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I will be towing our R52 Cabrio to FL for the winter. The tow dolly has lights, but after reading articles online, sounds like I need to have the rear lights working on the car for some states. After looking at the tail light connectors. I decided to make a wiring harness if I could find the tail light connectors. My plan was to disconnect the tail lights form the Mini and power up the tail lights from my truck that will be pulling the dolly. Dorman makes a connector that will plug into the Mini tail light. Part # 645-733 (need 2). See below for the color codes and use. The backup light will not be used with this setup. Since the wiring harness I am using is only 4 wire, the left turn & brake light will be tied together and the right turn & brake will be tied together. I will feed the wire thru the door and hood to get to my truck. Inside the Mini will just go thru the rear seat to he trunk. It's only temporary. With this set up the wiring is isolated from the Mini wiring.
I looked at magnetic trailer lights, but they would not work with my car.
Temporary wiring harness running thru door and hood Harness end that will plug into the truck Right connector. Blue/yellow - backup light. Brown - ground, blue/brown - turn signal, blue/black - brake, gray/yellow running light Left connector. Blue/yellow - backup light, brown - ground, blue/green - turn signal, black/green - brake, gray/purple - running light Dorman connectors
If your tow dolly has lights, you generally do not need lights on the vehicle to function. If you were using a tow “bar” then you would either need the vehicle lights or attach magnetic lights.
