My car is pre-wired for fogs, but I'm not terribly interested in buying a whole new combo stalk just to get the fog option. Essentially, I just want the fog lights to be on when and only when the headlights are on. Is there any way I can trick the car into thinking I have the fogs switch to on? Not sure if it's possible, but it seems the most logical way is to send the signal from the point where the combo stalk plugs into the steering wheel column that the switch is in the on position. Can I do that? This may sound dumb (I'm pretty novice with electrical systems), but can I just run a wire out from one slot on the steering wheel column, bend it around, and have it go right back into another slot... assuming those are the two (if that's how it even works) that control the fogs. This would just complete a circuit. Is that all the combo stalk does when you flip the fogs on... complete a circuit of sorts? Or maybe it's not nearly as simple as I think it is.
Here is an exaggerated diagram I made from someone else's install of fog lights in a 3rd gen. Of course mine would not be exactly the same, but I hope it helps get my idea across:
you are going to want a switch in there somewhere or at least have the fog's kick off when the highs kick up. If driving long stretches in the dark, you won't want the foreground lit up if you have your high's on. My integra's low beams wouldn't kick off when the highs kicked in and I thought it was great... until my wife got her civic and it alternated lows or highs. I could see so much more with the low beams off and just the highs because my eyes would adjust for the beam being thrown a distance. The same applies for the fog lights; they'll light up the foreground too much.
~SB
__________________ 2009 Honda Fit Sport 2007 Frost White Altima 3.5SE: Sedan with Fogs & Wing. - AVG MPG: 26.41 @ 29,246mi Best tank 566Mi. (Traded @ 30K Miles)
Former/Current Cars: '86 Prelude Si. 2.0 | '93 Integra GS | '98 Civic EX | '00 Integra GS-R | '06 Ridgeline RTS | 07 Altima 3.5SE
It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.
Meh, that's not really a concern of mine, I don't think, either. I can't even remember the last time I used my high beams at all (not just this car). It seems there are either street lights everywhere or someone is always driving towards you here.
I didn't even think about it earlier, but the way I propose to wire it, the fog lights should turn off if the high beams come on. The only objective I'm trying to achieve is always telling the car (or BCM, rather) that I have the little fog-light switch on the stalk in the on position. Even when the switch is turned on, if you use your high beams, the fogs turn off, right?
Sorry for the 3 replies in a row, but here is what I found out after scouring the FSM:
It looks like I should be able to make a direct connection from 2 to 13 on the combo switch connector (which sits on the steering column) and trick the car into always thinking that FR_FOG is true. Yes?
I have an 08 A/C and want my Fog lights to come on with the parking lights. I know there is a like $70 control module out there, but on my 05' Frontier, I just simply used a jumper wire in the fuse panel. Anyone have any ideas?
if you don't care about having a switch to turn the fogs on independently, why bother with the stalk wiring at all? you can tap into the power to the headlights and highbeams, each controlling a separate relay. (both relays in series) headlights on will trigger relay to turn on fogs. highbeams on triggers relay to turn fogs off.
Because this way I'm still adhering to the amount of power the car gives to each of its components. I read in another thread that you can overload your headlights by drawing too much power from that line.
Anyway, if anyone's following along, or cares (maybe they want to do it to their own car), I ran a trial tonight and after spending a good amount of time just disassembling the steering column cover, I came away successful. I don't have the fog lights yet (I like to make sure I can do things before I buy them), so instead I connected INPUT 1 (11) and OUTPUT 5 (8) together and, after a lot of hesitation and doubt, got the RH blinker to stay on regardless of what state the combo switch was in. Once I get the fogs, just connect wires 2 and 13 and bam!... Fog lights.
Because this way I'm still adhering to the amount of power the car gives to each of its components. I read in another thread that you can overload your headlights by drawing too much power from that line.
that might be true if you powered the fogs with the same power that is running the headlights, which is why i suggested to use relays. good luck with your project.
haha. ok. it's basically an electrically controlled switch with negligible power consumption. in my example, the main power for the fogs would come directly from the battery. the headlights would act as the switch to turn the fogs on. the highbeams could control another switch to open the circuit, causing fogs to turn off when highbeams are on.
it sounds like you already have a plan. go for it. if for some reason things don't work out, you can look into other ideas, including the one i threw out there or any other solutions that you might find.
Last edited by phreekee25 : 10-02-2008 at 04:19 PM.
Thanks for the info, I'll keep it in consideration.
A bit of a crisis this morning, though. After disconnecting and reconnecting the plug for the combo switch many times last night, my Check Engine Light has come on this morning. I am fairly confident it's because I turned the car on without having the switch plugged in once (even though the CEL didn't ever appear last night). But, I don't want to take the chance that this is really one very unfortunate coincidence and there is something wrong with my engine. But at the same time, I'm worried the dealer will read the code, see it's the switch, check it out, see I was tampering with it, and void my entire warranty on a three-week-old car. Would they do that? Last night I cut back the shrink-wrap sleeve around the bundle of cables and tapped into two of the wires. I took away the taps after my test was over, so the entirety of difference now vs. when I started are: cut shrink-wrap (one cut, parallel to the wires) and two wires with minute, but visible, tap marks. I tried to take it to a Tire shop this morning to see if they could just read the code and reset the light, but they said the car was "too new" for their equipment. Any advice is greatly appreciated right now as I need it!
you can try pulling the code and resetting it yourself, assuming that the procedure is still the same for 4th gens. search and you'll find the procedure. it involves some timed presses of the gas pedal with the key in "on" position.
places like autozone will pull your code for free, but i don't know if they will reset it or not.
This is what I plan to do to get the same effect that you are doing I think. I will use these two relayed harnesses
Plug them into each of the headlight plugs then attach them to the battery, no wire cutting just plug and play. So I will be drawing power directly from the battery and the fogs will be on when the low beams are on. A lot of wires I know but I won't have to tap anything.
you can try pulling the code and resetting it yourself, assuming that the procedure is still the same for 4th gens. search and you'll find the procedure. it involves some timed presses of the gas pedal with the key in "on" position.
places like autozone will pull your code for free, but i don't know if they will reset it or not.
I didn't even know something like that existed! I searched it and found what I was supposed to do, but it didn't work on my car. I pressed the gas pedal 5 times, and started to wait 7 seconds, but by the time the 7 seconds was up, the SES light was already blinking. It blinked 5 times and then stopped. No other gas pedal pressing would change it. I'll keep investigating!
EDIT: Success! You don't know how happy that made me. You get a gold star. Anyway, my code was: "P0603 Internal Control Module Keep Alive Memory (KAM) Error" Don't know what it means, but I hope it doesn't come back.
Last edited by coasterswim : 10-02-2008 at 05:06 PM.
Reason: Success!
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Fog Lights - a different approach
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