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Old 08-22-2011, 04:35 PM   #1
geetarspaz
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Default turn off floor lights?

is there a way to turn off the floor lights when opening your doors?
i know you can manually unplug the wire but sometimes i want to use them. sometimes ill have my door(s) open awhile doing work and don't want those lights on the whole time you know?
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Old 08-22-2011, 07:04 PM   #2
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Its a reed switch, A properly placed magnet works on mine.

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Old 08-22-2011, 07:27 PM   #3
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Those footwell lights are a nice touch BMW added a few months after my car was built.

I believe BMW wired them directly to the ZKE as they would have added too much load to the overhead light switch. Have you considered adding a footwell light cut-off switch to the underside panel above the passenger footwell?

I retrofitted an E39 dome light and more electronics to add and gang my footwell lights to the other interior lights. A much simpler thing you could do would be to change your footwell and/or interior lights to LED, to eliminate the stock bulbs' high inrush current. Then you could wire the footwell lights to the other interior lights and not worry about burning out the switch.
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Old 08-22-2011, 07:31 PM   #4
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John, I like your thoughts on putting in LED's and wiring a switch in. I'll look into that.
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Old 08-22-2011, 09:09 PM   #5
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?? ON my 95 they come on with ,, uh,,OOPS! Thats my E46 with the foot lights...

Off to get my meds...

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Old 08-22-2011, 09:11 PM   #6
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Haha, Dave
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Old 08-22-2011, 09:15 PM   #7
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The most noticeable disadvantage of substituting LEDs is that the ZKE's theater-style fading dims them a little (to 10%) and then snaps them off. Before you start rewiring, you might try LEDs in just the footwells or just overhead or both. LEDs in just the footwells might give you something like a Cheshire-cat effect, with your shoes being the last thing to disappear into darkness, after a brief pause.

Last edited by John Firestone; 08-22-2011 at 09:19 PM.
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Old 08-22-2011, 09:21 PM   #8
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I wonder if I can fit any newer BMW foot lights with a switch in place of mine?
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Old 08-22-2011, 09:26 PM   #9
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Do some of the newer footwell lights have built-in switches? If so, which car models?
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Old 08-22-2011, 10:06 PM   #10
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Oh, I'm not sure. I was assuming they would. I know many other cars have that. Simple feature. Same goes for my trunk. I had to take the bulb out.
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Old 08-22-2011, 10:14 PM   #11
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BMW can sometimes be pretty conservative. I'll snoop at some cars the next time I'm at the dealer.
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Old 08-22-2011, 10:21 PM   #12
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I have green LED strip lights in my footwells and i like them I never noticed if they went off after the dome light or not.
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Old 08-22-2011, 11:37 PM   #13
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Led strip ;O
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Old 08-24-2011, 04:47 AM   #14
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What??
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Old 08-24-2011, 05:40 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by geetarspaz View Post
is there a way to turn off the floor lights when opening your doors...

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