foggy thoughts...

[David Cullen]

interesting title, no?

just seeing if anyone has any ideas on this...
my front spots ( fog lights ) only come on when i have the main beams on, what i want is for them to come on when on parker and main beam lights, can this be done? anyone played around with the relay in question?
what are your opinions or suggestions? thank you

and before anyone says it, yes i know they should only be on when the main beams are on but i have that already ;-) cheers
dave

 

[Zeti]

Technically should be possible but you will not pass the next MOT.

 

[t-tony]

It will pass the MOT as long as the dip beams are aimed correctly and can only illuminate on their own.

Tony.

 

[David Cullen]

its not an issue for me re testing, we have NCT and once they work and are aligned right they will pass.
with regard to the relay, i am thinking that what i need is a constant, closed, circuit, so would it be possible to take out the relay and just bridge between two legs to create the constant? or is there a chance i can short it by doing this? i will go and have a look on line and see if i can pick up some more info re diagrams etc ;-) check back later

 

[David Cullen]

just going to throw up a bit of info i find to have it all in one place, hopefully come up with a conclusion

 

[David Cullen]

so is this telling me by bridging between 86 and 85 i can have constant to the fogs when the fog switch is closed?

 

[David Cullen]

bump this up guys, anyone say y or nay? i dont want to do it without having a bit of support lol ;-)

 

[Dino D]

The fog lights on my 2.8 (and every other car I've owned) can be turned on when park lights are on or when main beams on (by pressing the front/rear fog light button).

Or do you mean they turn on 'automatically' whenever you switch on parks or main beams?
On the Z that can be achieved by leaving with fog light button pressed in permanently as I don't think they return to off by themselves.

 

[t-tony]

It is illegal in the UK to drive with front fog lights on when the weather conditions do not warrant them being on. One of the laws enacted last year along with "tailgating" amongst others. There is a guy at work with an 02 Merc, he has covered his with yellow plastic film and runs them all the time, I'm waiting for him to get pulled.

Tony.

 

[David Cullen]

no @Dino D they dont turn on when just the parkers are on and thats what i am trying to achieve
@t-tony it is illegal here also but they dont do anything about it, if seen cop cars run with them during the day...

 

[Brian H]

so is this telling me by bridging between 86 and 85 i can have constant to the fogs when the fog switch is closed?

By bridging 85 & 86 you will blow a fuse! To get your fog lights to come on when you want you need to either.

a) Change the 12vdc supply to the existing relay. As standard the 12vdc supply is linked to the lighting circuit.
b) Install a separate relay in parallel with the existing circuit to switch on the fog lamps.

HTH

 

[David Cullen]

thanks Brian, am i better off taking 87 and splicing it in to 86 so then it will just work off the switch when i want?

 

[Brian H]

I'll have a look at the ETM and see if I can see a simple way of doing this, IIRC the relay on our cars is not a standard relay as shown above.

 

[David Cullen]

im not 100% sure that that is the relay but i can bell the pins to find out whats what, mine is a 98 M44, couldnt find much more info re this and am kina surprised that nobody has looked at it before.... thank you for your help Brian, much appreciated. I know its not a big issue but something that would be nice to have the way i want thanks again man
Dave

 

[David Cullen]

ok, heres another idea ...

<br>PARKING LIGHTS ON BUT NOT HEADLIGHTS-> FOGLIGHTS WORK<br>LOW BEAMS ON-> FOGLIGHTS WORK<br>HIGH BEAMS ON-> NO FOGLIGHTS<br>Then do this:<p>Pin 2 of the foglight switch is a yellow & white wire, which is at 12V when the headlights are on. Cut this wire.<p>Pin 1 of the headlight switch is a grey & white wire, which is at 12V when the parking lights or headlights are on. Quick-splice this wire to the yellow & white wire

 

[t-tony]

You could make up a splice wire using 2 bits of wire with crimp on spade terminals pushed onto the blades of a fuse (say 5amp) and use the wires to connect, that way you have some protection.

Also there are these on eBay as an alternative maybe?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160965397164?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Tony.

 

[David Cullen]

true T, could just bridge the two wires, just as handy to cut and splice for me though, less messing about
will take off the switch unit on sat and have a look at the wiring, i have a multi meter there to check things out as well and hopefully it will be a simple solution ;-)
i like those units but will be getting halo lights for the headlights soon enough and think it would be overkill having both, thanks for the thought though brother ;-)