Fog Light Help

[scicero1]

hello,

I hooked up a set of pilot fog lights. They are 55w lights and very dim. I used the wiring in the kit. I am not running a relay. My power is running directly from my low beams. Ground on the body seems to be a good ground.

At first I did hook directly to the battery killing it of course. Since I had no harness I wanted to just hook everything up without.

Im told if I use a relay I can increase the brightness of the bulbs adding a relay? is this true? Is there any other way to run these lights to a better power source?

The foglights I put on I recently moved to the windshield after some mounts I ordered. This means I may have to have two sources or a shared source for both.

Should I ad the relay? Can I share one source for both new bumper fog lights and windshield lights? Right now any suggestions will help.

Im worried about running both sets to the low beams. I guess im a bit lost can anyone help?

 

[SteelHeadz]

Adding a relay in a circuit will not increase the intensity of the lamp. Battery voltage will be the same regardless of the switching setup with or without the relay however, the relay will protect your wiring and switch from getting overloaded due to the extra load that the extra lamps draws from that circuit. My best advise is to run a relay for the bumper lights and not use the factory low beam circuit to avoid burning up your headlamp switch. Use a separate relay for the windshield lamps as well and stay with the same gauge wiring or better that came with the kit. Those aftermarket lamps will come with a wiring diagram and in most cases will outline how the relay is used in the circuit.

 

[JPNinPA]

First running the lights off the low beams is a big risk. If they are paralleled with the low beam, the wire is limiting the current and voltage to the lights. You could melt the wires and start a fire and/or kill your light switch. I'm suprised your not blowing a fuse.

Yes using a relay will improve the light brightness from where you are. Some add it to the low beams themselves to improve the lowbeam brightness by reducing wire and switch resistances from stock.
Do a little search and there are diagrams out there. KC has a decent relay & wire setup. Comes with the diagram for correct setup. I used them from the kits I installed.

Second You are going to get a ton of glare off the hood from teh fog lights on the windshield. Long range lights would be the best. This happeds because of the design of the light. Fog lights are designed to reflect down. Long range are designed to project a tight columated beam straight.

Hope this helps.

 

[jps4jeep]

If you not using a relay, your doing it very wrong..

Use a relay, your trying to draw enough amperage to power 4 55w lights from a curcuit that has "X" amount of amperage that is designed to power only 2 55w bulbs, amperage, not volts is why your lights are dim.

Regardless of if the 12v switch source for the relay is the low beams or park lights, or the windshield washer.. just doesn't matter, the 12 source from here is simply used to throw the relay pole, the actual voltage draw should come directly from the battery. Ideally you should use a SPST 20 amp relay, but DPST relays are easier to find at parts stores.
Conect the 85 pole to a switch curcuit (low beams or park lights) connect 30 directly to the battery 86 to ground and 87 to the lights. do not use 87a, you simply do not need it. By not using relays, your wiring system is simply a time bomb waiting to go off.

 

[jps4jeep]

Oh lastly, fog lights on the windshield are about as useful as reading glasses for a blind man.

 

[jfrabat]

I'll second all the coments about fog lights on the windshield and use of a relay... Fog lights should be placed as low as possible and as far apart as possible. Now, driving lights (long range) on the windshield work out well enough for me (I had to change from windshield to hood hinge, and I am not 100% happy with the hood hinge, but the snorkel made the change necessary).

 

[jps4jeep]

I think any light on the windshield or hood look dumb, but that is my opinion. I can count on one hand the number of times that I had to use auxilary lights on the trail in 15 years. factory head lights and rock lights generally work the best and draw the least amount of amps.

 

[jfrabat]

I think any light on the windshield or hood look dumb, but that is my opinion. I can count on one hand the number of times that I had to use auxilary lights on the trail in 15 years. factory head lights and rock lights generally work the best and draw the least amount of amps.

I dont use the lights on top on the trail; I use them when driving at night from Panama City, Panama to San Jose, Costa Rica and back. I dont really like the look of them on the hood hinges (they look a bit like bug eyes, they block a bit your view (and i'm 6'5"!) and they DO reflect a bit of glare), but in my case, it's the only option.

When I had them on the windshield, though, I could barely see them from inside the Jeep, and glare was a non-issue, to be honest. unfortunately, there's no way to use those brackets and run the snorkel on the YJ, so I'm stuck with the hood hinges for now (I COULD go on top of the hoop in the front bumper, but that would interfere with the airflow through the radiator, and Panama is just too hot to risk it).

 

[scicero1]

Adding a relay in a circuit will not increase the intensity of the lamp. Battery voltage will be the same regardless of the switching setup with or without the relay however, the relay will protect your wiring and switch from getting overloaded due to the extra load that the extra lamps draws from that circuit. My best advise is to run a relay for the bumper lights and not use the factory low beam circuit to avoid burning up your headlamp switch. Use a separate relay for the windshield lamps as well and stay with the same gauge wiring or better that came with the kit. Those aftermarket lamps will come with a wiring diagram and in most cases will outline how the relay is used in the circuit.

