How to: Fog Lights with Parking Lights

[Donner]

Soooooo, we've done this before, but I too have lost the post. Stock third gen fog lights are 42watts or less. But almost everything now is 55 watts. What can be done to use this? Thanks!

 

[Donner]

Bump... any takers? Can the bulb be changed to a lower wattage?

 

[gmanpaint]

Bump... any takers? Can the bulb be changed to a lower wattage?

I was at Wal-Mart last night, They have Sylvania fog bulbs. 55 watt and 35 watt. The reference computer says yours will take the 35 watt as well. $8.00/pc.

 

[Donner]

Thanks! I know we had a thread where a member was shorting out trying to add aftermarkets to his stock system. I have 2 kc fog lights coming, but they are 55w bulbs... should I just swap out the bulbs or use a relay?

 

[gmanpaint]

Thanks! I know we had a thread where a member was shorting out trying to add aftermarkets to his stock system. I have 2 kc fog lights coming, but they are 55w bulbs... should I just swap out the bulbs or use a relay?

I believe you can swap the bulbs if you use the lower wattage, since the factory wiring is rated for the 42 watts. You could always run the new wires that come w/your new lights and/or use an inline relay and wire to the battery/stock relay.
Are the KC fogs oem replacments ,or a seperate bolt on?

 

[Donner]

KC Series 26 amber bolt ons from 4wp

 

[gmanpaint]

I am not sure of your application with the new fogs. Are you wanting to mount them, and wire into the existing fog wiring? If so, you should either rewire for 55 watt or just swap the bulbs. The new 35 watt Sylvanias are clear. Are your KC lenses amber? Do they have H-3 bulbs? Or Oem style?
I am heading to Autozone for a new set of window rain guards, I will check what they have in fog bulbs.

 

[Donner]

Amber lenses

Yes, the lenses are interchangeable, so you can just put on clear, red or amber lenses. Mine will be mounted just under the head lamps... behind the tube.

 

[gmanpaint]

Very sharp rig! It would be nice to use the stock fog switch doing the fog mod, but you would lose some voltage and brightness. If you power down to the 35 watt and do the fog mod you might not be happy with the results. Trial and error, & personal pref. Up to you.

 

[Donner]

Okay, thanks!

 

[gmanpaint]

Donner,
Went to Autozone. They have the sylvania 899 35w & 55w fog bulbs as well. They also have Pilot systems that you can customize. The bulbs they offer are OEM 37.5w Xenon--55w Xenon-- 37.5w H1--37.5w H3--55wH1--55w H3. These are all Pilot brand.
Xenons are $12 to $19 a pair. H style are $7 to $9 a pc. They carry relays for this application that go with a wiring kit. I bought a neat little item for the battery posts, it slips over the post under the connector, it has hook ups for three diff accessory lines.

 

[Donner]

Alright! That sounds like something to check out... So far, everything around here is 55w, 100w, all others are special order - Pilot, I will check out... Thank you very much!

 

[Brandon96]

ok, I just got around to doing this mod, I gathered up the info I needed but have one last question before I go out and do it tommorow morning. I need to cut the Dark Blue / Light Green wire, if I wanted to be able to turn my fog lights on AND off when my parking lights are on, what wire should I splice into to get power for it with my extension wire coming from the DB/LG? I'm not quite understanding it.

 

[Bill Kemp]

I used a test light to find the wire that was hot only when the ignition was on. Closest wire for me was one of the wires that went into the windshield wiper motor. One of the w/s wires seemed to be hot all the time and one was ignition switched. I used the switched wire.
If you dont have a test light they are only about $5. and are worth all of it.

 

[mblake0812]

fog light problem

hey i have a 95 ford ranger
i didnt originally have fog lights but i bougt the lower valance for the fog lights. i look up under my truck and i see where the stock fog lights will plug in but how do i know that they will power the light and when they will turn the fog light on. i dont really wanna hard wire these but just need answers to these questions. any smart guys out there??

thanks

 

[4FordFamily]

TO THE OP: You might also want to add that you hook it in to the LEFT wire (maybe im stupid, but I connected both wires together with the new wire that I ran to the brown parking light wire) and both the headlights AND foglights came on. I soon realized DUH, so I wired it to the left one, and taped off the right wire (after I cut it.. the Litegreen/Dark blue wire was TWO wires... I wired this in to the LEFT one) To the brown wire, you DO want to complete the circuit, so wire it in to the existing two wires, connect it (3 wires together).

ADDED BONUS to this mod..

If you have an alarm that flashes your parking lights when your alarm goes off (or if your stock alarm does, and I think they do) your fog lights will attract extra attention by blinking/flickering with the alarm. Also when you lock/unlock an aftermarket alarm, they flash. COOL! I love how my charger does that, and now when I remote start my truck, they will come on. Thanks to the op!! Works great A++!!

 

[PRND21]

1998 Explorer.
I have wanted to do this modification since i got my X 2 years ago. i finally just went out and did it: it was as easy as a bridesmaid at a wedding...
I found that the easiest way to wire the fog lights was straight to the battery. i followed the instructions located on the first page of this thread: heres some pictures of how they now work.
just Fog lights

Fog lights and running lights

Fog lights, Running lights, And HID Headlights

 

[waldo worldwide]

I did this mod back in late August '08. Everything worked perfectly until about November when my heat would take a couple seconds to actually come on after i turned the switch on. Also, my fog lights would not come on until the heat came on. The heat problem got progressively worse until it just didn't work. I undid the mod (thinking that the mod caused my heat to stop working) and my heat still didn't work. After a week or so I came to the conclusion that the heat didn't work because of a bad blower motor relay. My heat currently works and I am hessitant to redo the mod because I don't want my heat to stop working again. Could the fog light modification cause the blower motor relay to go bad? Or did it just go bad because it was old?

 

[Bill Kemp]

Fog light mod done as prescribed will NOT effect the heater blower motor.

 

[waldo worldwide]

Alright, I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't affect anything before i redid it because not having heat isn't very fun. Thank you!