[C5 X7] Spec check and parts swapping feasibility?

[the-termin8r]

Ah, but was a crime committed if there wasn't an on-board camera to catch it? LOL

[the-termin8r]

Started moving bits between the cars today. Looks like the original ambient strip swap is a no-go. I don't know if it's just me being thick, but the passenger side strip looks like it's blocked in at the very end by the vertical console where the climate control lives. I haven't looked at the documentation, but my guess is that the entire centre console for the transmission tunnel needs to come out. That's absolutely not worth the faff for me. I'll probably bodge in some orange COB strips at some point and fiddle with the brightness until I'm happy.

I've also forgotten how bloody sharp the inside of the dashboard and centre console are, my hands look like they were mauled by a hamster.

[wurlycorner]

Interested to hear how you get on with this.
Shame the underglow doesn’t seem to swap easily - I still have hopes and dreams of finding an oem set and fitting.

[the-termin8r]

My rough plan is to get an orange COB strip, a basic PWM controller for a motor and some relays. There's no way in hell I'm directly connecting the strips to the BSI. I'm planning on driving the relay coil(s) with the BSI signal and then just switching a beefier 12V rail from the car somewhere with the other side of the relays while the PWM controller will be to set the brightness. I've already ordered the strip and controller from AliExpress.

Did you get anywhere with your front pocket illumination retrofit by any chance?

[sotirisk]

Hi guys, it's not 100% related but I am interested in a detailed part list of my car, based on it's VIN?
In principle, I can't find the correct brake system that my car has, so I am not sure which brake pads I should buy.
I think TEVES and LUCAS are the two caliper manufacturers?
Is there a way to locate it from the VIN?

[the-termin8r]

There should be, but I'm not sure I have that ability. I tried looking it up for my own car but couldn't find anything. I can still have a dig for you but can't promise I'll find anything. PM me your VIN and I'll see what I can do.

[Paul-R]

If you use the forum PM facilities then the software will obscure a VIN. Put spaces between the characters at the beginning of the VIN to defeat this.

[the-termin8r]

I didn't realise it blocked it even in PMs.

[Paul-R]

Yes. Here's an example:

Blocked VF3**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]
Not blocked V F3XYZ12340

[wurlycorner]

Did you get anywhere with your front pocket illumination retrofit by any chance?

I haven't had the time to do anything more on the X7 as yet - hands too busy on a car for someone else!

[the-termin8r]

Sit-rep on the ambient strips:

I've got the COB strips cut to size, I've ordered some diffuser strip from AE that I think will fit the channels in the dash. I've also run some of the wiring. As it turns out, the X7 has a very handy metal pipe running all the way through the dash and it is completely empty. I also realised that I had a pile of old buck modules from an old project so didn't need to spend a quid on a PWM controller as they're effectively the same thing.

The new-ish issue I've run into though is actually driving the strips. The original plan was to have pin 9 of the 40-pin white connector on BSI switch a relay. As it turns out, P9 is all the way up in the bowels of the car. Getting my hands up there through the cat flap known as the fuse box hatch in the glovebox is pretty much impossible (access through the side panel is also not great). The new plan is to run it off the front lighter. The relay coil will be in series with the socket LED (which turns on with the headlights) and the relay contacts in series with the strips will be across the main socket 12V and GND. That way when the lights are switched on, the relay clicks over and connects the strips in parallel with the socket supply. The problem with that though is the connections. I don't want to bodge solder joints onto the exposed metal of the back of the socket and I categorically refuse to use scotch-locks. I might try and see if I can source male and female connectors to try and splice a split into the loom without actually destroying anything.

Once the wiring is done it will just be a matter of sitting in the car in the dark and tweaking the output control pot on the buck module until I'm happy with the strip brightness.

[the-termin8r]

Another quick update:

Regarding the COB strips:

I've fitted all the strips with a mixture of some basic 3D printed channels, superglue gel and 2mm 3M VHB tape. Now I'm just waiting for some connectors to come in so I can splice it in before the front lighter socket. I'll give more details about the whole thing when it's done.

Regarding the door cards:

Had a crack at it today. It is nowhere near as easy as all the videos make it seem. Those clips hold like crazy. They require a scary amount of pulling force. And when they let go, they let go suddenly in an explosion of plastic. Pretty sure there are some clip tips inside the doors of both cars. Thankfully they don't seem to be in places where they rattle around. I only managed to do both right doors of both cars today. Hoping to do the other two pairs tomorrow if it doesn't rain.

