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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 BMW 5-Series (F10) Forums General 5-Series Sedan and Wagon (F10 / F11) Forum ambient door panel lighting options!?
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      05-17-2017, 10:51 AM   #1
Bbmw535
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ambient door panel lighting options!?

My door panel ambient light is barely seen..I have 2013 535i x drive m sport model and i can barely see the light showing..however I have seen regular f10 models with their ambient much brighter. I was wondering if this is normal for m sport models or if i need this loooked at!? Maybe there is a way of adjusting the brightness?
Any suggestions would be appreciated
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      05-17-2017, 11:13 AM   #2
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on left side where you turn lights on and off there is little adjustment wheel you can scroll up and down.
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      05-17-2017, 11:14 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbmw535 View Post
My door panel ambient light is barely seen..I have 2013 535i x drive m sport model and i can barely see the light showing..however I have seen regular f10 models with their ambient much brighter. I was wondering if this is normal for m sport models or if i need this loooked at!? Maybe there is a way of adjusting the brightness?
Any suggestions would be appreciated
It adjusts up and down with the instrument brightness setting.

I don't have a reference handy, but I am pretty sure that one of the dealer comprehensive software updates increased the ambient lighting brightness substantially compared to previous settings.

I keep my instruments relatively dim and in general you couldn't even tell my car had it initially, even on dark country roads. After a toe-to-tail integration level update at the dealer I can now see it in the city.

Has your software ever been upgraded? Do you still have factory warranty?
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      05-17-2017, 11:26 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by EL Jeffe 5 View Post
on left side where you turn lights on and off there is little adjustment wheel you can scroll up and down.
Yeah, wheel is up all the way but wheel will dim the entire interior dash and door lighting. Dash lighting is just fine but door ambient light that stretches horizontally across the door is not visible at all. Looks like its about to die on all doors.
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      05-17-2017, 11:27 AM   #5
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i thought the same as well, however, on the darker colored interiors its harder to see.

you can look in the idrive and go to vehicle settings to check the brightness there too, i had to turn mine all the way up on my mocha brown interior to barely see it at night...
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      05-17-2017, 11:29 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Surly73 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbmw535 View Post
My door panel ambient light is barely seen..I have 2013 535i x drive m sport model and i can barely see the light showing..however I have seen regular f10 models with their ambient much brighter. I was wondering if this is normal for m sport models or if i need this loooked at!? Maybe there is a way of adjusting the brightness?
Any suggestions would be appreciated
It adjusts up and down with the instrument brightness setting.

I don't have a reference handy, but I am pretty sure that one of the dealer comprehensive software updates increased the ambient lighting brightness substantially compared to previous settings.

I keep my instruments relatively dim and in general you couldn't even tell my car had it initially, even on dark country roads. After a toe-to-tail integration level update at the dealer I can now see it in the city.

Has your software ever been upgraded? Do you still have factory warranty?
Yeah i instrument cluster and dash lighting is fine but door ambient is very light barely visible unlike other f10 non sport models i have seen. I haven't updated my software, not sure if previous owner did and it is still under warranty. I tried updating my idrive software through bmw website and it wouldn't do it for some reason.
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      05-17-2017, 11:47 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xxpanipuri View Post
i thought the same as well, however, on the darker colored interiors its harder to see.

you can look in the idrive and go to vehicle settings to check the brightness there too, i had to turn mine all the way up on my mocha brown interior to barely see it at night...
I turned up the brightness on idrive as well and didn't help much. Noticed screen got brighter.
My brother has the same year f10 and his is so bright it will light up half his door.
On my end you can barely see a line where the light is coming from.
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      05-17-2017, 02:20 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbmw535 View Post
Yeah, wheel is up all the way but wheel will dim the entire interior dash and door lighting. Dash lighting is just fine but door ambient light that stretches horizontally across the door is not visible at all. Looks like its about to die on all doors.

Then its in idrive
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      05-24-2017, 12:50 PM   #9
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I remember reading somewhere that the post-LCI's had brighter ambiance lighting. With that being said, I wonder if it is something that can be codded?
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      05-24-2017, 01:39 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by SilverRevlis View Post
I remember reading somewhere that the post-LCI's had brighter ambiance lighting. With that being said, I wonder if it is something that can be codded?
Doubt it. The actual component (LEDs) may be of a different rating.
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      05-24-2017, 03:22 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by SilverRevlis View Post
I remember reading somewhere that the post-LCI's had brighter ambiance lighting. With that being said, I wonder if it is something that can be codded?
I will look into my carly for BMW and see if there is a way to code and increase the LED. I have coded many thing on my car with Carly adapter. Pretty cool device
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      05-24-2017, 11:27 PM   #12
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Mine is a 2012 f10 with beige interior. The ambient light looks very bright. Its the Color of the leather which makes the difference. With black leather the light is very hard to see
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      05-25-2017, 08:29 AM   #13
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Same here. Pre-LCI and very bright. Typically this is something that people notice right away when they first get into the car at night.
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      05-25-2017, 09:00 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW FOREVER View Post
Mine is a 2012 f10 with beige interior. The ambient light looks very bright. Its the Color of the leather which makes the difference. With black leather the light is very hard to see
Normally, you can barely see the ambient lighting in my '14 with Mocha with it turned all the way up...but if you hold a white tissue under the strip, you see they are actually very bright. I never even knew the black lined door pockets had lights in them until I had a white piece of paper in them. In my BMW with Oyster, they are very noticeable.

