Gents,
I drive an '09 135i which came with the button-less interior dome light for the rear passengers. I would like to install the dome light assembly that has buttons on it as I frequently have back-seat passengers and I'd like to make it less sucky for them. From what I can gather, the assembly with buttons was the default option for 2010+ E82's.. but I haven't confirmed this.
I purchased just the light assembly from e-bay before realizing it could not be installed in my car;
When I pulled down the rear dome light in the 135i, there are two cables, and the long, slim one does not quite fit into the socket of the new light assembly. In addition, the square socket from the existing wiring seems to be carrying power and ground, so connecting the "alarm" socket wouldn't work anyway.
My 09 rear dome light (missing lense... it broke off):
New Dome Light Assembly with buttons:
I realize now there is no way for this half of the assembly to be installed with the current plastic dome light assembly. Still, I would like to test this dome light wiring so that I can purchase the full assembly seen here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-OEM-E82...9ZMmDi&vxp=mtr
So regarding the wiring - thing's I've noticed;
1.) The wiring from the existing dome light is split between two cables. It looks like one cable is for the nonexistent Alarm system, and one cable is power + ground for the single light,
8 wires total;
Power:
2.) The dome light I purchased has a single, white cable going to it with
8 total wires
3.) The cables are SLIGHTLY different colors, but
both assemblies have the same number of wires! There are two green cables on the existing wiring and only one green/black on the new connector, among other differences.
4.) The connectors have different sized "slots" in the bottom, which prevents the old connector from working in the new assembly's socket. Presumably, this means I would have to re-arrange the wiring from the two existing connectors into the single white connector.
5.) Both the existing connection and the new assembly have the same number of wires, and several matching colors.
Does ANYONE have a diagram for the wiring differences? As soon as I realized there were different colored cables I felt a bit over my head with this.
TL;DR - Retrofitting 2010+ rear interior dome lights with assembly that has buttons, how do I do it / is it possible?
Any help/insight is greatly appreciated
-Tom