Help: Wiring up AEs using LCM pin 44/45

[anandoc]

So, I wired up my AEs to the city light pins on my LCM (pin 44) over the weekend. Previously they were tapped to a wire in the ECU (a red/yellow striped wire) but i did not like tapping into the ECU. I followed some of the wiring details etc from derbo's thread here:

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?19488-DIY-E46-City-lights-OE-style-wiring

Some background before I get to the actual issues.

- I have Khoalty AEs and they have 2 "trigger wires" - one which connects to the footwell lights and powers up the AEs directly. This enables the fade in/out when you unlock/lock the car. The other trigger wire connects to the afore-mentioned red/yellow striped wire in the ECU. This trigger wire powers a relay, which in turn powers the AEs directly through the 12V battery terminals in the engine bay. Its this latter wire which I hooked up to pin 44 of the LCM.

- I coded the following to enable the pin 44 and it seems to light up the AEs:

SL_VO_ANSTEURUNG -> aktiv
PWM_ANSTEUERUNG_SL_VO_RE -> wert_01
PWM_ANSTEUERUNG_SL_VO_LE -> wert_01

Previously, I had also coded:

FL_DRL_MIT_RL = aktiv [tail light DRL]
PO_ALS_DRL = aktiv [city lights DRL - pre-req for tail light DRL]

Other LCM coding that I have in place:

1. Halogen high-beams with bi-xenon (PWM_WERT2_FL_BIXENON = wert_01)
2. Fog lights allowed with high-beam (FL_UND_NSW_NICHT_GLEICHZ = nicht_aktiv)
3. Front halogen DRL delete (GED_FL_ALS_DRL = nich_aktiv)
4. Front parking lights disabled when low-beam is on (SIDEMARKER_US = nicht_aktiv)
5. Triple blink - with 5 blinks via NCS Dummy daten modification
6. Euro hazards (BLINKIMPULS_WARNBLK = wert_04)

Now when when the key is in position 2 or the car is running, the AEs are turning on as desired. However, there are two issues:

1) When I hit the turn signal (right turn), this seems to make the AEs blink along with the turn signal. Ofcourse, does not happen when I hit the left turn signal since I am using pin 44 only (right city light pin)

2) The relay in the AE trigger wire is humming while the vehicle is running (not when the key is simply in position 2). Also, the AEs seem to flicker ever so slightly. I suspect that pin 44 outputs a PWM signal and not a flat 12V. I was hoping that this may be caused by the PWM_ANSTEUERUNG_SL_VO_RE being set to wert_01 so I set it back to wert_02 (default setting) but this completely disables pin 44 output and my AEs no longer turn on.

TLDR: How do I power up my AEs through a flat 12V output on LCM pin 44 without making it blink when I hit the turn signal?

I am hoping I am not the first one to wire up my AEs through the LCM and somebody out there knows the properly NCS coding to make it happen.

[Overboost]

It has been so many years since I wired my AE I can't remember which ECU pin I tapped into. One connection was the interior light in the footwell and the other was ignition on at ECU. Let me know if you need me to research it further.

[anandoc]

It has been so many years since I wired my AE I can't remember which ECU pin I tapped into. One connection was the interior light in the footwell and the other was ignition on at ECU. Let me know if you need me to research it further.

Thanks for your reply.

No, I know the connections - as you mentioned (and I have in my post), one trigger wire goes to the passenger footwell light and the other trigger (with the relay) goes to the ECU accessory wire for "always on" functionality. I am taking the second wire and connecting it to the LCM pin 44.

I just need help with the coding to mitigate the two issues I wrote above and get a constant 12V at all times the car is running.

[anandoc]

UPDATE

So I went ahead and coded the following additional items:

LAENDERVARIANTE_LSZ -> wert_01
DRL_DIMMUNG -> wert_01
AH_US_OPTION -> nicht_aktiv

So now all the items that I have coded to get the euro city light pins (44/45) to light up as DRL are:

SL_VO_ANSTEUERUNG -> aktiv
PWM_ANSTEUERUNG_SL_VO_RE -> wert_01
PWM_ANSTEUERUNG_SL_VO_LE -> wert_01
LAENDERVARIANTE_LSZ -> wert_01
DRL_DIMMUNG -> wert_01
AH_US_OPTION -> nicht_aktiv

This has taken care of issue# 1 in my original post. However, issue# 2 remains. Infact, the PWM signal might have killed the NC contact of the relay as a result of which the footwell lights are no longer able to switch on the AEs.

Ordered a new SPDT relay to replace the one in the AE harness.

