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Revelations From a Visible Brake Light

Discussion in 'Cooper SE' started by insightman, Sep 19, 2020.

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  1. May 6, 2022 #101
    insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Ann Arbor
    Your solution uses less power than my grain-of-wheat LED. Please show how you end up routing the fiber optic when you move it inside the housing and drill a hole from which it will be visible. I couldn't find room in the panel to position my LED so it was facing forward. Your fiber optic may be easier to route than my LED, but my advice is to route twice, drill once (I had to drill twice because I didn't route first).
     

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  2. May 8, 2022 #102
    RunOnE

    RunOnE Member

    Denver
    I'd really like to have the center tail light flash under regen F1-style.
     
    GetOffYourGas, CuriousGeorge and JonR like this.
  3. May 8, 2022 #103
    Norman Levi

    Norman Levi New Member

    Boca Raton, FL
    Hi all. Mini SE on order. Late June production guess.
    I've had until now: 2020 Nissan Leaf, 2014 BMWi3 REX, 2017 BMW i3 BEV and 2020 Nissan Leaf SL Plus.
    On all of them the brake lights stayed on when stopped. I don't understand the logic of them going off when stopped. Maybe coding might correct this?
     
  4. May 8, 2022 #104
    revorg

    revorg Well-Known Member

    They do sell chips that one can wire into the center light that cause a rapid flash. As I recall, you can set it to to flash for only a few seconds. And I can testify that they do keep those tailgaters back very well.
     
  5. May 8, 2022 #105
    insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Ann Arbor
    But unless Bimmercode can work magic, there's no way to have the third brake light flash only upon regen braking.
     

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  6. May 8, 2022 #106
    insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Ann Arbor
    I'm surprised to learn that when the car is stationary the BMW i3s brake lights behave differently than those of the MINI Cooper SE. That means the SE's designers decided to vary from the precedent set by the i3.

    If the i3s and the Leafs use their brakes to hold the car stationary, the brake lights would remain illuminated. The SE uses its motor rather than the brakes to prevent the car from rolling backwards when stopped (the SE's motor doesn't prevent the car from rolling forward unless it's in Reverse). To me, it seems like an oversight--not a design decision--that the brake lights go out when the SE is stopped unless the brake pedal is depressed.

    I didn't realize the brake lights went out until I installed my interior brake light a week after acquiring my SE.
     
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  7. May 8, 2022 #107
    revorg

    revorg Well-Known Member

    The flasher chip is wired to the third light. If there's power to the light, it will flash, regardless of who or what flipped the switch to send that power to the light. It's just on the third light.
     
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  8. May 8, 2022 #108
    Puppethead

    Puppethead Well-Known Member

    Twin Cities, MN
    I wonder if it's because the i3 was designed as an EV, and the SE is a retrofit into the ICE model. The SE's friction brakes seemingly work just like on the ICE version, maybe the i3 had better integration between regenerative and friction brakes.
     
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  9. May 9, 2022 #109
    RunOnE

    RunOnE Member

    Denver
    I guess the Porsche Taycan uses the brake to do regen. I think I like one-foot driving after getting used to it.

    Probably if I want a flashing taillight I can just wire it up with a flasher like my 2016 Miata had as a throw in option from the dealer. I'm almost always using regen anyway.
     

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