Hi guys,
As a long time lurker, i thought it was time to give something back.
Last year, i noticed my ambient light had stopped working. So after a but of googling i found this thread
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/electronics/64573-w203-interior-mirror-ambient-light.html
That thread was a great help and this morning I followed it. I realised what would have helped a little would have been some picture, so i took some
I bought these items from ebay:
Prewired LEDs - eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace
And these LED mounts - eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace
First thing to do was to pull the mirror down. What i noticed was that if you pulled the mirror past its normal range of movement, the mirror pops off the ball joint. It wont come all the way of because of the cabling, but it definitely makes it easier to access. I also found out you dont really need a tool to prise apart the mirror. I just got my fingers in where the ball joint it and gradually increase how had i was pulling until the top popped apart.
Once you have the mirror apart, unplug the little white connector, then put the mirror somewhere safe.
Now you can take out the old bulb. Pull it towards you and it shoudl just unclip. You can see in the second picture the shape of the clip
I then cut the old bulb off, stripped some insulation of the remaning wire and stripped some off my new LED wire and just twisted the wires together. There's no easy way to tell which way the wires should go, so, at this point, plug the white mirror connector back in, and turn your ignition on. If the LED doesn't light, turn ignition off and swap the LED wires arounfd
Next you need to make the existing hole in the bottom of the mirror slightly larger so the LED housing will fit. There are various ways to do this, but i just got some long nosed pliers and twisted them in the hole, making sure not to go too big.
Clipped it all back together, job done
Hope this helps someone
As a long time lurker, i thought it was time to give something back.
Last year, i noticed my ambient light had stopped working. So after a but of googling i found this thread
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/electronics/64573-w203-interior-mirror-ambient-light.html
That thread was a great help and this morning I followed it. I realised what would have helped a little would have been some picture, so i took some
I bought these items from ebay:
Prewired LEDs - eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace
And these LED mounts - eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace
First thing to do was to pull the mirror down. What i noticed was that if you pulled the mirror past its normal range of movement, the mirror pops off the ball joint. It wont come all the way of because of the cabling, but it definitely makes it easier to access. I also found out you dont really need a tool to prise apart the mirror. I just got my fingers in where the ball joint it and gradually increase how had i was pulling until the top popped apart.
Once you have the mirror apart, unplug the little white connector, then put the mirror somewhere safe.
Now you can take out the old bulb. Pull it towards you and it shoudl just unclip. You can see in the second picture the shape of the clip
I then cut the old bulb off, stripped some insulation of the remaning wire and stripped some off my new LED wire and just twisted the wires together. There's no easy way to tell which way the wires should go, so, at this point, plug the white mirror connector back in, and turn your ignition on. If the LED doesn't light, turn ignition off and swap the LED wires arounfd
Next you need to make the existing hole in the bottom of the mirror slightly larger so the LED housing will fit. There are various ways to do this, but i just got some long nosed pliers and twisted them in the hole, making sure not to go too big.
Clipped it all back together, job done
Hope this helps someone
