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Sounds to me like they didn't tap into the highbeam wire. Here is what I posted in the How-To above:
"The PIAA wiring harness has a white power lead that needs to be attached to the high-beam wire with the supplied plastic wire tap. The high-beam wire is the yellow/green one which can possibly be seen in the picture, it is very obvious looking at the four wires which one it is. I am pointing at the location the plastic wire tap is located. I made sure to very securely attach it to the harness with lots of electrical tape and zip ties, you can see the white wire exiting the electrical tape section."
You will need to find your white power wire and connect it to the yellow/green high beam wire. You can look at the How-To to see where I placed the other wires. Some people have found that their ground didn't work so well on the place I put it so it can also be placed under one of the three top nuts on the drivers side front shock tower.
Hope this helps out.
L8r,
Jason
Hi Jason,
I too have the parcel shelf installed and I like your radio shack switch better than the stock PIAA unit. It also looks like you have another LED installed independent of the rocker switch which I believe is already illuminated (build in LED).
My question is how do you wire up the rocker switch to replace the stock PIAA unit? What does the 2nd LED do?
I assume to connect the black wire on the PIAA switch to GND, connect the white wire (switch power) on the PIAA switch to POWER, and connect the red wire on the PIAA switch to load. Can you varify if this is correct?
I also notice the 05 MCS with Xenon has now 7 wires going into the lamp assembly rather than 4 you mentioned and that yellow/green is always hot.....Now I need to figure out how else to tie to the high beam.....
Sorry for the late response, been dealing with my father's deminishing health, probably won't make it past next week. Anyway, this is a nice distraction.
Your assumption is correct: Black = Ground, Red = Load, White = Power. I bought a seperate PIAA switch harness in case I screwed something up and also in case I ever wanted to sell the lights I would have a OEM switch to go with it.
The other thing you see in the picture is my old garage door opener switch, a little POS from Radio Shack that stopped working after about 20 presses. I decided to get a better switch and I relocated the sending unit above the headliner with the button in between the sunroof switch and the location for the factory hands-free unit microphone. It is working fabulously now and everyone thinks it is a stock button location. (See pic below!)
If you have any other questions just reply and I will try to keep up with this better.
I didnt like the idea of putting the switch by my knee so i routed the wire along the inside door, under my seat and put the switch where those covers are by the hand brake. To make it fit i just used a drill the same width as the wire and took out a little notch so that the wire can poke through back into the hand brake.I think it looks kinda cool like that.
Well I just did the install today! I love them. Without this thread and Pamlico's thread I would have been lost completely. The instructions are bare bones to say the least, this thread was a huge help.
I swapped the PIAA switch for a nice illuminated rocker switch like your Radio Shack one (I went to Radio Shack and they were closed!). I'll get some pictures up soon, it looks so stock in the Euro-shelf that I'm amazed I did the work!
At one point though I did have direct current going to the switch (the wire got hot!), I'm lucky I didn't do any damage. So let me clarify the switch dilemma I had to prevent anyone else from making my stupid mistake. The wire you hook to the high beam feed (yellow and green wire) is white, but when that wire reaches the switch assembly it is red (to designate it as "hot"). The red wire goes to the "+" prong on the switch not the white, if you do this everything will work but the wire gets very hot and may melt and then you're screwed.
Also wanted to confirm that the yellow and green wire is the correct wire, and my lights work only on high beam, and only then when I activate them (also the rocker switch allows for the driving lights to always be armed).
The backs of the lights are black.
And although the directions sent are for '02-'03 MINIs, everything jived with my late model '04 MC. Chances are I will doing this install on my wife's '05 MC so if anything there is strange I will let you know.
Ok after reading this thread, I've got a couple questions about installing a Hella fog light kit on the lower grill. Instead of tapping into the high beam wire (like driving lights), I want to tap into the factory fog light wire instead. That way, when I flick the toggle switch to turn the factory fogs on, the Hella's will also turn on. I wold prefer not to have to mount a seperate toggle switch for the Hella's. Is this possible and if so, how would you recommend I do this?
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'02 MCS, Sport, Premium, Webb Sportbox RAF, 15% pulley, Milltek cat back, H-Sport comp rear swaybar, Powerflex engine and gearbox inserts, Stewart Warner boost and oil temp gauges in E-Pod, Optima Red Top 35, Whalen knob, M7 front grill, Hella FF200 fog lights on Out Motoring brackets, MCAW
Should not be a problem. Just identify the hot lead to one of the fogs and tap in there. I'm planning on doing the same thing.
Yeah, I figured that much but my real question is how to set it up without a switch. Can I leave the switch off and connect the power lead from the OEM fogs straight to the lead from the relay that was going to the switch?
