14 replies to this topic

[dan_g]

Hi, ive just ordered 1 pair of fog lights and 1 pair of spot lights for the front of my mini and i was just wondering what the best way of wiring them in is. Can i just use the origional wiring that is use for the main lights that i have got at the moment?
thanks alot,
dan

[Dan]

Absolutely not. If you wire them into the headlamp wiring you will cause a fire in your car. I'm off to eat something and when I get back I'll tell you how, unless someone beats me to it.

[Dan]

Ok, I'm back now.

You'll need some parts. A couple of relays and bases, a couple of fuse holders, some ring eye fittings, at least one switch, wire and other stuff that'll be mentioned as I go along. You need to decide how you want your lamps switched. Neither set is permitted to be on all the time. The spot lamps must be wired so that it is not possible to have them illuminated while the headlamps are dipped. The conventional way to do this is to use a relay to control them, but you may decide you also want a switch in line so that you can turn them off independantly of the dip switch. While this is not required, it is a good idea. The fog lamps must be switched so that you can turn them on and off as required. I like to do this by using a second main lighting switch (with the front swapped for the one with the foglamp logo), setup so that in the sidelight position the rear fogs only are on and in the headlamp position both the front and rear fogs are illuminated. If you do this you will need to fit a warning lamp onto the dash to tell you when the front fogs are on as required by law. If you used a seperate additional fog lamp switch the lamp in that would be used as the tell tale so a seperate lamp would not be required.
You must take a new feed to supply both of these sets of lamps, the easiest place to get this is at the main battery terminal of the starter solenoid and for this you will need the ring terminals. I think you need 8mm ones to fit the stud. Run a cable from here to a position where you can mount some relay bases and fuse holders, probably the inner wing.
Connect the feed (or feeds) to a pair of fuses (one for each set of lamps). The fuse for each pair will need to be rated at 10 amps continuous. If you use glass cartridge fuses these will be labelled as 25 amp, if you use blade fuses they will be red 10 amp ones. This is simply because the two types are labelled in different ways, there is little difference between the two.
Each fuse should now connect to the load side of one relay (terminal labelled as 30). The other load terminal (terminal 87) of each relay should now be connected to the pair of lamps it is switching. The bulbholders of each lamp need to be connected in parallel, normally these lights use H1 style lamps which have a trailing blade connector for the supply. Using enough wire between them to get the lamps where you want them connect both of these together and connect to the relay base.
Now for the switching sides of the relays. Terminal 86 on each relay must be earthed to the shell. Terminal 85 of each relay must be wired to wherever you will mount your switches. This means getting inside the passenger cabin. Always run wires through the bulkhead by using grommets to protect them, preferably use an existing wiring grommet. These wires can be fairly small as they will be carrying very low current due to the use of relays. This helps with getting them inside the car. Take a feed from the sidelight circuit and connect to one side of the new foglamp switch, connect the other side to the wire from the foglamp relay making sue you also connect to the telltale lamp. The other side of the telltale will need earthing.
As for the spotlamps, wire the switch in the same way but the feed for the switch must be taken from the main beam circuit. A telltale is not requird for these lamps. If you choose not to have a switch for your spotlamps, the switching side of the relay can be connected to the main beam lighting circuit in the engine bay rather than running wires back into the cabin. There is an unused position in the bullet connector behind the slam panel which is ideal for this supply.
All the wiring you use everywhere must be capable of carrying at least the current rating of the fuses you use for this. This means 10 amp cable minimum for the load side of each circuit and the lamp earths. If you choose to use a single wire to supply the pair of fuses at the start of the circuit then it must be rated to at least 20 amps. The switch wires and the relay earths can be lighter gauge cable as I said above if you prefer but I wouldn't use less than 1mm cable myself which will probably be labelled as 8 amps.
That's about it. I'll be back later with a diagram.

Edited by Dan, 17 January 2006 - 08:23 PM.

[Jammy]

Well I think this is worthy of being FAQd??

[binge]

I think so too because If you do a search for "For lights" you will probably get about 100 threads about people asking how to wire them in.

DEFO needs an FAQ...

[Dog]

One quickie to follow up on that..
Is it legal to have fog lamps (like the spots u get alonfg the grille) on a switch?
Or any spot lamps for that matter?

[Jammy]

As far as I understand fog lights must be on a seperate switch to the headlights.

[Ethro]

dumb question, i know but still..im confused...whats the difference between fog and spot lamps?? are spot lamps like main beam? but 2 extra ones and fog ones light up the road...well as fog lamps, as in the wider beams that light close stuff up..

[pikey7]

Ethro, exactly.

Dog, the lights HAVE to be on a seperate switch, and if they are fogs/spots, then you'll need 2 seperate switches. (the latter not legally ...i believe... but you'll want them on seperate switches as spots make seeing in fog worse (the same as main beam))

[dan_g]

thanks that was a great help

[minimole]

my spots on my mini used to. come on when i switched to full beam. and it passed an mot like that.

