Subject: Umnitza Predator AE Wiring Options Catalogued (LONG) Author: mrnobody : 139 posts Posted on: 2008-10-05 23:46:57

I recently installed the Predator Orion Angel Eyes in my e38 (technically the v2). Here's a pic. They are LED based, not CCFL, which some don't like, but I like them just fine.



The purpose of this post is to detail the wiring options, because these newer AE have more than just positive and negative leads, they offer relay based control, which means more options and more control of when your AE are on and off. On the physical side, in order to really put everything into one place, I found Dwight's writeup to be comprehensive. Between that and the writeups on the Umnitza site, I was good to go.

As with anything like this, use at your own risk. This is what worked for me. Maybe. If I wrote it up correctly :-)

First, let's consider the wiring harness. In addition the wires that connect to the AE, there are 4 additional wires: positive and negative are the big red and black ones, and the smaller red and brown ones are the two trigger wires. Understanding what each does is essential to deciding how to wire for desired results. The circuit is not terribly complicated and offers a lot of control.

The AE are powered by current flowing from positive to negative, but the triggers control relays that complete that circuit, and current doesn't flow unless a relay is engaged. A relay is engaged when current flows through the trigger to ground, so there are actually 3 current paths, two through the two triggers, and one through the AE.

The red trigger is an induction relay, which means a certain amount of current needs to flow in order to engage the main AE circuit. It also means a certain amount of resistance is in the red trigger circuit, so it won't siphon off all the power if it's hooked up (essentially in parallel) with something else (like your parking lights, or DTR, or whatever you tap into).

The brown relay is a bypass relay (probably solid state), so even a very low voltage will engage the AE circuit. Keeping that in mind, attaching the brown relay to a voltage source capable of sending a lot of current is a good way to drain your battery, since there is not even minor induction based resistance to keep the current drain low.

I did a lot of experimenting by wiring up the positive and negatives for the AE per the core recommendation: positive to the battery terminal in the engine, negative to the bolt on the left shock tower, and attach the relay to the clamp on the ATF fluid. For the positive, you don't have to cut a hole in the terminal cover as suggested in some writeups, you can actually get the cover closed fine putting the wire through the back (near the hinge) -- shown in the photo below.



Now, for my experimenting, I extended the trigger wires using some long wires that I simply electical-taped on, and then I could use the extended wires to test various tap points to figure out some options for making it all work. Later I took the ground off the shock tower and extended it as well. Then the fun REALLY began as I tried to blow all kinds of fuses randomly connecing stuff together and shorting out my car. Whoot! (OK, I didn't do too much of that actually.) The following are my conclusions, but based on the explanation of the circuit, and developing an understanding of these options, you can probably come up with other alternatives as well.

Option 1 - AE on when ignition on, plus Remote feature (AE on WITH internal lights, thus car lock/unlock, door open, etc.)

In this case, wire positive and negative to battery and shock tower, and put the red trigger to the day time running lights as in this AE/DTR post.

Now, because you have an additional trigger, you are not limited to AE with the ignition being on. A good use for this is to use make the AE come on and off with the interior lights (very cool) using the brown "remote" trigger to the door light, as explained in this
Remote Trigger post.

Getting wires into the cabin, by the way, is a pain, but essential to do either the remote trigger, or any kind of foglight controlled arrangement. A few add-ons to the instruction in the Remote Trigger post. First, I didn't try to move the metal clamp from the hood release cable grommet. I found it easier to simply move the plastic cover OVER the metal clamp (I put a wide plade screw driver into the gap in the plastic cover and twisted to separate the plastic piece enough to slide it over the metal clamp), which made it easy to access the grommet.

Now, getting the wires through was also non-trivial. I ran serveral wires to support one of the options still to be explained. To get the wires through I cut a 10" piece of coathanger with bolt cutters so I just had a stiff straight wire. I found it easier to push that through from the engine compartment than to go from under the dash outward. When pushed through enough that I could see it under the dash, I eletrical-taped very tightly a single wire to the engine end of the coat hanger, then pulled through from under the dash. I then attached the additional wires to the bit of wire I had pulled through (tied them in a knot) and pulled the GROUP of wires through that I wanted to use inside the car. Idea is to not let the gromet get a big hole in it, you want to keep the seal TIGHT between passenger and engine comparments, in this way it practically self-sealed by stretching around my wires from the tiny hole forced in by the sharp end of the coat hanger.

Option 2 - AE with parking lights on, plus Remote feature

Like option 1, but tap the parking light power (easy to find since you have to take the parking light out to even install the AE) with the red trigger. This provides a small level of control, in that you can have your AE off if your lights are off.

Option 3 - Total control of AE, plus controllable Remote feature

An option I like better than DTR is total control, such as in Sealbeach740 (and friends) great write up using the Euro Fog switch. Note well that in this case the GROUND wire goes into the passenger compartment so that it can be wired into the second/rear-fog position of the Euro Fog switch. This is necessary because the fog switch basically works by making ground connections. You can't wire a trigger into the fog switch because turning the switch to position two isn't sending any current, you're just connecting ground-to-ground.

So, to duplicate Sealbeach740's behavior you would extend the ground and run it into the cabin, instead of attaching it to the shock tower, and then if you want total control all the time (battery drain danger if you leave your AE on) you can put the red-trigger to the battery positive, right along with the AE positive, or, to limit your risk of battery drainage, put the trigger over to the DTR in the box as described in the other post. The reason this approach lets you run your AE even without your parking lights (typically required for fog operation) is because even though it's connected to the fog switch, it's not really anything to do with the fogs, it's just using the ground aspect of the switch itself.