The question still remains - How do I get pin 44 to output a constant 12V while the car is running. Mess around with NCS Dummy to modify the DATEN files and play with wert_03 and wert_04 options for PWM_ANSTEUERUNG_SL_VO_RE ? I hope BP or Terra come across this thread...

[sillieidiot]

Well, you could just rewire it physically I guess. You don't really need a 12V constant though. Since it's a trigger wire, it should take something like 3V to like 12V.

People call it the ECU wire. But it's actually for the AUX fan. That's why when you go on a long drive, the angels stay on for awhile because your fan is still on.

I don't think you can do anything about the PWM. They made it like that so to keep the brightness low. You could possibly try to use a capacitor to smooth it out some. Or maybe change to a solid state relay or transistor to increase the switching speed. But it's not going to help you with the turn signal problem.

I have wired into the LCM before for angel eyes. But I never used the city lights. I wired it into the front/rear fog lights for customers. I also done one where I split a wire from the parking light into an empty pin and used that as the trigger for the lights.

If anything, I think it's more dangerous to wire it directly to the LCM than to the ECU tap. The LCM is more sensitive. And you're feeding the relay's back-EMF directly to it when it switches (if you're still using the crappy relay that most angel eyes come with).

[nextelbuddy]

if you are already giving the RELAY 12 volts power.. then you realyl are just looking for Switch signal for the relay right? originally the kit you have which is the kit I have gets that switch signal from the DME area... im using this and fine with it however it sounds like you want that switch signal to come from a source for when the parking lights are ON but NOT blinking right? so in essence you want ILLUMINATION signal..

on the LCM plug harness, there are 2 plugs,, a BLUE and BROWN..... on the BROWN connector look for PIN 47 which is a GREY wire with RED STRIPE.. you are going to TAP into that wire. that is the illumination wire and sends the signal for illumination when the lights are ON. i tapped into this when i needd to give an OLD cluster illumination signal.

try that

[anandoc]

Well, you could just rewire it physically I guess. You don't really need a 12V constant though. Since it's a trigger wire, it should take something like 3V to like 12V.

People call it the ECU wire. But it's actually for the AUX fan. That's why when you go on a long drive, the angels stay on for awhile because your fan is still on.



That was one big reason why I started to look for ways to not use the AUX-fan wire. Sometimes even after a short spirited drive, the AEs would stay on because the ECU/AUX fan wire still had power. I did not like that and wanted the AEs to behave more OEM-ish...to shut off as soon as I lock the car.



I don't think you can do anything about the PWM. They made it like that so to keep the brightness low. You could possibly try to use a capacitor to smooth it out some. Or maybe change to a solid state relay or transistor to increase the switching speed. But it's not going to help you with the turn signal problem.


I fixed the turn signal problem by turning coding LAENDERVARIANTE_LSZ to wert_01 (essentially setting the LCM as 'euro'). You dont think I can code the PWM_ANSTEUERUNG_SL_VO_RE to 100% duty cycle? Maybe change the PWM data values for the parameters ... (Similar to modifying the CYCL_TI_BLK keyword in NCS Dummy and setting it to blink 5/6/7 times instead of the default 3 times)




I have wired into the LCM before for angel eyes. But I never used the city lights. I wired it into the front/rear fog lights for customers. I also done one where I split a wire from the parking light into an empty pin and used that as the trigger for the lights.

If anything, I think it's more dangerous to wire it directly to the LCM than to the ECU tap. The LCM is more sensitive. And you're feeding the relay's back-EMF directly to it when it switches (if you're still using the crappy relay that most angel eyes come with).

The crappy relay did give out while I was trying all this out. The NC (normally closed) contact stopped working and the footwell lights would no longer trigger the AEs. I ordered a good quality TYCO relay and installed it today.


if you are already giving the RELAY 12 volts power.. then you realyl are just looking for Switch signal for the relay right? originally the kit you have which is the kit I have gets that switch signal from the DME area... im using this and fine with it however it sounds like you want that switch signal to come from a source for when the parking lights are ON but NOT blinking right? so in essence you want ILLUMINATION signal..

on the LCM plug harness, there are 2 plugs,, a BLUE and BROWN..... on the BROWN connector look for PIN 47 which is a GREY wire with RED STRIPE.. you are going to TAP into that wire. that is the illumination wire and sends the signal for illumination when the lights are ON. i tapped into this when i needd to give an OLD cluster illumination signal.

try that

I want the AEs to be on at all times while the car is running. I was trying to achieve this by setting the euro city lights to act as DRLs and then use those pins (LCM pin 44 or 45) to trigger the AEs. Looks like those pins output a PWM signal and not a flat voltage so I cant use it to turn a relay on. I might have to switch back to just using the ECU/AUX fan wire tap :(

[sillieidiot]

Well you could just tap into any other switched wire on the car like the ignition, the glove box flashlight, or something else. There's a ton of switched power wires to choose from.

