I recently learned, as I don't spend much time behind my own car, that the top lights in the brake set don't light up because they are actually euro fogs or whatever. Well I located the metal bit on the surface of the board and placed some wire between it and the regular brake light so when you press the pedal both light up.
I've heard that soldering onto that board directly might not be a good idea since because electronics and heat or something and that a "liquid solder" would be the better idea for this small mod.
Any ideas or tips?

 

I don't have an R53 so I'm not familiar with your taillight arrangement but I assume you're planning on modding the taillight itself and not the ECU. I've heard of liquid solder (or conductive glue) but all the reviews I've read are spotty. Radio Shack sells a similar product http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...uctId=12925060 read the reviews and you'll see what I mean. That said, if I were doing this I'd be more inclined to run a jumper wire between your existing stoplights and your fogs.

 

This is the board. Not a good picture but I was talking about running a wire on top of that. Could you use regular solder on that or would it ruin something?

Ihttp://new.minimania.com/images_temp/800600001nmx8619.jpg see.

But you're saying probably splice the wires themselves together rather than make a surface connection on the board?

 

You might find some more info here: on just the upper fog light to brake light mod.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-mod-pics.html

If you want to use the rear fog lights as a fog light you will need the toggle bank for your MINI w/ your options , then have them activated by the MINI dealership.

Thanks

 

The ECS link is for a much more complicated mod. I assume you just want the unused fogs to come on when you step on the brake. If that's the case, all you need to do is run a jumper wire between the wire in the taillight that goes to the brake light and the positive wire on each of your unused fogs. If the fog light ground wire is also not connected to anything you'll have to run a ground to each fog as well. I'd do all the work inside the taillights and either solder the jumpers or use scotchlock connectors. I don't have an R53 to look at but it may be possible to do this with just a short piece of wire (or paperclip) inserted into the connector inside the taillight to short the brake light to the fog.

 

There are no electronics in the taillight board. Go ahead and solder away.

 

Stay away from liquid solder for electric/electronic applications. If you do solder it, use a 25 watt pencil iron and not a gun or a big 100 watt iron that a lot of people seem to have laying around. 25 watts is more than enough for small gauge wire and electronics. Just use proper soldering techniques. It's easier to look these up on line than for me to peck out a tutorial. Good luck with your project.

 

A simple 16 gauge copper wire jumper in the connector going to the tail light. That was my first mod in 2003 on Artoo and not a problem since.

Rich