I have seen many people on here that have switches by the mirror control that light up with the headlights and dash lights. I was wondering where you all got the power from. Any insite will be appriciated!

 

There is a full listing of all power points, fuses and grounding points on my site: http://www.murmini.com/pages/electrical
Most people just get a fusetap at an autostore and connect to a fuse point. This way the circuit is fused and safe. Thw fusetap should be available locally but if not try here. http://www.amazon.com/Buss-ATM-Add-A-Line/dp/B000GKEXK2

 

thats not exactally what i was thinking of. I just want the switch to light up with the dash lights: Speedo, tach, radio, a/c, ect.. but thanks anyways

 

Be careful - you can tap into it from the cable that runs from the speedo to the tach. Be careful on how much current you add to it - it's controlled by transistors and the main chip on the speedo. If you throw too much current that way, you'll fry the entire dash lighting... Not good.

 

FL_Blue, you should tie into fuse 21, in the fuse box to the left of the driver's footwell. Fuse 21 is in the middle collumn of fuses and is the third one down, there is a small icon showing the instrument cluster and it is labelled F21 10A. Use the tie-in fusetap I suggested and make sure that your fuse for your new light you want to add is small - sufficient for the light that your installing. You will also need to pick upa ground - again, they are all listed on http://www.murmini.com/pages/electrical

 

oooo..ok THANKS!!!

 

I think that fuse F21 may not do what you are looking for. In the Haynes manual, F21 is listed as being for the instrument cluster, but the wiring diagram shows it between the battery and the BC1, meaning it is unswitched (the BC1 will control the actual power distribution to dash components).

The Haynes wiring diagram shows a line labeled "switch illumination" coming out of the BC1 that is a grey/red wire and probably what you are looking for. It goes to the toggle panel, radio, dome light switches, and other locations. The person who would know for sure is Ian Cull (member GBMINI), as he is very familiar with the illumination circuitry in the toggle switch panel.

By the way, the Haynes manual is worth getting just for the electrical diagrams alone. The Bentley manual also has diagrams but they are simply duplicated from the original MINI documents which are difficult to decipher. Ian Cull had some comments about the diagrams here.

 

Maybe I misread your initial request, the option of geting power from the fuses as I described will only give you power switched on and off by the ignition switch. It will not provide power switched by the headlamp switch. All of those lighting circuits including the dimmer (instrument lighting brightnes) are controlled by the General Body Module. I have checked all of the circuits in the Haynes, MINI OEM diagrams and the on-line Mitchel Manuals and I do not think that you will be able to tie into a 'switched lighting' wire easily. Also, be aware that the instrument cluster is the main gateway that connects all of the MINI's data bus structures - and as Foxtrot Xray points out.... you can do some serious damage in there. For example, just unplugging the speedo unit will require a dealer visit for reprogramming, so be very cautious.

 

From what I could tell, the grey/red "switch illumination" wire should be relatively low risk. It is an independent wire that seems to feed only the illumination LEDs in various switches and controls, and does not provide the power for actual control operation. If your car has an illuminated cigarette lighter (mine is an '06 that doesn't), that is probably the easiest place to pick it up. Otherwise it should also be at the back of the toggle panel and stereo. Of course you still need to proceed with caution. If you do something really bad, it will be the BC1 that will be damaged.

 

Thats a good idea! Maybe do it with a small in-line fuse so that should you ever overlaod anything, your not going to fry the BC-1 module.

 

where is that wire. I have an '06 also. so it should be similar

 

Does your cigarette lighter have an illuminated ring when you turn on the lights? The feature was eliminated in mid-2005 (there was a service bulletin) presumably for cost cutting, but some owners of newer '06 cars reported that they have it. If the ring lights up, you should find a wire marked grey and red which is what powers the LED in the ring. There will also be a brown wire that is ground and another wire that powers the actual cigarette lighter.

If your cigarette lighter does not light up, you can pull your toggle switch panel or your stereo and sort through the harnesses that plug into it, looking for a wire with grey and red stripes. On the stereo head unit, it looks like it is on connector A at pin 14, and ground is at pin 12. This is a diagram at MINI2.com (click on thumbnail):

 

that is perfect!!! thanks guys for your help

 

in order to tie in my boost guage light w/ dash lights - I tapped into a grey/pink wire found in the wiring harness that runs vertically in front of the fuse panel/box.

PS - There are two grey/pink wires in that harness!

a search on boost guages might be helful since most want to tie in the light.