Bought a set of LED DRL/ rally lights from ECS, were supposed to be plug and play, sent a harness that’s not for an R53, so we’re on our own. Car had factory rally lights with switch below steering column. So lights have 4 wires, red fused constant hot, white ground, a green and a blue. With a battery we can get outer rings to light with red wire and white wire but can’t bet the interior rally lights to turn on. Anyone have any Ideas or the same problem? Thanks-E

 

Did you try blue and white (blue hot) and green and white (green hot)? One set for each side.

 

I doubt if you need the ECS harness. You have OEM driving lights so just cut & splice the old wires to the new lights.

 

I’ve tried to get the inner lights to light but they won’t. Don’t know if there’s some built In circuitry that keeps both from lighting at the same time. Of course I would wire them to the original wiring if it worked. It doesn’t that wiring has a constant 10v and doesn’t shut off even though the switch works . ??

 

If these are the same lights you have, there are some very basic, and seemingly incomplete, instructions in the product description. It says the adapter goes between the front bumper parking lights and the led rally lights and the red wire to an accessory/switched 12V source to activate the DRL’s. It says the rally lights will turn on when the parking/running lights are on, and the outer DRL ring will turn off when they do.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-vinstar-.../v-130023~vin/

It doesn’t seem like the factory rally light wiring and switch are required to install them. I would try messaging ECS here on the forum to see if they can help.

 

Have contacted ECS, they can’t figure it out either, thanks all for your help.

 

1 - Personally, I'd substitute a pair of Hella 500s & forget the DRLs, but that's just me!
2 - Can you take a lamp apart & see where the wires go?
3 - DRLs should be on a switched ignition circuit & go off when any headlight is on.
4 - I can't see why the sidelights should be involved at all or there's a chance of parking the car with the parking & DRLs lights on.

 

A problem I see from the limited wiring info in the website description are the new lights switch from DRL to driving lights when the parking lights are on. The DRL’s turning off when the parking lights come on is fine, but the driving lights should only be able to turn on with the high beams to be US legal, or at least legal in most states.

The description makes it sound like the driving lights automatically come on when the DRL’s turn off from sensing the parking lights, and will be on anytime the parking, low, or high beams are on with no way to turn them off.

This is either poor design, or an error in the description.

I don’t know what the actual wiring is for your new lights, but this is what would make sense to me on how four wires could work.

• +12V from a switched ignition circuit so the DRL’s are on when the engine is running
• Ground
• + or - trigger from the parking lights to turn off the DRL’s
• + or - trigger from a switch to turn on the driving lights on if wanted when the high beams are on

There should be a relay(s) or control module in the new wiring harness or built into the lights to follow this control logic. I would try contacting Vinstar for a wiring diagram with or without the extra harness that was sent.

 

It seems the adapter-thingy should be connected to the headlight circuit, not the sidelights.
I think it's intended to go on the main 12V feed to the headlights, ie before the dip-to-main switch. This is easy on a conventionally wired car, but since the headlights are computer & relay controlled on a MINI, I can't see where to make that connection.

If you can find the correct wires on the new lamps, connecting them to the original OEM wiring should activate the driving lamps.
I'd trace out the lamp wiring.

 

Thanks again everyone for your thoughts and help, slammed with work now but will try tips soon, thanks-E