Installing interior light

[ThomasBellamy]

I have the regular two interior lights, I would like to install a third in the centre next to the check panel. There is a slot there where an interior light could be mounted, is the wiring there to accomodate for one? and either way can it be done?

[Grrrmachine]

It's worth reading this. Map lights built into the mirror was an optional extra for these cars.

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... s#Interior

[ThomasBellamy]

I'd like to install an interior light in the slot that is next to the check computer overhead. The slot appears to be the same size as an interior light... From what I can gather from the wiki... the wiring is present should a map light be fitted... my question is, would it be possible to extend this wiring into the slot overhead and wire in an extra interior light insteaD?

[daimlerman]

Map light is a seperate item,fed,I believe,from the accesssories socket behind the glovebox.Wiring it to work with the interior lights is,therefore,not straightforward.

The access panel the OP refers to allows one to manually close/open the sunroof,should the drive fail,handy if it's raining,and there should be a suitable implement in the toolkit for this purpose.

The access panel's hole is not deep enough to allow a fitting like the existing interior lights to be installed,however,I understand that a roof light from an E34 can be adapted to fit.My solution was to surface mount a small light to the panel,feeding it from one of the existing interior lights,by running a pair of wires under the roof liner.This works via the door switch only,but used with a delay module provides enough light to find the ign switch hole.

[ThomasBellamy]

ahh I see, well I'll just put that idea to bed then.

[Tan91]

Have you had a look at the E36 interior light?

Some of them 3 lights, two map lights either side and one main lamp in the middle with the according buttons with it, comes attached with a couple of inches of wire.

I just google'd it and it seems shallow enough, but maybe if you post a picture of your sunvisor panel and the placement of it you could defo retro fit another light roughly the same size, its not impossible, im sure.

Tan.

[Tan91]

Also have a look or ask people to get pictures of their interior light on their cabbies, im sure it must be a slimmer module or fitment due to the folding roof.