RETROFIT : BMW E91 - cigarette socket

 Yet another simple DIY on how to retrofit the ashtray with cigarette lighter socket if you don't have one :)


 



Actually, I'm not a smoker, but I need power supply for various devices...mobile phone, navigation, and the only place I got cigarette lighter socket is in inaccessible places: trunk and inside the storage compartment at the central console .

If you have non-smoker package, this is what you probably get:

And, this is what we want to retrofit:

So, we got three wires:

Two of them are 12V power supply and the third is for dimmable light inside the ashtray and around the socket of the cigarette lighter.


This can be find by spending few hours searching the WDS :)

Here is the diagram showing where the 1 and 2 pins are connected.

If you already got cigarette lighter socket inside the storage compartment at the central console you can connect wires 1 and 2 to existing installation like I did. 












I won't explain how to remove the existing ashtray, it is quite easy and everthing can be found in TIS.

Dimmable light, ie. third wire (3) on the connector had to be connected to junction point which is connected to FRM (Footwell module):

  

You will need 0.35mm2 wire which had to be connected to X908 junction point at the passenger side.

It can be easily happened that you don't have X908 like I don't. In that case you have to find wire comming from the FRM module, connector X14261, pin 48.

It's not that complicated :) There are plenty of wires we need at the passanger side.

So, we need Gray/Red wire  (GR/RT at the WDS diagram). Just be careful, there is a Red/Gray wire also ;)
  
This is the bunch of wires near the X908 junction point, at the passenger side. As you can see, there are several gray/red wires that you can use.

When I picked one, I wanted to make sure that I got the right wire, so I found a 48 pin at the FRM module and check it with multimeter.










Here is the FRM module, located at the driver side and the X14261 connector.

Connect 48 pin and the wire you found at the bunch of cables at the passenger side with the ommeter, if it shows zero (no resistance), that is the wire you need ;)















As you probably don't have original female connector that you need to connect with the one at the ashtray, you can use MOLEX connector from PC power supply like I did :)

I was curious to find how much current the cigarette lighter draws, here is the answer:

I switched the black and red probe, that's why the minus sign is shown ;)

As you can see, it draws almost 6 amps...but it last less than a minute, I think.










In the end...the ashtray with cigarette lighter and dimmable light ;)