17 replies to this topic

[oliver122]

hey guys i do not own a mini YET but i was wondering , if you do not have spotlamps how do you go on with having fog lights as i have seen some minis with no spotlamps , so of them have 2 fogs and 2 driving lamps or some just have 4 driving ones - as i would want 4 driving one's really that come on with my main beam

also i have seen spot lights with a blue,red , or white ring (halo ) and was wondering if you can get them in green as the mini im looking at is green so think it would look nice with green halo's on


also are fog lights mandatory as i have seen some minis , with no extra light on the back , as i think its looks nicer without it

cheers in advance guys

[jay whiting]

Not sure about the green halo lights but then i have never looked as im not a lover of them at all (just me). As for a rear fog, if the car was made after 1980 then it should by law have a rear fog. If the car is fitted with a switch but no light, it will fail the mot.

[oliver122]

Not sure about the green halo lights but then i have never looked as im not a lover of them at all (just me). As for a rear fog, if the car was made after 1980 then it should by law have a rear fog. If the car is fitted with a switch but no light, it will fail the mot.

ahhh so you only need a rear one then ? ,what about if you removed the switch would you get away with it , or can you even get fog lights that go in the light cluster ,as if not i was thinking something like a red L.E.D to light it up then when i press my brake it over powers the L.E.D would you be able to get away with that ???

well i just fancied summit different as you don't see many of them around , especially the spot lights with halo's on , cant seem find green ones tho

[SolarB]

After a certain age (I thought it ws '83 but you should check for yourself) a vehicle needs at least one rear fog light. The fog lights built into Mini rear light clusters are modifications to the original cluster and are not legal.
A rear fog light must be 100mm away from the brake light and cannot be combined with the brake or position indication (side) light.

[The-Womble]

As for the halos, I don't think any coloured lights other than indicators are allowed on the front (may be wrong).

I know blue certainly isn't as its reserved for Emergency Services. I don't think green is either - think that's reserved for Doctors.

[oliver122]

cheers guys , the green halos would only come on , when on private land or for shows , and how do the average day car go on then , as i thought the average day car with fogs , has the light combined in the same cluster as the brake light :S , as i prefer the minis without them , they just look that slight bit sleeker


or a second thought was to have some , HID spotlamps on the front , to come on with my main beam , to light the road up , as a fair bit of the time i will be driving on country roads at night , so would like be able see where im going (do any of you guys know the average size of the spotlamps they put on minis ? )

Edited by oliver122, 27 December 2010 - 01:16 AM.

[jay whiting]

i got told it was 1980 as to when you had to have a fog light. i took my car for its first mot in 5 years last week and failed for this reason. fitted one and pass..
As for taking the switch out,,,, no that will not work as its the age of the car they go by, they will just tell you to fit one.

[oliver122]

i got told it was 1980 as to when you had to have a fog light. i took my car for its first mot in 5 years last week and failed for this reason. fitted one and pass..
As for taking the switch out,,,, no that will not work as its the age of the car they go by, they will just tell you to fit one.

cheers gusy well ive been looking around , and some people turn one of there reversing lights into a fog light , and they say it passes M.O.T all you do is switch one wire and change the bulb , plenty of people have done it have never been had for it , as it isnt 100mm away from the brake light , but police are never around these areas anyway

[Cooperman]

You will probably get away with not having 400 mm between brake light and rear high-intensity fog light.
With regard to front fog lights, these days as we don't get bad fog (cleaner air) they are not really necessary. The trouble with running 4 spot lights is that your alternator and wiring may well not be up to the task. Anyway, the usual spotlighs, as supplied by Rover, are pretty useless for driving on twisty roads as they lack range. Twin quality 7" spotlights with halogen bulbs are excellent. Cibie do the Oscar. The PIAA range are exceptionally good, but not cheap. If you can find them, the old Lucas SLR 700 is a great lamp when fitted with the halogen adaptors and bulbs, but they are hard to find in good condition as they are as fitted to 50's and 60's rally cars, including Minis.
To add spotlights you need to use electrical relays.

