Auxiliary LED brake light install on 49 liter top case

[wbw6cos]

Hello,

 

Does anyone know how to to install the auxiliary LED brake light on the BMW 49 liter topcase?   I have central locking, so there is a harness available to plug.  My concern revolves around the plastic trim piece.  

 

I removed the whole black trim section (4 screws) and wonder how to remove the flat black section that is recessed in the assembly.  I do not want to pry and break anything that I am not supposed to.

 

Does it pop out, or will it require drilling/cutting?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

William

 

 

[92Merc]

At the bottom, there are those 2 push pins.  I think you can push the centers out with a nail or something.  Once those are popped out from the center, the whole rivet looking pieces pop out.

 

At least that's what I recall.  I'd have to look at the left over pieces I have from the last time I did it to make sure.

 

Definitely no cutting or drilling.

[wbw6cos]

Do you mean the three push pins?  They appear to be plastic rivets.  

 

I can tell by looking through that those rivets hold that piece in place.  From what I gather, once that flat piece is gone, the brake light will fit in its place with the screws provided.  I really want to punch or drill those out, but wanted to confirm that is the way to go.  Thanks.

[92Merc]

Yeah, those things.  I think the centers just pop down.  Then you can pull the whole thing out.

[dirtrider]

1 hour ago, wbw6cos said:

Hello,

 

Does anyone know how to to install the auxiliary LED brake light on the BMW 49 liter topcase?   I have central locking, so there is a harness available to plug.  My concern revolves around the plastic trim piece.  

 

I removed the whole black trim section (4 screws) and wonder how to remove the flat black section that is recessed in the assembly.  I do not want to pry and break anything that I am not supposed to.

 

Does it pop out, or will it require drilling/cutting?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

William

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evening William

 

From  the BMW service manual.

 

'Snap Pins' are the little center pins of the plastic rivets.

 

 

[wbw6cos]

Good evening D.R. ___

 

I hoped you would chime in on this.  I appreciate  the reply.  The more I thought about it (along with the post from 92Merc,) the more I was inclined to "pop" those rivets and remove the piece.  If all else failed,  I could have ordered another finisher piece if I inadvertantly destroyed it (HA).  I thought it was cheaper to ask here first.  I was right.

 

I do not have the service manual, so my internet (and forum) queries did not yield any results that helped.

 

Cheers,

William

[wbw6cos]

Sorted!   

 

Per the replies above, I pushed the 3 centers down on the plastic rivets (indicated by the red arrows.)  I used an eyeglass kit phillips screw driver, which matched the center diameter of the rivets.  The rivet heads separated and the plate came out.

 

The install was not too bad; I took my time.  One thing to add is to ensure the LED light housing gets fully seated in the black plastic ring that came with it.  Once in, I re-installed using the original screws.  There was an extra set of small  wood (type) screws with two funny looking mountung (guessing) washers, or whatever they are called.  I theorize that they may be possible wire retainers for the harness behind the light.  I did not use them.

 

Thanks again for the comeback on my quest for info.

 

Regards,

[PadG]

Just a note  - you will find that the BMW set up will have that aux. brake light comes on for braking ONLY!  If you have, or is intending on adding a set of Clearwater lights, then you will be able to hook up the Canopener module that comes with the Clearwater light so that you can have the aux. brake light on your top box works as running light as well as brake light, and the brake light option will be programmable to run in one of 4 different blink modes!  If you don't want to add the Clearwater, you could buy one of the standalone module that will allow that light to work in similar manner as the Clearwater.

[92Merc]

I bought the Skene P3's for out back.  I put the LED's next to the license plate.  I have Clearwaters, but I didn't use that to trigger the brake light.  I just used the aux power out of the module to power the Skene controller.

I found the brake wire going to the trunk light.  I cut that so my Skene controller controls the LED pods, plus the trunk light.  So now my trunk light is a running light as well as the flicker when running.  It really makes me visible when I have the trunk on.

[Trilegy]

I have he Denali setup. Is it as simple as cutting the BMW cable and reconnecting to the module directly?