DIY Fog Light / Driving Light Mod W/ pic

[one]

OK, i have seen this discussed but everyone wants to add a relay or do something else. This is not needed. To do this mod you need no $$ and only 5 minutes worth of time.

What this will do for you:
-Drive with fogs and parking lights only
- Drive with fogs, parking and low beams
- Drive with fogs, parking lights, high beam
-Drive with all full on

The headlight switch works with the fog light switch by providing a source for voltage when the headlight switch is turned on, it activates the wire to kick the fog switch which kicks the relay. Since the trigger wire for the switch is a 300ma low amperage trigger wire it NEEDS NO RELAY, heck it isn't even fused, it doesn't carry enough current to light an LED hardly. It only kicks the big relay which is fused from the factory under the hood.

On your fog switch there are two wires. One is the input wire and one is the output to the relay. The Yellow/Purple is the input. This is the one you want to grab so you can still use the fog switch. Simply grab the yellow/purple and splice it into the Gray/yellow as seen in the pic i have attached, clip the fog light switch wire free of the original power lead, and you are done!

The gray/yellow is the output for the parking lights. by grabbing this low amperage wire you have a trigger for the fogs that works anytime the parking lights are on.

Now, just to be completely clear, you can use any ignition wire that comes on with the car and trigger the fogs that way also. This way you could run in "bank robber mode" and run "fogs only" with no headlight or parking lights, whenever you wish.


EDIT: you'll need to follow the bank robber instructions to achieve high beam or "all on" settings.

Now, since noone had pics or a really clear definition before, now you do.

To review:

- No relay or fuse needed, fogs are fused under the hood, switch from headlights already fused.

- Parts needed are 1 piece of wire 5 inches long and some tape.

- Cost = $0.00

Have fun.

[Crazy Dave]

Kick ass!! Gonna give this a try.

[Bimmer Pilot]

Always wondered how to get the fogs to work in conjunction with the HIs...

[one]

** i want to make certain you see the directions "cut the yellow/purple wire" you do not want the wire to keep connection with the headlight switch through the original wire, only the new wire you jumped to.

If you do not cut the wire........ lol. you'll be pissed. You can go ahead and play with it before you cut the wire if you want to see the cool new keyless ignition feature you have

[Filip75]

I've added it to DIY library

[Ryan328i]

Nice, I always wanted to be able to keep my fogs on with my highs. Going to give this a try this weekend.

[cS]

I deleted my "parking" lights. best light mod IMO

[Ryan328i]

iDefi - How'd you do that, just cut the parking light wire so they only turn on when you turn your blinker on? I want to do this too. They're so much dimmer than my other lights and don't look very good IMO. What wire did you have to cut, how easy was it?

[Balthazarr]

Why is there e-tape on three wires?
I see the splice to the main switch, but the relay wire to fogs has tape on it too.
Make a mistake first or am I confused?

[MotorWerkz]

Simply grab the yellow/purple and splice it into the Gray/yellow as seen in the pic i have attached, clip the fog light switch wire free of the original power lead, and you are done!

what do you mean by that?

[clumpymold]

Okay, this may be a bit old, but I'm wondering, EXACTLY, how you do this to have the "all on" mode? I would like to have my fogs AND low beams on when my highs are triggered.

[clumpymold]

Okay, nevermind. I now understand. For some reason, I didn't realize that the lows stayed on with the high. Now it makes sense. Duh.

I just did my HID in my high beam install last night. This trick will be sweet. I'll post a writeup soon.

[clumpymold]

Okay, I tried doing this and it didn't work...AT ALL. I did, however, manage to get my fogs to run by themself even without the key in the car. I cut the yellow/purple wire and then rerouted it to the RED "always on"/starter, I believe, wire. See picture. Now I can turn my fogs on anytime, even with the key OUT of the car.

But one problem. My fogs go OFF when the highs are activated. What's going on? What am I doing wrong?

What year and trim line do you have? Does it matter?

I spent FOREVER trying different wires and shocked myself a couple times (hence the purple gloves). I even ended up cutting the wires so short that I needed to add extensions which is why you see all that speaker wire around.

HELP!!!