I agree it's got more to do with the interior color even in my E92s with Cream, they were very bright but in my M6 with black, you can barely tell.
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      05-25-2017, 01:20 PM   #15
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Here is a pic of my 2012 car I just took, the real brightness is about 80% of what you can see in the pic. VERY NOTICEABLE!
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      05-25-2017, 03:18 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW FOREVER View Post
Here is a pic of my 2012 car I just took, the real brightness is about 80% of what you can see in the pic. VERY NOTICEABLE!
[IMG]http://i68.tinypic.com/20h51tc.jpg[/IMG]
Yeah that is what ive seen in others..ill put up a pic of mine if you can even see it.
I like the way yours light up. Ads true detail
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      05-25-2017, 04:16 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW FOREVER View Post
Here is a pic of my 2012 car I just took, the real brightness is about 80% of what you can see in the pic. VERY NOTICEABLE!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbmw535 View Post
Yeah that is what ive seen in others..ill put up a pic of mine if you can even see it.
I like the way yours light up. Ads true detail
The only issue is as the A.L. is associated with the dash lights they have to be turned to full brightness. That's waaaaay too bright for some of us; and it highlights that stupid "box" in the standard cluster.
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      05-25-2017, 09:27 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW FOREVER View Post
Here is a pic of my 2012 car I just took, the real brightness is about 80% of what you can see in the pic. VERY NOTICEABLE!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbmw535 View Post
Yeah that is what ive seen in others..ill put up a pic of mine if you can even see it.
I like the way yours light up. Ads true detail
The only issue is as the A.L. is associated with the dash lights they have to be turned to full brightness. That's waaaaay too bright for some of us; and it highlights that stupid "box" in the standard cluster.
I wish i could see the box lol here are my photos and you guys tell me if you see anything. On some doors even if you see anything its not even the same. Somewhere you see it and somewhere you dont. In person its just a bit brighter..i dont think you can see anything on these photos. I tried numerous of times to get a photo with some light but nothing i gave up. You can see the light on door buttons and no line above it lol.
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      05-25-2017, 09:29 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbmw535 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW FOREVER View Post
Here is a pic of my 2012 car I just took, the real brightness is about 80% of what you can see in the pic. VERY NOTICEABLE!
[IMG]http://i68.tinypic.com/20h51tc.jpg[/IMG]
Yeah that is what ive seen in others..ill put up a pic of mine if you can even see it.
I like the way yours light up. Ads true detail
Here you can see the light with daylight outside. Mine is pitch black and still barely seen lol shame shame
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      05-26-2017, 11:23 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbmw535 View Post
Yeah, wheel is up all the way but wheel will dim the entire interior dash and door lighting. Dash lighting is just fine but door ambient light that stretches horizontally across the door is not visible at all. Looks like its about to die on all doors.
Are you talking about the handle lights on the door too, or just the interior lights? If so i have the same question... (first post btw)
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      05-26-2017, 01:10 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DANNYXdrive View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbmw535 View Post
Yeah, wheel is up all the way but wheel will dim the entire interior dash and door lighting. Dash lighting is just fine but door ambient light that stretches horizontally across the door is not visible at all. Looks like its about to die on all doors.
Are you talking about the handle lights on the door too, or just the interior lights? If so i have the same question... (first post btw)
Lights by the handle but mostly beneath the wooden/plastic panel on the door. if you look at photos above from another member you will see how much his lights up..if you look at mine you really cant even capture it on photos how weak that light is.
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      05-26-2017, 01:11 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbmw535 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by DANNYXdrive View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bbmw535 View Post
Yeah, wheel is up all the way but wheel will dim the entire interior dash and door lighting. Dash lighting is just fine but door ambient light that stretches horizontally across the door is not visible at all. Looks like its about to die on all doors.
Are you talking about the handle lights on the door too, or just the interior lights? If so i have the same question... (first post btw)
Lights by the handle but mostly beneath the wooden/plastic panel on the door. if you look at photos above from another member you will see how much his lights up..if you look at mine you really cant even capture it on photos how weak that light is.
Interior and dash lights are just fine..door lighting is horrible..barely any
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