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Well the answer is yes and no.
You can put brighter LEDs instead of the oem but the brighter need resistors.
I have done the ambient lights myself.
For The front doors I used the oem LEDs and connect them to the door module since my car is the early version 2004. For the rear LEDs I forgot to order the oems so I put aftermarket orange LEDs. The rear doors do not have module so I tried to connect to the power window switch without resistor assuming that the current is already limited. Well it isn’t because the LEDs burned in a matter of a millisecond !!!
After this situation I bought a 510 resistor and made the connection again. The LEDs light up and stayed on. They are a lot brighter than the originals and I do not know if I like it. It is exciting although !!!
i probably need higher resistors to achieve the oem output but this is try and error.
I wish I could measure somehow the oem resistors !
i could save sometime and be more accurate.
Mid anyone has a way to measure please reply !
My Ride: 05' E61 535d M Sport, carbonscwarz metallic, retrofitted w/ sepang bronze cooled, heated, active backrest "M multifunction" M5 interior. Logic7, LCI tails, style 135 rims, HUD.
Model Year: 2005
Engine: M57D30TÜTOP
I am currently doing this retrofit on my 2005 e61, as I bought an M5 interior that had some of the oem leds and plastic fittings, I did some math, and didn't wanna spend 60$ on new oem leds, so bought regular 3mm leds with a similar color temp and some 680R resistors. But I opened up the original ones to see what was inside:
I see the resistor on the negative terminal, but I'm not sure about the red thing on the positive, as wiring is not something I am so passionate about.
I will do them all with the new ones I bought, so I will not have a way to see the oem brightness, but I hope it is similar. Its been a hell of a journey to install an interior from a sedan into a touring, but its possible, not cheap, but possible. The front seats fit with no problems, but the rear ones are a couple centimeters taller, but narrower, plus I had the heated rear mats, and I wanted to include them.
02-21-2018, 08:08 AM
