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      11-09-2014, 05:08 PM   #1
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My Interior LED Mod experience.

I'm changing out the rustic amber LED's and updating them with a fresh blue.

I wish I could have written a DIY for this but, this is very involved. You must take apart almost everything inside "down to the bones". I wanted to share for others maybe looking to do this.

You need soldering skillz (with a Z). If you never soldered before then I suggest you practice removing and installing surface mount parts on some crappy electronic first!! LEDs are small and also burn fast if you have the soldering iron on them to long. If you do not have great eyes, you should have a magnifying glass.

A digital multi-meter is your Friend!!!!!!! If you set it to the symbol that looks like the diode symbol (LEDs are diodes after all), you can actually make the LED illuminate. The black lead goes to the side of the LED with the corner notched out. BEFORE YOU REMOVE ANY LEDS, FIND OUT THEIR CORRECT ORIENTATION AND MARK IT WITH A SHARPIE PEN. I put some dots on the attached pics that shows orientation and color (if no dot or its on the LED, I don't remember).






This is the PCB with the Hazard Button. Pry up on the little PCB to remove.

This Board had 0603 surface mound LEDs. I was able to make the my size fit. This takes practice!




The Start Button!! This LED goes on it's side. There's two resistors on the side with the LED, remove the smaller one to make it shine brighter




CCC iDrive knob button.






This is the hardest so far.


See the white things? Those have to come off by heating the back side of the PCB until the solder melts. My butane soldering iron has an attachment that blows hot air so I used that. It took about 2 minutes of slow heating to remove each piece but they will come off. These pieces are what makes the capacitive button feature work.


Here, I have the new LEDs along side of where they will be installed between the large pads. Again, I challenged it with a larger size LED then the footprint that's on the PCB.


To mount these pieces back, put some solder the ONE pad (PCB) that is going under the side of the piece with the colored dot. Place it down and put the soldering iron on the METAL right above the colored dot and wait for it to melt. you will feel it drop and you'll know its attached. On the other side of the white piece there is barely any metal showing but its enough to get it hot and flow solder under there. Skillz required on this unit.





HVAC control (with LCD already removed). Blue Dots for Blue and White dots for white. I plan to revisit this.. I would like to put a blue and red LED under the temp band around the knobs..

This is the enclosure for the HVAC LCD. CAREFULLY slide the LCD out (not shown in pictures). It has a very delicate rubber strip that is the conductor. Under that is an orange strip. Use a razor and scrape the orange off. Half done here:

Done!





Heated seats control:

Fun Stuff:



I did not get any pictures of the steering wheel controls. You will need to remove the airbag for that! Read the DIYs and unhook the battery while your doing all this.


Here is the head light control PCB: I didn't do the amber LEDs under the rubber since they cannot be seen anyway. If you haven't done it, now would be a good time to do the "Rear Fog Light Mod"!


Shifter knob



All the hardest parts out of the way!!




The pictures SUCK! Sorry. The blues are much darker and richer. They are also all the same color and uniform (some look lighter and greenish in the pics).
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      11-09-2014, 05:09 PM   #2
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Update: Adding the window controls and ambient door lighting.

Figuring out how to access all the leds is like a puzzle. For the ambient door light, the light module slides out just enough to get to the tabs that lock onto the light pipe. Carefully slide it back (further than shown in the picture).



You can see the tabs that holds it to the light pipe.



And the board. Led stands on end.



The drivers side mirror and window control


Passenger side window control



The ambient lights in the dome light modules are now blue. Sorry but it looks like I never took any pictures. The SOS button is still amber (i think for technical difficulties) but, I like the idea of a life/safety button in amber.


I love it!
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      11-09-2014, 05:14 PM   #3
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So far so good......nice work. In for the finished mod...........Phil
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      11-09-2014, 05:46 PM   #4
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I think it looks awesome! I dont have the "skillz" or time for this...
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      11-09-2014, 06:19 PM   #5
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Looks amazing how did u get that display on ur screen. Looks awesome.
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      11-09-2014, 06:37 PM   #6
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What kind of display is that on your screen? Was that apart of your mod? Looks slick.
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      11-09-2014, 07:13 PM   #7
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Spotify & YouTube? Want!

Nice Blue lights too
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      11-09-2014, 07:21 PM   #8
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Not really digging the color but mad props for the DIY!
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      11-09-2014, 07:44 PM   #9
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Awesome work, you got skillz.

But I kinda like the oem color.
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      11-09-2014, 07:46 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ///M Ryder View Post
So far so good......nice work. In for the finished mod...........Phil
Thanks! Shouldn't be long now! Just have the doors, trunk button, and dome lights to do.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Installsplus View Post
Looks amazing how did u get that display on ur screen. Looks awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Finmysta View Post
What kind of display is that on your screen? Was that apart of your mod? Looks slick.
The ANDROIDPC was my last project I am happy to be finished with lol.
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1030774
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      11-09-2014, 07:55 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cbozz View Post
Not really digging the color but mad props for the DIY!
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdott View Post
Awesome work, you got skillz.

