Gathering info for wiring rear fog light

[Ofnir107]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to gather some information before I start this project. I'm planning to use the OEM fog switch to turn on a rear fog light in my tail light. My plan is to use my driver side reverse light and wire that up to the switch. I've had some close calls with cars almost running into my rear. I would like to do this to hopefully prevent someone from hitting me in the future (esp with all the idiots out here in the winter).

I'm going off of this diagram and info that I searched. I have several questions (I have yet to do any type of wiring on my car)

Black -- Ground
Green -- Output to relay
Blue -- Vcc2 (Power coming from the ignition, all that is needed is a power source to activate your relay for the fog lights. Hook it up to the ignition and your fog lights will turn off when you take the key out)
Red/Black -- Ground
Red -- Vcc1 (Power coming from the parking light or any light that comes on when you turn the lights on so it'll light up your switch when you turn on your lights)

My questions are:
1) The reverse light harness has two wires coming from it, a green and a black wire. I'm pretty sure the green is for power and black for ground. Can I just connect the green wire to the green connection "output to relay" on the switch and the black wire to the red/black connection on the switch to make this whole set up work? Or would there be some additional wiring I would have to do?

2) Which would be the closest wire to tap near that switch that turns on with the parking lights?

3) Is there a specific gauge wire I should be using when I'm running the two wires from the rear of the car to the front?

4) Finally, is there a DIY someone can point me to involving the removal of the interior side panels? I couldn't find any for removing the panels where you step over to get into the car. I'm planning to run the wires from the rear of the car through there.

Again, I'm not very experienced in wiring but I figured this might be a chance to do something on my own for once. If there is a flaw with what I'm planning to do, please let me know so I can figure something else out. Thanks in advance guys.

 

[Ofnir107]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[blackcord]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to gather some information before I start this project. I'm planning to use the OEM fog switch to turn on a rear fog light in my tail light. My plan is to use my driver side reverse light and wire that up to the switch. I've had some close calls with cars almost running into my rear. I would like to do this to hopefully prevent someone from hitting me in the future (esp with all the idiots out here in the winter).

I'm going off of this diagram and info that I searched. I have several questions (I have yet to do any type of wiring on my car)

My questions are:
1) The reverse light harness has two wires coming from it, a green and a black wire. I'm pretty sure the green is for power and black for ground. Can I just connect the green wire to the green connection "output to relay" on the switch and the black wire to the red/black connection on the switch to make this whole set up work? Or would there be some additional wiring I would have to do?

2) Which would be the closest wire to tap near that switch that turns on with the parking lights?

3) Is there a specific gauge wire I should be using when I'm running the two wires from the rear of the car to the front?

4) Finally, is there a DIY someone can point me to involving the removal of the interior side panels? I couldn't find any for removing the panels where you step over to get into the car. I'm planning to run the wires from the rear of the car through there.

Again, I'm not very experienced in wiring but I figured this might be a chance to do something on my own for once. If there is a flaw with what I'm planning to do, please let me know so I can figure something else out. Thanks in advance guys.

So you're planning to use your driver side reverse lights as your rear fogs? But shouldn't rear fogs be red? IMO It will look weird following someone with one reverse light on.

2. I tapped from my front park lights to get power to my relay to turn on my front fogs so that they can turn on with just the first click on the switch (i.e. park lights on). I am sure that there was a closer source close to the switch, but I didnt wanna mess around.

3. Prob 12-14 gauge should be fine.

Post up some pics when youre done.

 

[Ofnir107]

So you're planning to use your driver side reverse lights as your rear fogs? But shouldn't rear fogs be red? IMO It will look weird following someone with one reverse light on.

2. I tapped from my front park lights to get power to my relay to turn on my front fogs so that they can turn on with just the first click on the switch (i.e. park lights on). I am sure that there was a closer source close to the switch, but I didnt wanna mess around.

3. Prob 12-14 gauge should be fine.

Post up some pics when youre done.

Finally, someone replies. Thanks. Haha.

I'm planning on running a red bulb instead of the original clear one. That would definitely be annoying following someone with a bright light on.