[oliver122]

You will probably get away with not having 400 mm between brake light and rear high-intensity fog light.
With regard to front fog lights, these days as we don't get bad fog (cleaner air) they are not really necessary. The trouble with running 4 spot lights is that your alternator and wiring may well not be up to the task. Anyway, the usual spotlighs, as supplied by Rover, are pretty useless for driving on twisty roads as they lack range. Twin quality 7" spotlights with halogen bulbs are excellent. Cibie do the Oscar. The PIAA range are exceptionally good, but not cheap. If you can find them, the old Lucas SLR 700 is a great lamp when fitted with the halogen adaptors and bulbs, but they are hard to find in good condition as they are as fitted to 50's and 60's rally cars, including Minis.
To add spotlights you need to use electrical relays.

cheers , well i was going to install a 70amp alternator , plus have 2 batteries with a dual charger on and im currently doing a mechanical and electrical engineering apprenticeship , and im based in the electronics department so i can always get help of them , cheers for the help guys

[Cooperman]

You will probably get away with not having 400 mm between brake light and rear high-intensity fog light.
With regard to front fog lights, these days as we don't get bad fog (cleaner air) they are not really necessary. The trouble with running 4 spot lights is that your alternator and wiring may well not be up to the task. Anyway, the usual spotlighs, as supplied by Rover, are pretty useless for driving on twisty roads as they lack range. Twin quality 7" spotlights with halogen bulbs are excellent. Cibie do the Oscar. The PIAA range are exceptionally good, but not cheap. If you can find them, the old Lucas SLR 700 is a great lamp when fitted with the halogen adaptors and bulbs, but they are hard to find in good condition as they are as fitted to 50's and 60's rally cars, including Minis.
To add spotlights you need to use electrical relays.

cheers , well i was going to install a 70amp alternator , plus have 2 batteries with a dual charger on and im currently doing a mechanical and electrical engineering apprenticeship , and im based in the electronics department so i can always get help of them , cheers for the help guys

Sounds good. You won't need two batteries, just one with decent capacity and good CCA, about 520 CCA is good. Also, if running a lot of extra electrical parts, a voltmeter is a good idea.

[oliver122]

You will probably get away with not having 400 mm between brake light and rear high-intensity fog light.
With regard to front fog lights, these days as we don't get bad fog (cleaner air) they are not really necessary. The trouble with running 4 spot lights is that your alternator and wiring may well not be up to the task. Anyway, the usual spotlighs, as supplied by Rover, are pretty useless for driving on twisty roads as they lack range. Twin quality 7" spotlights with halogen bulbs are excellent. Cibie do the Oscar. The PIAA range are exceptionally good, but not cheap. If you can find them, the old Lucas SLR 700 is a great lamp when fitted with the halogen adaptors and bulbs, but they are hard to find in good condition as they are as fitted to 50's and 60's rally cars, including Minis.
To add spotlights you need to use electrical relays.

cheers , well i was going to install a 70amp alternator , plus have 2 batteries with a dual charger on and im currently doing a mechanical and electrical engineering apprenticeship , and im based in the electronics department so i can always get help of them , cheers for the help guys

Sounds good. You won't need two batteries, just one with decent capacity and good CCA, about 520 CCA is good. Also, if running a lot of extra electrical parts, a voltmeter is a good idea.

well i was intending on having two , one for leisure , i.e radio , amps,lights and one just for the engine alone, and i was intending on having 6 gauges , volt meter,amp meter,oil pressure,oil temp ,water temp ,and then was thinking of having a clock for a filler , just to make it look neat , have them in the dash , and then have a cd player in the centre console , with a bank of switch's under the cd player , to make it look nice and neat , was going to go to a local auto electrical parts place to get them , as they have most of the switches ill need i think , and they all match

what size battery can you fit into a mini , guys ?

