Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 12:21:42 -0600
Reply-To: Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Re: drool...drool
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> Anyone wire the factory fog light switch so that the fogs go on only
> with low beams or all the time - depending on the position of the
> switch?
well .. not exactly. i've got mine wired so the fogs come on whenever
the parking lights are on. :) then the 2nd position on the fog switch
is for a red rear fog light.
the trick is which trigger-voltage/signal-wire you use for the relay.
that's all.
the relay has four connections ..
- 87 -> power wire goes to the lights.
- 86 - signal wire from the fog light switch.
- 85 -> ground wire. to the battery is best, but anywhere to a good
clean connection on the chassis will work.
- 30/51 -> goes to the source of power for the lights. through a fuse
(10amps) to the battery.
on the switch, you've got four connections ...
83a - output to the relay (from the trigger/signal wire). connects to
the 86 terminal on whichever relay controls the light(s) you want
turned on by clicking to the first position on the fog light switch.
83b - output to the relay (etc). connects to the 86 terminal of
whichever light(s)/whatever you want turned on by clicking to the 2nd
position on the fog light switch.
+ - input from the signal/trigger wire.
- - ground. goes to battery or chassis connection.
ok, so where you connect the + wire is the key.
i connected mine to the left front parking light (NOT the turn
signal!!). got a piggy-back connector that plus onto the back of the
parking light housing (allows two female connectors to plug on,
instead of one. should be able to find them at any auto parts
supplier) and ran a wire up into the dash to the switch. the rubber
boot on the parking light easily covers the new wire and connector.
at the switch, i connected that wire to the 83a terminal. first click
turns on the front fog lights.
then i put a red rear fog light, another relay and connected them to
the 83b switch in the same way.
but!!there's a Gotcha. them sneaky germans intended it to be the other
way: first click turns on rear; 2nd click turns on front fogs. so the
2nd click position KEEPS the 1st position lights ON. so it's not a
separate this-or-that-one switch .. it's this-AND-that-one! just so
you know. :)
so if you wired the trigger wire to the low beams, you get fogs only
when the low beams are on. if you wire the trigger to an always-on
source (i'd suggest a switched source ... that's only on when the
ignition is on), you get fogs all the time.
anyway, technically, it's illegal in some states to wire it this way
cause the fog lights can stay on when you blip your headlights to high
beams. so you need to exercise some caution when driving on the
highway with the fog lights on. i always figured if i had my fog
lights on, why would i want my high beams on? :)
one real advantage of wiring the fog lights to the parking lights is
that you can click the headlights off, leaving the fog lights and the
parking lights (and the rear tail lights) ON ... in dense fog or
misting rain or blowing snow, this helps a lot .. you don't get as
much glare bouncing back through the windshield to your eyes. but! you
need really good fog lights to do this ... you NEED to be able to see
out in front at least as far as the normal low-beams. so spend some
extra money and get really good fog lights. :)
hope it helps. good luck!
joel
