Shift Light Solutions?

[BMWAF]

Considering the built in shift lights are slightly less than useless - and don't get me started about the lack of lights in the HUD - has anyone got an aftermarket shift light setup they can recommend? While I do like the light up steering wheels, I am looking at a different solution as I a) don't like thicker steering wheels and b) don't want to replace such a critical part of the car without any real safety certifications.

I've looked at the P3 gauge but my understanding is that I can't have the shift lights active without also having the revs on the screen, which seems incredibly stupid. If I could have boost (or anything else) displayed while the shift lights stayed active, I'd already have this unit installed.

Does any one have or know of a reasonable shift light solution for our cars - be it generic, custom made or purpose built?

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[FLtrackdays]

@NitroYellowMKV sells modified OEM wheels. A neighbor down the street has one and I was shocked at the quality of that bad boi. He also has a buttload of knowledge on what’s out there. So if he doesn’t see this post, give him a shout.

 

[BMWAF]

@NitroYellowMKV sells modified OEM wheels. A neighbor down the street has one and I was shocked at the quality of that bad boi. He also has a buttload of knowledge on what’s out there. So if he doesn’t see this post, give him a shout.

Yeah I looked into those but as I stated a) the steering wheel is thicker than stock and I don't like that and b) the providence of the core is unknown other than "it's oem." Zero safety certification on such a critical component doesn't sit right with me.

 

[puzzled]

I mean if you can figure out where to hook up your rev signal, I'd just get an Autometer one and call it a day. Those things are super visible.. even from cars behind you and cause them to early shift up.

 

[BMWAF]

I mean if you can figure out where to hook up your rev signal, I'd just get an Autometer one and call it a day.

Yeah.. I'm leaning down that path to be honest but was hoping someone might have found something better/might be able to give me a heads-up on getting to that rev signal.

 

[Thraxbert]

Banks gauges take over the whole screen and say SHIFT then return back to whatever UI you had before. Plugs into OBD. You set the RPM, of course. You can also configure the color of the warning.

 

[SoDakMk5]

I had the p3 and it was a great option but only shows 1 item at a time. I wanted more info at 1 time so I switched to the banks gauge and it has a shift light option

 

[razorlab]

https://dauntlessdevices.com/product/d-shift-programmable-shift-light/

P3 gauge was useless, especially for how much it costs. Great for hard park events though.

 

[dn00]

If you're comfortable with electronics and coding, esp32 with a canbus module tapped into the car's can network.

https://g80.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1959139

I used the above as reference to build a custom ethanol analyzer for bm3 flex fuel. There's a CAN address for RPM. Hook up an led strip to the esp32 and code the output based on the rpm value, you got a shift light. I'm planning to do this and 3m the strip to the HUD area. This will have the lowest latency but requires coding and hardware experience.

Easiest solution is to use an odb2 reader connected to your phone running an app like Torque to display the shift light.

 

[BMWAF]

If you're comfortable with electronics and coding, esp32 with a canbus module tapped into the car's can network.

https://g80.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1959139

I used the above as reference to build a custom ethanol analyzer for bm3 flex fuel. There's a CAN address for RPM. Hook up an led strip to the esp32 and code the output based on the rpm value, you got a shift light. I'm planning to do this and 3m the strip to the HUD area. This will have the lowest latency but requires coding and hardware experience.

Thanks! That looks like quite a project. Prefer something a little more off the shelf as I don't have the patience for the coding/hardware anymore.

I had the p3 and it was a great option but only shows 1 item at a time. I wanted more info at 1 time so I switched to the banks gauge and it has a shift light option

Struggling to get a straight answer from the folk who make it. Those little red dots - are they an always active shift light or do the dots change depending on what is on the digital readout?

 

[NitroYellowMKV]

Yeah I looked into those but as I stated a) the steering wheel is thicker than stock and I don't like that and b) the providence of the core is unknown other than "it's oem." Zero safety certification on such a critical component doesn't sit right with me.

Hey, so the steering wheels can be as thin as the original as well, it is up to you, we can make a wheel that is 100% oem looking and build the shift lights into the top leather, the only size difference would be around that area to incorporate the LED's, and the cores are OEM Bmw cores from various models that share the same base as the supra, it could be a supra core, or an OEM F3x 3 series core as they share the same internals as the supra wheel. So you are 100% getting a safe and OEM-tested component. I have also had multiple people get into airbag deployment accidents with my wheels and so far we've yet to have any issues there either! For example: this is an OEM shape/thickness wheel that the client wanted to make minor modifications such as change the location of the hazelnut leather as well as adding a black Alcantara top marker to match the seat inserts.

 

[BMWAF]

so the steering wheels can be as thin as the original as well

Yeah.. but not with the sequential shift lights, from what I have seen. If I was going to go the steering wheel route, ideally I would want the stock steering wheel all round, with the top third replaced with shift light LEDs.

 

[Kujiwara]

Considering the built in shift lights are slightly less than useless - and don't get me started about the lack of lights in the HUD - has anyone got an aftermarket shift light setup they can recommend? While I do like the light up steering wheels, I am looking at a different solution as I a) don't like thicker steering wheels and b) don't want to replace such a critical part of the car without any real safety certifications.

I've looked at the P3 gauge but my understanding is that I can't have the shift lights active without also having the revs on the screen, which seems incredibly stupid. If I could have boost (or anything else) displayed while the shift lights stayed active, I'd already have this unit installed.

Does any one have or know of a reasonable shift light solution for our cars - be it generic, custom made or purpose built?

I have P3 Gauge on my MK4 Jetta it flashes regardless of what screen it's on, I keep mine at coolant temp and it flashes at the shift light rpm i set it at. Mine is 11 years old tho so idk if that makes a difference

 

[NitroYellowMKV]

Yeah.. but not with the sequential shift lights, from what I have seen. If I was going to go the steering wheel route, ideally I would want the stock steering wheel all round, with the top third replaced with shift light LEDs.

I can try and make something happen, ofc the room to install the mechanism is needed but if you are interested, shoot me a message and I'll start having the factory see whats possible and what custom work would be required to get you the shift lights without making anything thicker than stock! I have done crazier custom wheels in the past!

 

[BMWAF]

I have P3 Gauge on my MK4 Jetta it flashes regardless of what screen it's on, I keep mine at coolant temp and it flashes at the shift light rpm i set it at. Mine is 11 years old tho so idk if that makes a difference

Even though it doesn't really do what I want - sequential shift lights (without the numeric rev counter displayed) - I'm leaning towards the P3 just for its clean look.

I can try and make something happen, ofc the room to install the mechanism is needed but if you are interested, shoot me a message and I'll start having the factory see whats possible and what custom work would be required to get you the shift lights without making anything thicker than stock! I have done crazier custom wheels in the past!

Thanks but I'm still on the fence as to what I want. If I go down that path, I'll be sure to hit you up.

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