Unfortunately the motion lights weren't plug and play on the 3L. It doesn't have the necessary off-shoot from the loom that the 2L has. The 3L has a loose connector but I think it's for the mirror position sensing that Diagbox complains about and tells me to ignore because my RPO doesn't have them. The connector on the 2L looked like it was just supplying Vbatt when I probed it. Thankfully, as it turns out, the window controls on both sides have a constant supply of Vbatt as well. So what I did was cut off the off-shoot looms from the 2L (that hurt my soul, it felt so wrong), soldered a red JST 2-pin connector on the other end and then bodged the 3L's window control modules by soldering JSTs to the relevant pins on their PCBs. Fitted the driver's side one and it seems to be working. I'll post a more coherent explanation with photos either tomorrow or Mon, hopefully when all doors are finished.

[the-termin8r]

Right, photo and explanation time.

The 3L had a random connector on the door that didn't go anywhere. I was hoping that this was for the lights.

However, after removing the card on the 2L it seems to be for something else. I think it's mirror position related. I didn't take a photo of the one on the 2L but it had I think something like 4 or 6 populated pins in the housing whereas the 3L only had 2 pins. Looks like I also forgot to take a photo of it, but the 2L has another off-shoot 2-pin loom that goes to a connector for the motion lights on the door card itself. Unfortunately I can't find a photo of it online either.

The lack of a connector on the 3L was annoying and meant some bodging had to be done. First port of call was to probe the connector on the 2L. It was ~14Vdc which I took as being Vbatt. Note, the driver's window controls need to be plugged in, otherwise you'll measure 0V. I assume the supply for the connector passes through that module for some reason. Anyway, it was by sheer chance that I noticed that the button illumination for the window controls is actually always on. I saw the LEDs being lit through a gap in the side of the module. I didn't know this was the case, I always thought they come on with the headlights, but apparently not, they're just too dim to see during the day.

That gave me hope that there might be a 12V supply I can tap into. A bit of probing later, and sure enough, I found Vbatt going to the module as well. I can't remember the pin numbers, but it was the two outer pins on the black segment of the yellow connector. If memory serves, they were slightly thicker than the rest.

I probed the passenger side module and it too had Vbatt between the middle two pins of the connector.

Now for the bodging. I carefully opened each module and soldered (not my best soldering unfortunately) a JST RCY connector to the appropriate pins. The driver's side was easier as the module had pre-existing holes and more space to work with. The passenger side needed more bodging. I had to remove the plastic limiter from the pin headers on the bottom of the PCB and then had to drill a 4mm hole in the PCB cover to run the wires. Be careful when opening the modules(especially the driver's side), do it with the buttons facing down. They're full of various membranes, springs and brackets that will fall out otherwise.

Then I went to the 2L and reluctantly cut off the off-shoot looms as that was the quickest and easiest way to get the correct connector to go to the door card. On the other side of the now-chopped looms, I soldered the opposing RCY connector to what I put on the modules. After that it was a matter of hooking everything up but without fully clipping the door cards on. Thankfully the bodge worked and I now have my motion activated pocket lights again (and my carpet-lined front pockets). Another added benefit is that the driver's door no longer rattles. As it turns out, some complete ape had been in there at some point and made a dog's breakfast of putting the card back on. Given that the polystyrene barrier looked like it had been removed (had to reattach parts of it with grip fill) and that the speaker was screwed in (as opposed to using the stock rivets) I'd assume the window regulator failed at some point.

Already being in the process of bodging the ambient lights for the dash I was rather hoping I wouldn't have to bodge these, but alas. I'm still holding out a bit of hope that the rear footwell lights will be simple enough when I swap the seats.

[wurlycorner]

Good info - thanks for the updates! I can feel your pain on mutilating an oem loom
I can't imagine the door card clips are worse than the Audi design on an 8J TT (applicable to many others the same era I'm sure) but good to be forewarned that they aren't hugely compliant! Do you have a link to which particular ones they are, on ebay perhaps?

[the-termin8r]

The official part number is 9341PF, there's 7 per door, so 28 per car and 56 for two cars. I used these knock-offs from AE. They're not particularly good though as I actually had to partially pull one of the cards off during reinstallation and they shattered pretty much instantly. They behaved the way I expected the original 16 year old ones to behave.

Additionally, the front two cards have one extra clip near the door pocket. Visually they seem to be roughly the same as the other ones, but are yellow instead of white and don't have the rubber rim. Part number 6991S9. I only broke one and subbed in one of the white ones and it seemed to work just fine.