But I kinda like the oem color.
I'm sure the amber will appeal to more folks. My last three BMWs had it and my Pathfinder has it... I'm so happy to have a new color!

Like I said, my photos suck. I'll try and get some good ones soon that show color accurately.
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      11-10-2014, 08:58 AM   #12
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Jesus, talk about a project. I too am a fan of the amber but can respect the amount of work that went into this. You need skillz AND ballz to start messing with the boards. I'm a beginner to intermediate level solderer, but I wouldn't touch this
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      11-10-2014, 09:04 AM   #13
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wow how did you do the screen?
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      11-10-2014, 08:07 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JAdamz View Post
Jesus, talk about a project. I too am a fan of the amber but can respect the amount of work that went into this. You need skillz AND ballz to start messing with the boards. I'm a beginner to intermediate level solderer, but I wouldn't touch this
If you have experience soldering any SMPs (surface mount parts) you could do this. You need a steady hand and a fine point iron.

The proccess for replacing SMPs is something like this for me:
Prep
Inspect the original LEDs first and find which side has the notch out of the corner. Use a marker and put a Good size dot. TAKE A PICTURE (incase the marker gets smudged off). If you are unsure which side is the "notched" side, use the meter.
Removing the LED from the PCB
The side of the LED on the ground-plain usually needs more time to heat up (your heating the metal in the PCB too). It also holds the solder melted longer (keep that in mind). Start there. Put a small bit of solder on the tip of your iron and put it to the part. You'll see the solder get shiny when it is melted then continue to hold it there for a few seconds. Quickly move the iron to the other side of the LED and melt that side. Use a little bit more solder if you have too.. the melted solder will help transfer some of the heat from the iron. Move the iron back and forth QUICKLY from side to side and it will slide right off the pads. Another way would be to use a hot air blower (my butane iron has an attachment), and circle around the LED while SLIGHTLY lifting with tweezers. NEVER PULL OR PUSH ON THE PART WITH ANY FORCE. You are melting the solder so it becomes unattached. When using hot air, use have to be careful it doesn't burn other parts or blow them right off the PCB. Remove one color at a time so it doesn't get confusing.
Installing LED
Clean the pad off with solder wick if needed. Apply a little flux paste (careful not to get it on your mark). Place the LEDs and Solder ONE side and move to the next LED. Soldering one side at a time gives it time to cool between. Don't heat soak the LEDs. If you're not getting it in place within a few seconds, give it a chance to cool and come back. Once you do all of them, do the other side.
Testing
Use the meter on the diode setting and make it illuminate by touching points on the boards (follow the traces). Some of the boards have little round test points that you can use.
Clean
Use rubbing alcohol and Q-Tips to clean up the PCBs. Clean the conductors for the buttons really well!

Thats about the "Long of the short". And don't call me Jesus
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      11-10-2014, 08:17 PM   #15
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I got a few better pictures using a PowerShot camera..



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      11-11-2014, 12:04 PM   #16
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This is awesome!!

What's showing on the screen? Is it from one of the BMW apps?
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      11-11-2014, 12:44 PM   #17
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Dang that's a lot of work! but the outcome was worth it!!! Looks awesome brother!
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      11-11-2014, 01:10 PM   #18
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You do know why BMW went with amber over all other colors, don't you?
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      11-11-2014, 01:45 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MickOpalak View Post
You do know why BMW went with amber over all other colors, don't you?
Yep ! BMW calls it the most Ergonomic color ! ( amber )
BTW....hat off for OP...congrats man !
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      11-11-2014, 02:43 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swifty View Post
This is awesome!!

What's showing on the screen? Is it from one of the BMW apps?
Thanks swifty!
In a nutshell, its an AndroidPC connected to a "BMW multimedia interface". I posted a DIY link how to optimize Android for this a few posts ago.

Quote:
Originally Posted by WickedE93 View Post
Dang that's a lot of work! but the outcome was worth it!!! Looks awesome brother!
Thank you sir! I worry that if any parts fail that I modded (not because I modded it), I would have to mod the new part. Worse yet, if I decide to sell the car, do I do the work again to put it back to amber..?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium View Post
Yep ! BMW calls it the most Ergonomic color ! ( amber )
BTW....hat off for OP...congrats man !
Thank you for the kind words!

Quote:
Originally Posted by MickOpalak View Post
You do know why BMW went with amber over all other colors, don't you?
Honestly, not for sure. If I had to guess, I would say its because amber would be the more desired color among most people.
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      11-15-2014, 09:22 PM   #21
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Looks awesome
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      11-16-2014, 09:18 AM   #22
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Respect! How many hours of labor did this take?
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