fog lights

paddyd8

Anyone have an easy way to wire fog lights? I dont was to wire them straight to the battery either i want them controlled by a toggle switch.

biko

What car and year? Is there already lights in the bumper and you just need to hook them up?

vectra

As above, What car?

paddyd8

Its a 1999 colt and there is no fogs in it yet, just headlights.

McP2011

Not to hard to do, you'll need wire a switch and a relay. Can send you a wiring diagram if you want to do it yourself.

dgt

Judging by your username, for a 406?

Edit: I'm seriously thick and can't read. Carry on!

bazz26

If the wiring looms are not already present behind the blanked out panels in the bumper then it can be an expensive job getting it done. That is assuming there are blanked out panels in the bumper to begin with.

paddyd8

bazz26 could I not just use a simple circuit with a switch, fuse and the battery??

visual

If your car isnt pre wired you will need to power the spot / fog through a relay from car battery.

Car battery > fuse > relay > spot lights

The relay would be triggered by switch mounted on your dash.

With a bit of thought its possible to have the spots only work when park lights or dip beam are on.

This will all involve making your own wiring harness

You could use a HID relay kit sold cheap on eBay and adapt it to suit it would make it a little easier to wire up.

paddyd8

Thanks visual, just wondering what way i should wire these so it will pass the NCT??

langdang

paddyd8 wrote: »

bazz26 could I not just use a simple circuit with a switch, fuse and the battery??

Yeah, handy DIY job. Most time consuming bit is making the cable routing, and dash switch, tidy. That's if you're happy with a basic toggle switch.
I'd tap off the parking/side lights, through the switch, to the relay control pin.

TestTransmission

Thread cleaned up.OP asked for simple advice on how to wire fog lights.We're not here to discuss the use of them as the majority of ye know this is against the charter

sean1141

http://www.google.ie/imgres?q=spotlight+wiring+diagram&hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1140&bih=543&tbm=isch&tbnid=iDDwhh3jRoki3M:&imgrefurl=http://www.classictruckshop.com/clubs/earlyburbs/projects/bosch/foglites.htm&docid=_Zn2UshPp3xl-M&imgurl=http://www.classictruckshop.com/clubs/earlyburbs/projects/bosch/foglite.jpg&w=640&h=480&ei=CWsBUa7XNo24hAfSiIHQAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=2&vpy=237&dur=1610&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=155&ty=129&sig=115003082321453884185&page=2&tbnh=133&tbnw=183&start=16&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:33,s:0,i:184

On the bottom right where it says ign or battery power take a feed from your parking lights instead. That way they will only work when your lights are on

sean1141

you can leave out the indicator light if you want. it will just come on when you have the fog lights on as a way of knowing they are on. not a bad thing if you have them on and the fog lifts though!!

visual

Sean's diagram is perfect

I'm not 100% what the NCT will consider acceptable other than it has a indicator on the inside and the fog lights are aligned correctly.

what they may inspect is the wiring in the engine bay as lose wiring could be considered dangerous if they are near a heat source or moving parts.

good tip would be to protect the wiring where possible and follow the cars wiring harness where practical. the cables use should be of the correct gauge and again if possible protected. relay should be fixed so its not bouncing around. cables should be tied down so not overly slack. If done correctly it should look as if it came with the car and not a obvious add on.

if you look at the cars wiring harness it is rapped in tape and tied up at certain points. you will be attempting to have your fog light wiring mimic this

Avoid sharp edges or use rubber to give protection,
Connections should be good quality no joining wires by twisting together with a bit of tape.

what I'm not 100% certain about is what other lights should be on with the fogs if any. I don't think the NCT need them to be on with park or dip but again I'm not sure.

I recommend to have fog lights on with park lights so when you turn your lights off they will automatically go off with lights. failing this you could opt to connect switch to ignition as shown in the diagram Sean supplied then if you turn off engine and take keys out the lights will again automatically be turned off.

Sean might be correct with indicator not being required but I'm not sure that is the case
you can buy switches with indicator lamp built in. I prefer switches that have a visual indication so I may be a little biased

paddyd8

thanks sean! Where can I buy that relay and what type of relay is it?

paddyd8

And I have 3 pin switch's here. How would I swap it in for the 2 pin one in the diagram?

sean1141

The only things I'm not 100% sure of for the nct with aftermarket fog lights is they have to be able to be switched off and they have to be aligned right. Nearly sure they have to come on with the parking lights (most cars with factory fitted ones do for the front anyway) and not with the ignition.

As visual said a nice tidy rocker switch with a light will be best. Something like this should do
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/BLUE-LED-ROCKER-SWITCH-ON-OFF-CAR-DASH-LIGHT-12-VOLT-/280936278878?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item41691b6b5e

sean1141

paddyd8 wrote: »

thanks sean! Where can I buy that relay and what type of relay is it?

Just a standard 12volt 30amp relay. Halfords or any motor factors will have them. Not expensive.

paddyd8 wrote: »

And I have 3 pin switch's here. How would I swap it in for the 2 pin one in the diagram?

Is it a single or 2 way switch? Is there a light on it? If so one pin will be for the light.

paddyd8

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/BLUE-LED-ROCK...item41691b6b5e yea its one of these switchs! so which pin is for the light?

sean1141

Nothing coming up for that link mate.

It won't matter if I remember rightly if you loop the wire going to the fogs and the indicator on the switch. There will be one terminal on the switch for power in, one for the light on the switch and one for the fog lights. You will be joining the one for the light on the switch and the fog lights so it won't matter if that makes any sense.


Where abouts are you? If your local to me I'd be happy to help you out

Harcrid

I had fogs retrofitted recently and used a similiar switch but it lights up amber instead of blue which I thought was more appropriate. On my switch you have to wire the middle pin to ground in order to have the indicator light come on when you activate the switch.

langdang

Mostly they follow this pattern


Power can be FROM the battery, or IGN, or a tap brought back from the sidelights (sidelights would be my choice for fogs, or full beams for spots).
ACC is TO the control pin of the relay.
Ground, GND, upside-down-christmas-tree symbol goes to a good metal-metal connection to the chassis.

Again, same thing here but with symbols AND writing, sometimes you only have the symbols

paddyd8

Cheers sean I get what your saying!

dgt

OP don't forget a relay

paddyd8

Im just wondering if i join the fogs directly on to the parking lights and a switch. Could this be done and if so how??

colm_mcm

paddyd8 wrote: »

Im just wondering if i join the fogs directly on to the parking lights and a switch. Could this be done and if so how??

No. You still need a relay. The parking lights circuit isn't designed to take the load of fog lights too.

paddyd8

And are the bulbs in a 1999 colt xenon or halogen??

sean1141

As colm said it won't work. You have to have a relay. You could end up burning out the wiring for your parking lights otherwise. You can buy a ready made loom for spot/fog lights in some motor factors/Halfords or on eBay if your not confident in making your own

sean1141

paddyd8 wrote: »

And are the bulbs in a 1999 colt xenon or halogen??

Halogen

paddyd8

Cheers lads!

sean1141

http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_169807_langId_-1_categoryId_212516