will this be safe on my car/fog lights

[bobbyd]

hey guys i was thinking of running my fog lights from the fog lights to a relay or circuit breaker or something and then running the wire into the inside of the car and turning them on off with a switch.

will that even work? will i be in trouble of having the car catching on fire?
jrich hissin I know you guys are running your fog lights on to a relay so can you guys help me out on how to do this or something? maybe you guys can post pics or a diagram on how you guys are running your fog lights thanks

 

[jrichker]

SEE http://www.corral.net/tech/maintenance/foglights.html to fix the problem. The stock wiring isn't up to the job and is overheating. The headlight switch & turn/multifunction switch are affected by Ford's wiring problem. Sometimes it overheats so badly that the plastic shells of the wiring connectors start to melt. This will show you how to add a relay to the fog lights to relieve the overload on the headlight wiring.

 

[bobbyd]

thanks jrich but is there another way to do this without having tu open up the dash and messing with that?

 

[Aryan15]

You don't have to open up the dash, just the one switch assembly with a small screwdriver. I think it beats using a seperate switch IMO and leaving the fog light switch inoperable.

 

[iwashmycar]

its really easy...just follow the instructions closely. Its very clean and you can use them antime you want, even with brights

 

[bobbyd]

coo i guess thats teh way to go. 1 more question.

earliar today my fog lights would turn on (only 1 was working the other one i think i might have bad wires) well anyways one of the foglights was working but now that one doesnt power on either so can the culprit be that problem where i have to do this upgrade that jrich mentioned? or what else can i check to see what can be the problem.
the fuse is not blown I already check that.
and about how much money does this upgrade come out to?

 

[jrichker]

thanks jrich but is there another way to do this without having tu open up the dash and messing with that?

I did mine differently, but I had to build my own wiring harness for the foglights. This is more trouble than it is worth for most folks. I left all the wiring on the stock light switches in place and used the foglight wiring to power the relay coil. The other side of the relay coil is connected to ground. I have an inline fuse that picks up power from the battery side of the starter solenoid. It is connected to the relay contact. The other relay contact is connected to the new wiring harness I made for the foglights.

The advantage of making your own foglight wiring harness is that you can run 100 watt foglight bulbs. The stock wiring harness will not use 100 watt bulbs without overloading and causing a fire.

Unless you are good at electrical wiring, have the skills and tools (crimp tool, soldering gun, heat gun for the heat shrink tubing, etc.) I recommend that you stick with the Corral method.

 

[HISSIN50]

EDIT: JRichker posted some good stuff above while I pecked.

Because I live in a hot climate and I was being lazy, I put my relays (one for lows, one for highs and one for fogs) under the hood. I had the intention of retrofitting an SN95 underhood fusebox, which would have become the new home for the relays, but never got around to it.

Anyhow, if you put the relay under the hood, once you have found the fog light feed wire (driver side fender harness. I grabbed mine between the coil and battery), it's really easy to wire up the relay (and nicely accessible). Like Aryan, I had just popped the switch out so I could re-source key-on power to the fog light switch.

My way isn't better - it just is another way to do things (I wasnt about to shove 3 relays under the dash or somewhere else that I could not access them. I keep a spare relay in the glovebox for quick swaps if ever needed).

Relays are about 5 bucks in town retail (you want a 30 + amp SPST relay). Add in wire, an inline fuse holder and fuse, and whatever else you need to figure your costs (depends what you have on-hand).

Good luck.

 

[bobbyd]

thanks guys i guess after all the corral fix does seem easier then your method jrich.

 

[HISSIN50]

thanks guys i guess after all the corral fix does seem easier then your method jrich.

It's just preference and application. Neither is difficult. JR's is nice because he's replacing old wiring with new stuff (in his case, to handle the extra current. It's amazing how much good driving lights help. It sounds like his are like mine in that they put more light on the road than the headlights do).

If you have ever installed fog lights in a car with no OEM wiring for them, it's tantamount to the same task.

 

[LtDavis]

I'd like to do the fix shown at the Corral to my car but I still want the fog lights to automatically turn off when the high beams come on just like the factory setup is (also required by law in Pennsylvania) I don't know jack about wiring, so what would I do different in the wiring to make the fogs work like that?

 

[bobbyd]

It's just preference and application. Neither is difficult. JR's is nice because he's replacing old wiring with new stuff (in his case, to handle the extra current. It's amazing how much good driving lights help. It sounds like his are like mine in that they put more light on the road than the headlights do).

