So I don't actually own an R56, but I was working on a friend's '09 justa installing driving lights. My skills are basic, but I know how to run a multimeter and I slept at a Holiday Inn last night (actually I didn't, I was up late working on these damn lights). I know this info has been written many times on the sewing site, but the gremlins are killing me right now. Does anybody have a DIY or pictures for the wiring? It's a dual light 5" Hella setup, and I was hoping to wire it up independent of the high beams. So basically I'm curious where people grounded the lights (on the bumper? under the fuse box?), and where they tapped into a 12V switched source in the driver's footwell. Also, a more general question, I tested out the lights before I tore up the dash for the switch. I got 12v from the post in the fuse box. One light went on fine, and the other was dim. What does that mean? The ground was good on both.
You're having trouble cause you need to stay at a Holiday Inn Express. :lol: Sorry, can't give you any real help on this but I'm curious myself. I'll probably be tackling the same project this winter.
Jump over to Outmotoring..... Aaron has a section on "How To", drop down to Gen 2 Driving Lights. This is for the factory lights, but it shows where they get their power and ground connections.
I grounded mine on the bumper beam. You can see a nut staring at you when you have the bonnet open. There are two one on the left & one on the right. Clean the spot & then put some dielectric silicone there to keep corrosion away. Mine are hooked to the high beams, but another alternative is to use the parking lights. If you wire them straight to the battery it is possible to use them without tail lights, IMO not a good idea. If you need more help ask.
hahahaha, thanks, needed that one on a Friday afternoon. I have no idea what it's like being a mechanic, but I'm starting to realize how fundamentally weird it is to work on other people's cars. I found a dead hummingbird trapped between the grille and radiator, too. That was a first.
Those little torx bolts? Those looked like a good spot, but I was afraid of the wires being so exposed. Dielectric grease sounds like a good idea. Hmm, good idea going with the parking lights. I'll try that. Thanks!
I used the hex nut to the inboard side of that torx screw. Either should work OK for a ground point. A dead hummer is an odd one. I once had a mourning dove commit suicide in my scoop. Made a real mess of the intercooler.
One thing you did not mention was if you are using a relay to power the lights. I have the Hella Black magics and use the headlamp signal only to energize the relay for the lights, the lights themselve are powered from battery connection under the bonnet.
There is a fuse box near the drivers strut tower. Pull the cover and take the 12v power from nut at the front (This is where they took the power for the OEM harness). I then grounded to the strut tower. There is a plastic screw holding the plastic section that the windshield wipers sit in. I went under it and it grounded just fine on the tower. Jim
Yeah.... Let the relay carry the high amps for the lights from he battery or you won't get the full capacity of the light output. Energize the coil with the lower amperage switch circuit. Use fuses so you don't have problems with possible shorts
Oh yeah, I guess that's what a relay would do - provide power. I'm using the relay that came with the 5" Hellas kit. There's a random clip with no screw protruding out from the windshield cowl near the ECU, so I mounted the relay there. Red wire goes to the battery, black wire goes to the lights, blue wire I grounded under the fuse box (per factory instructions), and yellow wire goes into the cabin for a switch. The switch has three male connections: yellow to the relay, middle for the illumination, and bottom for ground. For my test I ran the +12V from the fuse box to the middle pin. Supposedly that's where the +12V high beam splice is supposed to connect to. I think the factory splice where the black wire divides to power the headlights is my issue. Thanks for all the input.
I also used the Hella wiring harness for my driving light setup. It is hooked up per their wiring diagram. I used the High beam as the trigger for the relay. Edit.... I just noticed that you are doing this to an R56. The ground points I mentioned are for an R53. Hope I didn't confuse things too much.
Thread revival! I figured out why one of the lights wasn't working - the connection in the light housing wasn't on securely. You should have seen the drill bit I used to make a 3/4" hole in the soft plastic of the interior trim piece, too. I have everything else done except for wiring the switch. My "client" wants the fog lights available regardless of the condition of the headlights, so I'm trying to energize the switch with 12V from the cabin. I tried the OBD pin 16 with 12V but it fried the 5A fuse when I flipped on the lights. Any ideas? Is there a better place (higher amp circuit) to pick up 12V switched? Or am I barking up the wrong tree? I really don't want to have to pull the wipers and cowl covers off again, tap into the headlights, and run that into the cabin.
Right, the lights run off a relay powered by the battery. But there's a switch mounted inside the passenger compartment that has three prongs: ground, +12V, and the wire to the relay. Typically one would tap the +12V into the high beam wire, but then you can only activate the fog lights when the high beams are on. So I'm looking for 12V near the steering wheel or driver's footwell. I'll look for the cigarette wires, but it'd be nice if someone knew of a wire/color/bundle location. Wish I had an R56 Bentley...
The cig lighter wire is red with a black stripe and yellow marks. It doesn't run behind the steering wheel though. You'll have to access it in the center console. It's available at the fuse box in the passenger footwell also.
Open the glove box & start probing with a test light. I'm sure you will find what you are looking for. When you do use an add a circuit & you are golden.
There's this. WDS MINI Wiring Diagram System - MINI R55 R56 You need to use Internet Explorer, with Java installed and Adobe SVG Viewer installed to use it.