[binge]

You can wire all four up to a seperate switch in the cabbin. And providing the Switch Lights up when the fogs/spots are on. The MOT center shouldnt have a problem with it.

Mine didnt and it was a strict MOT. They failed me because my Indicators on the sides wernt "Yellow" enough.


<|Ben|>

[nightroamer]

just quickly, i use 4 spot lights. passed MOT fine. easiest thing is to buy an auxillary wiring set. only a few quid and has all wires and a relay. i actually used the high beam light on my dash as the switch for the lights and mounted the relay near the solinoid switch for easy access. Only real important thing is don;t use a cheap relay, i found that they can have a delay in switching off if they are poorly made, this would fail u on an MOT.

[Dan]

All relays that carry a high load do that, it's an effect called self exciting and it's a side effect of any device which uses a coil to work such as a transformer. The way to stop it is to fit a diode across the coil terminals which is why some relays have a diode built into them. Yes this would fail the MOT as it must not be possible to have spot lamps on and main beam off, even for a second. That's the rules Binge, spot lamps must not be on with dipped beam and fog lamps must not be on unless visibility is severely reduced. Your single switch method for two different types of lamp would be very inconvenient and probably wouldn't pass.

The beam pattern of a fog lamp points at the road, much lower than the dipped beam pattern so as to shine under the fog and reflect up off the road surface. The beam pattern of spot lamps is just forward like main beam. Spot lamps are also called auxiliary driving lamps, fog lamps are also now being called foul weather lamps and now there's a new gimmick called style lamps. Whatever they are, the beam pattern falls into one of those two categories and they must be wired and used as above.

Oh and Dogmatix, fog lamps must be on a switch, spotlamps cannot simply be on a switch they must also be interlinked to the main beam so that they switch together and it is impossible to switch one without the other.

I will FAQ this once I've got together a diagram and some photos.

[Garagiste]

This thread certainly needs to be in FAQs - it took some searching for, but it was a massive help.
Know you mods have been busy with the new wesbite, so to return the favour and maybe help another Mini noob, here’s my pics and tips… (but I AM a noob, so if the docs spot something stupid, please tell me! )

NB: I was only fitting driving / spotlamps so only one relay, no wires inside the cockpit etc. (Maybe a title change for the FAQ then?)

I bought the fitting kit for my spots from a well-known mini spares company.
Having now done the job once I wouldn’t do so again as it can be done much cheaper, but if it’s your first time it’s well worth it.
It contains the relay, fuse and some of the connectors you need. It isn’t very mini specific – miles of wire, poor intructions and no bullet connetors that meet those from the lamps…
It does have the fuse and the right gauge of wire though, so if in any doubt, get the kit.

If you haven’t already got one, a crimper / wire stripper tool with some connectors can be got for pocket money, and a multimeter is always handy for ‘leccy stuff. (If you don’t already have a multimeter, look for one that has dwell and RMP functions on it or you’ll end up with two, like me!)
The big ring terminal connector for the solenoid is harder to source than most.

Right then.
(Hereafter, the colour of the wires are as those supplied with said kit.)

Sort out all the wires, and where you are going to put the relay. I hope you like spaghetti!



And that piggy back connector is going to need bending and reversing before it gets mounted:




There was a handy hole here for the relay:



Spot the deliberate mistake?
Run a much shorter but same thickness wire as came with the kit (well just cut a chunk off, as you will end up doing with the others), from:

BLACK -> TERMINAL # 86 on relay.
Crimp a ring connector onto it, and slip over the bolt you mount the relay with - test to ensure you have a good earth.

RED -> terminal # 30 on relay.
Has the in line fuse, goes to the starter solenoid:

FAMILY FUN!
See if you can trace the red wire all the way from the relay to the solenoid!



Here – bit fuzzy though:



BLUE -> TERMINAL # 87.
This one has the piggy-back spade connector to go to both lamps. In my case with Wipac lamps, this goes to the WHITE lead from the back of each lamp. You will need female bullet conectors to crimp to the ends, which aren’t supplied.

The BLACK lead from both lamps needs to go to earth – I crimped them both to one ring (via leftover wire and female bullet connectors- again, not in the kit) and bolted it under the horn mounting.



GREEN -> # 85.
This one is a doddle. I read Dan’s post above, (without which I’d have been stuffed, frankly) and spent far too long working out what “slam panel” meant. :blush: Sorry.
Here is the magic socket – stick a male bullet on the end of the green wire:






And then when you put main beam on:






But you are not finished yet. Looks like you’ve done a nice job once the bits are back on:





But if you haven’t sorted out your wiring properly:




Good job I’m a frequent “grille off” type.

Put the bullet connectors to the lamps somewhere you can reach, and then thread through the grille - for all of those times you need to remove it. The lamps themselves make removing the grille more of a PITA - last thing you want is to be trying to find connectors next to a hot rad. Run the wires along the loom and under the slam panel There are those bendy tabs hidden under there unless they've fallen off already. Don’t leave any loose to get into the alternator. Doh.

Hope that helps and that I’ve made your mistakes for you! Good luck.