Sidelight Not ON? Not A Bulb Issue!

[Richard Crofts]

All

Need a bit of help here. I have LED sidelights on my car, however the other week the drivers side stopped working and has not been on since. I have taken both bulbs out and switched them over and the bulb that was not working does work on the other side. I then tried fitting stock side bulbs in place of LEDs and the same fault is their so its obviously not a bulb thing. There is no damage on the wires to the bulb or the pins on the holder...so I am not sure whats up

Anyone know if the MINI is independantly fused for the side lights? Indicators and headlamps work fine on both sides, just driver side light out. If they are fused independant, anyone know which of the fuses in the footwel panel it is?!

[Capsaisin]

They are independently switched by the general module control unit. Sounds like one of the outputs is duff or maybe just a bad contact.

Worst case you might be tempted to connect them together, but you might blow the other output if the current drain is increased.

[Richard Crofts]

Is that the Body Control Unit then? If it is a duff output, whats the fix??? Just cheap and simple or is it a rediculous affair such as whole new unit? Anyone know the costs if it that?

[MINI-Morgan]

Cheap? ha yeah I doubt it. Look to your right foot kick panel and remove... check all the connections are ok

With the LEDs you could probably get away with combining the outputs but if they were returned to standard 5watt bults it might be too much.

[fordcymru]

Have you checked the fuse box yet in the passengers footwell. I think the l/h and r/h sidelight circuits are fused. Check this before you delve into the bc1 module.

[rkw]

Quote: Originally Posted by fordcymru (original)

Have you checked the fuse box yet in the passengers footwell. I think the l/h and r/h sidelight circuits are fused.

According to the circuit diagrams in the Haynes manual, the sidelights are powered directly from the BC1 with no fuses in the path. Left and right are separate circuits to the BC1 (not connected together).

[drumzz]

what happened with this then? i have exactly the same problem.

put one LED bulb in on the right hand side to compare the light given out, and now when i put the normal bulb in, it doesnt work either??

[MINIMANIAUK]

LED Bulbs do not have the same resistance as normal bulbs,they are far lower, the BC1 Both controls the various lights and monitors them .
in some circuits adding an LED causes no problem as the resistance is low so very little extra current is used, but replacing the existing bulb with a far lower resistance LED can draw too much current from the BC1 - The BC1 will either see this as a fault and inhibit this output or damage the output .
It may be possible to add a resistor to an LED to simulate the same resistance as the original bulb then the BC1 would see no difference -the size of the resistor would depend on the LED resistance and power rating
Try disconnecting the battery and reconnecting and hope it resets!!! The BC1 is around £400

[cristo]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINIMANIAUK (original)

LED Bulbs do not have the same resistance as normal bulbs,they are far lower, the BC1 Both controls the various lights and monitors them .
in some circuits adding an LED causes no problem as the resistance is low so very little extra current is used, but replacing the existing bulb with a far lower resistance LED can draw too much current from the BC1 - The BC1 will either see this as a fault and inhibit this output or damage the output .
It may be possible to add a resistor to an LED to simulate the same resistance as the original bulb then the BC1 would see no difference -the size of the resistor would depend on the LED resistance and power rating
Try disconnecting the battery and reconnecting and hope it resets!!! The BC1 is around £400

LED bulbs have a higher resistance and draw less current than the incandescent bulbs they replace.

[drumzz]

so does this mean the BC1 is messed up? how much are the little sidelight holders to replace?

[mikeythemini]

Most likely you have bent a contact - I have used various bulbs (hologen & LED) in Mini sidelights & never ever had an issue. In fact when the arch lights are wired up & linked to the existing sidelights even this does not give the BC1 any problems with excess current
Note: LED's will only work 1 way round

[rkw]

Try the following. The wiring harness can be unplugged from the bulb holder. Swap the bulb holders and see if the problem moves to the other side. If it does, it is probably a bent contact in the bulb holder. If the problem stays on the same side, it would be looking bad for the BC1...

[MINI-Morgan]

I still doubt the BC1 is blown but if you have a multi meter then unplug the connection and test if the voltage is there. If not id get BMW to check the BC1 for fault codes and see if its even activating the outputs. Each output is seperately controlled from each other as I proved at the weekend. If you dont want to pay the costs of BMW then grab me if you are coming to top gear and i'll plug my laptop in and you can manually activate it yourself. Best tool I ever got my hands on for the MINI

[Mark_Dalton]

What do you need to connect a laptop to th Mini?

[MINI-Morgan]

Depends what you want to achieve?