[clumpymold]

The wire being tapped into the RED wire underneath the dash:

[Tropical Bimmer]

Sorry, nothing constructive to add.. just a quick question though...

Dude, wtf is up with those purple gloves? :P

Again, my apologies, please continue with the topic, I find it quite interesting... I recently drove a '94 325is that could run all lights on, including the fogs, and the owner says he hasn't done anything like this. Could be it because it's European spec?

[HOOJ]

You sure this isn't going to overload the wiring and cause a fire?

[clumpymold]

Sorry, nothing constructive to add.. just a quick question though...

Dude, wtf is up with those purple gloves? :P

Again, my apologies, please continue with the topic, I find it quite interesting... I recently drove a '94 325is that could run all lights on, including the fogs, and the owner says he hasn't done anything like this. Could be it because it's European spec?

Haha, yeah, those gloves are just some hospital gloves. Latex-free, I believe. Helps prevent shocks since I shorted out something earlier. Pretty bad. Smoked my scissors.

Overload the wiring? I doubt it. I would think all 3 of my HID kits is less than two normal kits. 35 watts/bulb x 6 = 210 watts total. Stock is 55 watts/bulb x 4 = 220.

As for ANYONE who's had this to WORK, please let me know what you did. I'm REALLY confused.

[clumpymold]

Anybody else know how to do this? I'm DYING to get this done.

Anyone?...Please...

[ajames]

Sorry to bring this up again, but i had to wait to try it til i got my car ...

i followed the post (little different splicing technique though) and only achieved on this ... my fogs can now be used in conjunction with parking lights only. They still go off when the highs come on ... which, according to the post, makes perfect sense since the fog switch in now triggered by the output for the parking lights. i.e. they are on when the p. lights are on. However, the parking lights aren't on w/ the hi's ... so how does one achieve fogs w/ hi's ? There must be some other wire i need to grab.

clumpymold -- in MY car ... i guess you could say i *achieved* what the thread told me to do ... but i don't have the ability to run fogs/hi's. Basically, those instruction (the non-bank robber ones) will only get you fogs+parking lamps ... NOT fogs/highs. All i did was cut the p.light output (grey/yellow) in half and strip the ends of both sides of the cut wire ... then i cut the fog input (yellow/purple) and striped the end still attatched to the switch. I put the two ends of the grey/yellow wire and the one end of the fog input together with one of those nice plastic twisty caps ... and voila! Fogs come on w/ p. lights.

i too though would like to know how to achieve fogs/highs ... but as for these directions ... i don't think they'll get you that.

alex

[clumpymold]

Sorry to bring this up again, but i had to wait to try it til i got my car ...

i followed the post (little different splicing technique though) and only achieved on this ... my fogs can now be used in conjunction with parking lights only. They still go off when the highs come on ... which, according to the post, makes perfect sense since the fog switch in now triggered by the output for the parking lights. i.e. they are on when the p. lights are on. However, the parking lights aren't on w/ the hi's ... so how does one achieve fogs w/ hi's ? There must be some other wire i need to grab.

clumpymold -- in MY car ... i guess you could say i *achieved* what the thread told me to do ... but i don't have the ability to run fogs/hi's. Basically, those instruction (the non-bank robber ones) will only get you fogs+parking lamps ... NOT fogs/highs. All i did was cut the p.light output (grey/yellow) in half and strip the ends of both sides of the cut wire ... then i cut the fog input (yellow/purple) and striped the end still attatched to the switch. I put the two ends of the grey/yellow wire and the one end of the fog input together with one of those nice plastic twisty caps ... and voila! Fogs come on w/ p. lights.

i too though would like to know how to achieve fogs/highs ... but as for these directions ... i don't think they'll get you that.

alex

Wait, so you achieved parking lights with fogs? Isn't that stock? I'm pretty sure it's stock since I even have pictures of my setup with my HID fogs on with my parking lights.

What I DID achieve on MY own accord was to set it up so that the fogs can be turned on WITHOUT the key (just like the parking lights). Is that what you mean when you say fogs with parking lights? Or do you mean when the key is in the car on the "on" position?

