Light My Bricks : Mini Cooper 10242 LED Lighting Kit

The following page is the instructions for the Light My Bricks LEGO Mini Cooper (10242) LED light kit.

To ensure a trouble-free installation of your light kit, please read and follow each step carefully.

If you run into any issues, please refer to the online troubleshooting guide.

To download this instructions guide in PDF format please click here.

Please note: This page lists instructions for the LED light kit only. If you are wishing to purchase the Light My Bricks LEGO Mini Cooper (10242) LED light kit , please click here to view the product page

Package contents:

9x White 30cm Bit Lights
1x 12 Port Expansion board
1x USB Power Cable

USB Power Cable has replaced Flat & Round Battery Packs (CR2032) as of June 2022 due to child safety regulations. Please use the USB Power Cable in place of the Battery Pack.

Lego Pieces:

2x Lego® 1 x 1 trans orange round plates
1x Lego® 1 x 2 trans red tile
2x Lego® 1/2L technic pins
1x Lego® 6 x 10 plate

Important things to note:

Laying cables in between and underneath bricks

Cables can fit in between and underneath LEGO® bricks, plates, and tiles providing they are laid correctly between the LEGO® studs. Do NOT forcefully join LEGO® together around cables; instead ensure they are laying comfortably in between each stud.

CAUTION: Forcing LEGO® to connect over a cable can result in damaging the cable and light.

Connecting cable connectors to Expansion Boards

Take extra care when inserting connectors to ports of Expansion Boards. Connectors can be inserted only one way. With the expansion board facing up, look for the soldered “=” symbol on the left side of the port. The connector side with the wires exposed should be facing toward the soldered “=” symbol as you insert into the port. If a plug won’t fit easily into a port connector, do not force it.

Incorrectly inserting the connector can can result in bent pins inside the port or possible overheating of the expansion board when connected.

Installing Bit Lights under LEGO® bricks and plates.

When installing Bit Lights under LEGO® pieces, ensure they are placed the correct way up (Yellow LED component exposed). You can either place them directly on top of LEGO® studs or in between.

OK, Let’s Begin!

Instructions for installing this kit

This model has 6 lights on the front and three lights on the back. As we install the lights, we are going to run the wires to a central point underneath the vehicle. This is where we will connect them up as seen in the picture below.

Start by taking the roof off and opening the bonnet.

Hold on to the bonnet and pull it up to remove it. Sometimes the side pieces will come out as well and other times they won’t. If they don’t, remove them manually and attach them to the sides of the bonnet.

Above the front grille, there is a 1 x 8 light grey tile and two 1 x 4 green tiles behind it. Remove the 1 x 4 tiles and the piece they are sitting on.

Remove the transparent clear dish pieces from both front fog lights.

Grab a White Bit Light and hold it in the bottom section of the light grey dish piece that is still on the car. hold it near the middle with the wires coming away from the centre of the car.

Replace the transparent clear dish pieces.

Remove the headlights by placing your thumb on the headlight and lifting it upwards, also removing the plate and tile on top of it.

Remove the indicator and the bricks attached to it (if you pull the green brick behind the indicator forward, a few pieces should all come out together).

Remove the unusual looking grey piece from the place next to where the indicator was.

Look for the space underneath a black plate and above the green plate that is now visible. Feed the plug end of the fog lights through this gap.

Pull the wire through and then replace the unusual looking grey piece.

The transparent orange indicator lights that came with this model do not fit our lights underneath them. Get the transparent orange 1 x 1 round plates to use for the indicators.

Pick up the indicator pieces the you removed earlier. Remove the transparent orange indicator plate.

Grab a White Bit Light and hold it in place above the stud that is now exposed because the transparent orange piece was removed. Gently place a transparent orange 1 x 1 round plate over the White bit light.

Feed the plug end of the White bit light through the unusual looking grey piece and pull it through as you return the indicator pieces to their position.

Fit the indicator pieces back in their position.

Replace the headlight and the plate and tile on top of it.

Remove the transparent clear dish pieces from both head lights.

Grab a White bit light and hold it in the centre of the of the light grey shield piece that is still on the car. Hold it so that the wires coming vertically down.
Replace the transparent clear dish piece.

