Good news! after several hours because of some poor documentation, I am able to power ON/OFF the rgb lights using exclusively arduino via BLE command.
This approach leaves out pinging phone's bluetooth, meaning I would not rely on my phone's bluetooth for the rgbs to go on.
With arduino and one voltage sensor from the OEM ambient lights we can turn the PWM signal into an input to the arduino then we can decide to act on it or ignore it.
the behavior with the ambient lights would be, when the voltage senses OEM are on, issue the command to turn the rgb on and when they get off we can issue the command to go off.
I believe ambient lights go on as soon as you open your door and turn off eventually (assuming they are not on the screen).
In my case, where OEM ambient lights seem photosensitve, the rgb going off is not too much of a problem as I can override with the voice control and despite of being sunny I would be able to turn them on.
For you this can work as a
virtual relay, you would get control on the screen and auto off when you exit your car as the lights will eventually go off.
I need to work on the program to ensure its flexible in case you have a slightly different model or controllers that doesn't work with the same parameter as mines.
I'm eager to complete this project, but this week and next are going to be crazy at work. I will try to complete over the weekend.
I like this more simplistic approach. its almost 3am!!!
so TLDR
no relay needed,
an
arduino board with BLE (bluetooth low energy) support ~$27 (you might find a cheaper alternative but I'm unsure if my code would run in it)
a
voltage sensor ~$6
3 female to male
dupont wire ~$6
The amount of tabs I had to open to get to this point is ......
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