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Retrofit Ambient Light on Dashboard for MK7 Golf R

carbon_gecko

Go Kart Champion
Location
texas
Car(s)
2016 GOLf tsi 'S'
Yes I installed it in mine, you can tap into either your interior lighting (ambient) or your door control modules to activate with your door lighting. There is room between your glove box and the dash to run wiring, it is a tight fit though.
 

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carbon_gecko

Go Kart Champion
Location
texas
Car(s)
2016 GOLf tsi 'S'
Yes I installed it in mine, you can tap into either your interior lighting (ambient) or your door control modules to activate with your door lighting. There is room between your glove box and the dash to run wiring, it is a tight fit though.
I forgot to mention I tapped into the lighting wire on my cigarette lighter/12v port in the center console
 

mr-fix

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Poland
Car(s)
MK7 2.0TDI Variant
Actually you can wire it to BCM, enable it as separate circuit, and control it with separate slider on the infotainment screen.
Audi A3 8V (basically the same car as Golf MK7 when it comes to electronics) have an option of illuminated cupholder with separate brightness regulation. Just follow the retrofit tutorial for this feature.

IMG-0756.jpg
 

madwazzabi

Ready to race!
Location
Toronto, Canada
Car(s)
2015 GTI Atbhn PP
I've been eyeing getting the ambient lighting as consistent as possible and have been looking to pull the trigger on this kit on AliExpress. I think getting the rear doors done would really complete the experience but I'm really hung up on how to run new wiring through the TTHR and TTHL connectors.

So far the BSM retrofit threads have the best info on running a new wire through the TTVR/TTVL connectors but it looks really really tough to get the wire through the accordion connector that seals the wiring that goes to the door and I'd like to not have to remove the door.

Aside from that challenge, I was wondering if anyone knows if the kick plate lights follow the same program as the door card ambient lighting (eg. stays on when door is closed, follow the dimming levels on the ambient lighting slider?) I was hoping that for simplicity I could splice off the kickplate wiring to the dashboard and to the rear doors. I believe kickplates (W68) gets its own wiring from J386/J387 independent of the door card ambient lighting (W86) but can't tell if it is tied to the microswitch.

@carbon_gecko my OCD gets an anxiety attack seeing the dash as white surrounded by the red stripes... -_-"
 

mr-fix

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Poland
Car(s)
MK7 2.0TDI Variant
W68 is driven by door control module and it's wired to pin T32a/16 which actually is for the door warning lights (those white/red lights at the bottom of the door card that lights up when you open the door).
There's no slider for it but I believe that you could rewire it to a different pin in door control module. Once again Audi A3 8V config is helpful, as there's an option of illuminated speaker grills in Audi which can be controlled with a slider.
 

xabhax

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Manchester Township, New Jersey
Car(s)
15 GTI
I've been eyeing getting the ambient lighting as consistent as possible and have been looking to pull the trigger on this kit on AliExpress. I think getting the rear doors done would really complete the experience but I'm really hung up on how to run new wiring through the TTHR and TTHL connectors.

So far the BSM retrofit threads have the best info on running a new wire through the TTVR/TTVL connectors but it looks really really tough to get the wire through the accordion connector that seals the wiring that goes to the door and I'd like to not have to remove the door.

Aside from that challenge, I was wondering if anyone knows if the kick plate lights follow the same program as the door card ambient lighting (eg. stays on when door is closed, follow the dimming levels on the ambient lighting slider?) I was hoping that for simplicity I could splice off the kickplate wiring to the dashboard and to the rear doors. I believe kickplates (W68) gets its own wiring from J386/J387 independent of the door card ambient lighting (W86) but can't tell if it is tied to the microswitch.

@carbon_gecko my OCD gets an anxiety attack seeing the dash as white surrounded by the red stripes... -_-"
I just did the ambient lighting strips in the rear doors. It was a pain getting it right. But it looks good. The red is spot on
 

madwazzabi

Ready to race!
Location
Toronto, Canada
Car(s)
2015 GTI Atbhn PP
I just did the ambient lighting strips in the rear doors. It was a pain getting it right. But it looks good. The red is spot on
Did you end up running a new wire through both TTH# and TTV# door connectors to tie it to the front door controller for matching dimming controls? Or possibly just through the TTH# connectors to a spare output on the BCM with a new "rear door" slider as per Mr-Fix?
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
Basically as I found out when I did my old "How to guide" to retrofit the door warning exit lights back in October 2015...

