Fog Light Question

[Isles4evr]

I got the Hella 530 fog/running lights today. I ran all the wires and everything correctly, or say the wiring diagram. My question is, is there a way to turn on just your fog lights? The diagram said to run a wire into the high beam wire. I did that, and now the only way to turn on the lights is to turn on the lowbeams first. When I turn on the high-beams, the fog lights cut off! The wierdest thing of all is that when you pull back on the leaver for the highbeams (instead of pushing it foward), both the highbeams and the fog lights run at the same time. Could anyone help me with this?

Thanks a bunch,
Chris


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'91 Explorer 2dr

 

[Turner55]

i have the hella 530's also and installed them about a month ago. i have that wire hooked up to the fuse box and i can turn on the fog lights whenever the car is on...i just have to flip the switch...the low's or high's dont have to be on. i'm not sure which thing on the fuse box you connect it to...but i'll check tomorrow (it's a little too late tonight). hope this helps

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'93 explorer sport 4x4

 

[Isles4evr]

Oh yeah, that would be great! That is what I was thinking. So, did you run the green wire (the wire that goes to the highbeams) to the fuse box? Thanks for all the help! Those things are really bright too! I mounted them under the bumper, and they light up the whole road. It's nice now, I don't have to use the brights.

Thanks,
Chris


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'91 Explorer 2dr

 

[Turner55]

yeah, the green one(hehe, if you look up a thread f/about a month ago i had a question wondering where i put that wire...i had some foglights that quit working which was why i got the hellas and i noticed that they had a wire going to the fusebox so i just hooked the green wire up to it hoping for the best and they worked!) i have mine on top of the bumper b/c there were predrilled holes (f/the other foglights) and i was afraid of hitting them on something (going off-road) if i put them under the bumper. did you get the clear kind or the yellow? i have the yellow and really like them...i've gotta ask you a question though, when i got mine it came with a switch (which was crappy) with only 2 hookups in the back...of course you need three hookups (one for the fuse box, one for the connector thingy, and one that grounds it) to make it work right...thank god the old switch from the old foglights still worked or i would have had to make a trip to the auto parts store...just wondering if hella gave you the same switch or if they just gave me the wrong one...

 

[Isles4evr]

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. I was kinda hesitant to mount them under the bumper for that exact reason, but I really didn't want to drill through the bumper, and I think they look pretty good underneith of it too. I got the clears ones...I didn't think the yellow would look right on my truck. As far as the switch... my father and I looked at it for a long time wondering what to do about the ground wire. We decided that since the kit didn't come with 4 ground wires (theres one for each light and then one for the distribution box), and the switch didn't have a 3rd prong, and it didn't need it. I know I'm probably wrong, but they work ok. I was going to get a different switch in a little bit anyway, because I don't really like the one that it came with.

Thanks for the info,
Chris


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'91 Explorer 2dr

 

[Turner55]

i think they probably would have looked better under the bumper anyways...the directions said to use a ground wire on the switch and there was already one there f/my old kc's so i used the kc switch (which is a heck of a lot better than that piece of crap hella sent) and it even lights up too! i'll go look at the fuse box to see where i hooked it up in a little bit (just got home f/church)...

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'93 explorer sport 4x4

 

[Turner55]

ok, found where the wire goes to...look in your manual at the fuse box diagram (i dont know if there's a difference between a '91 and a '93) mine's on page 306. it says mine's hooked up to the "hego heater", 15 amp...i'm not sure what kind of connector i have...but it's some thing that is in there with the fuse but it has a connection thing coming out of it so i can just use a connector to hook the wire up to it...hope this helps any...hope i didnt confuse you too much also Dead Link Removed

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'93 explorer sport 4x4

 

[Isles4evr]

Yeah, I think I got it. I'm gona take a look at it tomorrow. The only problem is that I don't have a manual. I was thinking of picking up the Haynes manual... does that have the diagram in it? If not, one of my neighbors has an explorer, and I hope they have the manual.

Thanks for the help,
Chris


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'91 Explorer 2dr

 

[Turner55]

hum...well, i think i can describe which one it is...on mine, there is a circular thing (which i dont know what it is or what it's for) nearest to the driver's seat on the far left side if you're sitting in the seat. (this is in the fuse box)...ok, the circle thing is on the far left, now, on the row closest to the driver's seat (there should be 2 fuses...i think both 15 amp...it is the one furthest to the right if sitting in the driver's seat...hope this helps and didnt confuse you... Dead Link Removed

hey, just looking at your site and noticed you have blue dome lights...where'd you find the bulbs for it? wait...we had this discussion in the other thread i think...nevermind...but wait, i didnt really understand...what bulbs did you use for it? Dead Link Removed
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'93 explorer sport 4x4

[This message has been edited by Turner55 (edited 05-21-2000).]

