Heytiggr Posted December 23, 2007 Share Posted December 23, 2007 I am looking forward to doing this mod. I am very comfortable with wiring and everything but not with soldering. I avoid it whenever I can make good connections another way (yes I do know soldering is the best overall but I have never had a problem in all the years I have been avoiding soldering). ANYWAY, those of you that did this mod successfully without soldering...any pics so we can see exactly where you slid and crimped or whatever to the maplight switches? Also, just to be extra safe, once again stating exatly which fuse to pull ahead of time to make sure we don't fry the expensive module? Thanks everyone. I am loving all the help and advice and trail blazing this site has to offer. Hopefully I will soon be able to offer help not just ask for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcTec34 Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 i didnt do any soldering... crimp the diodes to new wire... and use t-clamps from the brown and white wire (in the dome light) to the new wire which will go to the map lights.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heytiggr Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 I undertstand the descriptions - basically - I am just hoping for a picture of where you connected up in the map light housing and wiring so I can make sure to get it right and not blow anything expensive. Pictures are always best. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmarton Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 Just use the existing photos and substitute crimp connectors (Radio Shack, Home Depot) for the soldering. Rather than solder or attach the diodes directly to the contacts, I added another 3-inch piece of shielded wire to the end of the diodes, then just threaded the bare end of the wires underneath the contacts where they meet the plastic housing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eb50 Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 I'm trying to limit mods to the inexpensive ones for now (and install the ones I already bought but don't have on the car yet) as I save up for the IPT 5eat valve body upgrade...then I'll be ready for W.I. The autolumination web site isn't the easiest to navigate. Here's what I currently have in the cabin: Start HERE, then scroll down to 6 LED Super High Flux for the map light bulbs ($9.99 x 2). Next, scroll to 12 LED Two-Face for what I'm using in the front door puddle lights ($11.99 x 2). Finally, scroll to 25 led High Powered SMT Array for the dome light ($24.99). Use the 31mm size for all of them. Total would be $74 for all 5 of them shipped. It looks like the fastwrx dome light has a plastic piece you install inside the lens to position the LEDs. I just used a piece of foam tape behind my LED array and used a small flat blade screwdriver to get position it exactly where I wanted it as I snapped the plastic lens back in place. The foam keeps the LED board pressed against the inside of the lens with some light pressure so it doesn't move. do you know what size us wagon owners need for the hatch bulbs? tia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 Bulb Guide sticky says 912, which cross-references with: 901 904 906 908 909 914 915 916 917 918 920 922 923 926 927 928 939 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_J Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 I plan on doing things differently...LED upgrade for the puddle lights and wagon cargo area. Map lights...instead...will try to find some groovy ambient coloured bulbs. I'm pretty sure Kragen or Pep Boys sells them for cheap. Anybody know where I can get some better quality coloured bulbs for the maps lights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcTec34 Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 haha. sigh. yeah my 36 led cluster is blinding enough. just gave my brother a bunch of green 194 LEDs for his green chevy trailblazer.. looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_J Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Wow...green LED's? Nice I'm probably just gonna buy some cheapy red or blue bulbs to swap the reading lights out. Anybody know where I can get some higher quality colour bulbs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcTec34 Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 how about high quality color leds!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_J Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 They don't fit in the much smaller map bulb connectors? You would have to rebuild the whole piece or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcTec34 Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 i have 6 LED clusters in the maplights... go a few pages back and find the link to autolimination or wahtever.. they have a bunch- just remember 31mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penphoe Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Thanks to mweiner2 and all the others who shared their knowledge for this mod. I just finished mine up this morning. A few things different I did on mine: a) I popped the pins out of the map light plug and swapped them b) I couldn't get my "blob" of solder to stick to the metal tabs of the map light, so I used an "eyelet ring" connector. I secured the rings with the screws next to the "round circles" seen in the pic below. http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/mwiener2/DomeLight011.jpg The rings were large enough that it touches the corner of the metal bar and that's where the electricity flows through. I used a washer to make sure the screw head held the ring down nice and snug! It's nice to have the front of the car illuminated now too! LaterZ! Darren!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lgt_nube Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 I've been waiting for a plan that didn't require soldering :-) But I don't see (or recognize) the "round circles" you mention. How about some clues? Thanks to mweiner2 and all the others who shared their knowledge for this mod. I just finished mine up this morning. A few things different I did on mine: a) I popped the pins out of the map light plug and swapped them b) I couldn't get my "blob" of solder to stick to the metal tabs of the map light, so I used an "eyelet ring" connector. I secured the rings with the screws next to the "round circles" seen in the pic below. The rings were large enough that it touches the corner of the metal bar and that's where the electricity flows through. I used a washer to make sure the screw head held the ring down nice and snug! It's nice to have the front of the car illuminated now too! LaterZ! Darren!! A few photos of the LGT My current ride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penphoe Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Sorry. I didn't take any photos - too lazy. That, and I recycled mweiner2's picture. I'll try to do a quick photochop of what I did. LaterZ! Darren!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penphoe Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 I used this to "connect" the wire to the map light switch, held down by the two screws in the corner. http://www.nexternal.com/afla/images/531638.JPG LaterZ! Darren!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penphoe Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 Alright - here's my poor-man's Photoshop (actually, I used GIMP on a G3 iBook running Kubuntu FTW!) of my mod. I took mweiner2's maplight pic and showed how and where I placed my terminal ring. You can see how I placed the left terminal ring on the left side of the picture. Attached to the end of the terminal ring, I crimped and soldered some thin (18 ga) wire. To the other end of the wire, I soldered the diode as described in the original instructions. I secured the terminal ring to the map light as shown in the attached picture. What I did was use the existing screw to hold the terminal ring to the map light. I made sure that part of the metal ring touched the metal "bar" of the map light circuit. If the metal bar and terminal ring don't touch and make a good contact, the circuit will not be complete and the map light/dome light mod will not work. My particular terminal ring's hole was too big for the screw, so I used a small washer to cover the difference between the screw head and the terminal ring hole. Repeat for the right side and connect things up, and there ya go! A few more required parts than the original write-up, but now you don't have to worry about melting the map light switch! LaterZ! Darren!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heytiggr Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 I just finished doing this on mine - no soldering, switched the wires without cutting. very clearn very cool and now lights in the front and main cabin. Thanks everyone for all your input and suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamarocket630 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Here is a diagram of how I did it. The map lights are still fully independent (map lights do not turn on dome light), and they come on when I turn the dome light on with the override switch. As noted in the first post, I had to reverse the wires in the map light connector. Note how the diagram calls out the "correct" (after reverseing them) wire locations. http://www.freebmw.net/yamarocket630/NABISCO/LGT/1.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
br7sv9x8 Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 The dome light is on always, when set to Door but it works when you turn light off and on but stays on when set to door is there anyway to fix this with out buying a new BIU? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 sounds like you mis-wired it, or fried the switch. My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
br7sv9x8 Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 if so is there anyway to fix it with out buying a new BIU? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcTec34 Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 well, unless you didn't switch those two wires going into the maplights, i wouldn;t think you fried the BIU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
br7sv9x8 Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 i dont know if it fried or not cause when i leave the dome light at the door it just stays on and doesnt turn off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eb50 Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Bulb Guide sticky says 912, which cross-references with: 901 904 906 908 909 914 915 916 917 918 920 922 923 926 927 928 939 I swapped out my hatch bulb but only 5 of the 9 LEDs are lighting up. Hmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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