there is 3 or 4 screws at the top of the box once opened. also there is one final screw next to the door under neath the box.





    Done:


  2. #2
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    5. pull out that bottom plastic part.


    6. next go up to the a pillar.
    get underneath the cover part. these clips are piece is extremely brittle.


    7. unscrew the 3 screws.



    8. pull the pillar away from the door
    and the bottom is snugly clipped in just pull up and it will come out
    once its opened: the rope looking thing is the airbag



    9. i slipped my red wire down with the rest of the airbag and other oem wires and tucked it into the clips



    10. at the bottom of the pillar there is a hole where the airbag wires go into i stick my red wire down into that.
    find the wire under the glove box and try to keep it going along the same path as the airbag wires.





  3. #3
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    11. i stuck the wire through the same hole i used for my fog lights.
    now its in the engine area.



    12. you need a clip like this and hook them together and put the red wire into it and clip it all together.




    13. now all my wiring is done so i decided to tape my red wire to most of the other wires so it looks oem.




  4. #4
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    14. tuck the wire into the headliner



    15. put the glove box and pillar back together


    16. now cut your red wire from hanging from the dome light
    now you need to use that clip to hook the RED/BLUE wire to my red wire ive been using


    tape it up:


    17. now everything should be done now put everything back together including the battery.


    18. enjoy your new remote feature. if you have any problems PM me.


  5. #5
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    Wow Man. AWESOME write up. Alot of people are going to refer to this thread, this is such a common problem.

  6. #6
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    damn sucks you dont have footwell lights, im going to connect them to my foot well . but nice DIY. Keep at it man. sooner or later you will be replacing everything yourself.
    RIP homie TehPandaShow: Loiue

  7. #7
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    There are a couple things I would change with this write up.. but before I post those I do want to say thanks for the great set of photos.

    1) The first thing I would do is avoid scotch-locks. Those blocks that you use to connect 1 wire into an existing line.

    The reason for this is that even if the scotch-lock is the correct size for the wire your attaching to it will cut wires when you clamp it down... that's it's job and that's how it works. By doing that you have opened up the wire insulation and exposed it to the moisture in the air... no biggie for now, but give it time. Exposed wire will always degrade in conductivity over time. Scotch-locks were BANNED from my electricians when I managed an alarm/radio installation store many many years ago in favor of solder and heat-shrink.

    2) You used butt connectors... a bigger no-no than Scotch-locks. These unsealed, uninsulated, unprotected connections will tarnish and eventually oxidize to a green powder if there is any moisture at all. Maybe it was an oversight and you just didn't post it but at the very least it needs to be surrounded in isolation (electrical) tape.

    3) There is a better alternative to Scotch-locks and much less invasive. We call them "little fuse holder thingies with wires hanging out of em" because can never remember the name of them but basically what it does is it replaces a fuse in your fuse box allowing you to double up on a fused location. Just find the fuse for your interior lights and BLAM, tap into that fuse. You won't need to route it up to your headliner.

    I'll try to attach a picture but I'm at work and my firewall may not let me upload.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by DennisStevenson; 04-22-2008 at 08:52 AM.

  8. #8
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    those scotch-locks, seen in step 12 i think your talking about were on my wire before i did anything. it came like that i just added one to connect to. i taped up everything i used and i covered it with some stuff and taped over every wire. nothing is open to the air. let me get you a picture

    i arrowed where the new wire is




    i assumed it was common knowledge to cover and tape up all wires.


    if this is not what youre talking about then i misunderstand what you are talking about


  9. #9
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    great post man


  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by DennisStevenson View Post
    1) The first thing I would do is avoid scotch-locks. Those blocks that you use to connect 1 wire into an existing line.

    2) You used butt connectors... a bigger no-no than Scotch-locks. These unsealed, uninsulated, unprotected connections will tarnish and eventually oxidize to a green powder if there is any moisture at all.

    3) There is a better alternative to Scotch-locks and much less invasive. We call them "little fuse holder thingies with wires hanging out of em" because can never remember the name of them...
    That looks like a Littelfuse brand Add-A-Circuit. You can find them at just about any auto parts store in the electrical aisle. Very handy.

    I concur with your thoughts on Scotch-Loks and uninsulated crimp-on terminals; I have no intention of using Scotch-Loks anywhere on my car if I can help it. For more reliable sources of switched and constant-hot power, I would rather install an auxiliary fuse block than have to hunt for power in the existing wiring.

    Also, regular old electrical tape is probably going to unravel as the heat degrades the adhesive.
    Last edited by G. P. Burdell; 04-23-2008 at 09:26 AM.

  11. #11
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    so you hooked up your angel eyes to your interior lights? i know they will be on when you hit the button on the remote but how do you get them to stay on while driving?


