Fogs Linked To Main Beam Headlights...

2405 Views 29 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Jakg, Mar 14, 2011

Jakg

Discussion Starter · Sep 24, 2010

Heres a crazy idea I had the other day...

Why not link the fogs to the main beam? i.e. they still work as normal, but whenever the main beam is on, so do the front fogs.

If you flash your lights you get some extra light power, and when your driving with no-one to dazzle (i.e. where you'd use your main beam) you get some more light output too.

All you'd need to do is wire in a relay to the main headlights - use the power from the headlights as the "signal" to engage / disengage a new 12v supply to the fogs. They'd still work as normal, and you could always install a switch to get it through the MOT.

Should even fool the CANBUS sytem, too, as long as the fogs are being powered independently when they are triggered this way rather than leeching from the main light power.

Nothing stopping you giving yourself some HID fogs as well if you want...

Not quite sure if I have the balls to try this, though, especially as i'm not sure where the fog light wiring is inside the car.

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Carl

· #2 · Sep 24, 2010

sounds an interesting Idea - especially for country lane night driving - as for HID fogs I looked at this and found a problem getting the bulbs to fasten in as the twist fit at present and you cant get the HID units to fix in

thescamper

· #3 · Sep 24, 2010

Chances are its not going to be legal either.

Jakg

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 24, 2010

thescamper said:
Chances are its not going to be legal either.

Thus the switch for MOT.

As long as you aren't a cock (i.e. dip lights where appropriate) I can't see you getting pulled for it...

Pauliexjr

· #5 · Sep 24, 2010

Technically yes you can, as stated in the Highway Code Rule 211,

"You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced", visibility is classed as seriously reduced when you cannot see more than 100 meters.

Rule 211 then also goes on to say that "you MUST switch them off when the visibility improves"

Not urban myth, I have a friend who got done by by Lothian & Borders Police for 'inappropriate use of fog lights' and was fined £30.

candygt

· #6 · Sep 24, 2010

Why do you want to have them on anyway... to look cool?

If your headlights are that bad then upgrade to HID. At least you will be blinding people legally and not annoying the likes of myself.

Jakg

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 24, 2010

candygt said:
Why do you want to have them on anyway... to look cool?

If your headlights are that bad then upgrade to HID. At least you will be blinding people legally and not annoying the likes of myself.

I would want them on for more light at night... seems pointless to have so much light power not being used.

Already have HID's

You must of missed the part where I said "with main beam headlights" - the in the same way that main beams would dazzle / blind drivers, you just dip them when theres an oncoming vehicle.

candygt

· #8 · Sep 24, 2010

Surely your main beam is brighter than the fogs, everyone elses is!

Foglights work by projecting light lower than the level of the fog whereas the reason your main beams dont work in fog is that the light hits the water and reflects back.

Essentially all having your fogs on for normal driving will do is light up the patch between your bumper and where your headlights illuminate the road.
Seeing as most people are looking more than a few meters infront of them when driving you wont even notice the difference.

So back to the beginning.. I still see no justified reason apart from to look cool??
If you want more light buy an extra set of driving lights.. there are tonns of different brands that bolt on.

candygt

· #9 · Sep 24, 2010

FYI, just to make it clear, im not hugely opposed to your idea im simply playing devils advocate. Might aswell have a healthy discussion about it. Furthermore I also understand your reasoning by turning off the main beam will also turn off the fogs and therefore not blind the oncoming car..

Jakg

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 24, 2010

candygt said:
So back to the beginning.. I still see no justified reason apart from to look cool??
If you want more light buy an extra set of driving lights.. there are tonns of different brands that bolt on.

Did I say I thought they looked cool?

If you can think of any OEM-styled way to mount driving lights without losing the front fogs i'm all ears.

Giraffy

· #11 · Sep 24, 2010

I'd quite like to do this if there's a way of changing either the bulb or lens to throw a bigger amount of light out (like 'driving lamps'). I think some folks do this on other makes of cars - might be useful to ask on a website like Pistonheads if you need more general techy advice?

Cheers,
Rob

T-Cut

· #12 · Sep 24, 2010

Jakg said:
I would want them on for more light at night.

Let there be light -

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mgnev

· #13 · Sep 24, 2010

If you're struggling to see down a country lane at night with high beam on, you could always just use the switch to turn on the front fogs. Save yourself having to go through the hastle of wiring it all in when the switch is right by your knee already. Just an idea!

candygt

· #14 · Sep 24, 2010

Jakg said:
Did I say I thought they looked cool?

If you can think of any OEM-styled way to mount driving lights without losing the front fogs i'm all ears.

Nope, it was me that sais the cool word, purely because thats the only other reason I can drum up out of my mind. I dont class wanting more light as a valid reason as I have allready pointed out your main beams are doing the work and the fogs filling a small gap.
They are designed to emit light low and wide...

Unfortunatley I cant think of an OEM way to mount them as naturally the idea would be to swap the fogs for a set of driving lights that fit in the same space.
If it was me I wouldnt mount extra driving lights on the bumper as I dont like the look (some call it rally), each to their own and im assuming you dont like that look as you want it OEM.

