Guys. I am very new to the forum and very new to BMWs.
So don't flame me if this DIY sounds stupid to you.
Special thank to intelone for his guidance and expertise.
Background: Bought the car a couple of weeks ago. Car came with the Eagle Eye LED tails installed. But there were a couple of rows not working on the tails and turn signal indicators. Only 3 LEDs were working on the driver side turn signal indicator and two rows of LED were not working on the driver side indicator. I am sure you guys with EE tails have experienced it.
More than an eye sore, it was absolute safety concern.
Instead of buying new tails for ~$200, I wanted to try repair it first.
This is how it looked before the fix:
Cant really see the passenger side tail, but 2 columns were out.
If you have tools, then this DIY will not even cost $20.
Tools:
10mm socket or whatever you want to use.
Philips head screw driver
dremel cutting tool
soldering iron
Multimeter with diode test setting.
Parts and items needed:
Black silicon $5 (ace hardware)
electrical tape $1 (ace hardware)
3m trim adhesive $5 (ace hardware)
de-soldering braid $3 (radioshack)
Amber and Red LEDs 19 cents each(digikey) (I ordered 20 each)
RED : http://search.digikey.com/scripts/D...&y=16&lang=en&site=us&KeyWords=KS-CL0P0AA4-ND
Amber : http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?vendor=0&keywords=KS-CM0Q0264-ND
My purchase sheet:
Time required: ~3 hours depends on how good you are with the dremel.
Take the tail lamps out by pulling the trunk carpet and unbolting the 3 bolts.
There are two wiring connectors that you will have to disconnect to get the tails out of the trunk.
I am sure there is a DIY on this.
This is how the tail lights look after you take it out.
Remove/Peel the weather protection foam slowly. You don't want to tear it out.
I had the top LEDs out on one and the bottom LEDs out on the other side.
Hence I removed only half of the weather protection stuff.
The tails will look like this.
Cut at the middle, follow the gap between the top LED PCB and the bottom one. You can see the LED PCB boards from a little gap in the casing.
Careful with the dremel, you don't want to cut the cables.
Cut along the outer side of the case lining. If you cut it inside the case lining then the gap will not be big enough remove the PCB board.
It will look like the pictures below after you cut the half. I cut the top portion of the driver side/ bottom portion of the passenger side. If you have to work on the both top and bottom LEDs, then you can cut the whole thing out.
Driver's side with the top part cut
Passenger side with the bottom part cut
Remove the 4 screws on the casing.
Remove the 2 screws holding the PCB for the top.
The bottom board is made of two parts. Each held by 2 screws.
The above pictures are with the screws already taken out.
Test the LEDs with multimeter with diode test setting. Test all 4 ports on the LED. The top 2 pins are positive and the bottom 2 are negative. Use Red pin for the top 2 pins and use the black pin for the bottom 2. Didnt take the pictures but its super easy. But you will need both hands, no third hand for the camera
In my case, The turn signal indicator had 5 LEDs out, and the tail light had one LED out. Since the LEDs are connected in series, a single burnt LED takes out the whole row.
Desolder the non working ones.
I didnt take the pictures while desoldering or soldering them. I got a picture from the internet for using de-solder braid to remove the solder.
De-soldering process:
-Let the soldering iron heat up.
-Lay the de-soldering braid over the solder point you want to remove.
-Put the soldering iron on top of the braid(not on the solder). Be careful that the braid is not touching other solder joints on the board, because once it gets hot it might pull out other solder joints too.
-Once enough heat is applied, the solder melts and the de-soldering braid sucks the solder.
-Remove the soldering iron and the braid at the same time from the solder joint.
-This process will leave you with a clean hole to resolder.
Replace them with new LEDs.
Make sure that you put the positives on the TOP and the negative ports at the bottom. You can test the other LEDs on the board and follow the same pattern.
Solder them carefully.
Again, I didnt take he pictures, both my hands were busy
Put the screws to attach the PCB back to the lens housing.
Test them in the car before fitting them all up.
Make sure you clean, the plastic dust from the casing. Use a small vaccum or blow hard. Else you will have plastic dust inside the lens. Ask me how I know :banghead:
After testing, put the cut part back on the lights. I used black silicon to seal it up. Use whatever glue you want to use.
Allow it to dry for at least a couple of hours.
Then seal it up with a layer of electric tape.
Stick the weather protection foam with adhesive.
Put it on the car, connect everything and enjoy all working LEDs and hope you never have to do it again :4ngie:
Finished picture:
So don't flame me if this DIY sounds stupid to you.
