mine is 2009 without xenons.

 

2007 with factory xenons

 

2008 without Xenons

 

ryoma - thanks for posting all of this. I was just motoring with a few MINIS this weekend and talking about fogs "matching up" with the headlights. Stock Xenons and stock fogs don't match in terms of color. With your new DRL's, at least the DRL portion of the light (not the fogs) seems to make the Xenons yellowish. Is this true? Photos can be difficult.

I always thought that MINI should create a halo DRL (like newer model BMW's) surrounding the turn signal. Why not a mini halo for the MINI?

 

Further observation shows that the flashing of the LEDs is not about braking or brake lights but about drop in RPMs. When I come to a stop the RPMs drop. This causes the LEDs to flash (off and on). I've noticed that if it is a cold morning and the MINI is keeping the RPMs up at a stop the LEDs do not flash. Why turning the steering wheel (at a stop) causes them to flash I don't know but both must be related to the voltage regulator and the relay for the lights or the in-line relay in the hot wire from LEDs to battery. Someone who knows more than I about automobile electrics will have to chime in on this.

 

Would you by any chance have instructions on how to remove the front gril>

 

See earlier in this thread.

 

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I would check this site out: http://www.penskeparts.com/DiagramsM...1&rnd=03192010

Check under the 'lighting' tab at the top and you'll be able to find the part you need.

 

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In previous posts I mentioned that my LEDs, in bright (DRL) mode were flickering off and on when my RPMs dropped at a stop. I recently installed replacements with the "new module" sent to me by Aaron at Outmotoring. These work perfectly. Here's to customer service at Outmotoring!

 

On my '12 MCC, I don't see the DRL (parking light) portion of the fogs change brightness regardless of the headlight settings so I was a little confused to read about it above, and then when I fired up these lights on the bench I was even more puzzled.

In particular, I wanted to understand why I should run a wire from the battery to these lights when there's already power supplied to drive the DRLs.

The circuit is simple (see attached), and so when I read the description above about the brightness changing on the stock DRLs I assumed that the module would sense the voltage on the DRL and adjust the LED brightness to suit.

For my first test, I connected power to the battery inputs, then connected +12V to the yellow wire to simulate "bright" DRLs. The LEDs lit up and looked OK, and the entire assembly draws about 50mA in this mode. That's less than one third of the current that the 82 ohm resistor draws from the DRL circuit (see the attached diagram), which still doesn't explain why we need power from the battery.

The current also seemed a little low. The LEDs are seeing about 5.2V looking at the red/black pair. That alone is weird, given that white LEDs normally have a forward voltage drop in the ~3-4V range. Too high to be a single LED, too low to be two in series (unless someone is doing 2.5V white LEDs, I guess).

I measured the current actually going to the LED array (since the module looked complex enough to contain a switching regulator) and sure enough I saw 87mA there. If it's two LEDs to a string then that's ~14mA each, which is in the ballpark for itty bitty LEDs but much lower than I'd expect for high-power LEDs. If it's twelve as singles, then that's even lower.

So I concluded that this must be the "dim" mode, which seemed odd for the 12V input on the yellow wire. When I disconnected the yellow wire, the LED's briefly pulsed much brighter, then went off. This led me to wonder if there wasn't a "bright" mode that I was missing somehow.

I experimented with ramping the voltage on the yellow wire. At around 6V the LEDs turn on, dimly, and then over the range up to ~7.4V they get progressively (much) brighter until at 7.4V the assembly is drawing a bit over 700mA and seeing ~5.9V to the LEDs. At this point the LED current matches the assembly current (a bit odd given the results above suggesting a switcher...).

That did seem a bit more reasonable for "bright" mode; assuming 6 strings of 2 LEDs each that's ~120mA per LED and a forward voltage of a bit under 3V. That would be reasonable for an under-driven high-power LED, and the light output at that level certainly seems more believable.

