Exterior door handle lighting retrofit

[ukgroucho]

I wonder if it's also possible to retrofit the Keyless Entry sensors into the handles?

Think there is more to it than just the handles... it seems that cars with keyless have additional antennas around the body so they can detect the proximity of the key - and those antennas connect to a module of some sort. Tried to switch it on in VCDS on my car and got a module not present error or similar.

[A4SLine2TDI]

I have the External LED door handle kit but can not find the pin out for the wiring onto the door module. Could you assist with the 'pin to power the LED light' any help would be appreciated

[Hellodave.]

I have the External LED door handle kit but can not find the pin out for the wiring onto the door module. Could you assist with the 'pin to power the LED light' any help would be appreciated

Assuming you're doing this on an A6 or A7 then yes, you need to connect door led pin 2 (+ve) to pin 5 on the 6 pin connector in the door control unit. Use repair wire 000 979 009 E. Tap into any existing ground wire for led pin 1.

You'll also need to do some coding to tell the car it has the lighting pack installed. On my car it was:

Door modules: Change Byte 2 from 1C to 1F
Cent Elect module: Change Byte 16, bit 7 (counting from the left) to 1

After coding the door modules they will also expect the door card light bar leds to be connected so you may see some fault codes relating to this.

[A4SLine2TDI]

I have metered the output from the module on pin5 ( actually the only pin on the 6pin connector possible ) and changed Byte1 from 1C to 1F but no joy. The Byte 16 is already set to 1 from the interior light updates. I am reluctant to connect to pin 5 and refit the door card without confirming i have 12v with existing puddle and warning lights lit.

[Hellodave.]

I have metered the output from the module on pin5 ( actually the only pin on the 6pin connector possible ) and changed Byte1 from 1C to 1F but no joy. The Byte 16 is already set to 1 from the interior light updates. I am reluctant to connect to pin 5 and refit the door card without confirming i have 12v with existing puddle and warning lights lit.

It's byte 2, not byte 1 :-)

That was definately the right pin on my 2012 A6 - it was taken from Audi's own wiring diagram. As you say, there is only one possible pin on the 6 pin connector. Make sure it's dark and your lights are set to auto before testing. Coming/leaving home function probably needs to be on in Mmi settings too.

I found my door modules needed a reset before the new lights came on - switch the ignition on and off, lock/unlock the car and open and close the door. You might also find the door module won't put 12v on that pin until a real load is connected. If it thinks the LED has failed it will switch the output off until you reset it.

Btw, I forgot to say if you're doing the rear doors the pinout is different. You want pin 1 of the large 20 pin connector.

[A4SLine2TDI]

Yep Good point I noticed with my first mod of adding the red door warning lights and puddle lights the door module took time to reset. I will go for broke and wire all in the morning and see what happens, if i leave the door clips off the card and just replace the screws i can play if all not well. Thanks for the rear door pin out, most helpful and appreciated.

[A4SLine2TDI]

Ok a day of mixed emotions........
I have fitted all 4 door handles on my late 2013 A6 Sline with the LED light kit, purchased from a link here.
Fitting is as follows in basic steps.....
1. Remove all four door panels, i would recommend getting 8 new mounts / popers / door card mounts as a precaution they are 87pence each
2. Remove door handles and replace blanks with LED's. To refit each door handle you have to look inside the door once the large black plastic plate is removed to hold the operating lever down so the handle is allowed to drop into its original position. It is also advisable to push the lock housing that you have released with the screw on the edge of the door toward the edge of the door this gives you more wriggling room to get the handle back in. I found a few of the lock blanks were hard to remove, a swift bump on the torx driver freed them up nicely.
3. Route connecting wires through the plastic tangs on the handle body to avoid problems with the window rise and fall, route behind the lock cable and then out of the round grommet with a spare tube / location. I tie wrapped the cable with the lock cable that exits on the same grommet.
4. Front doors connect +ve to pin 5 on 6 pin connector (its the only in on the smaller four pin section. ) take the -ve off the adjacent plug (big brown wire)
5. Rear doors connect +ve to pin 1 on large connector and again -ve off the large brown wire
6. Assemble all door panels but check your handles work on every door before you clip them back home.