There is a small gap above the indicator where you can run the plug end of the headlight wire through the unusual looking grey piece.

Run the wire through.

Now you should have 6 wires hanging out of the engine bay going all over the place!

We are going to feed the wires through to the interior of the car. We are going to feed the three pairs of wires from lights on the right down the right hand side of the engine and into an existing gap in the “firewall”.

Look for the wire near the floor in the front of the car’s interior and pull it through when you can see it.

The left hand side looks a little different because the steering wheel is there. Look for the metallic silver technic piece that is part of the steering wheel assembly and feed the wires passed it.

Once all the wires are pulled through, you should see that they all fit comfortably within the engine bay running down either side of the engine.

Replace the front piece with the two green 1 x 4 tiles on top then put the bonnet back on.

Now we want to run the wires to the underside of the car. We will do this by feeding them through the gaps on either side of the gear stick.

Remove the gear stick and feed the wires on the left hand side through the gap in the floor.

Pull them through the underside of the car.

Remove the steering wheel and feed the wires on the right hand side of the car through the gap on the right hand side of the gear stick.

Replace the gear stick and the steering wheel.

OK, let’s turn the vehicle around so that the back is facing you.
Open the boot and remove the contents (if you kept the picnic gear in the boot).

Now is the time to substitute the two 1 x 1 transparent red plates with the 1 x 2 transparent red plate.

Remove the plate or plates that are representing the break light on the back of the car.

Grab a White bit light and feed the plug end up behind the bumper bar. The bumper bar has some flex and is easily bent out a bit to fit the plug through.

Hold the LED end of the White bit light in the centre of the two studs on the piece that the brake light came off. The White bit light will not sit flush and will be in a slight angle.

When you replace the transparent red brake light piece, it will only close over about half of the stud leaving an obvious gap if you look closely. Carefully replace the transparent red piece brake light piece.

Let the wire from the brake light run out the back of the boot. Remove the transparent orange 1 x 1 plates that represent indicator pieces from the back of the car.

For each indicator, grab a White bit light and hold it in the centre of the stud that the transparent orange plate was removed from. The gently replace the transparent orange brick over the White bit light.

Now you will have three sets of White bit light wires hanging out the back of the car.
Lift up the grey floor of the boot (the bit that covers the spare wheel) until you have enough of it to hold on to. Twist it and pull it out.

Take the spare wheel out.

Looking inside the boot and under the back seat, you will see some white clip pieces holding a couple of red hinge pieces. Immediately behind that is a hole where you might see some light come through if you lift the car a bit. Feed the White bit light wires through the hole and look for them on the underside of the car.

Grab the Coin Cell Battery Pack and feed the plug end of the wires through the same gap.

USB Power Cable has replaced Flat & Round Battery Packs (CR2032) as of June 2022 due to child safety regulations. Please use the USB Power Cable in place of the Battery Pack.

If using the USB Power Cable you will be unable to hide the power source. Instead, you will need to run the USB Power Cable out from the back, or from underneath the car directly from the 12-Port Expansion Board.

Let the Flat Battery Pack rest in the boot. Close the boot and rest the car on its side so you can access the bottom of the car.

Grab the 12 Port Expansion Board and connect each of the nine wires and the battery pack to the board.

Grab the two 1/2L Technic pins, get them now and working from the bottom of the 1:9 Expansion Board place the short end up through the holes on either side of the 1:9 Expansion Board.

Now fix the 12 Port Expansion Board to the black technic brick running along the side of the exposed centre section underneath the car.

Gather the wires together and work them until they are contained within the exposed centre section underneath the car, between the two black technic bricks. Have your 6 x 10 plate ready.

With the wires contained as seen above, the 6 x 10 plate will cover the exposed centre section and keep the wires inside.

Turn the car upright again and have the back of the car facing you. Open the boot to reveal the battery pack.

Holding the Coin Cell Battery Pack up and out of the way, replace the spare wheel. If you want to keep things as neat as possible, pull the wires from the lights back towards you a little bit so there is a good bit of slack. Place the spare wheel down on top of the wires from the lights.