I have a 2009 mini cooper r56 non-S, I have looked far and wide and I even looked through the Bentley published mini cooper repair manual but I dont know how to read the wiring diagram, I'm just looking for the wire colors that go for the reverse lights and the ground wire, I would appreciate some help as I'm trying to install a reverse camera but I need to tap into those two wires and I cant seem to find anyone who knows which colors they are, I have everything else figured out already, thanks for any help!

 

Reverse light wires appear to be Blue with a Yellow trace - BL/GE in Bentley.
Ground wire is Brown - BR.

 

you're the best, now I just need the ground wire.

 

Also this picture might help anyone who knows how to read the diagram, if not allowed let me know and I'll delete it.

 

ground is Brown as stated by MVPeters.
when a wiring diagram shows a line to a light it gives a primary colour of the line and the secondary or trace colour, that's the small different colour you see on a wire. So BL/GE must be a blue wire with a small yellow stripe. The wire, after the bulb in the picture, with a termination dot is BR for brown. This is the ground. The manual will have a table that will list the what the letters mean for the wire colours. I dont own a manual so I cant tell you what page its on.

 

Yeah I dont know how I missed him saying br was brown hahah but I see now, thanks!!

 

Post photos of your project.

We want to see what you did and how the new back up camera is working ! ! !

 

So, I've ran into a problem, everything was going perfect, I placed the camera and everything but when I opened up the wires, they are much different colors than what I thought. There's a Blue/Gray, - Yellow/Black?, Gray, Brown, Blue/Red
for whatever reason I dont see the Blue with Yellow, I tried splicing this Yellow wire that has black or maybe a really dark blue stripe but the camera didnt activate, then I tried splicing the blue/gray but nothing happened again, I know the brown is the ground now I just need to find the wire for reverse again. So close yet so far away, I wanted to get one of those multimeter things but i just think it's a waste to go and come back just for the wire but I think that's my only option.
if someone could help with a question tho, let's say the brown wasnt the ground and I had the 12v wire correctly spliced. Would I still receive power or no?

 

Hero
Blue/Gray appears to be the tail light wire - as in the Bentley photo - BL/GR on the 2 right-hand blocks.
Brown is almost certainly ground as that is pretty universal on most cars.
A multi-meter is useful, but a simple circuit tester, a pointed screwdriver with a bulb in the handle & a piece of wire with a ground clip, will do what you need.
Keep in mind the reverse light needs to be ON while you are looking for 12V.
If that light is integrated with the tail light then the bulb connects to a circuit board & it may be tricky to find the circuit to the plug.
If the reverse light is separate then there are only 2 wires to the back of the bulb holder, one ground & one live. Tap into the live one for the camera.

 

So it was the Blue/Gray that was the reverse wire. The ground wasnt really that great so I ended up using a screw and putting it on the body. It's working now but I forgot to take pics! But I will when i have access to my car again!
thanks a ton for everyone who helped!

 

Well, I'm glad you got it working!
Pics would be good, especially to see where you put the camera.

 

Ayy


​​​​Ayeeee here it is, so there wasn't much space to work with to have it set to my liking but it works. The button for the hatch has a tear so I took advantage and passed it through there and then everything else was simple. Besides the wiring lmao
also for future reference if anyone chooses to do it, USE THE CAPACITOR. The noise isnt a deal breaker but it's definitely annoying asf

 

Hello - what does "use the capacitor" mean? I am ready to mount my camera on my 2015 Mini Cooper Coupe S. I'd like to run the wire upwards like yours, but I don't see how to get through the black plastic. Seems easier for me to drill a whole under the license plate to get through. I wouldn't mind drilling a hole through the black plastic, but there is electronics in there related to the latch opening mechanism.

Again, I am not sure "what use the capacitor" means. My camera wires will simply go to the reverse light wiring. And I have two "blue/gray" wires there too, BTW!

thanks!
Todd

 

As a follow-up, I actually drilled up through the plastic near the license plate light, and that was the best answer.

So for any one searching on how to mount a backup camera, I recommended drilling a hold right through the black plastic above your license plate.

