[romanzdk]

Has anyone tried retrofitting “Kidney iconic glow” on F48? Any tips&tricks how to do it?

[mrpingu]

Originally Posted by romanzdk

Has anyone tried retrofitting “Kidney iconic glow” on F48? Any tips&tricks how to do it?

Not so long ago I saw this post: Both ideas based on this approach: https://g07.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1922515


Problem on F48, the edge is of the grill is really small and there is no official parts for this. However it the edge is 6mm so it would fit a 5mm ledstrip glue on to it.

I got a pair of kidneys for 10 EUR on which I will give try but still unsure about the best approach.

Either these between the grill spokes in this edge
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EudNIvF

Or a ledstrip and then use silicon to seal it.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EvGLpNB

Unsure What will give best result and also unsure if the ledstrip likes being driven ar higher voltage from the alternator… So if anyone wants to chime in with a good idea it would be helpful.

[mrpingu]

Originally Posted by mrpingu

Did someone order this type of grill. Double slat version https://www.amazon.in/Car-Craft-X1-F.../dp/B09X7D2PN1 /
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...Cquery_from%3A

I am looking to replace the grill to make a DIY project with Iconic Glow as inspiration on this: https://g07.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1922515.



The thing however is that the original grill has not big enough flat area to fit a led light. (see attached picture)

It looks like those Dual Slat types have bigger area.
1. Is that really true? hard to judge from pictures and aliexpress sellers or not that helpful
2. Can this version separate the outer rim like shown on the video on the first page of this topic (see around 1m43s)

See also above thread. I an still curious to know if some non-OEM versions have slightly bigger edge.

[mrpingu]

Today I received the leds and led strip. Exploring some options:

Led strip
Option1: mount on the edge on top
Option 2: mount sideways in every spoke

Option 3: mount single on top (waiting for holders to come)


I don’t have a 12V power source to test this but i am starting to think that option 2 or 3 will be better than option 1.

Option 2 might be too bright.

[mrpingu]

Getting close on how to approach this the best way.
The best ledstrip to use is:
6mm COB IP67 Ledstrip - link 1 | Link 2

Because alternator is putting out way more than 12V one should use a step down module like MP1584 and configure it on 12V. This way the ledstrip wont die prematurely. I use 2 for every grill one so the current through these doesn’t get to high.


Wiring will be as following:
Splice into power wire to Headlight (pin3, red/yellow) then use an relay to not put extra current on the Headlight fuse.

Parts so far:
1x 6mm IP67 COB ledstrip
2x MP1584
1x relay

Still unsure about top mounted or side mounted. Can you spot the differences in the picture?

The advantage of sidemounted is that it requires no drilling and is this easier to mount with glue. Disadvantage might be viewing as the spokes are lit from one side only but I am unsure how much this is seen when mounted.

[romanzdk]

Looks great! I would personally go with top mount.

Also - I was thinking about actually connecting the wire to some fuse in the fusebox so I do not have to deal with some middleware. Do you think it is feasible as well?

[mrpingu]

Originally Posted by romanzdk

Looks great! I would personally go with top mount.

Also - I was thinking about actually connecting the wire to some fuse in the fusebox so I do not have to deal with some middleware. Do you think it is feasible as well?

Yeah also thinking of that.
Fuse 44 for right Headlight (in case of Led S5A4 and pre LCI and after 2016/2)
Fuse 47 for left headlight (in case of Led S5A4 and pre LCI and after 2016/2)

Problem is the voltage of the generator / alternator. These led strips are domestic use 12V and expect a stable. With 13.9V we are overdriving the ledstrips quite significantly. Unsure What that will do to lifetime bit it willl be reduced quite significanltly.

[mrpingu]

Originally Posted by mrpingu

Yeah also thinking of that.
Fuse 44 for right Headlight (in case of Led S5A4 and pre LCI and after 2016/2)
Fuse 47 for left headlight (in case of Led S5A4 and pre LCI and after 2016/2)

Problem is the voltage of the generator / alternator. These led strips are domestic use 12V and expect a stable. With 13.9V we are overdriving the ledstrips quite significantly. Unsure What that will do to lifetime bit it willl be reduced quite significanltly.

Another thought. If you LED have headlights, the outputs for
Halogen on the BDC are unused. There is kind of voltage control build in the BDC but unsure how it works and if it could be used to drive a LED

[jrveron]

You can sell it on eBay

Originally Posted by mrpingu

Getting close on how to approach this the best way.
The best ledstrip to use is:
6mm COB IP67 Ledstrip - link 1 | Link 2

Because alternator is putting out way more than 12V one should use a step down module like MP1584 and configure it on 12V. This way the ledstrip wont die prematurely. I use 2 for every grill one so the current through these doesn’t get to high.


Wiring will be as following:
Splice into power wire to Headlight (pin3, red/yellow) then use an relay to not put extra current on the Headlight fuse.

Parts so far:
1x 6mm IP67 COB ledstrip
2x MP1584
1x relay

Still unsure about top mounted or side mounted. Can you spot the differences in the picture?

The advantage of sidemounted is that it requires no drilling and is this easier to mount with glue. Disadvantage might be viewing as the spokes are lit from one side only but I am unsure how much this is seen when mounted.

[mrpingu]

Originally Posted by jrveron

You can sell it on eBay

I probably could, heck I even have all parts double so I can sell 1 atleast and earn back the R&D costs

---

While I am waiting on the waterproof COB ledstrip. I put some effort and thoughts where I am going to put everything and how to connect.

I have to scratch the idea of using the BDC directly for driving the LEDs. According to the experts at bimmerferst, the BDC controls voltage using PWM, but only doing so with varying the duty cycle. This would come down to flickering leds.

I however didn't totally abandoned the idea of using the BDC to control the relay. The reason is that, directly tapping into Fuse 44 or Fuse 47 is that as soon the lights are powered the grill is also powered and would mean splicing.

I studied some diagrams and as I have LED headlights, the DRL output for halogens is unused. More specifically
TFL_L on PIN 50 of BDC A258*3B
TFL_R on PIN 38 of BDC A258*3B
(Tagfahrlicht_...)

What does that mean? That means if we can use the BDC to control the lights and we don't have to splice any wires but it would mean coding.

MAPPING_TAGHFAHRL_1_V_L_OUTPUT -> tfl_l [03], then we can use the voltage on this output to switch on the relay.

Another good thing is that we could put the voltage regulator & relay all.
In my case Fuse F48 (AdBlue control module) is not installed, I am thinking to put in a double leaf spring there and then route it to the relay.

In my thoughts this is the cleanest way as the relay & step down voltage converter can be put away somewhere nicely below / behind the glovebox and only need to run a + and - wire through the firewall. I quickly draw a diagram and attached.

[mrpingu]

Progressing slowly.
Things done:

• Made all cutouts in the grill
• Cut LED strips right length and sealed them again.
• Silicon glued them in the grill.

Making the cuts was more time consuming than anticipated.

[romanzdk]

Wow, looks great! Keep us posted

[victorngcm]

I made it this way

[mrpingu]

Originally Posted by victorngcm

I made it this way

Please share the components you used and more close up photos, looks good. Especially how you mounted the lights.