My first howto.. be gentle! A very easy mod to provide better lighting in the boot. I have done this on my 2008 Z4 Coupe but it should be pretty much the same on all models.
What you need:
1 metre of 3528 or 5050 LED strip light. Waterproof ones can be had for as little as £1.39 online (eBay)
Small amount of wire. Whatever you have laying around
2 x Breadboard Jumper Wires. I had these from an old electronics project. Optional but makes things easier.
- Remove the light assembly from the boot by pushing down on the top and popping out
- Disconnect the cable and small connector from the main housing (a screwdriver helps).
- Test that your LED strip works before you continue - just poke the cables iinto the sockets on the connector. The side of the socket with the red cable is positive. Note that if you've had the boot open for a while the car will automatically turn the lights off after a while, just lock/unlock on the keyfob to turn back on.
Time to work on the LED strip:
- you need to connect the jumper cables to the fly leads coming off the LED strip. You can either solder or tape them up. I had a soldering iron handy so soldered and heatshrunk them
- if you're not using jumper cables then you could twist them straight and tin them with your iron. You get the idea - just so they can fit in the connector.
Result:
Bonus bit for Coupe owners:
In the Z4C theres a plastic clip thing in the middle of the boot which the parcel shelf clips onto. Routing the LED strip around this would look a bit rubbish so I decided to cut the LED strip and put some cable between the 2 halves. The cable can run under the plastic clip without looking horrible. I dont know if this is required on the roadster but this was probably the most difficult bit. If you have the waterproof LED strip (probably best) then you chop off the silicone to expose the solder pads. Measure the cable and solder it to both halves of the LED strip. Remember to cut the strip exactly on the cut mark (usually every 3 LEDs) so you get solder pads on both sides of the cut and to connect both positive and both negative cables. This video gives you an idea of how to expose the solder pads:
[youtube]NJRMyGo4seM[/youtube]
You should end up with something like this:
With your (almost) completed assembly, line it all up on the plastic strip thing in the boot and see if you have to trim any excess LED strip off the end. On my install it was slightly too long so I snipped off the last 3 LEDs. Now clean up the plastic strip in the boot and remove the self-adhesive on the LED strip. Stick it on and route the cables through the gap in the boot lining to where the light connector is.
Stick your soldered or jumper cables into the connector (red = live) and test it works before poking it back through the liner...
Refit your old light and you too can be the envy of the local teenage population with your "sick" LEDs. Innit.
Thanks to everyone in this thread for the ideas. I just documented it
Jeff
What you need:
1 metre of 3528 or 5050 LED strip light. Waterproof ones can be had for as little as £1.39 online (eBay)
Small amount of wire. Whatever you have laying around
2 x Breadboard Jumper Wires. I had these from an old electronics project. Optional but makes things easier.
- Remove the light assembly from the boot by pushing down on the top and popping out
- Disconnect the cable and small connector from the main housing (a screwdriver helps).
- Test that your LED strip works before you continue - just poke the cables iinto the sockets on the connector. The side of the socket with the red cable is positive. Note that if you've had the boot open for a while the car will automatically turn the lights off after a while, just lock/unlock on the keyfob to turn back on.
Time to work on the LED strip:
- you need to connect the jumper cables to the fly leads coming off the LED strip. You can either solder or tape them up. I had a soldering iron handy so soldered and heatshrunk them
- if you're not using jumper cables then you could twist them straight and tin them with your iron. You get the idea - just so they can fit in the connector.
Result:
Bonus bit for Coupe owners:
In the Z4C theres a plastic clip thing in the middle of the boot which the parcel shelf clips onto. Routing the LED strip around this would look a bit rubbish so I decided to cut the LED strip and put some cable between the 2 halves. The cable can run under the plastic clip without looking horrible. I dont know if this is required on the roadster but this was probably the most difficult bit. If you have the waterproof LED strip (probably best) then you chop off the silicone to expose the solder pads. Measure the cable and solder it to both halves of the LED strip. Remember to cut the strip exactly on the cut mark (usually every 3 LEDs) so you get solder pads on both sides of the cut and to connect both positive and both negative cables. This video gives you an idea of how to expose the solder pads:
[youtube]NJRMyGo4seM[/youtube]
You should end up with something like this:
With your (almost) completed assembly, line it all up on the plastic strip thing in the boot and see if you have to trim any excess LED strip off the end. On my install it was slightly too long so I snipped off the last 3 LEDs. Now clean up the plastic strip in the boot and remove the self-adhesive on the LED strip. Stick it on and route the cables through the gap in the boot lining to where the light connector is.
Stick your soldered or jumper cables into the connector (red = live) and test it works before poking it back through the liner...
Refit your old light and you too can be the envy of the local teenage population with your "sick" LEDs. Innit.
Thanks to everyone in this thread for the ideas. I just documented it
Jeff