Im at a loss for what to reccomend, especially as you allready have HID. It will be interesting to see is anyone has any good suggestions!

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COLVERT

· #15 · Sep 24, 2010

candygt said:
Nope, it was me that sais the cool word, purely because thats the only other reason I can drum up out of my mind. I dont class wanting more light as a valid reason as I have allready pointed out your main beams are doing the work and the fogs filling a small gap.
They are designed to emit light low and wide...

Unfortunatley I cant think of an OEM way to mount them as naturally the idea would be to swap the fogs for a set of driving lights that fit in the same space.
If it was me I wouldnt mount extra driving lights on the bumper as I dont like the look (some call it rally), each to their own and im assuming you dont like that look as you want it OEM.

Im at a loss for what to reccomend, especially as you allready have HID. It will be interesting to see is anyone has any good suggestions!

I don't think you could put a set of driving lights in the same space, as they would then be classed as fog lights. I think it is to do with the height they are mounted that classifies them as FOG or DRIVING lights.

Colvert.

As a previous post says, if it is foggy and you have the main beams on you can't see where you are going because of the reflected glare. If you then turned off you main beam and the fogs turned off with them you would then see F all !!!! Lol.

See you !!! ( As long as it's not foggy ! )

Colvert.

:hgf:

:angry::angry::angry::crying:

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Carl

· #16 · Sep 24, 2010

on the back of the fogs - if you remove the bumper - there are 3 brass screw adjusters , these can be used to aint the lights left right , up and down - when I fitted a new fog I turned ours up a bit to give more light I suppose this clould be done more

Im definately seeing where the OP is comming from - I had full beam on on the ZS a week back on a country road and there just isnt enough light - even with dual HID - so the fog idea could be a good one

As for using the fog switch isnt very practical as you have to do this as a car is comming as well as flick to low beam

Jakg

Discussion Starter · #17 · Sep 24, 2010

Giraffy said:
I'd quite like to do this if there's a way of changing either the bulb or lens to throw a bigger amount of light out (like 'driving lamps'). I think some folks do this on other makes of cars - might be useful to ask on a website like Pistonheads if you need more general techy advice?

Cheers,
Rob

I'd rather keep my fog lights for use in the fog, unfortunately.

mgnev said:
If you're struggling to see down a country lane at night with high beam on, you could always just use the switch to turn on the front fogs. Save yourself having to go through the hastle of wiring it all in when the switch is right by your knee already. Just an idea!

I could do... but the problem is that when I dip the main beam they stay on!

I already do this going down the GF's lane (very slow / narrow / stuff hiding in verges), but I do most of my driving on unlit country roads, would be nice to have all of that power, all of the time.

candygt said:
Nope, it was me that sais the cool word, purely because thats the only other reason I can drum up out of my mind. I dont class wanting more light as a valid reason as I have allready pointed out your main beams are doing the work and the fogs filling a small gap.
They are designed to emit light low and wide...

Unfortunatley I cant think of an OEM way to mount them as naturally the idea would be to swap the fogs for a set of driving lights that fit in the same space.
If it was me I wouldnt mount extra driving lights on the bumper as I dont like the look (some call it rally), each to their own and im assuming you dont like that look as you want it OEM.

Im at a loss for what to reccomend, especially as you allready have HID. It will be interesting to see is anyone has any good suggestions!

I will openly admit that fogs are not ideal for this - however every little helps. I'd rather have driving lights - but I can't mount them in a way that wouldn't ruin the looks (unless they went in the fake "vents").

I just thought it was an interesting mod for the price of a relay...

Of course, the problem is that I have no idea how to get to the foglight wiring without removing the front bumper (done it before, but a pig of a job).

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Carl

· #18 · Sep 24, 2010

it would require bumper removal , good chance while your in there to tilt them up a bit

Pauliexjr

· #19 · Sep 24, 2010

Just a thought, if you cross wired the fogs into the mains surely that means every time you put your fogs on the mains woudl light up too? In which case Gawd help you the day (or worse still night) you run into serious fog because as said before, mains reflect back off the water vapour meaning you can't see diddly squat!

Jakg

Discussion Starter · #20 · Sep 24, 2010

Carl said:
it would require bumper removal , good chance while your in there to tilt them up a bit

Actually not so sure anymore...

Heres a pic from when I removed the bumper:

The only thing linking the bumper to the body is 3 wires - logic says 1 for temp sensor, and a positive / negative for the lights.

If I traced that up (not impossible if you get bits of the undertray out) you could probably do it that way.

Still *much* easier with the bumper off though!

Pauliexjr said:
Just a thought, if you cross wired the fogs into the mains surely that means every time you put your fogs on the mains woudl light up too? In which case Gawd help you the day (or worse still night) you run into serious fog because as said before, mains reflect back off the water vapour meaning you can't see diddly squat!

Again, not neccesarily - if they were directly wired up you'd get all sorts of errors. I was thinking of using an additional relay for the switching so everything else would be unaffected.

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