fog lights and high beams | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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fog lights and high beams

i was skimming through some of the posts looking for anyone who has wired their fog lights to stay on when the high beams are switched on. a friend of mine has done it on his subaru but since Fuji Heavy Ind. didnt make my Ford Explorer he doesnt have spare time to help me with it. If anyone could link me or has a diagram of what to do i would appreciate it.
 



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so simply cutting off one of the other prongs that arent in use will leave the fogs on with the high beams?

good info guys
 






I tried doing this in my 01 Sport but they apparently don't have the right relays or something for it. Pretty frustrating.
 






yeah my owners manual isnt really the same as the relay layout under my hood, lol
 






In my 2004 XLT, the lower lights in the front bar (I guess what everyone calls foglights) actually only come on with high beam, and I would like them to come on with parkers instead (and stay on with highbeam too). Any ideas on how I would go about doing this easily?
 






i hardwired my existing fog light switch to turn on my driving lights anytime i want like with park lights, low beams, high beams or just the driving light itself as long as i have the key in the ignition (safety feature that is really useful when running late for work..:burnout: ).
a lot of people , including me, just tapped thru existing wires to get power to their auxiliary lights and in my experience is not worth doing so especially when you have one of those high end lights like kc daylighters, piaa's or hella. no doubt that they get the appropriate voltage to power the bulb but not enough current that the brightness of a tapped light is just noticeably dim compared to a properly relay wired ones.

Besides, it's just easier to go with the relay system. All you need is a 30A automotive relay (i prefer Bosch, been using them for years to power 4 blinding hood cowl mounted driving lights on one of our previous car) , switch of your choice, 20 gauge wires for the switch, 8 gauge stranded copper wire ( this can also supply +v source for other aux lights that you might want to install later on), 8 gauge copper lug, 30A inline fuse, electrical tape, 12 gauge stranded copper wire (to supply ground to the lights), cold beverage of your choice and 2 hours of your time.

believe me, it made a world of difference when i switched from tapping wires or using the stock wires to making relay harnesses with stranded copper wires for each light. here's a pic of my driving lights that i got from a seller in PA for $19.
IMG_1604.jpg

Theyre the optilux brand, the cheap hella knockoff from china. Used it already numerous times on dark highways and it lit up the road really far enough to visibly see road signs that looked like small flashlights from the distance. I'm planning to mount 2 5" round fogs behind the grill in the future and would probably do a write-up on it including the relay wiring.
 






parad1mg, could'nt agree with you more about the need and desirablity for using a relay in the lighting system. And your lights look great!
Wire size is determined by the load of the bulbs and distance to the battery. See: http://www.rallylights.com/other/wiring.htm
For 90% of the lighting applications 14 guage wire is best. I say best because it is easy to work with and reasonably priced and connectors are available most anywhere. 18 guage is fine for use between the relay and switch and is easier to fish through the firewall and connect to a switch.
The heavier guage you mentioned doesnt "hurt" anything but it is hard to work with and wont produce any better results and it costs more.
Me being lazy and cheap doesnt mean I dont want all the brightness I can get from a set of lights but oversized wire wont increase anything except the frustration factor.
 






yeah, i know the 8 gauge wire is a bit over kill but i got so used to using these things and manuevering them around is kinda fun for me.. weird eh? i also had an experience once that the wires that i used heated up and shorted out while powering two 130W bulbs so i stuck with the "industrial" type after that.. :salute:
anyway, here's a couple of pic of the not so tiny wire that i used..

IMG_1493.jpg


wire to relay:
IMG_1497.jpg


unlit pic:

IMG_1500.jpg
 






Wired up my driving lights today so they now come on with parkers, instead of only with highbeam. I ended up pulling the driving light fuse, and the relay, then installing a switch with:

1. one wire to earth
2. one wire tapping into the park light circuit on the headlight switch
3. one oire running wiring through the firewall to a relay I installed near the battery.

The wiring to the relay then goes :
1. one wire straight from battery via a 15Amp in line fuse
2. one to earth
3. the one to/from switch (above)
4. one to each of the driving lights.

At the driving light, I cut the existing orange/tan wire and hooked in the wire from the relay, on each light. Ran the wire on right hand side behind the grille then down past the back of the headlight, so it's mostly invisible except for an extra relay out side the fuse box in the engine bay, and the switch which I mounted just below and to the left of the headlight switch (Right Hand drive version).
 






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