Yeah I don't mind the fan connection too much. If I didn't want to have it stay on, i just put the key back in and switch it to on (without starting) and off again and then it just turns off. But I pretty much just don't because after a spirited drive. I'm always walking away looking at it thinking it my car is awesome looking lol

[nextelbuddy]

Well you could just tap into any other switched wire on the car like the ignition, the glove box flashlight, or something else. There's a ton of switched power wires to choose from.

Yeah I don't mind the fan connection too much. If I didn't want to have it stay on, i just put the key back in and switch it to on (without starting) and off again and then it just turns off. But I pretty much just don't because after a spirited drive. I'm always walking away looking at it thinking it my car is awesome looking lol

yes i dont get what the deal is. the directions to the AE tell you which wire to tape into for a switched 12+ source which is in the DME box. its a yellow wire with red stripe. i just used a T Tap on it. mine stay on as soon as i start the car.


one wire from relay goes to 12+ battery post under hood and the other goes to 12 + switched ignition source in DME box. done and done.

why are you opposed to that and wanting to get complicated using the LCM and City light signal? you get no benefit out of that and nothing but frustration.

[sillieidiot]

yes i dont get what the deal is. the directions to the AE tell you which wire to tape into for a switched 12+ source which is in the DME box. its a yellow wire with red stripe. i just used a T Tap on it. mine stay on as soon as i start the car.


one wire from relay goes to 12+ battery post under hood and the other goes to 12 + switched ignition source in DME box. done and done.

why are you opposed to that and wanting to get complicated using the LCM and City light signal? you get no benefit out of that and nothing but frustration.

Well if you read his posts. He explains why. He doesn't like it tapped to the ECU because he thinks it's dangerous. He doesn't like that the fan stays on for a long time after and wants it to immediately turn off when the car is off. And he wanted to try a more OE solution I guess if he could.

I don't see anything wrong with that tbh. I get customers with the weirdest demands for wiring lol

[nextelbuddy]

Well if you read his posts. He explains why. He doesn't like it tapped to the ECU because he thinks it's dangerous. He doesn't like that the fan stays on for a long time after and wants it to immediately turn off when the car is off. And he wanted to try a more OE solution I guess if he could.

I don't see anything wrong with that tbh. I get customers with the weirdest demands for wiring lol


the relay is getting the main power directly from the 12+ volt battery post. the wire he needs is just a 12 volt switched source which is why its ok. you arent taking anything away from the DME, there is no feedback going back to the DME to be worried about. plenty of people do it this way and there are no freak accidents with DMEs exploding because someone tapped into a ignition source wire for just a trigger wire. Alternator systems generate 13-14 volts when running so there is more than enough power to switch a relay thats already getting power directly from the source.


Also im pretty sure that even with out the AEs triggering off the yellow wire/red stripe in the DME area.. turning the car off, the DME fan/system stays running after ignition anyways, the AE setup picking up a 12 volt signal just as a trigger doesnt do anything to keep it on as the relay only works on way in that aspect. it gets the signal from the switch wire and sends it to the relay but the relay doesnt send feedback to that switched source keeping power to it.

[anandoc]

Well you could just tap into any other switched wire on the car like the ignition, the glove box flashlight, or something else. There's a ton of switched power wires to choose from.

Yeah I don't mind the fan connection too much. If I didn't want to have it stay on, i just put the key back in and switch it to on (without starting) and off again and then it just turns off. But I pretty much just don't because after a spirited drive. I'm always walking away looking at it thinking it my car is awesome looking lol

The glove box flashlight is a great idea for a 12V switched source! Why didn't I think of that earlier??? I too have done the "put key back in, turn to position 2 and turn it back off" thing to turn off the the AEs but I didn't want to do that every time.


Well if you read his posts. He explains why. He doesn't like it tapped to the ECU because he thinks it's dangerous. He doesn't like that the fan stays on for a long time after and wants it to immediately turn off when the car is off. And he wanted to try a more OE solution I guess if he could.

