For those who've installed HID fog lights, how the heck do you plug them in?

[Greg_DonWindsor]

And your bulbs fit in the sockets of the foglight housing fine?

If yes, (Im pretty sure this is what I did on my Explorer, if not, ive done it on other installs) I would just cut the connector off both the explorers stock connector, find out what one is positive, and what one is negative, and snip the ballast connector tip off and match the wires like that. I would solder, electrical tape and heat shrink them just to protect from moisture.

I thought about that, but that means every time a bulb burns out I'll need to clip the wires and solder in the new bulb every time. Less than ideal.

 

[Greg_DonWindsor]

Thats hooked up right, but definitely the wrong connector to connect it to the Explorers foglight plug.

You can either wait for someone to chime in and tell you exactly what plug you'll need to order, or you can just snip the plugs on either side and connect the wires directly. Thats all the plugs are doing, but you wont have to wait for someone to tell you what ones, then find them online, order, pay and wait for them to be shipped.

OK good. So I'm not losing my mind over here. Is there just a different bulb type I can buy that has the right kind of connector with it? All the ones I've bought have either this one which is too wide, or the two small spade style connectors, none of which work with the stock foglight connection.

 

[BrianDye]

I thought about that, but that means every time a bulb burns out I'll need to clip the wires and solder in the new bulb every time. Less than ideal.

Unless you have a bad kit, those bulbs should last/outlast the life of the Explorer.

And you wouldnt need to clip the bulbs wires, the bulb plugs into the ballast...


Hopefully this can help. I dont know any other way to explain. I also do not know what connector you would need to just plug and play.

This is the plug from your Explorer. Cut this, connect the positive to the red wire on the ballast, and the negative to the black wire on the ballast. You will have to get something to check what wire is pos, and what one is neg. (Turn your fog lights on when you try this obviously)

The plug right here in your fingers is the ballasts plug youll also cut. This is the red and black wire I was talking about above. (Red is positive, black is negative)

Do that, and you'll have HID foglights.

 

[BrianDye]

As you can see from the first picture I posted, the bulb wires will not be cut. You can easily change the bulb if needed.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Sorry I have been so bad on taking my pictures. But you seem to be on the right track, as far as the plug you can either hard wire the ballast to the truck or try an fin the pins that go into the plug, and make your own. Honestly it would be easier to hard wire it, to find those pins would be pretty hard to do, atleast at a autoparts store, just remember that polarity is important to the HIDs, to test it first before you hook everything up 100%.

 

[Greg_DonWindsor]

Thanks everyone for the pointers. I'm going to hard wire the ballast to the stock fog connector. Ordered a full second set of connectors in case I ever sell the truck and the future owner is less of an enthusiast and wants to revert back to halogen H3's. Or, in case I mess anything up in the process of soldering the connections and need a back up.

 

[redexplorer5.0]

The link I sent you is for the bulbs you we'll need to connect your main fog lights wires to the hid connection

 

[redexplorer5.0]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HID-HARNESS...Parts_Accessories&hash=item2569cb5811&vxp=mtr

check this out this fits the the hid bulbs you are using now so you dont have to cut the plug

 

[wingcmdr]

I had the same problem, I just bent the tabs in a little bit on the ballast connector to where they'd slide onto the stock fog light connector.