1st Gen R50 Cooper Needed a little more light...

Discussion in '1st Generation: 2002–06 R50, R53 & 2004–08 R52' started by flashover604, Mar 14, 2016.

  1. flashover604

    flashover604 New Member

    Mar 11, 2015
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    Phone man
    Lancaster, Ohio
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    The stock headlights didn't have quite enough oomph for the long stretches of deer infested back roads I travel so I decided to give a cheap LED light bar a shot. I picked up a 20" bar off of Amazon for less than $40. I had a couple of aluminum struts milled to fit the radius of the inside of the aluminum bumper. These were bolted to the bumper then the lightbar was bolted directly to them. They are solid as a rock.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1457977020.041997.jpg

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1457977034.971588.jpg

    I put a 16mm push button switch where the drivers heated seat would go. This draws power from the cigarette lighter.
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1457977105.422296.jpg

    From the switch the power goes to an old school foot dimmer switch so I can turn them on and off with my foot keeping both hands on the wheel.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1457977150.662003.jpg

    The power goes from this switch to a relay that I placed next to the battery.

    I was concerned about blocking airflow to the lower part of the condenser and radiator, but the temp needle never went any higher than normal.
     

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  2. flashover604

    flashover604 New Member

    Mar 11, 2015
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    Phone man
    Lancaster, Ohio
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    Here are the dim lights on a backroad.
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1457977455.666789.jpg

    Here are the brights.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1457977470.474114.jpg

    And here are the brights with the LED bar.

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1457977493.302520.jpg

    The pictures don't really do justice to how much light these put out. I'm pretty impressed with the output per $.
     
  3. flashover604

    flashover604 New Member

    Mar 11, 2015
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    Phone man
    Lancaster, Ohio
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    Here's the final result.
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1457977797.239924.jpg
     
  4. 00Mini

    00Mini Well-Known Member

    Feb 24, 2013
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    Very clean looking and functional installation.
     
  5. flashover604

    flashover604 New Member

    Mar 11, 2015
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    Phone man
    Lancaster, Ohio
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    Thanks! We did our best to hide as much wiring as possible. I'm really happy with the stability of the mount. There is literally no bounce when you hit a bump.
     
  6. old81

    old81 Club Coordinator
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    Used to work making computers run fast!
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    Nicely done, they will 'see the light'.... :)

    Can you run the bar by itself or do you require light on to work?

    Don
     
  7. flashover604

    flashover604 New Member

    Mar 11, 2015
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    Phone man
    Lancaster, Ohio
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    Thanks Don. The lightbar is completely independent of the headlights. I wired it to the cigarette lighter/12V accessory port so I can only use the bar if the key is on. This makes it impossible to accidentally leave the lightbar on and drain the battery as long as the key is not in the ignition. If the ignition is on, the lightbar still has no power unless the button next to the power mirror switch is pushed down into the "ON" position. If the switch is on, the button lights up Orange so I know that power is available to the relay IF I push the foot switch. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1457993913.178586.jpg
    So, TWO switches have to be in the ON position to get the light bar to work.
     
  8. vetsvette

    vetsvette MINI Alliance Ambassador

    Nov 9, 2013
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    That wouldn't pass inspection in VA. Depending on the type of light it has to work in conjunction with either high or low beam. Can't work independently.

    That being said, it's a nice clean installation and puts out some good light. I like it.
     
  9. flashover604

    flashover604 New Member

    Mar 11, 2015
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    Phone man
    Lancaster, Ohio
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    I would have used the high beam to trigger it but the high beams are used at half power for the Daytime Running Lights. This makes them unusable as a trigger unless you have the drl's turned off at the dealer. I think the only other way to do it would be to find the lead to the high beam indicator in the dash, but I don't know if it would have enough power to throw the relay.

    (You have two more stripes than I did when I got my DD214) well done!
     
  10. vetsvette

    vetsvette MINI Alliance Ambassador

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    :Thumbsup:
    I ran into a similar problem wiring driving lights on my Suburban. Wired the relay to trigger off the high beam + lead. Only problem is the high beam is triggered by the computer giving it a ground so driving lights on all the time unless I use the toggle to kill them. Got around it by putting covers on the DL's for inspection. I'll get around to re-wiring it eventually.
     
  11. aslondon

    aslondon Member
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    Jan 4, 2015
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    Monticello, FL
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    Nicely done. I've got Hellas on the front of my 04 and they seem to get bumped out of alignment too easily, I may just switch to the LED bar.

    Thanks for sharing the install

    Al
     
  12. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    Nice job!
     
  13. flashover604

    flashover604 New Member

    Mar 11, 2015
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    Phone man
    Lancaster, Ohio
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    Thanks for the replies! Aslondon, I've got four Hella's sitting in the garage. Two fog and two driving. I was going to put them on the Mini but the mounts alone would've cost me more than my whole led setup. Plus, I just liked the look of the flat bar and wanted to see how it'd look. In pretty happy with it. It shouldn't have any issues staying aimed.
     
  14. RallyMini370

    RallyMini370 Well-Known Member

    Mar 12, 2012
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    Looks good. I see so many of these light bars down here in CR. I presume the voltage drain is a lot less than a halogen light
     
  15. Crashton

    Crashton Club Coordinator

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    Yes those LED's are going to have a lot less of a current draw. What I wonder about is how those light the road. The ones I've seen seem to throw a wide shortish beam. Not a long beam like a Super Oscar or Rally 2000.
     
  16. RallyMini370

    RallyMini370 Well-Known Member

    Mar 12, 2012
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    yeah not much good when you're doing 120mph down a gravel road at night.
     
  17. flashover604

    flashover604 New Member

    Mar 11, 2015
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    Phone man
    Lancaster, Ohio
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    What I've found so far:

    They're pulling less than 10 amps or 120w. I installed a 10A fuse at the relay from the battery.

    They light up a bunch of the surrounding area, not just the roadway. While I don't necessarily need to see what's up in a tree ahead of me, I DO like to see what's 40' off of the roadway in the fields. I was heading home around midnight the other night and the LED bar lit up a deer off in a field but looking at the road with that "Can I make it?" look. It was 50, 60' off of the road and probably 250-300' down the road. I hit the switch to shut off the lightbar and it was completely invisible. Never would've known it was there. Kicked the LEDs back on and there it was again.

    I like how the bar LOOKS on the car, but the low mounting point kills some of the distance I think I'd get if it was mounted higher.

    All in all, it's leaps and bounds better than the stock headlights and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg.
     

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