Does anyone have a solution? I added driving lights. The relay switch is always on since I want the lights to turn on with the brights, which they do. I also have the daytime running lights, which put a partial voltage through the relay apparently. It does not seem to like it. This causes noise at the relay and I get noise in the speakers. The noise is different if I have the lights on or off [daytime running lights only]. Sorry I cannot be more technical. I have a stock non-Harmon head with a/d/s component speakers in the front and 8" bass drivers in the rear with a four-channel Rockford amp.

 

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The relay should be wired to the brights only,

When brights come on, it'll trigger the relay which would turn on the driving lights.

You could then hook up a switch to trigger the driving lights at the same point as the brights,

If you're saying you're getting power for the driving lights from the headlights, I think that is a major no no.

Paul

 

Thanks for your reply. The driving lights are wired to the brights only, I believe. However, I think the daytime running lights are reduced power bright lights [not the Xenons]. Therefore, the lower power is going through the relay. Listen, I am not technical so I apologize if I am not making sense. Anyway, the relay does not like that lower voltage. I am hoping someone else has experience this problem and resolved it. Thanks...

 

I understand, that makes some sense, This is a unique situation, MINI makes a retrofit kit that does exactly what you want, but it looks like it gets programmed by the dealer.

You have 3 options that I can think of

1) Grab a good old Multi-meter and get to testing, at the high beam switch, there is probably a trigger of some sort that would only have voltage when triggered.
2) Find out exactly what voltage the daytime running lights are trigger at, then find a relay that works within your voltage requirements, There are several different ones out there
3) Have the dealer deactivate daytime running lights.

There are several other simple transistor circuits you can build to solve this problem if you feel like diving deeper.

Let me know

Paul

 

The "daytime lights" work by pulsing the high beams on/off to make them appear to be on dim. If you're driving the relay coil from the high beams, I'm not surprised that it is unwell when the daytime lights are on!

Also, unless you have a protection diode on the relay (and I suspect you don't) you're certainly going to generate electical noise - youmight even be risking damage to the BC1.

If you want to do this, I suggest you disable the daytime lights - soon!

 

PS:
The MINI OEM driving lights have an electronic control circuit - not a simple relay - which is able to properly handle/distinguish the daytime lights signal.

 

Thank you all for the advice. I will check into all of this. I appreciate you taking your time to help me.