Wipac Fog Light Wiring Issues

[Tom2000]

The diagram that arrived with this is not that clear (to me), but anyway please see the attached image (this is the official diagram) and then see what I have done in the next post..

[Tom2000]

As you can see from the diagram above there is a wire running from the RELAY to the headlights and inbetween there is a on/off flick switch (which is meant for your dash nodoubt).

Do you have to wire the Wipac lights to the current system, can you not have them running as a single seperate system? I do not quite understand why you would put the switch inbetween the relay and the standard headlights when you're trying to control the Wipac fog lights..

Here's what i've done so far..

[Tom2000]

and if i do have to wire it to the headlights where on the headlights do i wire it to?

[Dicky Blighter]

They are wired into the headlamp circuit so that foglights will only work when headlights are on (scotchlock into the dipped beam wire is the easiest way).
If you want to run them so you can turn on without the headlights being on take the wire from the switch to another suitable 12 volt supply instead of the headlamp feed.
In both cases you should also have a fuse in the circuit in the one that says 6) cable from battery (terminal 30 on the relay)

[AlanChatterton]

I wire up my fog lights differently.

The switch power for the relay (cable to headlamp on your diagram) I take off the sidelight circuit. This means you can have fog lamps on, with no other main front lights (apart from side lights).

If is really foggy (RBRR, Scotland for example!) the fog lights shine under the fog and you can see the road, but if you had dipped headlamps on too, they would just shine back fog and you'd loose the benefit of the low slung fog lamps.

I take the feed for this from the dash lighting circuit (comes on with sidelights) and also means you have wiring in the dash to put a switch to have the fogs on or off.

Sam principle, if wiring up spot lights, you take the feed from the mainbeam circuit, but put a switch to kill the spots if you don't want them.

Hope this helps.

[gilesdive]

I am pretty sure that one of the older versions of the highway code said that in poor visibility that fog lamps should be used instead of headlamps - in other words exactly as Alan says above. Can't find which one that was in offhand, but definitely the best way to do it.

[Tom2000]

yeh i like that idea, i take it you split the cable that goes to the 12V side light so that one piece of the cable goes to one connection on the switch and the cable frmo the side light to the switch goes to the other connection, giving you control of the on/off function of the switch?

[Ben Baxter]

AlanChatterton wrote:

I wire up my fog lights differently.

The switch power for the relay (cable to headlamp on your diagram) I take off the sidelight circuit. This means you can have fog lamps on, with no other main front lights (apart from side lights).

If is really foggy (RBRR, Scotland for example!) the fog lights shine under the fog and you can see the road, but if you had dipped headlamps on too, they would just shine back fog and you'd loose the benefit of the low slung fog lamps.

I take the feed for this from the dash lighting circuit (comes on with sidelights) and also means you have wiring in the dash to put a switch to have the fogs on or off.

Sam principle, if wiring up spot lights, you take the feed from the mainbeam circuit, but put a switch to kill the spots if you don't want them.

Hope this helps.

Apologies if I'm being a bit simple (motor electrics being very low on my list of "things I like to do of an evening") but just wondering what the advantages of this setup are when compared to wiring the fog lights up in their own seperate circuit with a switch just to turn them on or off, independent of any other lights?

From personal experience the less objects that form one circuit the better, especially when things go wrong as a) it's easier to trace the fault and b) when one part of the circuit is at fault it is only one object that ceases to function, not multiple objects.

Happy to be proved wrong though, intending to fit a pair of Wipac fog lights on the herald in the near future!

[AlanChatterton]

If you have them linked to the sidelights, it means you can only have on the front fogs on when the sidelights (or more) are on. Why would you want fogs but no rear lights?

I think law says they must turn off with sidelights I think.

You wire in extra lights with a relay, the circuit in question (sidelights) is only used to switch the relay on/off, draws no current at all. Main current is taken through the main feed to the relay.....which must be fused.

As no Triumph (prove me wrong here people!!) has fuses in the lighting circuit, it is sensible to re-wire your main lights and use relays anyway.

If you are not confident about wiring up using relays then Halfords sell a "ring" pre-wiring kit for spots and fogs. Has the relay, fuses, switch, wires, connectors........everything. Simple connect a-b with intructions. About £10 usually.

I used these for wire up spots and fogs on my PI for the RBRR 06, ran out of time and effort to do it from scratch!

[Ben Baxter]

Aha! Makes sense now, cheers mate!

[Burnerboy]

Regardless of how you make the connections, do NOT use scotchlocks. They are the work of Satan! Proper connections, properly routed (and sized for the current) wires are the way to go!

Adding any additional load to circuitry that can be marginal in terms of capacity (and old to boot)  could be a recipe for disaster.

[Glenn]

My light switch ('72 built 2000) has an extra position after main beam.  This seems to cut the headlights and gives 12v to a spare wire that comes out of the headlight loom.  This is located in front of the radiator - I think it's a dark green wire and it terminates in a bullet connetor.

I was just going to use that for my fogs?  Haven't looked into current capacity yet though....

Agree with the comment on Scotlocks - take some pride in your work!  Might be ok on a 12 year old Cavalier but not on our fine motors!

[AlanChatterton]

Yes, early MKII's had the prewiring for front fogs, but you can only have front fogs on with no headlights, not other choice.

May not be the way to go, but if you are happy to do this then I would still put a relay in and use this green wire as the switching circuit.

If it were me, I woudn't, there are times when front dipped beam and fogs are useful.

[Glenn]

That's a good point Alan.  I'll need to give it some thought - might upgrade everything using fuses and relays for the headlights too.

Sorry I got my facts wrong - I checked and the wire is Red with a yellow stripe.  It is quite thick.

Forgive me for being thick, but what's the difference between fog lights, driving lights and spot lights?

Have people fitted rear fog lights?

[mikeyb]

Fog lights have a shield over the bulb to cut off the upper part of the beam (keeps the light at ground level, minimising glare back in fog.  

Spot or driving lights are the same in the context of these discussions, being effectively additional high beam lights to brighten up the way ahead.  

Out of context, technically I guess a spot light would have a more concentrated beam to light up a "spot" - bit like the old WW2 searchlight effect.

[Phil Wright]

Lamps.... what lamps?????? Mmmmmmm Boobies :D

[SteveJP]

Rust_Spot wrote:

That's a good point Alan.  I'll need to give it some thought - might upgrade everything using fuses and relays for the headlights too.

Sorry I got my facts wrong - I checked and the wire is Red with a yellow stripe.  It is quite thick.

Forgive me for being thick, but what's the difference between fog lights, driving lights and spot lights?

Have people fitted rear fog lights?

I fitted driving lamps  - which are clear halogens with no deflection of the beam- on my Spitfire for the 10CR - I took advice from a number of sources including my local friendly mechanic - they had to be wired in with the main beam circuit with a separate warning light to pass the MOT. I used the 'Ring' Relay wiring kit from Halfords which made everything very easy as it was all wired up with connectors and had clear instructions. If you're into gadgets , they also do a wireless switch version!

I also fitted a rear fog light in the centre of the rear bumper which was wired through the dipped beam circuit with a separate switch and warning light. I put it in the centre rather than on the right as the car was to be used  on  the continent.

Incidentally, this discussion has spread to the TSSC forum as well! (http://www.tssc.org.uk/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=55&func=view&id=823&catid=186)