Exterior door handle lighting retrofit

**Hellodave.** · 15-08-2014,04:31 PM

This may seem a strange question, but has anyone ever removed the door card from a C7? If so, what's the access like, specifically to behind the exterior door handle.

The reason I'm asking is that I'd love to fit the LEDs that come with the lighting pack in the exterior door handles. As far as I can tell this should be possible and not too expensive - my car has (wobbly) blanking plates underneath the handle where the LED would go, and you can buy the LED module on it's own from Audi (Part 4H0 947 134 A) for about £15 per door. Then it's (just!) a case of wiring it up, but this is where I can't tell how hard it's going to be without taking the door apart to have a look.

Someone is selling a retrofit kit so presumably it is possible, but they're based in Dubai! Retrofit Kit : AUDI A6 / C7 OUTSIDE DOOR HANDLE / INTERIOR LIGHT PACKAGE

I've studied ELSA & ETKA and so far everything looks promising - the door handle isn't a complete pig to remove, the LED should fit in my existing handle, and the door control module has a pin to power the LED light. ETKA only lists one door handle and one control module for my car, so presumably the lighting pack didn't require any extra/different parts beyond the door LED itself and some coding.

Fitting the rest of the lighting pack (illuminated door pocket, door reflector upper door trim) would be a bonus, but one step at a time...

Any thoughts appreciated!

**morski** · 15-08-2014,11:56 PM

As you already have elsa then you have a pretty good guide on how to remove it. I have removed them in mine and are quite easy to do as long as you know where to press the door card to release the catch ( see elsa to know what i mean). The rest of the door card is held with the the usual pop clips that can be either be easy to pop out or an absolute pita.
Once the door card is off and cables disconnected there is a large plastic panel with the bowden cable passing through it remove that and you have access to the handle assembly from the back but as you know the handle is removed from the outside. The handle led cables are fed through the handle itself and then inside.
Ive fitted the light bars to the trim and makes the interior so much more uber class. You will need to enable the ambient light in vcds

**Hellodave.** · 16-08-2014,12:48 PM

Originally Posted by morski

As you already have elsa then you have a pretty good guide on how to remove it. I have removed them in mine and are quite easy to do as long as you know where to press the door card to release the catch ( see elsa to know what i mean). The rest of the door card is held with the the usual pop clips that can be either be easy to pop out or an absolute pita.
Once the door card is off and cables disconnected there is a large plastic panel with the bowden cable passing through it remove that and you have access to the handle assembly from the back but as you know the handle is removed from the outside. The handle led cables are fed through the handle itself and then inside.
Ive fitted the light bars to the trim and makes the interior so much more uber class. You will need to enable the ambient light in vcds

Did you fit the handle LEDs or were they already on the car? Just wondering what you did for wiring - did you make your own loom up?

How difficult were the light bars to fit? It looks like you only need the bar and led to go on the end of it, but I assume you have to cut the door card to make them fit?

**morski** · 16-08-2014,04:17 PM

Never got round to fitting the door handle leds as im in two minds to keep or sell the car. The light bars are easy to fit. There is s plastic trim that needs to be removed where the light bars sit. these are removed from the back of the door card as they have tabs on the back. The light bars slot into the gap where these were and wired up. No cutting of the door card at all. These are oem light bars and fit perfectly in the door card.
I made my own loom up from some connectors i had from a full wiring loom. Tapped in to the nearest joint in the loom for the earth, and wired the power line into the door module. All taped up with oem tape. This is all done on the back of the door card.
Note; if you wire the leds the wrong way you get a red glow!
The light bars are sold without the leds and its the leds that cost around £10-12 each and light bars are less than £5 iirc
I also did the centre console. All very effective mods and look great at night. Tbh i dont even use the roof light just so i can see the interior glow when i unlock the car.

P.S i have a pair of centre console light bars with leds available if anyone may be interested.

**morski** · 17-08-2014,12:30 PM

Some pictures of the light bar and the back of a door panel. The black one is the trim that is fitted to the door panel that must be removed. Note the tabs on it hence why you must remove it from behind.

**Hellodave.** · 17-08-2014,01:26 PM

Originally Posted by morski

Some pictures of the light bar and the back of a door panel. The black one is the trim that is fitted to the door panel that must be removed. Note the tabs on it hence why you must remove it from behind.

Thanks - that's really useful. It looks like you fitted the red reflector and door pocket lights too - were these easy as well? The door pocket led looks like it needs cutting out on my door card.

How do the centre console light bars fit - presumably you have to remove the console first?

**morski** · 17-08-2014,02:10 PM

Apologies; should have mentioned that the door cad picture is not from mine. I didn't fit the door pocket nor red reflector lights. Just the light bars for now. Yes; the trim under the grab handle/ arm rest would need trimming in order for the light unit to fit. The red reflector is already fitted but no light unit behind it.
I did remove my centre console when fitting them as it made it easier to remove the side leather trims where the light bars sit. Probably could be done without removing this but i took it off just in case.