Fog Lights

[91grandmarquis]

Ok so I want to mount some low profile fog lights either under my bumper or behind the grille, how would I wire it to the normal driving lights so that they would also be on auto? and come on with the low beams? also any comments on if this is worth it would be nice too.

[gabegt90]

I would just wire them up seperatly that will just put more load on the wiring. You could always wire them up through. Relays to turn them off when high beams are turned on

[gadget73]

you really want to be able to control them separately if you want them to work like real fogs. You should be able to run them with the low beams off, and not run them when you don't need them so as not to glare at other drivers. The extra load on the stock wiring is another concern, and not something you want to do.

[pvillese]

Personally I would want control with a switch, but maybe wire it up so the switch only turns them on when the headlights are also on. Anyway, what you want to do is doable and while your at it you could improve your regular head lights by running them from relays but do not just directly run the fog lights off the same power supplying your headlights.

If you want to do what you listed I would disconnect the power wire from your low beams(use a DMM to determine which wire). If you don't have a DMM get one, if you are doing any type of electrical work on your car you should at least have a cheap one. You should be able to pick a cheap one up for 20 bucks. Then wire that up to two relays, one to power your existing low beam head lights and the other to power your fog lights. Run decent size wire (my guess is 10ga should do) from the battery to the relays and from the relays to the lights. Don't forget to put a fuse in any positive wire you run from the battery. This will give your head lights the current they really need to be their full brightness and prevent you from putting even more load on the existing wire that is already at its limit. If you'd like I can draw you a little diagram later.

[91grandmarquis]

Ok so so I should probably run them seperately However I don't want and obtrusive switch inside and don't really want to drill holes in the dash unless its in a bracket underneath somehow.... Anyway I think thats the ticket, Also can I run the power from the fuse box, or is it going to have to come from the battery with a separate fuse and circuit all together? Im also thinking behind the grille as the placement.

[gadget73]

I would relay it and feed power straight from the battery. More voltage to the lights, less load on the internal circuits. I'd do the same with the headlights for the same reason.

If you want to hide the switch, get the under-column panel for a car with a power antenna (if you don't have one), or if you have a power antenna, get one from a wagon with a power antenna. This gives you a nice factory cutout for a switch. Get a flat piece of plastic to install where the cutout is, and install a switch through that piece of plastic. They make low profile rocker switches that would barely be noticeable, and installed in a factory location like that makes for a clean and reversible installation.

[91grandmarquis]

Ok Ill work on something for the switch, im also going to be switching on over to HID lights, Im hoping I can finagle that as a graduation gift as I am ever so cheap...