I thought the homelink option from MINI was too expensive ($500 yikes). I'm wondering if anyone has successfully replaced their std mirror with a homelink equipped version? What did you do? What part number is the mirror?

I did a search an learned about the keyless remote sensor in the mirror. I learned how to add an aftermarket homelink remote control in a 1st gen. But I'm unclear if there is a plug and play option available or if the 2nd gen MC is prewired.

 

I'm wondering if a Part#:50-GENK40 could work. List $259.
http://www.mitocorp.com/flash/homeli...ingmirrors.htm

 

i got a used one off of ebay for $250
official bmw part number is: 51-16-2-752-987
(from real oem)

costs about $475

Brian

 

Bump.

My I failed to add homelink to my 09 on order and would LOVE to add it. What would it take? Can you simply swap mirrors with a car that has it from the factory?

 

Well, I figured out a low cost solution! It is far from plug and play. If you can take stuff apart with out breaking it, use a dremel, hot glue gun, are good with a ohm meter and soldering iron you can do this.

I bought a Cadillac Homeline remote from ebay. I also bought a spare '08 mini cooper mirror with no homelink or auto dim to hack up in case it didn't work.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=190281335121

After you pry apart the mirror, you find the circuit board for the mini remote key fob. It is supplied with +12V (red/grn) , +4.5V(yel) and Ground(brn) from the wire harness in the ceiling.

You disassemble the homelink remote and find that the buttons are on a separate circuit board from the rest of the remote electronics. Discard the cadillac plastic housing. This allows you to use a dremel tool to cut a hole in the mirror housing for the 3 buttons to poke thru. You can hot glue the button assembly to the mirror housing and drill a hole for the yellow led. There is a flexible circuit that allows you to fit the remote circuit board into the mirror housing while the buttons are glued down.

Now the wiring. The homelink remote circuit board has 3 fingers on the board (I trimmed the length of the fingers so the board would fit in the mirror case better.) Holding the board so the fingers are in the upper left as you look at it, number the fingers 1, 2 ,3 from left to right. Finger 1 and 2 need to connect to +12. Finger 3 is ground. Verify this with your ohm meter to the ground plane of the circuit board.

The mirror wiring connector has the following wires. The wires run to another connector on the mini remote fob circuit board.

pin 2 = purple = 4.5V
pin 7 = pink = no connect
pin 8 = orange = +12V
pin 10 = Brown = Ground

Find somewhere on the mini's remote board to connect finger 3 to ground. I used a big solder fillet for the remote antenna. I soldered another wire from the position where the orange wire plugs into the mini's remote board and connected it to fingers 1 AND 2.

I dressed it all inside the mirror and snapped everything back together. Works like a charm!

Sorry I didn't take any pictures. The hardest part of the job was taking the mirror apart.

Notes:
1) to remove the mini mirror from the ceiling turn it counter clockwise.
2) to disconnect the ceiling wire from the mirror, snap apart the 2 halves of the mirror arm, then you can get to the connector releases.
3) Test your homelink remote BEFORE you tear it apart. Make sure when you press and hold the 2 outside homelink buttons for 20 seconds, the led flashes. to allow you to program.
4) use the cadillac housing opening to scribe your hole. Set the buttons at least 1/8" back from the edge of the housing. mind the snap together clips for the mirror bezel. I had to trim mine a bit.
5) check voltages and connections before you solder
6) check everything out before you snap back together. Make sure your remote fob works.

 

Dan,
My car came with the homelink option, but I applaud your resourcefulness. I am always appreciative of people sharing here. An example of someone's sharing that helped me recently, was a post where someone explained how to reset the "Replace Brake Pads" indicator warning. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...roceedure.html I did the brakes myself and replaced the sensors but figured I would have to drive 3 hours round trip just to have the dealer reset it. I also found on this site that Morristown Mini and Classic Mini sell parts and accessories for 20% off.
Thanks Dan and if you get a chance you might post some pics of your project.

 

I sell a product for this, just flash your brights twice to send signal. No need for extra buttons.

PM me for details.

 

I bought another cadillac remote to mod my original mirror. When I get some time, I'll take some pictures and then probably sell it on ebay after I'm done.

 

I followed DanQ's suggestion to retrofit my '07 with Homelink. Many thanks for the wiring suggestions. I took some pictures and experienced issues that others might run into.

First, getting the mirror off seems easy now that I've done it, but wasn't clear (to me) after reading other posts. The good news is that the mirror is designed to break away in an accident at the headliner joint (between the headliner and the mirror stand). Just grab that entire bugger, including the plastic and twist it clockwise, as view from the base. It should snap right off. Don't pull all the way down until you break the wire connector, which will become visible when the mirror pops off and drops. You don’t ever have to separate the mirror housing from the support stand at the ball joint.

DanQ had a little trouble getting inside the mirror. For me that was easy. I used two very small screwdrivers working around the top edge - one, then the other, then back to the first. Start at the top because small scratches won't be visible when you are seated in the car.

The key learning for me was that the flex circuit board between the push button housing and the homelink module tends to be less than durable. I bought two modules off ebay and managed to ruin both of them – or they were “iffy” before. This was especially frustrating because the homelink units tended to work intermittently, and I hate those kinds of problems. After hours of frustration with the first module, I gave up and purchased a second one, then suffered the same intermittent fate. Finally, even though the flex board looked fine under a magnifying glass, I cut the flex circuit between the two boards and hand soldered the seven wires. Bingo, it worked every time – love that.

If you are nuts enough to attempt the wire replacement, here are a few tips. Take a photo of the button module, print it, and mark the solder points 1-7 on the drawing. It makes things quicker during soldering. You’ve got to be handy with a soldering iron to attach those seven wires on the homelink module. On the button module, it is pretty easy as there is more area to work. Now that I’ve done it, and have an extra module, I’m thinking about locating the button module in one area and the transmitter in another – but on a different, non-mini, car. Enjoy.

 

I forgot to include a picture of the final result. See below. In some forums we talk about WAF (wife acceptance factor). I'd like to tell you that my sex life has improved, but frankly, she is asking: "what's wrong with a couple of remotes on the visor?" Women.

 

It's always BUGGED me that there was no compass in the MINI rear-view-mirrors, as on so many other cars -- and I've been trying to figure out if I could add one of these (the same mirror as on my Subaru) as a windshield-mounted alternate mirror.

Now that the good folks here have broken the code for (a) gently removing the stock mirror, and (b) the wiring harness, I'm thinking that a windshield-wedge-mount compass-mirror (plus some kind of plug to cover that hole) might work in place of the stock mirror.

I do notice that the MINI mirror is not as wide as most others ... aaaaaand, I also recall that even the MINI mirror causes a substantial blind-spot on "uphill-right-hairpin-turns" ... so I'm gonna hafta think about whether I want to experiment --

Anybody else think of a reason why to NOT attach one to the windshield?

 

Did you see this thread yet? https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...s-of-pics.html

 

nope ... thanks! -- that gives me other ideas to consider

 

Sorry to bring this back from the dead, trying to install my auto-dim/homelink mirror, and had to remove the plug housing to swap mirror bases, and seem to have forgotten which wire/pin goes in which pin housing (1-10). Can someone take a pic of theirs? Been searching for hours...