I am getting ready to install 4 driving lights on my 2008 Cooper S. How do I wire them up so they can be operated separate from my headlights and be on at the same time as my highbeams. I would also like to have two switches, one for each set of two lights. Do I need an inline fuse or something? Am trying to wire these up myself to learn how they work. Thanks

 

The best/safest way to do what you're wanting is with two switches and two relays. For each pair of lights, you'll have a heavy-gauge power wire coming directly from the battery or from the high current terminal under the hood and going into a relay. Then you'll have another heavy-gauge wire coming from the relay to the lights. To turn the relay on, use a thinner-gauge power wire from the switch in the passenger compartment. Depending on when you want to be able to turn the lights on, the other side of the switch will be connected either to constant +12V or to ignition-switched +12V. Ground the relay and the lights to a suitable nearby location.

You should have one fuse on the heavy lead from the battery to the relay, as close to the battery as you can put it, and another fuse for the switch as close to its power source as you can put it. If you power the switch from the fusebox, you don't need a separate fuse as long as you use one of the lower-amp fuse box connections, like 5A.

Let me know if you need more detail, like what kind of relay to use or specific terminal numbers on the relay.

 

He could get power from the fuse in the engine compartment
that is used for the factory lights (?).

 

Perhaps... as long as the combination of ALL Lights on at once wouldn't exceed the amp rating of that fuse - with two sets of driving lights AND high beams on at once... I suspect it would draw too much current.