Now, where this goes past Sealbeach740's options is you can still wire the remote. I pulled both the AE ground and remote trigger into the cabin, and wired according to Sealbeach740 and Remote Trigger posts combined. With the power to the car off, the ground through the euro switch (which is mechanical) is still engaged, so, now when I leave the fog switch in position 2 (or 3), the remote door-lighting-based feature works whether the car is on or not. I like this option because if I am messing around in the car a bunch, opening and closing the door a lot, leaving it open while I play under the dash, or whatever, I can put the fog switch to position 0 and intentionally disable the AE remote feature. Saves the AE from contributing to draining my battery if I'm out playing in the garage.

Option 4 - Total control of AE when parking lights are ON using Euro Fog switch, plus Remote feature

What makes this last option cool is you are now using the rear foglight power (rather than the Euro switch ground) to control the AE, with the added bonus that the extra fog indicator in the dash lights up when the AE ("rear fogs") are on. Sweet! Downside is less control, so you have to ask, how much control do I need? If you run your fogs all the time anyway, this may be for you.

In order to sort this one out, what you do is wire up the Euro Fog Switch the correct way, instead of just borrowing it's mechanical ground. For this option you put ground back to the shock tower, and the wires you bring into the cabin are the two trigger wires. Brown trigger wired as described earlier for remote feature.

Granted, the Euro Fog writeup I linked in is for an e39, but it's basically the same for an e38 (I tried this on my car). There's some e38.org writeups on this as well that you might cross reference, but I like the illustrations etc. in the e39 one especially well.

Now, instead of wiring the rear fog power to the rear fogs, wire it to the AE red trigger (actually, I wired both rear fog power wires AND the AE trigger together).

A couple of key notes on this option. First, follow the link in the e39 writeup to the jadeturtle website version of the article, which contains a "2001 update" link as well. You'll find out there are two fog switches that govern two different behaviors. I'm not sure the exact cut-over date, but the early models had independent operation of front and rear fogs. Later models the rears can only be on with the fronts, and the behavior of turning the rears on and off actually uses a different (3 position) switch. So, for late models, option 4 should be ammended to "Option 4b) AE control when parking lights AND fogs are on". I've posted here asking anyone if they knew how to code the LCM to make the later models act like the earlier models, but so far, no luck.

So, for older models, total control. For newer models, you'll have to decide if AE ONLY with Fogs is acceptable to you. Is it worth having the little dash indicator light but less control? Ultimately, for me, it was not, so I went with option 3, and I actually like the option to shut off the remote feature that's part of option 3 as well.

One other variant here, you could make AE the "front" and your front fogs the "rear" by switching the outputs in the X12/X38 connectors (which contain the output power for both sets of fogs). Fronts are pins 4 and 7 in the X12/X38 respectively. Thus, AE with parking lights, and fogs ONLY with AE. Be warned: taking apart the X12 and X38 connectors is necessary to remove the connectors at positions 4 and 7 and reinsert them into the rear positions (thus control front fogs with "rear" power). You may even need to buy new connectors and cut the old ones off. I recommend having several on hand. I wish I'd taken photos. Not only do the connectors not come very far out so they are hard to reach and manipulate, but they simply are complex and challenging to disassemble.

Final note on this option. I did find the front power would fluctuate (click-click-click goes the relay) on the AE if one of the front fogs was "out" when switched on. For further details on my experiments (to save you duplicating them all, if you are REALLY interested) you can check out this post, a response to my first ever post.

Acknowledgements: Obviously thanks to everyone who's stuff I linked in here, and also Jim Cash and Paul Boehler who exchanged some emails with me as I tried to solve the LCM / Euro Fog behavior issues.

Oh, and if anyone ever plugs in the appropriate software and looks to see if they can recode the LCM/RearFog behavior, let me know!

-Mr. Nobody (Noob)


2001 740iL auto, Alpinwiess 3, Style 37 (daily), Style 4 (roadtrips), Orion v2 AE on Euro Fog switch, Quad Brake lights, DICE iPod Controller, 30K
2003 530i manual, Schwarz II, Style 19 (winter), Style 82 (3-seasons), Quad Brake lights, DICE iPod Controller, 45K

• Umnitza Predator AE Wiring Options Catalogued (LONG) (pic) (url) - mrnobody 2008-10-05 23:46:57 (540 views)
  • I did the same thing. here is a pic and my youtube vid on mine. (pic) (vid) (url) - 740ibimmer 2008-10-06 03:39:21 (146 views)
    • thanks for the photos. we'll link on the site. (nt) - umnitza 2008-10-06 18:48:17 (21 views)
    • Nice ride, love your interior retrofits from shown in the vid! - mrnobody 2008-10-06 11:53:59 (22 views)
      • Re: Nice ride, love your interior retrofits from shown in the vid! - darkknight74 2008-10-06 19:39:42 (21 views)
      • Thanks! and yes stock/tips.. but only temporary. (nt) - 740ibimmer 2008-10-06 14:33:40 (25 views)
  • Very detailed. Nice info. I do like the fact the are LED - Ed 2008-10-06 00:06:27 (50 views)
    • Re: Very detailed. Nice info. I do like the fact the are LED - mrnobody 2008-10-06 00:23:55 (33 views)
      • Re: Very detailed. Nice info. I do like the fact the are LED - Ed 2008-10-06 00:41:51 (60 views)
        • These install on top of the round lenses... - mrnobody 2008-10-06 11:47:01 (48 views)
          • Definetly look forward to more pics when you get a chance - Ed 2008-10-06 14:38:19 (21 views)