I recently bought a set of Hella 2500s (with the angel eyes) from eBay. The seller is a creep. They took 2 months to get here with much arguing back and forth over why it was taking so long ("My internet was down", "I lost your address" and "It got returned to me twice" were the excuses).

So they finally get here today and I'm all excited to get them on. Hubby has a buddy over who is a service tech and we've got all the parts out and ready to rock. Figured out the brackets, break open the package of lamps...

...and the switch is missing. It appears that the guy that sold them to me (or maybe someone else I guess, who knows), removed the 3-way switch and the wiring up to the connector, and for some unknown reason also yanked the ground out of the relay.



However, I have an idea, I just need someone here to tell me if it can be done or if I'm crazy. I realize I can go to Radio Shack and just pick up a switch and re-wire the relay. BUT I had the idea that I could fill my empty toggle.

Is it possible, to wire them this way:

Angel eyes: always on, as running lamps
Inside lamp: On/off w/toggle



If so, what I want to do is go over to MoMV tomorrow (if parts is open on Saturday, I can't remember) and pick up a full toggle bank, and wire the inside lamp to the spot for the rear fog.

Can we do it this way? If so it would be PERFECT - seamless, fills in my empty space on the toggle bank, and still works the rally lights exactly like I want them.

 

you'll have to open the toggle panel to get to the traces that go to the extra switch. It shouldn't be a problem to do with a little thought. I don't know if the Mini will get upset if the switch is still hooked up to the body control module if no rear fogs are on the car. It's also possible you can get at the wires from the connector on the back of the toggle bank. I never ohmed one out so I'm not sure.

Matt

 

You can do it but its a Pain in the ***. Do a search I know afew people who have done it on here.

 

Okay I looked at some pictures and now I know it's a circuit board back there, I never knew that before *duh*

So it comes out to a harness in the back...is there any way to know which wire from the harness goes where? Or am I on the wrong track? I did a search and came up with a couple of links to pictures, but in all those cases people wired a non-MINI switch through a blank spot in the plate...not really what I'm going for.

Where's Ian when I need him?

EDIT:

Good news - Ian has a circuit! Just don't know if it will work with the lights that I have (it talks about factory rally lights but no others). I am waiting to hear back but I'm glad it might be so easy as a plug and play solution!

 

He's here - when he's not in bed
Lots of inside-the-toggle-panel pics on my website:



The main limitation is that the switches are VERY low current - it's actually carried through the little black plastic dots on the top "rubber" piece in the pic above.
There's unlikely enough current even to power a relay!

I know I emailed you too - but info on the web can be helpful to others ...

What's the wiring? Presumably there's a power relay present already?

One slightly crazy option is to get the dealer to activate the rear fogs (and fit the toggle panel), but not fit the actual rear fog light (or, on pre-'05s, remove the rear fog bulbs).
You could splice into the rear fog bulb wiring, and use that to drive the control relay for the driving lights.
The BC1 handles rear fog by allowing it to be turned on/off with headlights (or with sidelights & front fogs) - not strictly a legal driving light implementation but you could be smart about when to use them.


Alternatively, there's a couple options around to control outputs from toggle switches. I could adapt a MINI circuit - but it all depends what the wiring needs are.
The RLR module is specific to the factory driving lights, it matches the factory connector. Although I did do one that had flying leads, to connect to PIAA lights (I wonder if it worked for the buyer?)