Special thank to intelone for his guidance and expertise.
Background: Bought the car a couple of weeks ago. Car came with the Eagle Eye LED tails installed. But there were a couple of rows not working on the tails and turn signal indicators. Only 3 LEDs were working on the driver side turn signal indicator and two rows of LED were not working on the driver side indicator. I am sure you guys with EE tails have experienced it.
More than an eye sore, it was absolute safety concern.
Instead of buying new tails for ~$200, I wanted to try repair it first.
This is how it looked before the fix:
Cant really see the passenger side tail, but 2 columns were out.
If you have tools, then this DIY will not even cost $20.
Tools:
10mm socket or whatever you want to use.
Philips head screw driver
dremel cutting tool
soldering iron
Multimeter with diode test setting.
Parts and items needed:
Black silicon $5 (ace hardware)
electrical tape $1 (ace hardware)
3m trim adhesive $5 (ace hardware)
de-soldering braid $3 (radioshack)
Amber and Red LEDs 19 cents each(digikey) (I ordered 20 each)
RED : http://search.digikey.com/scripts/D...&y=16&lang=en&site=us&KeyWords=KS-CL0P0AA4-ND
Amber : http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?vendor=0&keywords=KS-CM0Q0264-ND
My purchase sheet:
Time required: ~3 hours depends on how good you are with the dremel.
Take the tail lamps out by pulling the trunk carpet and unbolting the 3 bolts.
There are two wiring connectors that you will have to disconnect to get the tails out of the trunk.
I am sure there is a DIY on this.
This is how the tail lights look after you take it out.
Remove/Peel the weather protection foam slowly. You don't want to tear it out.
I had the top LEDs out on one and the bottom LEDs out on the other side.
Hence I removed only half of the weather protection stuff.
The tails will look like this.
Cut at the middle, follow the gap between the top LED PCB and the bottom one. You can see the LED PCB boards from a little gap in the casing.
Careful with the dremel, you don't want to cut the cables.
Cut along the outer side of the case lining. If you cut it inside the case lining then the gap will not be big enough remove the PCB board.
It will look like the pictures below after you cut the half. I cut the top portion of the driver side/ bottom portion of the passenger side. If you have to work on the both top and bottom LEDs, then you can cut the whole thing out.
Driver's side with the top part cut
Passenger side with the bottom part cut
Remove the 4 screws on the casing.
Remove the 2 screws holding the PCB for the top.
The bottom board is made of two parts. Each held by 2 screws.
The above pictures are with the screws already taken out.
Test the LEDs with multimeter with diode test setting. Test all 4 ports on the LED. The top 2 pins are positive and the bottom 2 are negative. Use Red pin for the top 2 pins and use the black pin for the bottom 2. Didnt take the pictures but its super easy. But you will need both hands, no third hand for the camera
In my case, The turn signal indicator had 5 LEDs out, and the tail light had one LED out. Since the LEDs are connected in series, a single burnt LED takes out the whole row.
Desolder the non working ones.
I didnt take the pictures while desoldering or soldering them. I got a picture from the internet for using de-solder braid to remove the solder.
De-soldering process:
-Let the soldering iron heat up.
-Lay the de-soldering braid over the solder point you want to remove.
-Put the soldering iron on top of the braid(not on the solder). Be careful that the braid is not touching other solder joints on the board, because once it gets hot it might pull out other solder joints too.
-Once enough heat is applied, the solder melts and the de-soldering braid sucks the solder.
-Remove the soldering iron and the braid at the same time from the solder joint.
-This process will leave you with a clean hole to resolder.
Replace them with new LEDs.
Make sure that you put the positives on the TOP and the negative ports at the bottom. You can test the other LEDs on the board and follow the same pattern.
Solder them carefully.
Again, I didnt take he pictures, both my hands were busy
Put the screws to attach the PCB back to the lens housing.
Test them in the car before fitting them all up.
Make sure you clean, the plastic dust from the casing. Use a small vaccum or blow hard. Else you will have plastic dust inside the lens. Ask me how I know :banghead:
After testing, put the cut part back on the lights. I used black silicon to seal it up. Use whatever glue you want to use.
Allow it to dry for at least a couple of hours.
Then seal it up with a layer of electric tape.
Stick the weather protection foam with adhesive.
Put it on the car, connect everything and enjoy all working LEDs and hope you never have to do it again :4ngie:
Finished picture: