Help with ext lighting

[sixfour]

I'm having difficulty figuring out how to have only the exterior lighting (not sure of the official label, but the lights from the handles, bottom of doors, etc.) without having to engage the interior lights.

I've gone through all the basic menus with no luck, it's either all or nothing and I'm not a fan of the interior map lights firing up when I enter the car.

Any help is much appreciated!

[Raimo5]

Hold down the master interior light button for approximately 10 seconds. This will disable automatic interior lights.

[sixfour]

I recall trying that before and it does turn off the interior lights, but it also turned off the exterior lights. I've gone through the menu to turn on the exterior lights, then it turns on the interior lighting as well, so I held down the master interior light button and everything goes back to not lighting up again. I'll mess with it again tonight, maybe I missed something. Thanks for your help

[Enoch861]

Are you just trying to turn on the exterior lights from the outside of the car without triggering interior lights? If so, you can hold the panic button on the remote for about 2 seconds and that will turn on the exterior lights, including headlights, for however long you have the pathway lights duration set. The interior lights don’t turn on.

[sixfour]

Yes, just the exterior lights including the door handle lights and the led light carpet. Didn't know about holding the panic button for 2 seconds, learned something new, but that only turns on the headlights and taillights, not the handle and carpet lights.

I thought you can set the car to "greet" you as you walk towards it with the handle and carpet lighting up, but maybe I'm getting confused with something else I read.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by sixfour

I thought you can set the car to "greet" you as you walk towards it with the handle and carpet lighting up, but maybe I'm getting confused with something else I read.

That would be the "welcome light". My older version of iDrive has a checkbox to activte this feature. And then the Bimmercode app allows me to select some of the lights I want to illuminate and if they come on hard or soft....and only illuminate in darkness etc. But these options varies by what modules your car has that controls the lighting features.

If you really don't want the interior lights to turn on...but the switch that turns the interior lights off also turns off the illuminated exterior door handles and puddle lights...perhaps removing the electrical connectors and/or the bulbs from the interior lights would work for your situation. That way the exterior door handle & puddle lights will still turn on.

And when you sell the car...you can put the bulbs back in so that the next owner doesn't think there's an electrical issue.

[sixfour]

I don't remember the last time I used the interior lights, but sure enough, as soon as I remove the interior bulbs/fuses, I'll need them the next night.

Here is my current setting, yet nothing happens unless I also have the Welcome Lights checked (which engages the interior lights). So it seems there is no way around it unless I get into programming. Thanks for everyone's help.