I decided to take on the install of the mirror covers to update the look of my car and I wanted to hook up the puddle lights. I wanted the fade in/out function when you lock/unlock the doors and have done that. I took the cheap route of mirror covers versus the OEM replacement and kept my dumbo ears. It's fine with me and for the price I got what I wanted out of it. It may not be your cup of tea and if not, move to another table where they have your tea.

I've used the search function and found most of this in the forum and added where I had to. I found most others that did this never connected the puddle lights. Do it!

I followed this link to remove the mirror covers. If I can't link this forum I will save the pdf and replace.

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w204...placement.html

I removed the mirrors to wire the puddle lights through the door by following this link.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...up-inside.html

Once the mirror is off you can fish the wires into your door with the access panel removed.

I then removed my overhead console by following this link.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...or-wiring.html

Once this was removed, I had to test and find the wire that fades in/out when you unlock/lock the doors. It is in the rear of the console in the blue harness and you must find the red wire with green stripe as shown here. I used a tap to test but ended up splicing and soldering 2 wires into this wire.



Once that was done, I had to run both wires to each A pillar by removing the sunvisor clips and fishing the wires through the headliner towards the A pillar. I removed the sunvisor clips by following this link. I fished the wires using a coat hanger.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...isor-clip.html

Once I had them fished to the A pillar I disconnected the battery as removing the A pillar has an airbag behind it. The key to removing the A pillar is to slide it up and then out. If you try to pry it out, you'll snap the clip towards the top. Slide it up first then out! I've circled the spot where the top clip goes and you can see why you have to slide up because it won't come out!



I then ran the wire down the A pillar and then proceeded to remove the kick panel. To do this, remove the door trim felt and it will expose two metal clips, pull those up from the body. Then lift the door sill cover and pull the kick panel from under that and then slide the kick panel towards you. The back of the kick panel slides into a plastic clip so don't pull it from the back. Here's a pick of the kick panel removed.



I then used coaxial cable since it was sturdy and flexible to fish it from the door. I removed the door jam cover by popping off the tabs from the top and fished the cable from the door, through the jam and down to the kick panel. You can see the arrows of all the places where the cable passed in the picture below. I then tapped the red wire to the cable and pulled it back through to the inner door.



Once I had the red wire from the overhead console in the door, I connected it to the hot wire from the puddle light, added a shrink tube and soldered them together and put shrink tubing over it.

I then took the ground from the puddle light and spliced into the purple harness in the door and soldered it there. You can see the picture below.



I tested and everything works as planned. The puddle lights fade in/out when you unlock/lock the doors and don't come on with the dome light. This was not too hard and adds a nice touch.

 

wow props on the write up. I just ordered a set of mirror and will use your write up when I get it. Thank you!

 

I don't have the red wire with the green stripe. Now I'm stuck

 

whats the price on OEM puddle light mirror covers ? for 2010 w204s ? eBay ones i find burn out leds or leak

 

Sweet, there's an even easier way to tap into the dome light. Just run your wires to the driver side door pillar. No need to disassemble the whole top area, which is an utter pain. Plus you can ground anywhere on the door to complete the circuit. Either way this thread helped me find the wire color, which is same in the door pillar. The green/red wire.

 

@ C350King can you elaborate further? run wires to drivers side A or B pillars? is the red/green wire accessible from there? I am trying to avoid disassembling the top area.

 

[QUOTE=nine88rick;5860795]I decided to take on the install of the mirror covers to update the look of my car and I wanted to hook up the puddle lights. I wanted the fade in/out function when you lock/unlock the doors and have done that
Once this was removed, I had to test and find the wire that fades in/out when you unlock/lock the doors. It is in the rear of the console in the blue harness and you must find the red wire with green stripe as shown here. I used a tap to test but ended up splicing and soldering 2 wires into this wire.

Attachment 410233

hi op.can u pls.tell.me.which wire it is ... i dont seem to habe that exact wire red with a green stripe all i have is solid brown
then brown with a red stripe
and black with a blue or purple stripe
cant seem to find the gree. with red stripe
pls help id like to wire something that does the same pls

 

Sorry this may be a silly question, but are the OEM mirror housings (with puddle light) just a 'plug n play' thing, or do I have to go through all that chasing wires and splicing wires stuff? Thanks

 

they wont be plug a d play you willneed to wire them up which is what i am going to do
but i. just having trouble locating the wire the op speaks of ..i dont seem to have the same colour wire

as u can see i dont have the same wire the op speaks of i only have these coloured wires anyone can verify which wire will allow the fade out when you unlock the door or how i can test it to know which wire to use

 

Nice, where did you get the mirror covers?

 

I did this but didnt run wires just connect to door ecu and recode cgw, if pins missing change both front door ecu, much easier than running wires all over the place