Anyone think dealer will enable the built in alarm light without having the alarm? That thing is huge (right above the driver digital speedo) and will convince 95% of the people that the car actually has an alarm. Plus as far as i know the 2007 alarm is not available yet. Anybody know if this would work in theory? I would gladly pay under $100 to just have that activated.

 

Good idea, Im sure it wouldnt take much to install a switchable LED light that would flash at the same rate as the OEM alarm in the red lens of the tach unit, which has screws in it so it can be opened . This is something that could be explored by experimenters, or aftermarketers..

 

ooo that sounds awesome... plz someone fig it out and help us out!!! that would be neat

 

The R50 R53 alarm light (on the light switch stalk) starts blinking as soon as it is plugged into the car (and the doors are locked) Mine blinked just like I had the alarm for a month or so before I could even get to the dealer to have the alarm activated....could R56 be the same?

 

someone, anyone please figure out how to do this and post step by steps.

 

Personally, I'd be shocked if they did this but 1) it couldn't hurt to ask (even though they may not know at this point) and 2) if I'm wrong I'll gladly jump in line w/ y'all!!!

 

I had a LED installed in my 88 CRX in 88 that did exactly this. There are commercial products like this one available from JC Whitney
The principle is that one wire is connected to 12v+ and the other to 12v+ while ignition is on. When the ignition power is cut the ignition power switches to ground. Mine cost me a half rack of beer installed so I didn't do it myself. If you use 12v LED you probably won't need a resistor.

You can use this LED Calculator to figure out a resistor

Here are some prewired leds. I think they are pretty much the same as the JCW product without the wiring instructions.
Greg

 

If the R56 alarm works like the rest of BMW's alarms, I believe that the voltage used to flash the LED is generated by the alarm module itself. If true, the LED won't flash unless the alarm module is present in the car.

 

Do we know any costs for the module yet ?

 

so, any word or news on this?

--E

 

On my 2002 325i and 2004 X3, I had them programmed to flash the light and the cars didn't have an alarm installed. On my 2006 325xi, it can not be programmed to flash without the alarm... BMW made a change with the E90. The electronics in the E90 are similar/the same as what MINI is using in the R56, so I'd say that it probably can not be done.