Focus Fanatics Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Garage Forums

wiring fog lights to parking lights

Jump to Latest
1 - 20 of 20 Posts

mikhailyo

· Registered
Joined
·
56 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
i want to wire my fog lights to my parking lights without them blinking when i turn on the turn signal. i bought fog light add on relay wiring kit from Foglight Add-on Relay Wiring Kit - Wiring - Accessories - All Products
but pretty much they have tap connectors to tap into a preexisting wire to send the signal to turn them on. i was checking the back of the headlight assembly for the wiring to connect and i'm not sure which wire to connect for constant light instead of blinking, i have a multimeter but i have no clue how to work it.
here is the wiring directly behind the parking light bulb:
Image

i'm guessing the black wire is negative, but then there's a red one and a blue one?
 
#2 ·
The tan connector on the right in your picture goes to the parking/TS lamp. The wire to the parking lamp filament (constant) is ORG/BLU (L) and ORG/GRN (R).

BTW I hate those tap connectors. Poor connection and mangle the wire/insulation as well.

Paul
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
Discussion starter · #3 ·
this is the back of the right side headlamp so would it be the blue wire pictured for the constant? i'm not sure of the color of that wire next to it, maybe red? or it could be orange i'm not sure
 
#6 ·
What's confusing about the Multimeter?

Without that or a test light working with electricity is working without ANY senses to let you know what's happening.

Not even as much info. as feeling a bulb to see if it's hot when you can't see the light.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
well i don't know how to test a wire or if i'm testing for continuity? i've never used it before. i'm not sure if you actually have to expose the wire to test it, i'm new at working with electrical things.
 
#8 ·
Have you ever plugged something into a wall socket?

That's A/C not D/C, but the basics are the same. Did you get zapped? If not, the "insulator" over the wire/plug must have been good.

Can't check for electricity easily through an insulator, direct check has to touch conductor to conductor.

No circuit without one side to power and the other to ground, if you are not touching anything grounded you can handle cables carrying kilo volts of power. They actually fly people up to power lines to land on them to do work while operating.

But don't touch both sides at once even at home 110V power, that's potentially deadly. One hand is safe, though a bit chancy if your feet are in water for a ground.

12 volt DC won't zap you, but don't touch it directly to ground or it'll zap enough to burn the wires if the fuse doesn't blow quick enough! Good spark first at least.

And be careful around the car battery, no fuse there and a direct contact between terminals can weld metal! LOTS of power avail. there.

Eventually you'll have to tap into a wire, but if you twist that socket to get the bulb out you can check right at the bare connectors once the bulb is removed.

You don't care about continuity from place to place of a wire without any power, all you want to know is which gets power when.

Red to the item being checked for power, black to a good ground (bare metal part of chassis, battery negative, or the black wire there). Set meter to "DC Volts". Set to VAC you'll get no readings from a good DC circuit. VDC is correct.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
thanks sailor, after a little messing around with it and not knowing what i was reading or what was happening, i finally got the hang of it and found the constant and the blinker cable. the middle wire for both of the connectors are the constant. took me turning off the parking lamps and only turning on the blinker to see which wire had power to it at the wrong time lol
 
#10 ·
mikhailyo said:
okay so here's a photo of the left side which is the side i would be connecting it to. it's got two of the same colored wires it seems, so which of these would be the constant?
Image
Click to expand...
It does not have two of the same color wires. I think what is confusing you there is that one wire is ORG/BLU (orange with a blue stripe) and one wire is BLU/RED (blue with a red stripe). The red stripe is probably weathered and looks orange. As I said in my previous post the wire to the parking lamp filament (constant) on the L side is ORG/BLU which is the center wire in that connector (next to the black wire).


Good luck
Paul
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#11 ·
'...here's a photo of the left side which is the side i would be connecting it to.'

You do not want to connect both your fog lights to one side only, connect one light to one side and the other to the other side. You will be running up your power requirements enough that way, the other way may fry fuses or wires.

And like said ditch those tap connectors, they are problems waiting to happen. Especially in that high humidity area picced there, you WILL have troubles in the future.
 
#12 ·
Hopefully that won't be a problem.

OP said he had a relay kit in the first post so if he follows instructions the load should only be for the relay.
 
#15 ·
Which post though?

If you pull both lights off one post then realize that there can be some deformity of the relay slot that occurs there and then the relay pin does not get proper contact, and how you melt the plug-in over a long period of time. THREE lights coming off one post if using the main relay power rather than the relay coil one (lower power requirement) is a good way of speeding that melt WAY up, the power supply wire gauge was picked for only one bulb there. As was the fuse. Asking for trouble there even if it works.

I've done it too but you just don't pull a bigger amount of power doing it. I do it on relay coil to relay coil or using LED type power (NOT multi-LED lighting) which are much smaller loads.

Meaning you will be running at least the main power lead separately. Most don't want to do that and where the trouble starts.
 
Discussion starter · #16 ·
so i'm not sure what i did wrong, i followed all the instructions correctly.. the fog lights were running perfectly fine for the first two days but then on the third morning i was driving and all my power starting running low and my lights got really dim while i was driving. as soon as i turned off my car it was dead. it took multiple jumps to get my car started again. i disconnected the power wire from the battery and now it keeps dying over night every night. could it be because it was ran directly off the battery? or could it be bad wiring? i'm assuming a new battery might fix the problem and just figure out a different way to wire the fog lights.
and also i still have the signal wires connected to the parking lights because i don't really know how to undo a tap lol and plus it's a tight squeeze. could that be causing the issue even though the wires are disconnected from the battery?
 
#17 ·
Could be just that the battery chose to die now, only you know how old it is.

'...could it be because it was ran directly off the battery?'

That could be a problem depending on how you did that.
 
#18 ·
^^^ This

We don't know how your instructions suggested, or how actually done, but main fog light power off the battery is the proper way to do it.

Battery to relay to lights to ground. Simple circuit.

The other side of that is tap in at running lights, to relay to switch to ground. If you had found an interior wire with power on along with running lights, it would be from that to switch to relay to ground.

In either case, you can't leave the lights on without the parking/running lights on as well.
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
well i just got my battery tested and it came back bad so i will be replacing that tomorrow. and yeah the wiring was from a battery to a relay to all the switches and everything, even had an inline fuse. so hopefully once i get the new battery and re hook everything back up i shouldn't have any issues.. fingers crossed! lol
 
#20 ·
New circuit like that it's easy to leave the lights on to run battery down, why you run the circuits through lights or other (add a buzzer) to remind you to turn them off. Or learn to.
 
1 - 20 of 20 Posts
About this Discussion
19 Replies
5 Participants
Last post:
amc49
Focus Fanatics Forum
posts
5.8M
members
203K
Since
2003
A forum community dedicated to Ford Focus owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about SVT performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
General Technical Chat Ford Focus Builds & General Showroom MK3 Focus SVT Performance (2002-2004) MK1 Focus