I don't see anything wrong with that tbh. I get customers with the weirdest demands for wiring lol

Bingo! Those are the exact reasons why I was pursuing this DIY. I wanted it to be more "proper" and the LCM to control the AEs as the case would be for city lights or newer BMWs with factory AEs.


the relay is getting the main power directly from the 12+ volt battery post. the wire he needs is just a 12 volt switched source which is why its ok. you arent taking anything away from the DME, there is no feedback going back to the DME to be worried about. plenty of people do it this way and there are no freak accidents with DMEs exploding because someone tapped into a ignition source wire for just a trigger wire. Alternator systems generate 13-14 volts when running so there is more than enough power to switch a relay thats already getting power directly from the source.


Not worried about the DME blowing up lol! As Hieu pointed out above, my reasons for trying to do it this way was for it to be more 'OEM'. Look at the euro city lights DIYs online - they too could have just tapped into the ECU wire using a relay but instead chose to go the OEM way. I had similar intentions.



Also im pretty sure that even with out the AEs triggering off the yellow wire/red stripe in the DME area.. turning the car off, the DME fan/system stays running after ignition anyways, the AE setup picking up a 12 volt signal just as a trigger doesnt do anything to keep it on as the relay only works on way in that aspect. it gets the signal from the switch wire and sends it to the relay but the relay doesnt send feedback to that switched source keeping power to it.

I realize all of this :) Again, I didn't like that the AEs stayed on for a few minutes after the car was switched off (from an aesthetic point of view) and hence I was trying to find an alternate and more OE like solution.

[derbo]

I just saw this thread.


For PWM_ANSETUERING_SL_VO_*

wert01 = data 20
wert02 = data 40 (US)
wert03 = data 72
wert04 = data 23

I'm not sure what those values mean. Only options mentioned are wert01 says !US and wert02 is US.

For your angel harness, are you using inline 2 SPDT? I'm wondering how you are getting two inputs and a single output.

[anandoc]

I just saw this thread.


For PWM_ANSETUERING_SL_VO_*

wert01 = data 20
wert02 = data 40 (US)
wert03 = data 72
wert04 = data 23

I'm not sure what those values mean. Only options mentioned are wert01 says !US and wert02 is US.

For your angel harness, are you using inline 2 SPDT? I'm wondering how you are getting two inputs and a single output.

Hey man, thanks for chiming in! Yes, I saw those parameters and values in NCS Dummy...but those dont make much sense to me. The objective would be to obtain a 100% duty cycle PWM signal.

The AE harness uses a SPDT relay (link (https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B000P61E36/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)).

The passenger footwell source is hooked to the NC (normally closed) pin of the relay. This directly provides power to the AEs and results in the fade-in/fade-out effect when I unlock/lock the car.

The NO (normally open) pin of the relay is wired to the battery terminal, which gets triggered by the coil. The coil of the relay is powered by the ECU 12V accessory wire...which is what I was trying to hook up to pin 44 of the LCM instead. Does that make sense to you?

For the time being I am planning on powering the relay using a add-a-circuit fuse tap and connecting it to fuse #23 in the fuse box.

If you are able to figure out how to output a constant 12V output from pin44 (instead of a PWM signal), I would love to know.

[derbo]

Ahh okay so like this:


Relay pinout:

30= 12V Battery Source
85= Ground
86= 12V from Pin 44/45?
87= NO / Output to AE
87a= NC / input of Footwell


Pin 49 (I think) is a purple/grey wire that goes to the rear parking lamps. You could probably use that as a trigger too.

[anandoc]

Ahh okay so like this:


Relay pinout:

30= 12V Battery Source
85= Ground
86= 12V from Pin 44/45?
87= NO / Output to AE
87a= NC / input of Footwell


Pin 49 (I think) is a purple/grey wire that goes to the rear parking lamps. You could probably use that as a trigger too.

You mostly got it right:

30= Output to AE
85= Ground
86= 12V from pin 44/45
87= NO / 12V Battery source
87a= NC / input of Footwell

The whole idea of doing this DIY was not to tap into any wires and instead use the city light pins and try to have a more 'OEM' like wiring.

[derbo]

You mostly got it right:

30= Output to AE
85= Ground
86= 12V from pin 44/45
87= NO / 12V Battery source
87a= NC / input of Footwell

The whole idea of doing this DIY was not to tap into any wires and instead use the city light pins and try to have a more 'OEM' like wiring.

Ahh. Either way, the pinout of 30 and 87 seems reversible.


You can also use a Resistor-Capacitor Low-Pass Filter to convert a PWM signal to a constant 12V. I don't believe there is a way to get a 100% duty-cycle from the LCM.

Edit:

Some google search says LCM might have some access to the PWM options per circuit via PA Soft.