Today, I got my latest copy of Autoweek.

Page 6 has a short flash story section (copy):

"A Light in the Fog."

MINI will get a rear fog lamp in the not-to-distant future, says Jack Pitney, head of MINI's U.S. Operations. Big Deal? Well, it is to 729 signers of an e-petition (petitiononline.com/MINIfoglamps) irked over a disabled foglamp that dresses the MINI's rear end. Europe gets the working edition of the lamp, but U.S.-spec cars are lacking the bulb, switch, and software to activate the light. Pitney says that all U.S. MINIs, new and used, will get rear fog lamps.

Anyone care to start a petition for free John Cooper Works kits????

 

Sure we should get them for free cause uhh thats what the late John Cooper would ahve wanted or soemthing.

 

Will it cost anything to get it activated? I have the mod already, I just want the toggle switch...

 

when is this gonna happen? i doubt soon...? my mcs will be made mid june..

 

Hey that's good news!!
The post seems to imply that it'll be a free retrofit to whoever wants them-?
I'm in!

 

CooperSpeed,

What mod? The brakelight thing, where the fog light acts as a 2nd brakelight on each unit?

That is different than actual rearfogs.

 

Yahoo!!!!

No more missing toggle switch and more bright lights at night so others don't rear end us :smile: :smile: :smile:

 

There are a bunch of different possibilities-
From the info on how to wire the rear fog lights-
If you use a wire jumper #1 to #4 then you enable the top red light to be on when the bottom red light is on when braking. When not braking both lights are off. If you turn on the lights then the bottom red light is on and gets brighter if the brake it hit. so when the lights are turned on only the bottom red light is on. Hit the brakes and the top and bottom turn on.

I tried this jumper but in my white light set up I get this- I think I am using the same jumper setting but maybe I can off by one jumper position. When I turn on my lights I get the upper red light to turn on. It doesn't grow brighter when I hit the brakes. The bottom light is on and gets brighter with the brake. So when the lights are turned on and you look at the car from the rear it looks like I have the whole back light red because the top and bottom lights show red. When I hit the brakes only the bottom red light grows brighter.

I don't think that a toggle switch will be needed. You don't need to turn on and off the fog lights independently. You can turn them on in conjunction with the rest of the lights. It's passive. In the first scenario they go on only if the brakes are hit and are off most of the time. The way I have it they are on all the time and don't go off unless I turn off the lights.

 

I have the brake light mod, and though I wouldn't mind a toggle, and I wouldn't mind having the top red lights on all the time when I turn on my lights, I really like having the top and bottom lights come on when I hit the brakes. The visual impact is definitely an attention getter- hard to imagine anyone ignoring MINI with that glow in their face. Not sure I want to give it up!

 

>>I have the brake light mod, and though I wouldn't mind a toggle, and I wouldn't mind having the top red lights on all the time when I turn on my lights, I really like having the top and bottom lights come on when I hit the brakes. The visual impact is definitely an attention getter- hard to imagine anyone ignoring MINI with that glow in their face. Not sure I want to give it up!

ya i feel the same way!! all i want is the toggle switch

 

Great news! All the more reason for everyone to sign the no-mushy-shocks petition!

 

>> I wouldn't mind having the top red lights on all the time<<

>>and more bright lights at night so others don't rear end us<<

I think some folks here are missing the idea of the proper use of the rear fogs, and hint at a possible reason they weren't originally included in the US specs. These are irritatingly bright lights that are not suppose to double as taillights in clear weather. It won't be much of a victory if you find your rear lights bashed out by some p.o.'d driver who was blinded by your rear fogs after he was stuck behind you in traffic for 10 miles! :evil:

 

I did the brake light mod as well and living in the NorthWest, I don't think I need rear fog lights. When I see a Land Rover with them on it looks like the driver is ridding the brakes.
Getting the toggle switch in the blank spot would be nice but I want the espresso machine option. So I'm going to hold out for that.

 

Nice going!

 

Great, now I get to see MINI's riding around in the daytime with the rear fogs on just like the Volvo and Audi's do.

I much prefer the extra brakelights. I think it's a far better safety feature since when it's foggy, my rear running lights will already be on.

 

This is a great victoy!
Even when my lights are on I am extremely concern that when it gets foggy that I will get rear-ended by some yahoo speading up the northway. The rear fog lamps are designed make the car more visable thus giving the vehicle a extra margin of safety. Can't wait for the retrofit!

Peace Out

PS. It also does not hurt to get rid of that blank spot in my toggles.

 

>>I think some folks here are missing the idea of the proper use of the rear fogs, and hint at a possible reason they weren't originally included in the US specs. These are irritatingly bright lights that are not suppose to double as taillights in clear weather. It won't be much of a victory if you find your rear lights bashed out by some p.o.'d driver who was blinded by your rear fogs after he was stuck behind you in traffic for 10 miles! :evil:

Agreed... I wired my rear fogs to a separate switch, but I only use them when the visibility is poor (fog/heavy rain)

 

A stupid question....being curious....

I have the brake light mod also, and as I understand it (I'm a computer guy, not an EE), when current goes to the brake light, the jumper acts like a relay to turn on the rear fogs. My assumption would be, that if you left the jumper in place, after MINI puts the new switch bank in and reprograms everything to make the fogs work - whenever you flip on the rear fogs, you brake lights would come on too. Is that accurate?

Not, assuming the above is accurate, is there a way to have a one way jumper? From the brake to fog lights you have a complete circuit, but in the other direction, the circuit can't be traversed.

We could then collectively eat our cake, and have it too!

Bill

 

>>A stupid question....being curious....
>>
>>I have the brake light mod also, and as I understand it (I'm a computer guy, not an EE), when current goes to the brake light, the jumper acts like a relay to turn on the rear fogs. My assumption would be, that if you left the jumper in place, after MINI puts the new switch bank in and reprograms everything to make the fogs work - whenever you flip on the rear fogs, you brake lights would come on too. Is that accurate?
>>
>>Not, assuming the above is accurate, is there a way to have a one way jumper? From the brake to fog lights you have a complete circuit, but in the other direction, the circuit can't be traversed.
>>
>>We could then collectively eat our cake, and have it too!

I'm an IT guy and not an EE, also, but yes, with the way you have the brake light and fog light wired right now, if you enabled the fog light, it would also light your brake light. They are simply jumpered together. This could also have negative implications for the computer that controls the lights. I doubt it would hurt the computer, but you never know.

A diode could solve the problem. It will allow current to pass from the brake light to the fogs, but not from the fogs to the brake light. Diodes only allow current to flow in one direction. There is still the question of the computer. If the fogs were enabled, and current flowed to the rear fogs via the brake light current, would it somehow get back to the computer? Dunno.

See ya,
JS