Spirit Crusher

Just curious if there's some aftermarket kits for a "whiter" type of interior lighting as opposed to that faded dark orange color. I find it doesn't look as nice with black ashwood trim.

Spirit Crusher

Just a quick bump to see if anyone else is interested or has any advice.

hyperion667

OFF TOPIC:
I am liking that ambient lighting business.......I don't mind the orange on black, kind of halloweenish, lol..........
I have the black ash trim too......loving it man

K-A

Just an fyi, I believe M-B uses that color very purposely, as it's supposed to give a very low strain to the eye, as opposed to hyper white, for example, which is far more straining to the eye.

Not sure what the process would be to switch though (if you are in fact talking about the ambient-lights), and it seems like it would be complicated.

Fortunately for me, the warm orange ambients work excellently with the almond/black & burl walut combo!

Spirit Crusher

I can see how that's true. It's not a huge bother for me, I was just wondering if the trim had light strips on the back of them or on the mounts. I wasn't really considering adding ridiculous neon lights like on a Civic, lol.

I just though that maybe a little bit of a dim lighter color would contrast the interior a little bit more and match the instrument panel.

Spirit Crusher

Definitely won't be changing it today!

hyperion667

hehe, it might grow on you....
I find the brightest level looks really good.....

Spirit Crusher

You can adjust the level of brightness?

*Don't hit me!*

hyperion667

yes! scroll around on your left hand wheel controls.....there is a menu to raise, lower
or have no ambiance lighting.....it's fun to play with....also turning off the cabin lights when the door opens is very nice..(with the trim light).....especially with door sills, hehe...

K-A

Yeah, it's in one of the I/C Menus (speedo display).

The 2010 S-Class actually launched an option where you can alter the ambient lighting color, from the warm yellow, to "ice" white, and I think there's a ricer blue in there as well.

hyperion667

off topic:
was wondering who has a remote for their command system?
does it 'come with' or is it an extra?

K-A

I haven't seen one, is it even avail?

Spirit Crusher

Lmao, no ricer blues here!

I wound up going with hyperion's advice and I like it with the ambience set at level 5. Looks a lot cooler!

reckrab

I seem to remember reading about it somewhere but I don't have one so I'm guessing it must be considered an accessory? I'm the only one in my car who is allowed to touch the buttons anyway so it wouldn't be of much use to me.

(And don't tell my wife I said that please )

K-A

Hmm, I'll check it out at level 5. It's not too bright? I also wonder if there's a chance at burning them out at a faster rate when at 5?

hyperion667

ah....good point

MCF

What do you mean by "turning off the cabin lights when the door opens"? Does this happen automatically?

Also, is the ambient lighting on all the time (even during the day) or does it only come on when the headlights on are? I was driving around yesterdasy and saw that the ambient lighting was on but it was sunny outside and the headlight were not on. Any chance these things could burn out and need replaced one day? Sure that would not be fun.

gichundo

Ambient light should turn on with your head light... Also since it's LED it won't burn out any time soon but changing to different color will be very complicated. Depending on your interior color, MB offer 3 different colors; White, Blue, or Orange.

jmsod

I like the ambiant lighting in the front near the rearview mirror. My question is there is a light bar between the panoramic roof that never seems to come on. Is this supposed to illuminate with the ambiant lighting up front? If not, when exactly does this light come on?

konigstiger

Rear lighting switch (2) may be turned off

jrobgood71

Amber/Red wavelengths don't affect night vision like the colder tones do. Light up the interior with blue/white tones and your pupils contract too much, and quickly too!

And now, some light reading. Pun intended.

K-A

I agree. ^^

I think the LED craze has people focusing too much on the "coolness" of white/blue hues, while forgetting about how much more literally pleasant, warmer hues are.

For example, the new E has LED reading lamps, while my old E had normal halogen/yellow ones. The white has a quick "ooh" factor.... because it's a sharper color, but in reality, I don't like is as much at all. The warmer color, not only works better to illuminate, but it's more soothing as well.

jrobgood71

Go get one of these:

http://www.rosco.com/sbreqs/index.cfm

...and you can cut little pieces of heat-resistant filters to color-correct the LEDs to a more pleasing tone, without affecting intensity much. Or drop in to a local camera shop (do those exist still?) and ask for some warming gels. No, that's not like self-heating shaving cream, gels are thin polycarbonate sheets that are used to adjust color on theatrical and photographic sets, usually hung onto a thousand-degree tungsten lamp with a metal clip. Or clothespins, for the first time, until you realize they burst into flames from the heat.

K-A

Thanks for that info. That would be nice, but I don't even use the reading lights so much. Indeed though, the LED aspect on that is a gimmick, I find the warmer yellow to illuminate better, and give a cozier, more pleasant ambiance, over the starkly cold LED's.

PHML

Back to the interior lighting topic...i have a question.

If I was planning to swap out my interior bulbs to LED bulbs...do the LED bulbs need to be the error-free type? Or just regular LEDs is ok? Is there a "lamp out sensor" for interior bulbs?

I'm guessing the rear license plate LEDs would need to be error-free, right?

Thanks.