I was thinking about tapping the park lights from the outside but I didn't want to go through the firewall. I looked up some stuff and they sell these fuse wiring kits. If my understanding is correct, I can just use that to tap the park lights from the driver side fuse to connect to Red Vcc1 connection and the fuse for the acc for the blue connection.

I'm going to do some more research. I would like to make use of the empty spot since my fogs are running off of a different switch.

 

[SykVSyx]

simon_y has this setup, but the rear fog lights up red.......I believe he tapped in to his foglights, so that when his front fogs are on, his rear fog will come on as well.

I haven't seen him on here in awhile, but if you send him a pm, he may be able to offer you some tips to help you out with your project.

I think there may be one or two other members that are running a rear fog like that as well, but you would have to search.

 

[simon_y]

Well first. I don't have a front fog light, lol.

Hmm, your wire colouring seems to be different than mine. But basically you're going to need at least one relay. In the pic below (2) is the power and it is connected to a fused 10amp connector just beside the OBD2 connector. To get to it you have to remove the panel under the steering. If you have an aftermarket alarm system, then the alarm should be connected to that box also. Find an empty slot and crimp/ solder the right connector on and plug it into the box.

Number (4) is tapped into my cruise control for the light bulb on the switch.

Number (1) goes to a Relay which powers the "green" light bulb when it is on.

Number (3) and (5) go to a relay under my dash. From there, one of the wires (i don't remember which one because it is stuffed away and all zip tied together) runs along the length of the car to the trunk where it is then connected to another Relay. Then from the relay it goes to the dual filament light bulb which I replaced the tiny peanut bulb with. The peanut bulb is a 2 wire connector which i replaced now with a dual filament 3 wire connector.

To fit the dual filament bulb, it does require cutting of the backing of the tail light and epoxying the correct bulb socket to the existing hole.

Sorry, that's all I got, It's been so long since I did this and I don't remember what I did cause there was a lot of trial and error to get it to work properly.

The rear fog comes on ONLY if my parking light is on. So during the day time when my parking light is not on then there is no power to the switch.

When I turn on my Rear fog by pressing the button, I hear 2 click at the same time because I have 2 relays, one in the front and one in the rear right beside my tail light bulb socket

Mine is:
(1)Black/White
(2)Red/ Yellow
(3)Red/ Black
(4)Red
(5)Black

You can see that thick grey wire going to the power

No Front Fogs

I don't know how you would go about connecting it to your reverse light. I think it would be a lot easier because you only need one relay then. The reason I need 2 relays is because I need it to turn the Big filament on when i need it AND to still send power to the smaller filament.

 

[Ofnir107]

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply. I definitely learned a lot from it. Your rear fog looks more OEM with the dual filament. I still have several questions:

Is the fused 10 amp connector near the OBDII connector you're talking about this one that is in the picture? (not my picture):

For the two relays, what kind of relay did you use for the front and the back? Were they just generic four-pin relays or something else?

When you tapped the cruise control, do you remember which wire you tapped? I saw five wires and I'm not sure which wire illuminates the switch when the park lights are on. Here's what the cruise control wires look like:

Thanks again for your help.

 

[simon_y]

No problem. Yah I was kind of going for the OEM-ish-ness.

Yup, That is exactly what I was talking about with the connector near the OBD2 connector. Do exactly what that picture shows but run a 10 amp fuse inline with that wire.

The relays were nothing special, they were just regular 4 prong relays.

From your picture the cruise control connector seems to be:
(1) Black
(2) Green
(3) Black/ Yellow
(4) Red/ Black
(5) Red

I ran "MY" Red (4) wire of the fog light to the cruise control Red/ Black (4). So yours is probably going to "YOUR" Red/ Black (4) of the fog light to your Cruise Control Red/ Black (4).

 

[Ofnir107]

I just drew up a quick sketch of the wiring diagram for everything. Originally, I didn't know what the relay does so I did some research on Google.

Does that look right to you? For your relay, did you really draw the power directly from the battery? Since you have your relay underneath your dash, I was hoping there would be an alternative to doing that. I want to avoid going through the firewall if possible.

 

[SykVSyx]

Why did I think Simon had front fogs........my mistake.

To the OP, definately run a similar type of setup since cutting in to your bumper is not something you want to go with, and avoid tinkering with your reverse lights.

Something tells me that might be more hassle than it's worth.