I'm still struggling to understand his post. I tried to ground my fogs again but with another location. I used my dome light ground and something crazy happened. Now it's all weird. My center dome light no longer comes on (which sucks since I JUST changed the bulbs today to "xenon white" bulbs). I know it's not out since I tested it and it DID go on but VERY dim. The center dome light also seems to control whether or not the other side ones will go on. It's really hard to explain and VERY confusing. I even checked the fuses.

ANYONE care to help me out who's actually done this? I'm DYING to get my fogs to stay on with the highs. SO sad....

[bimmer95]

I put the two ends of the grey/yellow wire and the one end of the fog input together with one of those nice plastic twisty caps ... and voila! Fogs come on w/ p. lights.

So, you hacked up your cars wire harness, only to make it do the exact same thing it did from the factory. Congratulations.

If you guys are going to attempt something like this, at the very least do it right. Disconnect your battery before cutting any wires and use solder and heatshrink. Crimp connectors and T-taps are garbage and will only lead to problems down the road. You won't be enjoying your mod when your lights cut out completely or your dash catches fire.

[ajames]

hey, thanks for the encouraging post! :

i understand what you're saying, but i fail to see how that solves our problems and answers our question.

the thing i don't understand is that why the heck would the guy suggest hooking the fog input to the p. light output? P. Lights aren't on with hi's are they? So if your now getting powered up when the p. lights are on ... what more does this do? Basically, tell me what i did wrong ... if anything, or tell me what the heck that post was supposed to achieve?

i am confused as well ... and now my wire cutting techniques have been bashed too ... :

alex

[bimmer95]

P. Lights aren't on with hi's are they?

The parking lights are on anytime that the headlight switch is not in the "0" position. When the high beams are turned on, only the fog lights turn off, the reason for that is that it is illegal to run both at the same time. I have my doubts as to if this mod would even allow fogs to remain on with the high beams. The fog light relay has a connection to the high beam relay that cuts power when the high beams are lit. Note that the system is even designed to sense if the high beam bulbs are in place and will not provide power to the fog lights if the high beam bulbs are burnt out or disconnected. I don't have a wiring diagram in front of me at the moment to verify exactly what is needed to make that happen, regardless I don't think it's a good idea anyway.

i am confused as well ... and now my wire cutting techniques have been bashed too ... :

I have no idea how you went about splicing your own wiring together, that was simply a general warning to anyone attempting wiring work.

[clumpymold]

The parking lights are on anytime that the headlight switch is not in the "0" position. When the high beams are turned on, only the fog lights turn off, the reason for that is that it is illegal to run both at the same time. I have my doubts as to if this mod would even allow fogs to remain on with the high beams. The fog light relay has a connection to the high beam relay that cuts power when the high beams are lit. Note that the system is even designed to sense if the high beam bulbs are in place and will not provide power to the fog lights if the high beam bulbs are burnt out or disconnected. I don't have a wiring diagram in front of me at the moment to verify exactly what is needed to make that happen, regardless I don't think it's a good idea anyway.


I have no idea how you went about splicing your own wiring together, that was simply a general warning to anyone attempting wiring work.

Of course it's not a good idea but if you have the correct procedure for this, PLEASE post it. I've been going crazy trying to figure this out. I just screwed up my dome lighting now.

I tried grounding it to a constant ground but couldn't find a good one (hence the reason why my dome light is all messed up).

Would that work? I would think so. If I essentially powered my fogs separately and ground it separately. Then it would just be a separate lighting component, correct?

And I don't think t-taps and crimps are THAT bad. They work fine for me and is less of a pain than soldering, if you ask me.

But PLEASE post the correct procedure and possibly find a way to delete this useless write-up. It's really only caused MORE headache than anything.

[99mtres]

If all you are trying to do is keep the fogs on with the high beams it it's very simple. First you need to take the top of your fuse box off it is held down with 4 torxs bolts. Then find the spot for your fog light relay and look for the red/white wire this is the wire that comes from the high beams and turn the relay off when high beams are on since it ungrounds the relay. So take this red/white wire and cut it at point leaving enough wire so you can solder it back together if need be. Then look for a solid brown ground wire and tap the red/white wire into the ground wire thus eliminated the high beam turn off of the fogs since the relay is grounded all the time and wont be affected by the high beams. Make sure to cleanly tape off the cut wire and the spliced wires you dont want to leave any open wires in the fuse box.