How to retro-fit the door exit warning lights from the VW Passat (2013->) | GOLFMK7 - VW GTI MKVII Forum / VW Golf R Forum / VW Golf MKVII Forum

The door controllers have a pin out for "Door exit warning light", this pin out turns on a light when that door is opened..& turns it off when the door is closed. VW use this for the kick sill plate illumination.

You would not be able to use this for door top trim ambient lighting.

One other important note is that VW only installs door control modules in the front doors...the rear door have the wiring "piggy-backed" from the front door controllers...making mods difficult..

Audi on the other hand have door controllers in EVERY door.......this makes mods easier...
 

xabhax

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Manchester Township, New Jersey
Car(s)
15 GTI
Did you end up running a new wire through both TTH# and TTV# door connectors to tie it to the front door controller for matching dimming controls? Or possibly just through the TTH# connectors to a spare output on the BCM with a new "rear door" slider as per Mr-Fix?
I spliced into pin 4 on the window switch. The ambient lighting screen on my mib2 doesn't so anything. So I just went the easy route
 

madwazzabi

Ready to race!
Location
Toronto, Canada
Car(s)
2015 GTI Atbhn PP
I spliced into pin 4 on the window switch. The ambient lighting screen on my mib2 doesn't so anything. So I just went the easy route
That would mean it would only turn on when the headlights/parking lights are on. I'd probably appreciate them less in that situation as I'd never be sitting in the back seat. Going to look into seeing if there is a definitive, hopefully not too difficult, way to fish wiring to the TTH# connector. I like how the lighting package is programmed now tied into the photo sensor to turn on when you open the door is opened when it is dark outside and stays on under timer after you close the door. I am hoping that combined with footwell lights I've added for the rear I should never have to turn the overhead lights on when loading the kids into the car. Seems like instead of passing through the TTV# connectors to get to the front door controllers, it would be easier to tap into a spare output of the BCM which has the added benefit of programming a rear door slider.

That being said, anyone can direct me on a guide that needed to add a new pin to a spare output of the BCM? I don't think I've come across a thread specifically for adding a new pin the BCM aside from this that shows you how to break a piece of plastic to get to the BCM connector. (how do you know which pin you've added to and program it for ambient lighting?)
 

xabhax

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Manchester Township, New Jersey
Car(s)
15 GTI
That would mean it would only turn on when the headlights/parking lights are on. I'd probably appreciate them less in that situation as I'd never be sitting in the back seat. Going to look into seeing if there is a definitive, hopefully not too difficult, way to fish wiring to the TTH# connector. I like how the lighting package is programmed now tied into the photo sensor to turn on when you open the door is opened when it is dark outside and stays on under timer after you close the door. I am hoping that combined with footwell lights I've added for the rear I should never have to turn the overhead lights on when loading the kids into the car. Seems like instead of passing through the TTV# connectors to get to the front door controllers, it would be easier to tap into a spare output of the BCM which has the added benefit of programming a rear door slider.

That being said, anyone can direct me on a guide that needed to add a new pin to a spare output of the BCM? I don't think I've come across a thread specifically for adding a new pin the BCM aside from this that shows you how to break a piece of plastic to get to the BCM connector. (how do you know which pin you've added to and program it for ambient lighting?)
At least in my car my ambient lights only turn on with the headlights.
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
@madwazzabi is your car pre-facelift? If so you need to look into the leuchte channels in BCM adaptation. You'll want to do some searching for googling for "BCM leuchte," and read up. But part of The various channel names corresponds to the plug and pin of the BCM.

Most of the channels will be assigned already for your existing external lights but there will be some unused channels. They will not have anything assigned for their light function. They may or may not have their other fields populated, max brightness, when they come on, bulb type etc. since all that is ignored for unused channels.

You can pick an unused channel and wire into it or tie into an existing channel. You can't give the channels custom names. I've never seen a slider for rear doors, for example. But, for example, there is a channel for panoramic roof ambient lighting. You could assign that function to a spare pin and wire it to your rear door lighting. That slider would then control those lights.

If your car is facelift things are somewhat more complicated, and I can't help you, lol.
 

golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
. I've never seen a slider for rear doors, for example.
I doubt you ever will on a Mk7 or MK7.5 Golf as the rear doors are piggy backed of the front door controllers...so if the front door is set to max power the rear door will be the same...

Now on the Audi MQB they have separate rear door controllers...so it is possible..

People mentioning Audis when the Golf is wired differently just confuses matters.
 
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