Page 1 of 1

Door reflectors

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:26 pm
by g__humm
Any one know how to change to lights?

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:50 pm
by RUM4MO
I think about doing this to my wife's car now and again, you do know that the parts are available via the dealers - don't you? I would not think that there will be any suitable wiring in there, so that would need to get added. Maybe someone will turn up with a "how to do it" to save us thinking too much about it - this has been discussed in the past.

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:27 pm
by 88rsr
well there must be a 12v feed from the door lock mech when the door is open, which switches off when its shut so youd just tap into that i reckon, easy enough to test with a cicuit tester, earth would be again either using a circuit tester just to see if any bare metal in the door does the job or whether to find the earth wire from the door lock mech

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:00 pm
by blazeguarder
Door Entry Lights Upgrade

I've looked into this as well - only problem with this is it suggests using the interior light for the switched source which isn't really ideal. The standard fit items operate off the central convenience module but as said, there should be some wiring in the door to indicate when it's open. I'm just too lazy to give it a go, but it can't be too hard to get working...

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:18 pm
by chewy
I am wiring mine up to the interior light when I get time.

The early MK6's had lights rather than the reflectors. If you have a late 02 or early 52 you might be lucky and find the wire needed, from 03 on they changed the wiring loom in the door.

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 9:08 pm
by RUM4MO
88rsr wrote:well there must be a 12v feed from the door lock mech when the door is open, which switches off when its shut so youd just tap into that i reckon, easy enough to test with a cicuit tester, earth would be again either using a circuit tester just to see if any bare metal in the door does the job or whether to find the earth wire from the door lock mech
I would suggest that no one ever uses any signal outputs as feeds for filament bulbs as that could be asking for trouble - ie module failure.

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 9:55 pm
by 88rsr
serious? :shock: never woud have thought it would affect it that way, what causes it man im intrigued?

looks like ignore what i said then :lol:

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:05 pm
by blazeguarder
RUM4MO wrote:I would suggest that no one ever uses any signal outputs as feeds for filament bulbs as that could be asking for trouble - ie module failure.
Yeah, thats what's been putting me off. Bit worried that the bulb will blow and that will affect the central locking/alarm etc. To be honest, having them off the interior light isn't really that bad since they are so low in the doors...

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 6:54 pm
by 88rsr
i wouldnt have thought wiring it up in parallel would affect it though, thats why i wanna know what would cause it any problems, basic stuff talking about series and parallel circuits, id never wire anything in series unless it has to be, especially bulbs for the said reason, if it goes it breaks the circuit

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 8:12 pm
by RUM4MO
The way I see it is this, a "signal" line is an output from a controller which should only be expected to drive a few milli amps, a "supply" line is a power source that can drive a few amps - as you will be intending to do to light these bulbs. Trying to use a "signal" line to power a bulb might just work, but I'd expect it to destroy that controllers output stage that you are connecting to a bulb - think about it!

Series and/or parallel circuits just does not come into it as one end of these bulbs will have +12V on it and the other end will have 0v for ON and +12v for OFF - but as a retro fitted part it will probably have 0v on one end permanently and a switched +12v on the other end when ON.

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:22 pm
by 88rsr
ahh get you, im no electrician so i was interested to know, although on my part i suppose it should have been common sense really :oops:

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:32 pm
by wildman_33
My one has the puddle lights in as standard being an 02 plate sport PD100. Surely the parts could be picked up quite easilt from a scrapyard if you can find any 02/52 plate polos

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:39 pm
by g__humm
If some could get the part numbers I could get some as a group buy

Re: Door reflectors

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:59 pm
by chewy
g__humm wrote:If some could get the part numbers I could get some as a group buy
I looked into this a couple of years ago and found that the loom in the door is different