  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by gameboy View Post
    so you hooked up your angel eyes to your interior lights? i know they will be on when you hit the button on the remote but how do you get them to stay on while driving?
    you connect the other remote wire to your ECU. so that way when you turn on your car it goes on.

    http://www.fastm.com/m3/angeleyes.html
    RIP homie TehPandaShow: Loiue

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by G. P. Burdell View Post
    Also, regular old electrical tape is probably going to unravel as the heat degrades the adhesive.
    BMW used it all over their electrical wires going to the sensors. All over for those three wires going into the headlight housing. On both sides of the fender wall under the hood there's tons of it too. I've never seen so much electrical tape being used in any vehicle before.

    I had to redo some of it after 9 years, a lot of them have been unraveling.

    Quote Originally Posted by DennisStevenson View Post
    3) There is a better alternative to Scotch-locks and much less invasive. We call them "little fuse holder thingies with wires hanging out of em" because can never remember the name of them but basically what it does is it replaces a fuse in your fuse box allowing you to double up on a fused location. Just find the fuse for your interior lights and BLAM, tap into that fuse. You won't need to route it up to your headliner
    I think they call those things 'fuse taps.'
    Last edited by genuity; 03-28-2010 at 04:32 PM.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by DennisStevenson View Post
    There are a couple things I would change with this write up.. but before I post those I do want to say thanks for the great set of photos.

    1) The first thing I would do is avoid scotch-locks. Those blocks that you use to connect 1 wire into an existing line.

    The reason for this is that even if the scotch-lock is the correct size for the wire your attaching to it will cut wires when you clamp it down... that's it's job and that's how it works. By doing that you have opened up the wire insulation and exposed it to the moisture in the air... no biggie for now, but give it time. Exposed wire will always degrade in conductivity over time. Scotch-locks were BANNED from my electricians when I managed an alarm/radio installation store many many years ago in favor of solder and heat-shrink.

    2) You used butt connectors... a bigger no-no than Scotch-locks. These unsealed, uninsulated, unprotected connections will tarnish and eventually oxidize to a green powder if there is any moisture at all. Maybe it was an oversight and you just didn't post it but at the very least it needs to be surrounded in isolation (electrical) tape.

    3) There is a better alternative to Scotch-locks and much less invasive. We call them "little fuse holder thingies with wires hanging out of em" because can never remember the name of them but basically what it does is it replaces a fuse in your fuse box allowing you to double up on a fused location. Just find the fuse for your interior lights and BLAM, tap into that fuse. You won't need to route it up to your headliner.

    I'll try to attach a picture but I'm at work and my firewall may not let me upload.
    Hello,

    This is my first post Actually I came from E46Fanatics from a thread I posted here and smith323 posted a link to this site with a solution posted here by DennisStevenson and he is the reason that incited me to join.

    My question to DennisStevenson and you guys is would this solution actually work like the AE would go on with the unlock button and then slowly dim when pressed the lock button with the interior lighting.

    I really don't want to do the whole dome light thing.

    Last edited by KH0; 03-07-2011 at 02:57 AM.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by DennisStevenson View Post
    There are a couple things I would change with this write up.. but before I post those I do want to say thanks for the great set of photos.

    1) The first thing I would do is avoid scotch-locks. Those blocks that you use to connect 1 wire into an existing line.

    The reason for this is that even if the scotch-lock is the correct size for the wire your attaching to it will cut wires when you clamp it down... that's it's job and that's how it works. By doing that you have opened up the wire insulation and exposed it to the moisture in the air... no biggie for now, but give it time. Exposed wire will always degrade in conductivity over time. Scotch-locks were BANNED from my electricians when I managed an alarm/radio installation store many many years ago in favor of solder and heat-shrink.

    2) You used butt connectors... a bigger no-no than Scotch-locks. These unsealed, uninsulated, unprotected connections will tarnish and eventually oxidize to a green powder if there is any moisture at all. Maybe it was an oversight and you just didn't post it but at the very least it needs to be surrounded in isolation (electrical) tape.

    3) There is a better alternative to Scotch-locks and much less invasive. We call them "little fuse holder thingies with wires hanging out of em" because can never remember the name of them but basically what it does is it replaces a fuse in your fuse box allowing you to double up on a fused location. Just find the fuse for your interior lights and BLAM, tap into that fuse. You won't need to route it up to your headliner.

    I'll try to attach a picture but I'm at work and my firewall may not let me upload.
    Hey,

    I just tired it and it does not work

    Now I am thinking to trace the dome light wire to the wiring underneath the glove compartment so I don't have to route the wire all the way through.

    Anyone know the wire color that I should look for?

    Thanks.

    Found a better solution here http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=465564
    Last edited by KH0; 03-10-2011 at 11:33 PM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost

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