I made the mistake of not looking at the stock bulbs before ordering a set of the festoon type. It was only until I took the assembly off the car did I notice that the festoon type bulbs are the wrong type. But I already had them and thought that perhaps with a little work I can get them to work. The only modification was that I took the existing wires off the socket and extending the positive wire by adding an inch or so, the negative just a little. I tested the connection before soldering because the LED (unlike the 194 bulbs) requires positive/positive and negative/negative to light it up. I soldered the fetoons correctly (see pic) and made sure that I also oriented the direction of the light from the LED array down and toward the plate. That is it. It was rather easy.
Small mod - LED license plate lights
- Thread starter sixspeed
- Start date
I like the LP lights that came with the interior xenon kit off http://www.bimmian.com/vehicle.htm?veh=Z4 They look great and give one sexy look with my plates.
Yeah the black plastic piece (i'm assuming this is the housing your referring to) is the part that drops down. If you have a license plate frame you may have to remove it but otherwise it comes straight down. I'm not even sure you can access it from the trunk. Careful you don't do like me and bend one of the retaining clips completely out of alignment. Thank goodness I had pliers.
BimmerZealot
Member
Lol I messed up the retaining clip too and have no idea how its "supposed" to sit now, anyone got a picture? TIA
I bought a bunch of these mini LED panels to change my interior lights with . It made a huge difference. I used the 12 LED for the dome and 6 for the kick panels. The interior now glows. I did my trunk and lastly my license plate lights. I found this is the easiest way to change the license plate bulbs after reading what other people have done to get them bright white. Even though these things are small they are really bright white. So no tickets for having a tint of blue like those cheap glass covered ones that simulate bright white.
Here is what they look like. They come with almost every bulb adapter type including any you would need for your Bimmer.
Here is what they look like. They come with almost every bulb adapter type including any you would need for your Bimmer.
BimmerZealot
Member
Just wondering, how much were they? I've seen them for anywhere from 10-20$ each
JetBlackZ said:I bought a bunch of these mini LED panels to change my interior lights with . It made a huge difference. I used the 12 LED for the dome and 6 for the kick panels. The interior now glows. I did my trunk and lastly my license plate lights. I found this is the easiest way to change the license plate bulbs after reading what other people have done to get them bright white. Even though these things are small they are really bright white. So no tickets for having a tint of blue like those cheap glass covered ones that simulate bright white.
Here is what they look like. They come with almost every bulb adapter type including any you would need for your Bimmer.
Thanks for the comments guys, I have 0 DIY skills and all the wiring and soldering is far too complicated for me. Especailly I dont have my own garage and there is no way I can somehow get a soldering iron workin at where my car parks.
Anyway, referring to the message by Jet Black, with this option, will we still need to make any DIY modifications? Or will we be able to find the exact replacement for all Dome lights / other interior lights + License plate lights? If they are simply plug and play then it would be perfect... Please advice. THanks.
BimmerZealot
Member
Those are exact replacements, basically they are X style bulb adapters and the separate LED panel plugs into the adapter. So the mock bulb adapter plugs in and then you can mount the panel anywhere. Obviously not usable for the map lights since the surrounds wouldn't fit anything larger then the stock bulb. Footwell, trunk, license plate are a different story.
BimmerZealot said:
What he said, and also for the license plate lights you will need to cut a tiny slit to slide them in place. I used a dremel to cut a 1/4" or smaller slit to allow me to slide the LED panel inside the housing ( you can probably just use a knife)It is just a tad too big to fit without making the slit which I then mounted inside using 2 sided tape ( the tape also comes with the bulb). Everything else is plug and play absolutely Zero skills needed. Well worth the investment IMO.
I was thinking of doing a HOW TO but thought it was a bit too simple.
Funkdude, the interior xenon kit is plug and play as your describing. The only mechanical part is getting the plastic covers out so you can access the bulbs. They can be found on http://www.bimmian.com I'd post pics, but I just can't get any good nighttime pics to show up. I don't know how the brightness compares to the ones mentioned in this thread though.
just ordered a set of Interior Xenon Lighting Kit for the Z4 MC - hopefully these all should fit in perfectly and I will be able to replace them plug and play.
I have removed the License plate black housing before to have a look but i did not know how to dismantle the housing to get access to the bulb... any advice on this?
I have removed the License plate black housing before to have a look but i did not know how to dismantle the housing to get access to the bulb... any advice on this?