So run to the battery?

 

[scicero1]

First running the lights off the low beams is a big risk. If they are paralleled with the low beam, the wire is limiting the current and voltage to the lights. You could melt the wires and start a fire and/or kill your light switch. I'm suprised your not blowing a fuse.

Yes using a relay will improve the light brightness from where you are. Some add it to the low beams themselves to improve the lowbeam brightness by reducing wire and switch resistances from stock.
Do a little search and there are diagrams out there. KC has a decent relay & wire setup. Comes with the diagram for correct setup. I used them from the kits I installed.

Second You are going to get a ton of glare off the hood from teh fog lights on the windshield. Long range lights would be the best. This happeds because of the design of the light. Fog lights are designed to reflect down. Long range are designed to project a tight columated beam straight.

Hope this helps.

Should my battery be my power source?

 

[scicero1]

I think any light on the windshield or hood look dumb, but that is my opinion. I can count on one hand the number of times that I had to use auxilary lights on the trail in 15 years. factory head lights and rock lights generally work the best and draw the least amount of amps.

Thanks, my problem is driving at night is difficult for me. I seriously have issues. Ad rain to a HW and im really bad. I know, then dont do it lol. My wife and I found little trails, we mostly go at night due to schedules. Its more or less just to see better or let others know we are there.

Love your Jeep by the way. I appreciate all your comments. Thanks.

 

[superj]

you can run from the battery if you are using the switch to connect to ground. i think that is the way the diagram tells you to do ti anyways.

i found the factory wiring had fog light wires already ran so i just used the factory connection and factory fog light switch on the wife's 93 and on my 87.

 

[JPNinPA]

scicero1 - I didn't say up front Welcome to the board. :welcome:Most are willing to help and share their experiences. Some get a bit excited and passionate about their thoughts. But for the most part they speak with your best interests in mind.

Oh lastly, fog lights on the windshield are about as useful as reading glasses for a blind man.

 

[JPNinPA]

Should my battery be my power source?

Yes I'll update with a diagram.

I would not just use a switch unless it is rated for at least 25A. One reason is the wire run will be long and have more resistance or you will end up running very thick gauge wires(to avoid this). Be sure you use a fuse nearest the battery to limit risk of burning anything up or draining your battery. With ath switch you would be passing through the firewall 2times and these are common points of shorting. This is some reasons why I'd avoid the switch.

Here is a good diagram for the relay.
http://www.kchilites.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Relay_12v.pdf

 

[JPNinPA]

Thanks, my problem is driving at night is difficult for me. I seriously have issues. Ad rain to a HW and im really bad. I know, then dont do it lol. My wife and I found little trails, we mostly go at night due to schedules. Its more or less just to see better or let others know we are there.
.

Sorry to hear this.

Many people do not like their YJ/TJ headlight brightness. Do a search on headlight upgrades. I point you in this direction because many states do not allow axuillary lights on roadways with or without high beams.
Here is an image of my jeep. Lights out the Wazoo. I did a number of night crawls on PA state gameland access raods. I enjoyed seeing the bear and deer feed in the night from afar. The extra light helped point out the path on washed out roads better than normal headlights.
Back on topic. I'd look at silverstar as a cheap upgrade. Many like the IPF and H4 bulbs. Bit more $$ and work.

Another upgrade I did was KC back-up lights. They light up the road or driveway nicely. I did this figuring the back windo will fog and get scratched and end up worse to see out of. And having kids something will be left in the driveway.

 

[scicero1]

scicero1 - I didn't say up front Welcome to the board. :welcome:Most are willing to help and share their experiences. Some get a bit excited and passionate about their thoughts. But for the most part they speak with your best interests in mind.

Thanks,
Honestly I'd rather get it straight. Personal opinions and passion are exactly what I respect. I'm learning and hope to pass that knowledge onto others as you are all doing for me. My buddy told me when you own a jeep you belong to a club the first time you roll down the road. I'm excited, if we all felt the same we wouldn't be such a great group. Trust me, all opinion and advise help me greatly. I'm just still in a bit of shock so many are wiling to help. Thanks man, I really appreciate it.

 

[scicero1]

Your jeep is amazing. I hope when I'm finished it looks half as great as everyones on here.

 

[SteelHeadz]

So run to the battery?

Yup, that's the safe way of not burning up your factory wiring. The relay will keep the toggle or rocker switch from burning up from extended use of the lamps.

 

[jps4jeep]

Yes I'll update with a diagram.

Here is a good diagram for the relay.
http://www.kchilites.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Relay_12v.pdf

^^^^^
Do this, if you use a SPST or a DPST relay, run both the lights off of 87 terminal. this application will only work with a DPDT relay which is probably what KC sends with it's wiring kits.



And yes, I am opinionated, but I like to make things clear when they are my opinion. then again, I don't have lights on my windshield because.. well.. my jeep doesn't have a windshield.