 

[Isles4evr]

lol... yeah, i think we talked about it for a little bit. All it is, is the same bulb that goes in the licence plate, but bigger. I haven't found one as big as the original bulb, but the same size bulbs as the licence plate's work fine..that is for the front. For the rear I had to get a different type because it is that tube type with the probe things on the end. I bought all of those bulbs in a pack for, i think, $3.50 (4 bulbs total). It's pretty nice...it leaves a blue luster in the whole car Dead Link Removed . Hope this helps.

As far as the fuse box, i think I know which round thing you are talking about. I think that it is on the right side on mine though (I took it out and looked at it today, and I think that is where it was). Anyway, I think I see if maybe there are two 15amp fuses to the left. Who knows? I think I'm gona pick up the Haynes manual, and work from there.

Thanks for all the help!
Chris


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'91 Explorer 2dr

 

[Turner55]

hold up now...from sitting in the driver's seat the circular thingy is to the left and the two 15 amp fuses are on the closest row to you...the one you want is on the right...

about the bulbs...i think i recall you getting that dang pack at a freakin pep boys...well, i'm sure you read my little post talking about pep boys...i looked at advanced auto, discount auto parts, and autozone and so far i've only found the little ones for the license plate and some kind of long, tubular thing...and again pep boys doesnt have an online store...pep boys sucks, PERIOD (hehe, for me 'cause they didnt put one here Dead Link Removed )

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'93 explorer sport 4x4

 

[Isles4evr]

I just took a quick look at the box, and the little circle thing is on the bottom right when looking at it from the drivers seat. Stupid me forgot to look at which fuses were next to it. Oh well, I'll look in the morning.

For the bulbs, the small one that you saw for the licence plate lights are the ones that I used for the front light (and glove box). They are much smaller than the stock clear bulb, but they work fine. The long tublar one you saw will fit in the rear light. On the rear one, you need to bend in the metal peices in to make a snug fit... other wise it may fall out.

Hope this helps,
Chris


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'91 Explorer 2dr

 

[Turner55]

uh oh, if it's on the bottom right you'd better get a '91 manual or something...or borrow one...it's probably completely different from mine...oh well

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'93 explorer sport 4x4

 

[rock883]

Well, I'm sorry to ruin this little thing you 2 got goin here (haha). Well, I did have some hella 500's, but I couldn't get them to work, and a friend of mine had an amp and sub he wasn't using, and he was pretty stupid for doing this, but he traded me a 500 watt 4 chennel amp and a 10" sub for the hella 500's!! I liked the trade and he hasn't even tried to hook up the lights yet. Anyways, for my question: how do you hook up a wire to a fuse in the fuse box? Do you take out the fuse, put the wire in the slot and put the fuse back in?? Thanks

 

[Turner55]

mine were already there when i bought the explorer, but i have these little metal things that are shaped so they go in the slot then curve so the fuse will go in and then you use one of those female wire connectors to hook them up...i work at a hardware store and i'm not really sure if we have them so you'd be better off going to an auto parts store...they would be able to tell you exactly what you need too...

sounds like you got the deal of the century trading your hellas...i only paid $50 for my hellas, you couldnt have paid that much more for yours
hope this helped

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'93 explorer sport 4x4
splitfire wires
bosch +4 plugs
hella 530 foglights

 

[rock883]

Yeah, I only paid like $60 or so for them, actually, my mom got them and a smittybilt bumper for christmas, so actually I didn't have to pay for them. I don't even know if they work either, I couldn't get them wired right, so they were sitting in my room for months and my friend asked what I was doing with them and I told him nothing, so he said he'd trade.

 

[mattadams]

That connector that Turner is talking about is a good idea, probably a bit hard to find and not really necessary... here's what I do, I just strip about 1/2" off the end of the wire, make a hook out of the remaining wires, catch that hook with one of the metal prongs of the fuse you are going to use and reinsert the fuse. That way you are getting plenty of metal contact but wire is not exposed past the fuse, and its not very likely that it will come out either.

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Matt Adams
94 Explorer 4-door nick-named "Tippy"
http://bart.is-s.com/~explorers/madams/

 

[Turner55]

yeah, that's the same if not easier than mine...

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'93 explorer sport 4x4
splitfire wires
bosch +4 plugs
hella 530 foglights

 

[Isles4evr]

Hey thanks for the replys guys. Matt, would it matter which fuse I used? I don't have my manual, and my neighbors is a 93 (just my luck, eh?), and as seen in the earlier posts, the fuse boxes are different.

Thanks for the help,
Chris

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'91 Explorer 2dr

 

[mattadams]

shouldn't matter at all, it only matters if you want to have the lights on only when the vehicle is on, or always on, etc. If you want a fuse thats always on, try leaving hte car off and using a voltmeter to see which fuses are hot and which are not, then turn on the car and see if the fuses that weren't hot before are hot now... this would be the fuse to use... ampage shouldn't matter because this wire will only take about .25amps and even with a 5-amp fuseyou wouldn't be using enough juice to have an impact. I used my radio fuse.

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Matt Adams
94 Explorer 4-door nick-named "Tippy"
http://bart.is-s.com/~explorers/madams/