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'02 MCS, Sport, Premium, Webb Sportbox RAF, 15% pulley, Milltek cat back, H-Sport comp rear swaybar, Powerflex engine and gearbox inserts, Stewart Warner boost and oil temp gauges in E-Pod, Optima Red Top 35, Whalen knob, M7 front grill, Hella FF200 fog lights on Out Motoring brackets, MCAW
Ok after reading this thread, I've got a couple questions about installing a Hella fog light kit on the lower grill. Instead of tapping into the high beam wire (like driving lights), I want to tap into the factory fog light wire instead. That way, when I flick the toggle switch to turn the factory fogs on, the Hella's will also turn on. I wold prefer not to have to mount a seperate toggle switch for the Hella's. Is this possible and if so, how would you recommend I do this?
I just installed 4 driving lights in the lower grill and am now ready to wire. I have found out that the toggle for the rear fog is not a switch, but activates the computer to tuen on the rear fog. On mine, it was programed to work when I got the car. After asking around, I am going to find the hot wire that actually goes back to the light, cutt it and have it actuate two relays that will switch the driving lights. Surely, the wire I am looking for will be somewhere in the left kick panel in or out of the fuse box.. Maybe it is fused seperatly, that would meke it easy.
If you guys find out any more, let me know
Is there a way to install the lights without the mounting plate? if no, anyone know where u can buy one?
If you are refering to a plate for the lower grill, I made mine out of aluminum angle, but Alta makes one for the lower grill and you can mount 2 or 4 lights.
Still wondering if anyone knows what color the wire to the rear fog light is at the fuse panel.
Thks
If this is a sticky, cant it be done were pictures stay up? There are new Mini owners all the time that will need these questions answered and these posts will help out alot if we can keep the pictures up. Like they say, A picture says a thousands words..
I want to install aftermarket lights like you guys, but am worried about the Mini "you have voided your warranty" mentality. Why? I attempted to order a Cooper compact spare for my '06 "S" and the "tech support" at Mini USA advised my dealer to mark my receipt that the use of the compact spare on a "S" was "not recommended" and would void my warranty on anything connected to that spare. (ABS, DSC, LSD, suspension, etc.) I know there is a law requiring a manufacture to PROVE that a modification led to a failure and thus voiding the warranty (the same law that allows us to perform non-dealer service within the warranty period). Any problems from your dealers?
If this is a sticky, cant it be done were pictures stay up? There are new Mini owners all the time that will need these questions answered and these posts will help out alot if we can keep the pictures up. Like they say, A picture says a thousands words..
Sorry, I didn't know the pictures were gone. I will retake and post them in the original post again. My Apologizes!!
Ok after seeing your install... I would change 1 thing.. instead of using the [+] terminal that you used I would use the one near the ECU. It stays hidden and you can run your wires pretty much unseen...not saying yours isnt but I found mine look much better when doing this... Just another option... but a very clean install..
I have run into the same problem. I tapped into the yellow/green wire and the driving lights are controlled by the low beams (xenons). I was a little suspicious at first because the yellow/green wire is much thicker than the others and I thought it might be the xenon lead. Has anyone figured out which wire is the high beam lead.?
The primarily yellow wire with green stripe coming out of the connector which plugs into the back of your high beam bulb on the drivers side is the one you want. Connect that to the white wire and your driving lights will have power when your high beam is on. You will also be able to take the driving light out of the loop if you just want to use your high beam.
those pics would have come in handy yesterday. spent all day putting on all of my mods. including the piaas. the screw question: you can find those screws at any hardware store. lowes should do the trick (home depot..whatever) i hooked my white wire to the yellow/ green wire. it works exactly as it said. when i have my highs on (and my switch on) the fogs are on.. when i want them off, i turn off the highs, just like normal. works great. i think they look awesome!
Great How-to. I have a different set of lights (Vision), although the wiring is essentially the same. However, the power wire is intended to tap into the headlight wire in the wiring harness, which is apparently behind the knee bolster (I have only looked at the instructions at this point).
My question is, has anyone done this rather than tap into the highbeam wire at the headlight? If so, how do you find the right wire in that bundle of wire? I'm assuming the wire would still be yellow and green, but want to pick the right one before I start splicing!
If you have the Bentley shop manual, it'll show you the circuit going to the headlights. I don't have mine with me so I can't give you a definite answer.
I don't see why not. My light kit (a Hella) just says to ground the wire onto any convenient grounding point. Unless there's something special about the way the PIAAs work that necessitates it?
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~Matt Cook | Dublin, Ohio | '92 Classic Mini Sprite: "Fiona" + Purple Haze 2005 MCS Cabrio: "Dawn". See old MODs from "Nano" HERE - post #166 - many with How-to links!
Here is another question. Has anyone identified the proper hot wire on the Xenon high beams for 2006 model MINIs? I read on another forum that it was not a good idea to wire to the Xenon high beams as the driving light could blow out the Xenons. Is this true?