[Cooperman]

You will probably get away with not having 400 mm between brake light and rear high-intensity fog light.
With regard to front fog lights, these days as we don't get bad fog (cleaner air) they are not really necessary. The trouble with running 4 spot lights is that your alternator and wiring may well not be up to the task. Anyway, the usual spotlighs, as supplied by Rover, are pretty useless for driving on twisty roads as they lack range. Twin quality 7" spotlights with halogen bulbs are excellent. Cibie do the Oscar. The PIAA range are exceptionally good, but not cheap. If you can find them, the old Lucas SLR 700 is a great lamp when fitted with the halogen adaptors and bulbs, but they are hard to find in good condition as they are as fitted to 50's and 60's rally cars, including Minis.
To add spotlights you need to use electrical relays.

cheers , well i was going to install a 70amp alternator , plus have 2 batteries with a dual charger on and im currently doing a mechanical and electrical engineering apprenticeship , and im based in the electronics department so i can always get help of them , cheers for the help guys

There is a battery which is listed for a Peugeot diesel which I use in my rally Mini. It has 550 CCA and about 60 amp-hour capacity. I run far more electrics than you will as I have 100 w headlamp bulbs, 100 w spotlamp bulbs, a heated front screen, map light, a trip computer, lots of additional gauges and the battery doesn't go flat. I have a 70 amp alternator.
All you need to do, and you probably know this, is to do a 'loading sheet', with every electrical item on including all gauges, audio system, heads, spots, etc. This will give you a maximum total wattage. Divide this by 12 and that willl give you an amperage figure with everything switched on - something which will almost never happen. Mine came to about 680 watts, which is 56.5 amps and so well within the alternator capability. If I use 4 spots, as I do if I do an International Historic Rally, then another 200 watts can be added, which takes me right to the limit, but then I can't run the heated screen with all the lights on and that is not normally a problem.













Sounds good. You won't need two batteries, just one with decent capacity and good CCA, about 520 CCA is good. Also, if running a lot of extra electrical parts, a voltmeter is a good idea.

well i was intending on having two , one for leisure , i.e radio , amps,lights and one just for the engine alone, and i was intending on having 6 gauges , volt meter,amp meter,oil pressure,oil temp ,water temp ,and then was thinking of having a clock for a filler , just to make it look neat , have them in the dash , and then have a cd player in the centre console , with a bank of switch's under the cd player , to make it look nice and neat , was going to go to a local auto electrical parts place to get them , as they have most of the switches ill need i think , and they all match

what size battery can you fit into a mini , guys ?

[oliver122]

cheers cooperman , but i was intending on having:

1000w 6x9's (500 watt a piece)
55w x2 for headlamps
possible 150w/100w x4 for my spotlights
then 6 gauges (oil temp,water temp,oil pressure,voltage, amperage,clock)
then possibley another 2 speakers in the front
possibley 2 6" subwoofers under the rear seat


1770w/12=147.5
1570w/12=130.8

i know that 6x9's wont be drawing 1000w constantly as the will not be turned up full , but that still is a hell of alot of juice it will be drawing , as i have not taken what the gauges will pull + 2 front speakers + subwoofers so would you say i would need to have another battery , or maybe go for some small stuff i.e speakers e.t.c

cheers guys

Edited by oliver122, 28 December 2010 - 05:15 PM.

[TopCatCustom]

A pair of 6x9's will not draw near 1000w the RMS will be no-where near that figure. Think how small the wires to them are- they will no way be able to take 45A each! More like 4.5A each, I ignore peak power talk as it is a load of rubbish, always use RMS.

For that you can knock nearly a hundred amps off of your calculation. Gauges draw so little normally it's not worth even considering them. Dont forget wipers, tail and brake lights, they all draw a bit, though brake lights like washers etc wont be in use often so not a big issue.

Edited by C4NN0N, 28 December 2010 - 05:20 PM.