How to make my steering wheel LEDs work?

[Clanche]

I just bought an e46(2000+ BMW 3 series) steering wheel for my e36 and I took it apart to see what I was dealing with. My problem is that since my car doesnt have the right connection to the controls chip, I have no idea what voltage I have to create to power it.

Most likely the red wire will be the +power but I don't know which one would be ground (if any). I just want to power the LEDs for now but I need to know what resistors I need to adjust the +12 switch power I will be bringing in the slip ring. Anyone with experience with this?


http://www.spheregraphics.com/pics/e46_steering_chip1.jpg
http://www.spheregraphics.com/pics/e46_steering_chip2.jpg
http://www.spheregraphics.com/pics/e46_steering_chip3.jpg

[three.eighteen.]

holy there's microchips in that shit?

[Clanche]

Originally posted by three.eighteen.
holy there's microchips in that shit?

lol ya thats the chip that receives the input from the buttons on the steering wheel and the LEDs that make the buttons glow are built into it.

Wondering what +power Voltage I need to power it so that I can run the right amount

[Clanche]

Anyone here in computer science or an electrician? How do I figure out how much power this chip takes?

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by three.eighteen.
holy there's microchips in that shit? All LEDs are mounted on circuit boards...

[dj_honda]

first off, you shouldn't have IC's on the carpet like that, you can damage them (ESD damage).

for the ground pin, you need to find it from your cars wiring diagram or something. or if you want, you could look up the datasheet on one of the IC's and find out what pin is ground, and then use a meter to check continuity to one of the 4 pins on the connector.

[snowcatxx87]

The best person to ask Clanche is

MITE46

on e46fanatics.com. The guy is a genious, he retrofitted an e60 M5 steering wheel on his e46 332i (323 with m3 engine etc. etc. :D)

[Clanche]

Originally posted by snowcatxx87
The best person to ask Clanche is

MITE46

on e46fanatics.com. The guy is a genious, he retrofitted an e60 M5 steering wheel on his e46 332i (323 with m3 engine etc. etc. :D)

Thanks for the tip! Just waiting for my account to be activated.

Anyone here know how I can create a +12V source in my house?? I'm tired of having to go in the underground parking to test the circuits with my car battery (GHETTO) :D

[soupey]

computer power supply^

[MudCrawler]

Originally posted by Clanche


Thanks for the tip! Just waiting for my account to be activated.

Anyone here know how I can create a +12V source in my house?? I'm tired of having to go in the underground parking to test the circuits with my car battery (GHETTO) :D

Bring the battery up to your room? lol.

You can also create a 12v source with random wall chargers. When testing a deck, and a cb radio, i used a wall charger that was multiple voltages, set it to twelve, and it worked.
Of course, that is the red green way.

[Clanche]

Originally posted by MudCrawler


Bring the battery up to your room? lol.

You can also create a 12v source with random wall chargers. When testing a deck, and a cb radio, i used a wall charger that was multiple voltages, set it to twelve, and it worked.
Of course, that is the red green way.

sweet! great idea.. hopefully i dont blow myself up

[barbarian]

Eight 1.5 V AA batteries. You can get battery holders from Radio Shack for this. The advantage is if you short something, they can't supply a lot of current to do as much damage.

[HiSpec]

if you can find out what it reads on that chip, and go look up the chip in those IC chip "dictionary", it usually tells you what input voltage it requires. Assuming this chip is a regular IC chip, not a programmed ROM.

[Clanche]

I find out it was a +12V that was needed and after testing all the different possibilities, I finally made a curcuit that made the LEDs in the steering wheel glow :D

My home made slip ring didnt work so I'm gonna have to get a new one from the dealership that will work on the newer gen steering wheel.

Now I just have to find the right power source + ground behind the dash that I can tap into :nut:

[Lexxan]

Originally posted by dj_honda
first off, you shouldn't have IC's on the carpet like that, you can damage them (ESD damage).

for the ground pin, you need to find it from your cars wiring diagram or something. or if you want, you could look up the datasheet on one of the IC's and find out what pin is ground, and then use a meter to check continuity to one of the 4 pins on the connector.

lol.. does this include PCI/ISA etc boards from computers.. because i've thrown them on carpets like 10x and they still seem to work

[AllGoNoShow]

Originally posted by Lexxan


lol.. does this include PCI/ISA etc boards from computers.. because i've thrown them on carpets like 10x and they still seem to work

werd to big bird....






Clanche you going to have it ready for the meet? I wanna see this :)

[Ashkente]

Originally posted by barbarian
Eight 1.5 V AA batteries. You can get battery holders from Radio Shack for this. The advantage is if you short something, they can't supply a lot of current to do as much damage.

Yes they can...:banghead:

[Zero102]

Your 12V assessment sounds correct. I see voltage regulators on that board, so it probably is powered at 12V.
Was the blue wire ground?

The setup is probably red = +12V, blue = -12V, the other 2 are for a data bus.

As for the carpet ESD comment, you should be careful.
Computer PCI/ISA cards are more tolerant for a couple of reasons, one is that they are designed to carry 0.5 - 1.0A of current on most of their busses, and have pulldown resistors on most inputs. Embedded systems (i.e. the controller on that card) usually do not, however I see many many resistors on the one board, so it is possible that it is fully protected.
That said, take it easy with things like that, because it would suck to have to buy another.

[Clanche]

Originally posted by AllGoNoShow


werd to big bird....

Clanche you going to have it ready for the meet? I wanna see this :)

ya its in the car but no airbag or slip ring though... dam the car feels like its a whole new machine.. funny how something simple like a steering wheel can change so much :D


Originally posted by Zero102
Your 12V assessment sounds correct. I see voltage regulators on that board, so it probably is powered at 12V.
Was the blue wire ground?

The setup is probably red = +12V, blue = -12V, the other 2 are for a data bus.

As for the carpet ESD comment, you should be careful.
Computer PCI/ISA cards are more tolerant for a couple of reasons, one is that they are designed to carry 0.5 - 1.0A of current on most of their busses, and have pulldown resistors on most inputs. Embedded systems (i.e. the controller on that card) usually do not, however I see many many resistors on the one board, so it is possible that it is fully protected.
That said, take it easy with things like that, because it would suck to have to buy another.

actually it turned out the grey was the -12V.. red was positive

so I'm guessing the data for the buttons is going through the white/blue.. wonder if I hook up those to the horn lines if my horn will go off if i press any of the buttons :dunno:

[AllGoNoShow]

Well, hook them up and try :P