7. Coding...front door driver change byte 1 from 1C to 1F this is done by turning bit 0 & 1 on (i think but just play you will get their)
front passenger same as above
rear drivers side same as above this is turning bit 0 to 4 on in byte 1 (second from left for byte 1 then 0 1 2 3 4 ticked)
rear passenger door same as above.

Now for the bitter sweet....the sweet is that the LEDs now light on open/unlock of the doors.

.......................................The bitter is that this only works if you have the lights set to auto so you get the coming home feature activated.

My recommendation is to buy 4 inline 2 way plugs from CPC Farnell online and wire the handle LED's direct on the in-line plug and sockets to the puddle lights so at least the come on EVERY time you unlock / lock the doors ala BMW ...sorry think i just swore!!!

Hope this helps but just message and i will do my best.
COULS REALLY DO WITH SOME ONE POSTING THE BIT LABLES FOR THE DOOR MODULES FRONT & REAR

[Hellodave.]

Nice one - it's great when you see them working for the first time!

Ok a day of mixed emotions........
2. Remove door handles and replace blanks with LED's. To refit each door handle you have to look inside the door once the large black plastic plate is removed to hold the operating lever down so the handle is allowed to drop into its original position. It is also advisable to push the lock housing that you have released with the screw on the edge of the door toward the edge of the door this gives you more wriggling room to get the handle back in. I found a few of the lock blanks were hard to remove, a swift bump on the torx driver freed them up nicely.

A tip to remove and refit doorhandles, which I only realised after doing the last one: follow these instructions exactly and the operating lever will lock in position when removing the handle so refitting is easy -

1. Unscrew the torx screw in the side of the door.
2. Pull the handle out as far as it will go (i.e. the same as you would when opening the door) and hold it there
3. With the screwdriver still located in the torx head, push the whole assembly towards the front of the car
4. If you do this right, the handle will lock in the open position. If it doesn't, do the screw up again and retry steps 1-3; it's fiddly, but easy when you get the hang of it!
5. With the handle locked in place, pull it towards the rear of the car and it will slide out with a bit of wiggling.
6. Important - do not touch the handle assembly from now on. If you move the bracket the torx screw connects to at best the locking lever will ping out of place, at worst you'll lose the plastic bracket inside the door and refitting it is a b***h (I know )
7. To refit the handle, slide it back into place - if you've followed step 6 religiously it will go back in without moving any of the parts inside the door.
8. The handle should now be back locked in the open position. To finish, hold the handle while you tighten the torx screw.
9. The handle will release. Check you can open and close the door with it.

If you follow this procedure you can remove and refit a handle in under 5 minutes. The first one I did (and fiddled with the screw & bracket after removal) took an hour!

Now for the bitter sweet....the sweet is that the LEDs now light on open/unlock of the doors.

.......................................The bitter is that this only works if you have the lights set to auto so you get the coming home feature activated.

My recommendation is to buy 4 inline 2 way plugs from CPC Farnell online and wire the handle LED's direct on the in-line plug and sockets to the puddle lights so at least the come on EVERY time you unlock / lock the doors ala BMW ...sorry think i just swore!!!

Check the puddle lights come on when you unlock the car - I'm pretty sure they only come on when you open the door, meaning only open doors would have illuminated handles. Plus you would need to find the door handles in the dark in order to open the door and switch the light on
I'm quite happy with mine; having to enable the coming/leaving home function doesn't bother me.

[A4SLine2TDI]

yep puddle lights come on immediately as you unlock the car, at the same time as the interior lights illuminate. I forgot to say the door handle LED's from china are a bit pish..I have not seen the new OEM Audi units so may be they are ok. Friends other german manufacture car is clearly visible in broad daylight.

[Pikey Narna]

Is there anyone out there that does these modifications. I would love door LED's and door card lighting.

Andy