ch13f

This past weekend I got around to installing my fog lights. My car didn't come with the factory harness, so instead, I cut all the plug off, and used the wires than would normally be used for the sidemarker lights (next to the blinker) as a temporary solution. Everything is working right now, they turn on whenever I have my parking lights on, and stay on with the headlights (obviously).

My concern however, is that the wiring for the sidemarker lights will not withstand the much higher wattage that the fogs are drawing compared to what the sidemarkers normally would. My question is, where is the other end of the wire that I'm running off. I'd like to go ahead and upgrade it if possible.

or.

Would there be a better way of doing this alltogether? Any sort of explination would help me out a lot.

98SEBlackMax

iTrader: (9)

Well if the fogs work ok you haven't blown the fuse for the sidemarker lights, yet. It looks like those sidemarkers use a 7.5 A fuse yet the schematic I have shows that the fogs need a 15 A fuse. I would check if the wire is getting hot or staying cool.

If you want to build a better solution you could get a "normally open" relay and wire it so that it closes when the sidemarkers are on. Then thru the relay you could power the fog lights direct from the battery.

Igor911

iTrader: (10)

I'd use a relay...any type of lighting on a car that needs constant electricity draw needs a relay to stabilize that.

I'd run the relay off the battery and the trigger wire from the parking lights.

With this setup, you cant go wrong

Good luck

ch13f

I actually should have mentioned that I did blow a fuse.. I knew beforehand that the fogs took a 15amp and I upped the sidemarker fuse to just that.. a 15amp, right after the 7.5 blew. (which was instantly) For what its worth, I did take out all of the other bulbs on the front of the car that run off that particular fuse.

Either of you guys feel like writing up a little more detailed explination of how to incorporate the relay into the equation, I'm a little bit new to wiring but I can figure things out if I'm pointed in the right direction. As I see it right now, a relay is basically a switch that allows power to be run when activated. Is that correct? So in this case (assuming its wired correctly) when the parking lights are activated, the relay will close and allow power to be sent from my battery to the lights.

If that's all correct, would it be possible to just replace the wires that are exiting the existing parking light relay with something of a lower gauge?

98SEBlackMax

iTrader: (9)

ok so the wiring definitly needs to be larger to handle the extra current.

Yes you are correct.

You could do that or add a second wire in parallel to handle the extra current.

But If I was to do this I would get a 15 amp relay and attach the signal part to anyone of the lights that you want to activate the fog lights. Then run a fused wire from the battery thru the relay to the fogs. This way you don't have to remove the other lights to run the fogs.

Kashoggio

iTrader: (11)

all the wires are there just not the plugs.. i ran to the same thing in to my bone stock gxe. The only wire that you have to run is the power wire from the relay to the lights and ground each light and everything will work stock.

MIXXMAX

iTrader: (1)

When I had my '95, this is how I had my aftermarket fogs wired. I had a 30 amp relay where pin #86 was wired to external on/off switch (two-pin) of fogs, pin #30 wired to battery with a 15 amp in-line fuse, pin #87 to power wires of the fogs, and pin #85 to ground. Also, from the external on/off switch of fogs, hook up the other pin to the parking light circuit with an in-line fuse of 2 amps. With all this said and done, the fogs will turn on with the parking lights (being the external on/off switch is in the "on" position) and turn off/on with the parking light switch.

ch13f

I took another look this afternoon and realized that the wires for the sidemarker lights are nearly the same gauge (slightly thinner) than the fog light's h3 harness. I didn't notice any signs of melting so far, but I was wondering what the weakest point on that connection would be. I'm thinking there is a plug somewhere along that connection that will be first to go if before anything else.

I also took a look in the relay box (passenger side) and on the case it listed a relay for corner lamp, or something to that extent, but when I opened it up, under the spot where it should have been, it was empty. Obviously there is a relay for the parking lights, but.. well, that confused me quite a bit.

And.. for arguments sake.. if I was to leave everything the way it is, and melt the wires for my sidemarker lights... whats the worst that could happed? besides having to run some new wires?

MIXXMAX

iTrader: (1)

The blank spot in the relay box marked "corner" were made especially for the '95-'96 models where the corner lamp would brighten when the turn signal was applied. Nissan eliminated this feature in it's later models ('97+). Obviously, there are no wires wired there. The worst thing that could happen if you wire your fogs to the parking lights, is that you will be drawing too much current on the circuit. You will constantly be blowing fuses, and won't get the full benefit of the brightness of the fogs and parking lights. Why even risk doing that? You MUST use a relay! This way, you will save yourself from the hassle of ruining your light circuit and other potential problems that may occur. Believe me, if it involves running new wiring, it's well worth it. Running new wiring is not all that hard. Just take your time, and you'll be fine.

Spipedong90

If I were you, I would jump a pair of wires onto the sidemarker lines.
Run these to the coil wires on a relay.

85 & 86 are the standard coil wires on a SPST automotive relay.

Run a cable WITH FUSE straight from the battery to pin 30 on the relay.

Run your foglight power wire to pin 87 of the relay.

This is the standard/safe way to isolate the fogs from the sidemarker. Stick a standard toggle switch in there somewhere if you don't want the fogs to always be on w/markers.

MaximaPolak

iTrader: (9)

Mine Run off the Parking Lights.
I like it that way.