However, as soon as the voltage on the yellow wire goes over 7.4V, the output drops back to "dim" mode and the current falls again to 52mA.

Next I took a multimeter out to the car to see what voltage(s) I could see on the actual DRL bulb itself. This took a little gymnastics but in the end I was able to get a reliable measurement, but it was consistent with my previous experience - no matter what mode (parking lights only, headlights, pathway lighting) I had the car in, there is always either 12V or 0V across the bulb.

At this point, then, I am somewhat confused. The 52mA mode really seems too low for this many high-power LEDs. The 700mA mode looks more reasonable, but with the cutout at 7.4V it just doesn't match what the car does.


If anyone with these lights installed has read this far along, I'd love to know how much current is going through the fuse on the battery harness with the lights in each of the "bright" and "dim" modes. And if you can get at one, what voltage(s) you are seeing on the DRL plug in each mode.

= Mike

[edit: thanks to David for some suggestions, I've tried every combination I can get my hands on so far but no luck getting anything other than 12V on the city/parking lights, so only 'dim' mode for the LEDs. I'd still love to hear from anyone that has a working set and can tell me how much current they draw, and doubly so from anyone with an '11 or '12 MC.]

 

Dave - have you install the LEDs on the 2011 Countryman or on your older Mini. I am having issue with installing angel eye fog lights on my 2011 and have read it is an issue with 2011 and later models which have the computer that monitors current etc.



thks

 

I have install these light to my mini.
Mine come with the cable that is connect to cig lighter
My question is how do you turn off the light .
It seem pretty bright even at daytime.

 

looking awesome!
LOVE the picture witht he lights off....you could have said
Close your eyes.... This is what its like when they're off....

 

Hello,
I just installed DRLs yesterday. Last night, I found out that one of the DRLs (left one) goes off when it's in dimmer mode (while xenons/parks are on). When I turn off the park/xenon lights, DRLs become brighter and so they both work. But when I turn on parks or xenons, right DRL becomes dimmer and left DRL goes off after a while. Sometimes it goes off right after I turn on the parks/xenons, sometimes it goes off after a few seconds, sometimes after 1 minute, sometimes after I drive the car for a couple of seconds. I didn't understand what's going wrong with the install (or LEDs?). Is it because of an improper installment or can it be something wrong with DRL itself? Any suggestions?

 

Try taking a look at the faulty one and make sure everything is set nicely with the plug going to it. I initially had a problem when I installed with one side not dimming but I found that my connection came loose and as soon as I fixed that all was well. I still have some flickering with the bright setting but I drive with them dim all the time anyway. The brights are far too bright IMO.

 

very cool
Is there any WEB site so we can the same ?

 

what make is your grill lights ?

 

Any problems with flickering guys ??

 

Yeah, but not enough to make me take the bumper apart again.

 

lol
anyone emailed back the vendor and ask them directly if it was a problem from the manufacture?

 

I gave up on the bright/dim mode since it simply wasn't working for me. Instead, I've modified mine to give me "bright" mode all the time.

Here's a teaser shot; the LED controller came from Digikey. Make sure to add a diode in the circuit to prevent reverse polarisation.

The 700mA LED driver draws just slightly less current at 13.8V than the original bulb, so no need for a dedicated wire to the battery.

= Mike

 

Since I had a couple of requests, here's more detail of the mod.

The LED regulator is the Recom RCD-24-0.70W, purchased from Digikey:

http://www.digikey.com/scripts/dksea...words=945-1125

The other device you see is a silicon rectifier bridge; I got mine from my junk box. Any 1A or better bridge can be used, or just use a regular 1A silicon diode (e.g. a 1N4001 would do) in series with the red wire. If you do this, the white band on the diode would go towards the regulator.

In hindsight, a diode would be more efficient. Oh well.

 

More pictures of the mod. Make sure that the rectifier or diode you choose to use will fit through the hole, and be sure to cover it in heatshrink.