Your have to remove the large plastic cover on the inside of your hatch back door to start running the camera wire to the tail light. I found a video on youtube of a guy replacing his rear wiper motor. He shows you how you have the pop off the fasteners that hold the panel on the inside of the hatch door.

Last tip for installing a back-up / rearview camera - buy those "trim tools" on Amazon for $7. Invaluable for hiding the wires!

 

I figured out what the Capacitor is now too.

The Capacitor is used on most German cars (and many others now too) to take noise out of the line/wire so that your video is clear.

There is noise in the line because German cars are always scanning the light bulbs for burned out bulbs. This strobe of scanning creates noise. The Capacitor neutralizes the noise.

The Capacitor is wired in between the camera wires and the car/tail light wires.

$8 on walmart dot com, etc.

 

Sorry, I was away from my phone for 3 days and saw this now. Glad you got it figured out, and to clarify, right where my camera is set up, the button to open up the hatch/trunk, it tore in my car, there's usually a piece of rubber that you push, since mine was exposed, I noticed that I could feed the wire through there because thats how the button also worked, with removing the plastic from the hatch, i hid the wire under that. Still, glad you got it done and also you should post some pics to see how it turned out!

 

Ha, no worries. This post is like 2 years old, so I didn't really expect you to reply.

With the little rubber button that you mention, your car is an R56. My car is an F56 (2015), so it is a little different. No little rubber button; it is now a hard plastic handle latch that takes three fingers to open (or has width for three fingers; but really only takes one finger as it is easily electronically actuated. So I had to drill a small hole through the left of the latch in the black plastic.

I will post pics later today. I have the rearview mirror with the video screen in the rearview mirror now. It is such a perfect fit for the Mini, that it looks OEM to me. It fits right on top of the existing mirror And it was easy to hide the wire in the plastic housing behind the stock mirror. I thought it may not look nice, a mirror on a mirror, but it is such a good fit, and the video mirror is much larger, and the OEM mirror is so small, that it looks great. And I am a stickler for things not looking like a "tack-on" or "add-on." $40 on Amazon for the total package (mirror and video/camera/brackets and wires).

For the camera, I used the license mount bracket, but I mounted the mount "Under" the license plate, and the camera pops out on top of the license plate. So you see nothing but the camera just under the latch. I think it is pretty stealth.

Thanks again for your posts! I will post some pix later. Regards

 

To show how adding this camera improved safety for back up. I placed the gas can in the blind spot.

This is the mirror, with video off. It is sitting on top of the OEM mirror. Not a replacement. And it fits very snugly. Very solid. Notice the view for backing up, BTW, then notice with the video on.

Now, with the video on.

Blind spot gone. Much safer for backing up (especially for my teenager!)

Side view of add-on mirror/video.

Pretty clean looking

the interior, back hatch plastic I had to pull off to run wires.

the connection points for the back hatch. Buy the trim removal tools for $7!

Back hatch open with out plastic put back on yet.

 

And here is the camera. Not so easy to see since I blacked out the plate number.

I could paint that 1/2 inch of showing wire to match the car. Not sure if needed.

Again, the long mounting plate is actually behind the plate. so you don't see that.

$40 on Amazon for everything (except the capacitor). The box says AMTIFO Car Rear View Camera Security System.

I have not hid the wires yet, but I have a plan. I am waiting for my Capacitor to show up first. You can actually wire this system into your cigarette lighter, with an on/off switch. Very easy to make sure everything works before hooking up to the reverse light. Or you can leave it that way and turn it on whenever you want (just not as clean looking for me though).

Much safer now! And a cool item to bring the Mini in the 20th century. My car is a 2015. I think they became standard on 2016.

Well, I hope this all helps someone in the future for the F56 model. I may post a link to this in the 3rd generation. There was limited info on the web for the F56 when I did this.

 

Hi, so I have 2013 Mini Cooper S R56 and trying do the same thing with the back up camera. My questions are the reverse wire for my car the same color Blue/Gray and what exactly capacitor did you purchase for car, thanks