DIY 9 color ambient light kit using idrive control

[BillNguyen]

So after I posted on the “What did you do to your car” post some people had private messages regarding more info about it. So I decided to make this post dedicated to the info and installation of this so-called “9 color ambient light” kit.

As a disclaimer this is a tricky kit to install and I’m not responsible if something goes wrong.

Something to know about this kit

Q: is it brighter this oem
A: yes it is way brighter than the OEM pre-lci ambient

Q:is it as bright as the g series BMW
A:no and yes it depends on how you are tucking in the LED strips

Q: is it an easy install
A: no it is not easy but if you can retrofit the ikon headlight or have the knowledge of how to pin wire in the door wiring harness you can do this there are no instructions in the kit so you’ll have to use intuition.

Q: is it idrive control
A: yes with 2 coding changes can be done with bimmercode and you can also do app control you only have 8 colours idrive screen but in the app you have unlimited colour options, 2 zone controls, rhyme modes, gradient mode, and flashing mode.

Here some pictures

[BillNguyen]

The tools you’ll need.
Screwdriver/flathead
Plastic pry tool
Zip ties
Masking tape
Electrical tape or heat shrink tubing
ratchet set
A needle
Small flathead
A lighter
The ambient kit
Hot glue gun
A small Bungie cord

Here are something to keep in mind before starting this this project. When selecting which kit to buy on Aliexpress: don’t go for the cheapest one. I learned that the hard way the control box would smoke and melt internally. So don’t go for the cheapest option go for one that has decent sale number and decent price around 125 usd and up should be good and while installing if you want to check to see if it workings it ok to check but any exposed pin should be taped off individually than reconnect the battery or else it can short circuit and blow a fuse found that out the hard way and this is not a 1 day install if it your first time installing it so set a down time of about 3 days. As for where to run the wire just run it inside you centre console and under the glove box and steering wheel make sure the wire don’t cover the knee airbag for the rear door card run it under the carpet.

Before you disconnect anything, disconnect the battery and put something over the trunk latch so you don’t lock yourself out of your trunk. Then disassemble every trim that on the centre console except for the arm rest. Than disconnect the ac control and radio control and remove the head unit than both foot well trim below the knee air bags than in the kit you’ll find a really short Y wire that will connect to the idrive controller and the ambient light control box which will split into 4 end each end will have it own wire harness one of them will go to the ac, dashboard, left side of the car and right side of the car. You'll have to play with the witch harness to connect to which of the 4 end to find which zone you want to be the 1 and 2 zone. So for the door lighting is where it gets tricky you have to find the door harness both the interior and exterior harness plug and disconnect it and for the harness that comes with the kit you’ll find the male pin which will be inserted in the interior door harness plug and than same process for the exterior door plug harness you want to run it through the rubber grommet. For rear door card you’ll need to repeat the process same as the front door. Remember that there are 4 different colour wires to make sure they match the one you slotted into the one you did on the interior harness plug. If you have two doors just connect the pin ends together for the rear door card because there is no OEM door harness plug and just put electrical tape or heat shrink to insulate each wire it important that you do or else you’ll short and blow a fuse do ask me how I found that out also the left and right harness there 2 connectors each side for the foot lighting. For the door card you have to remove the oem led and tube filament to make room to feed the led light strips into the oem light location it really tight be gentle or the the light strips will snap important NOTE if you buy the same kit as me you’ll feel that the light strips have one side that bumpy that’s the back of the led and it will shine through the plastic white tube and just an fyi each door card harness split into 3 end so you can do door light, door handle light, and door pocket light it can also have speaker light but you have to buy that kit as it sold separately. That’s all for the install than just put everything back to the way it was and code in bimmercode under headunit>expert mode>colour_switch_enable>10_eintraege and helligkeit ambient>active.

Also if you need any coding help you can ask TheNine90 . He helped me fix my headlight problem, short circuit reset and idrive 6 coding he does great work.

Also thank you to fortythirtyfive for helping me with some questions that I had.

This is the kit I bought

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003823252435.html


This video is to help you find the door plug harness

This video should help you with the pinning process even though it is for the f10 bmw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naBFcPbX_mI