I thought I saw long ago a post on this but searched and seearched and couldn't find it.

I have PIAA driving lights wired and working properly but they are tied to the high beams and I would like to be able to control them indpendently of my high beams. I would like to tie them into the parking lights so that I don't leave them on and drain the battery.

Does anyone know what color cable I need to tap ? I would remove the tap to the high beam line and connect it to the appropriate parking lights wire.

 

First check FL laws...you might have to keep the driving lights hardwired to the high-beams....that's the law here in VA and in several other states.

Not sure about an '03, but on my '06, it is IMPOSSIBLE to leave the lights on--all of my lights turn off when I turn off the engine and remove the key from the ignition. (Not sure if this is part of package programming or standard on all MINIs, though.)

 

if i remember correctly, the trigger wire is white on the PIAA540 kits.

you can tap it to any of the fuses that are switched...meaning it
turns on when the key is in the ON position. i can't remember which
wire i had mine in, but i think it was the ignition fuse cause it will only
turn on when it is in the 2nd ON position.

since our MINI's drain our batteries quickly while parked, i opted not
to wire any of my accessories to turn on in the 1st ON position on the key.

 

I want to tap one of the wires coming out from the parking lights.

I just don't want them on if the parking lights aren't on. I'll take my chances with the law.

 

It will be the parking light wire that ISN'T brown (that one is ground). You can tap into that wire, run that to your switch, and then run to your relay. You'll still need the relay to draw actual lighting current from the battery directly - the parking light wiring shouldn't be used to actually power the driving lights...

On mine, I took a different approach. I have a three position switch that toggles between Off, tied to high beams, and on (independent of high beams). I wired a big bright LED into the circuit by the switch to come on whenever there's current flowing through the switch - so whenever it's ON. So far this has prevented any accidents... Kinda nice to be able to light them up manually even when the car is off for short periods if I need light in front of the car when parked...

 

Cool idea!