I have just installed a MINIDOMORE trailer hitch and I am a ready to wire for lights. I am using a generic wire harness. The question is where to access the MINI wiring? Do I need to access each tail/brake/turn signal at the light or is there a central access place to tap into for connections.

 

I am still seeking answers. Have any of you folks wired your own trailer harness? If so did you tap into power at the taillights or is there a better place in the wire harness?
thanks

 

You may want to be careful about using a generic harness, drawing power from the Mini's lights will most likely trip the computer into thinking there is a fault. I can't remember where, think it was the "Draw-Tite" trailer hitch site they have the same electrical hookup as Minidomore for half the price. It gets its power direct from the battery with inputs from the regular lighting as triggers.

http://www.drawtite-hitches.com/prod...0Module,118187

I would call them to make sure this is the correct one, as I have no personal experience with it. There was a thread on here at one point that had more info you may want to try finding.

Good luck!

 

Try this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...trailer+wiring

He is using this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CMKG6O

 

Thanks for your input. I just ordered the Hopkins unit from Amazon. It is probably a good idea not to do anything that may mess up the electronics. I will start pulling apart the interior panels in the way back to accwss the wiring harness. I have purchased a Teardrop Trailer that I am going to pick up next week in Indiana and tow it back to my home in Maine. I will post pictures.

 

Have you seen this 'sticky' post at the top of the R56 Electrical Board?

It lists Fuse "F2" for "Trailer Socket"; usually a fuse means that a circuit exists.

 

Have you looked at that item in Amazon, It says that it will not fit 2007 Mini

 

Djam43,
Your eyes are clearly better than mine. When I looked at it I read that it would work. Now I see that it clearly states that it will not work. They must have changed this overnight. Thanks for the info--back to the drawing board.

 

Sorry...missed that too! I would give Draw-tite a call from the link posted above as I believe it is a universal one. The main purpose of the modulator is to pull power from the battery directly instead of the light circuit itself.

Congrats on the Teardrop! Can't wait to see pics!

-Dave

 

interesting -- over on https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ts-wiring.html , ken o said that the Hopkins 46255 Taillight Converter worked fine in his '07MCS (and confirmed it for me in a PM) ... has anybody here tried it and had a problem?

 

Deosn't MINI DoMore sell a harness? I'd buy it from them.........

 

MiniDoMore harness = $85; Hopkins harness on Amazon = $42 (and suspect that they are one and the same)

 

this is a great thread. had been looking everywhere to figure out what kind of wiring I needed to tow. glad i didn't just hook up and slice in with an adapter like the guy at the auto parts store said I could.

 

You can download the wiring instructions from MINIDoMore, too... I ordered my hitch kit from them, and the wiring module after...unfortunately, there was something wrong with the module, so I ended up bypassing some of the module in the end. But the instructions were helpful.

 

You definitely want an active harness; the OBC will go ape$#!+ if you hang anything much more than a second-lightbulb's-worth of extra load on the wiring ... it'll take a little bit of additional work to smoke out the wires to attach to, and you'll have to either run a wire from the battery OR tap off the rear "cigarette lighter/utility outlet" to power the module, but that's pretty typical for newer cars anyway.

 

Yep - That's where the MINIDoMore instructions have the power source listed. Following those instructions (minus the problem with the module itself) didn't trip the OBC at all.

 

Though I haven't still wiring up mine, I definitely suggest making sure you are picking up the correct module for your car.

I installed my minidomore hitch and figured I'd just install a module.

I didn't know that mini uses a positive ground or something funky like that. I can't remember what the exact issue was but the R56's definitely are not like wiring up your Tahoe. (substitute your vehicle here...lol.)

Mark

 

MINIDoMore must've wisened up about posting their wiring installation guide online, they just have the hitch install instructions posted anymore. Well, i guess i can figure it out once the wirng kit comes in from amazon.

 

i can't for the life of me figure out the wiring color coding.
have the white to ground, red to battery with fuse.
the obvious and easy parts.
I've spliced into about everything else, but can't get a reading.
looking for the brake, tail, left turn, (and right turn once i get to that side)
the green, grey(AKA purple), yellow, brown and blue seem to be what i'm after, but i get no reading on voltmeter.
would figure that the brown would be ground, green or yellow would be turn signals, but need some help.

 

You got the instructions I sent right? (Could've sworn brown was the ground...) Like I said before: I had problems getting it to work too. I (and the trailer electrician I finally hired to help me after being SO VERY FRUSTRATED ) assumed it was the module that was the problem...but it sounds like you've run into something similar. One guy I know who successfully installed his own wiring/got the MINIDoMore wiring to work right (and is a gear head) is BlimeyCabrio. You might want to PM him and see if he has any nuggets of better info.

 

I went through the buying the hitch, and piece mailing it together... the harness.. the receiver.. ugh what a mess.. I will never ever do that again.. it's much easier to buy the whole thing, pay a little extra, but get exactly what you need... that being said... when DixonL2 came to my house to install, he had the lighting schematics( not sure if this is the right term) to hook up the harness.. you might want to pm him, and find out where he got it from, I know he used his computer, and we had wireless out in the carport.. so I am not sure if it was something he had saved or a link from a website.. but he knows his hitch stuff!!!

 

you are awesome. i did not see the email you sent. it had the wiring diagram i needed.
thanks a million.

unfortunately, the 04's and the 07's are completely different color combinations. traced the source wires easily enough though and got it all wired up and working. Thanks again for the write up instructions, it helped me see that it wasn't so complicated as I thought.