C5 X7 ambient lighting (and some other bits and pieces)

[The Ace]

I am between PIAA's Hyper+ and Philips CrystalVision or BlueVision, all of these are supposed to be road-legal, with the exception of the 55/110W issue (which I will have to clarify with the PIAA dealer). Their price is almost identical (22-24€ per H7 or H1 set) so it's just a matter of performance and quarantee -I see that PIAA is offering a bigger period than Philips.

I also forgot that my DRLs are not working, so I'm guessing both HP24W lamps are burnt (?), I will probably go for G4 LEDs (12V, 4.8W, 350lms), I also noticed that you did that mod as well, any Info on that ? (power, performance, longevity)

For the ambient and floor lighting, I happen to have access to SEDRE and BackupDocs, so I can try to find the part numbers by myself, and then check pricing with some online Citroen dealers (such as Citroen.accessories.com). However in such cases there is always the possibility of errors and wrong part numbers, that's why I wanted to check with you or any other members who have done the same mods, just to make sure. For Instance, I have noted the door handle (with the LED) part numbers (L/R) so this is rather easy to do. I also have the part numbers for the LED strips for the ambient lighting, however this will require a lot of work, which is best left to the dealer.

[vborovic]

So far I haven't managed to find a decent LED replacement for the HP24 bulbs ... the light output should be 800lm or more for them to be that great, but none exists (that will fit the headlamp opening & socket of course). As for the longevity, can't say anything useful, I've had mine for a year approximately (too short to reach any conclusions). The best I could come up with wast to program the BSI to have the DRLs work in parallel with the sidelights (CREE ones) ,so that makes some sense, but still can't compare to the genuine Citroen LED DRL headlights (2011 onwards).

Seems to me you already have everything you need to know, what are the parts that you're unsure about?

[The Ace]

800lms, eh ? That's a veeeeery long way from the 350-400lms I have seen produced by even the most powerful LEDs.... Think I'll have to see what my dealer has to say about the original bulbs....

The most puzzling item is the Ambient Light switch, because in the Citroen Docs there are about a dozen different codes for the same switch assembly I think you said your mechanic ordered just the switch, or was it the whole switch assembly ? And then we have the codes for the two led strips (driver and co-driver), which actually have two different codes for each item. I guess this has to do with the production date of the car, that's why I think I may have to leave this up to the dealer, don't want to order and pay for the items and then find out that they don't fit

[vborovic]

You can skip the ambient light switch, it doesn't do anything on my car ... we've followed the schematics to the line, and haven't figured out why the switch doesn't send to the BSI the on/off signal ... or, to be precise, where such a signal should go in the first place (like I've already said, probably the door additional module boxes, linked to the mirrors, but no confirmation that even with them it would actually work as intended). Yes, anything lower than 800 lm just isn't cut out for the DRL purpose ... we've ordered 6362W5 & 6362W6 for my car, don't know the differences between older/newer ambient blocks (if any actually exist)

[The Ace]

Thanks mate, part numbers noted! I'll check with my dealer and see what they have to say about the original DRL bulbs and the ambient/interior lighting parts

[vborovic]

If you never noticed the DRLs working, maybe they're not activated (instead of both dead) in the BSI

[The Ace]

If you never noticed the DRLs working, maybe they're not activated (instead of both dead) in the BSI

Don't really know if they're dead, all I know is that ticking/unticking them in the Setup menu doesn't do anything (they never light up), so I'm *guessing* that they are declared present and activated in the BSI, but the bulbs burned out...been like that since I got the car about two months ago, so don't really know what was their original status....

I ran my VIN through the Citroen Service and got my car's details, it's mentioned that it has the DRL as original equipment, so they *should* be working....

[vborovic]

I've started replacing my rear lights, since the redesign ones look far better IMO ... first phase, the outer ones, price per unit approx. 115 GBP (new, dealer) ... the first phase looks like this:

[vborovic]

I have one more idea regarding ambient lighting, this time outer ones ... puddle light on the external mirror bottom (the C4 B7 & the DS4 share the same mirror as the C5 X7, and some variants have this LED puddle light included) ... now, the easiest way would be to order C4's external mirrors (overly expensive). The far cheaper solution would be to custom add some LED lights below (physically cut/drill the opening) ... in both cases, the door panels (cards) must come off, which is something I'm reluctant to do, but if they'd have to come off, I would take the opportunity to sort my custom wiring within it, and do the acoustic isolation as well as change the door speakers for some better ones ... I think DickyG did the speakers a while ago (Pioneer?), so any recommendations on the speaker Brand/model are appreciated ... as well as the noise isolation material ...

[Xantippa]

Rainbow Germanium goes well in the doors if you cut out the plastic cup behind speaker. Not very much room for deeper bass speaker though. For damping I used Dynamat if I remember correctly.

[Stickyfinger]

Rainbow Germanium

.yep........... I met Her in a Dancing Bar, downtown Budapest on a wet Wednesday night, impressive tricks with 5 LEDs and a PingPong ball !

[vborovic]

@ Xantippa - I remember your pictures of the procedure, can you tell me the rough price of your speakers (I guess they came as a pair)? How about the holes, did you need to drill new ones in the plastic cup, or were you able to re-use the existing ones?

[Xantippa]

I bought them used, I think that was about 300€/set as new. They´re not available anymore, I think Rainbow SL-C6.2 PRO is the new model. If I was buying a new set, maybe I would go for Focal, they´re good sounding speakers and also French! Focal Performance PS 165 F might be nice, but I´m not quite sure if it´s too deep because it´s about 1cm deeper than Rainbow.

No need to drill mounting holes, just cut out the plastic cup behind speaker so there´s room for deeper magnet.

[vborovic]

I've completed the rear white lights today, the current situation is like this:

As for the speakers, I'm thinking of putting Hertz inside the doors, but that's another project that is still in the future.

[Stickyfinger]

Now all you need to do is re-spray it Wicked Red and you will have a perfect car