Interior/Exterior Interior and exterior modifications for Cooper (R50), Cabrio (R52), and Cooper S (R53) MINIs.

Interior/Exterior Legality of White Tail Lights

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  #26  
Old 10-30-2005, 07:41 AM
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Originally Posted by rednwhitecooper
i dont haven any problems running without reflectors. the car is plenty visible and the refletors are just another BS U.S. regulation.

i'm not going to sacrifice the look of my car for some stupid regulation.
Agreed but when it comes to the law it's all about BS regulations. If you want to be legal as the theme of the thread askes then the reflectors are mandatory.
 
  #27  
Old 10-30-2005, 08:03 AM
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Originally Posted by dex

The top light never went on. Does the wiring harness turn this to a
additional brake light?
I believe it does. Although there are other ways to accomplish this using the wireing harness is the correct way.


Originally Posted by dex
I have purchase the red reflectors...Anyone install these themselves?
I would appreciate a how-to.
Here’s a link for the pdf on how to install the reflectors.

http://www.bridger.us/mini/howto/Rear%20Reflectors.PDF


As well as the lights and harness

http://www.bridger.us/mini/howto/white_lights.pdf
 
  #28  
Old 10-30-2005, 11:22 AM
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Progress

OK

The bulbs are in.

The amber turn signals work fine

The red LED bulbs are permanently on when
the light switch is turned to running or parking
and off when the lights are off.

The lights stay on with running lights on and
ignition off..contrary to the manual

Hitting the brakes has no effect (except for the upper LED piece)
unless the lights are off.

The strength of the red is pitiful.

I am 'led' to believe that in this setup the red only ndicates that
the lights are on and is not functioning properly as a brake light

So to get SCMCS setup which is what I'd like I'm gonna install
the wiring harness also. If it fixes all the above to match SCMCS
then it does seem to perform several functions.

SCMCS do your red lights go on when you have your running or parking lights on?

Does my mini currently behave as those of those who have no
harness but have installed their own lights?

Regards, DEX
 
  #29  
Old 10-30-2005, 02:09 PM
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mine behave perfectly fine, the same as they did before hand.

all your doing is swapping housings, its not like any major electrical compnents are changing, and the circuitry on a factory white tail light bulb holder is the same as a regular bulb holder.

it soulds like something isnt hooked up corretly to me.... did you double check everything is plugged in and seated all the way?
 
  #30  
Old 10-30-2005, 02:10 PM
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oh yeah, and any LED bulbs will stay on for a while after the car is tuned off.(usually just very dim tho) they run on such a low voltage, they will stay on until all the juice is sucked out of the wiring. mine stay on for about 15 min after the car is shut off.
 
  #31  
Old 10-30-2005, 02:12 PM
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and before i forget...

IF YOUR GOING TO INSTALL THE HARNESS, DISSCONNECT THE BATTERY BEFORE MESSING WITH BC1 WIRING!!!!!!

you will run the chance of damaging electrical components if the battery is still connected while working with the BC1.
 
  #32  
Old 10-30-2005, 11:38 PM
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Scrap that

All right

They are working> Apologies for missstatement

I needed the help of my 6 year old to hit the brake while I
watch the lights at night

The lights intensify on hitting the brake

Rednwhitecooper the led also react to other cars and
propinquity to keys> was going to ask about this

So looking at the harness installation instructions it seems I have to remove the fuse box and look at it fom the back...Have to say this
is at the limit of what I am comfortable with>

I think I'll just do without the upper lights for now
despite

Thanks again:smile:
 
  #33  
Old 10-31-2005, 10:10 AM
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Originally Posted by dex
SCMCS do your red lights go on when you have your running or parking lights on?

Does my mini currently behave as those of those who have no
harness but have installed their own lights?
Here's how mine are working:
No lights on:
No tail lights on except when hitting the breaks then both top, bottom and third brake lights come on.
With the lights on:
The bottom of the tail lights are on. When the brakes are applied both the top, bottom and third brake lights come on with the bottom light coming on brighter.
When the car is turned off and no lights on then the lights are completely off. Although I have side marker LEDS that do dimly glow when the car is shut off for the reasons rednwhitecooper stated.

Originally Posted by dex
Rednwhitecooper the led also react to other cars and
propinquity to keys> was going to ask about this
This is very strange. Can't see why this would be. What exactly do you mean by they react to other cars and keys.

Originally Posted by dex
So looking at the harness installation instructions it seems I have to remove the fuse box and look at it fom the back...Have to say this
is at the limit of what I am comfortable with
This is one of the reasons I opted for a dealer install.
 
  #34  
Old 10-31-2005, 10:46 AM
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This might seem like a silly question and a little off track but I just aquired a set of White tails w/o bulbs or holders. Did the kit origianally come w/ different bulbs and holders? Will I need to aquire these before I can use the tails? Thank you. Sorry to hijack.
 
  #35  
Old 10-31-2005, 10:55 AM
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OEM lights come with the lenses and bulb carriers. The OEM bulb carriers have the bulbs soldered in and have colored bulbs. I suppose if you have the standard lights you could take the bulb carriers out and replace the bulbs with colored LED bulbs. It would be worth a try and would only cost you the amount for the LED bulbs. If that didn’t work you could see if the dealer sells the white tail light bulb carriers, try Classic for the best prices on parts.
 
  #36  
Old 10-31-2005, 02:46 PM
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Originally Posted by SCMCS
OEM lights come with the lenses and bulb carriers. The OEM bulb carriers have the bulbs soldered in and have colored bulbs. I suppose if you have the standard lights you could take the bulb carriers out and replace the bulbs with colored LED bulbs. It would be worth a try and would only cost you the amount for the LED bulbs. If that didn’t work you could see if the dealer sells the white tail light bulb carriers, try Classic for the best prices on parts.
All i did was get a set of the knock of ebay ones ( exact replicas of the MINI ones) and use factory 02-04 carriers with a clear tun signal and an LED brake bulb. it operates EXACTLY the same was ay the fatory ones since you are basticly, just sawpping housings.

Also, you cannot buy the white tail light bulb carriers by themselves, as i wanted to do this when i got a set of white tails for omy other MC. Classic said you had to buy the entire intall kit to get the holders. And I trust Jayson when he tells me that he cannot order them, hes a good guy and he would try hard to find a way to order it if he could.

If you cant find the LED bulbs in your area, just PM me and i'll buy you a set from Autzone up near me.
 
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