If you have ever installed fog lights in a car with no OEM wiring for them, it's tantamount to the same task.

hmm i guess i will go this route but im going to wait a few days to do it. Im currently taking a HVAC course and right now were learning about electric stuff so ill wait to i understand it better

 

[bobbyd]

jrich what does #85,86, and 87 represent? i think #30 is the 30amp fuse no?

 

[HISSIN50]

I'd like to do the fix shown at the Corral to my car but I still want the fog lights to automatically turn off when the high beams come on just like the factory setup is (also required by law in Pennsylvania) I don't know jack about wiring, so what would I do different in the wiring to make the fogs work like that?

One thing to consider: It's also often illegal to have driving lights on without headlights. If this is so, you could simply install the Corral relay and leave the fog light switch's power source alone. The circuit would function as OEM, except you'd have a relay to protect the circuit from overloading.

Now if you want to have something else, but still want the fogs to shut down with the high beams................

One method:

Get an SPDT relay. You can think of this as splicing this relay into the wire that goes from the fog light switch to the relay (you could do this on the load side too, but I like switching the control side of the circuit). As far as splicing into the wiring from the Corral write-up, you will only deal with the wire that goes from the fog-light-switch output to the relay (you're basically cutting it and putting a relay in the middle of it. You don't actually need to cut the wire, but that's how to think of it in terms of circuit interruption). Wire it as follows:

30: Goes to the wire from the fog light switch. This used to go from the switch to the Corral relay.

87A (make sure you use the Normally Closed terminal, which is 87A, not 87): this goes to the Corral's relay where the fog light wire used to connect with the Corral method.

Those above connections are how the relay is spliced into the 'middle' of that one wire.

Now you connect 85 to ground.

And 86 gets spliced into the wire for the high beams. Just Tee into the brights circuit and run a leg of power to this terminal. It can be small gauge wire (a la 18 AWG).

What's happening: Your fogs are on. With this new relay, 30 and 87A are connected at rest (which for relay #2 is when the brights are off), so it's like this new relay is not even there. When the new relay sees highbeam voltage, it energizes the new relay, which takes power away from the Corral relay input, shutting the fog lights off.

Seems like it should work fine to me, and it's close to how I've seen some OEM circuits in other cars wired. If anyone sees a typo, please let me know.

Good luck.

 

[HISSIN50]

jrich what does #85,86, and 87 represent? i think #30 is the 30amp fuse no?

30 is a relay terminal, not the fuse. JRichker used a 20 amp fuse (Total Watts/Volts = Amps, to decide your power requirements. Rememeber total watts is for two bulbs)

On a SPST relay, the coil is comprised of 85 and 86. When one has power and the other has ground, the relay connects 87 (normally open) to 30 (common).

In JRichker's nice diagram, the curly cue represents the coil. When the coil is energized, the relay energizes and 30 and 87 connect up. If you're using an SPDT relay, at rest, 30 has continuity with 87A.


This is the conventional nomenclature. You can wire these dippy relays with the control and load sides backwards (i.e. connect power to 85, ground to 86. And battery power to 87 and have the output be 30. I HATE it when people do this. It is unnecessary and just leads to confusion). WIth higher end relays, you cannot wire them up backwards, so I always do it the same. Plus it's easier to chase wires if certain assumptions can be made.

 

[bobbyd]

30 is a relay terminal, not the fuse. JRichker used a 20 amp fuse (Total Watts/Volts = Amps, to decide your power requirements. Rememeber total watts is for two bulbs)

On a SPST relay, the coil is comprised of 85 and 86. When one has power and the other has ground, the relay connects 87 (normally open) to 30 (common).

In JRichker's nice diagram, the curly cue represents the coil. When the coil is energized, the relay energizes and 30 and 87 connect up. If you're using an SPDT relay, at rest, 30 has continuity with 87A.


This is the conventional nomenclature. You can wire these dippy relays with the control and load sides backwards (i.e. connect power to 85, ground to 86. And battery power to 87 and have the output be 30. I HATE it when people do this. It is unnecessary and just leads to confusion). WIth higher end relays, you cannot wire them up backwards, so I always do it the same. Plus it's easier to chase wires if certain assumptions can be made.

oh sweet thanks for explaining it now i get it hehe.