Fogs & Aux Light Bar

[SmarteeBluey 10]

On one of my foggy travels to work in the mornings, I noticed that one of the fog lights was not working. . . No great hassle, I'll change the globe. On pulling out the offending fog light, I realized that it was more than just the globe again. Through age and constant heat from the Halogen globe, the casing gets brittle, cracks and breaks loose. This has happened to me once before on the other fog light and a lengthy repair resulted. My first attempt was using Araldite. It stuck to it while wet, but 24 hours later it started to lift off. I then liberally poured Araldite around it then to form a ring, thus having no option but to stay put. Added to this, I wrapped the end in Duct tape. It has held for the last 2 years but the Duct tape had started to burn off. Also the Araldite and burning tape has discolored the lens.

This time round I decided to replace with an alternative. You guessed it "LED's". An economical replacement I could find are 70mm round 9w 9LED lights. Excellent lighting that will do the job well.

I had to make up new mounting plates for the lights. As well as keeping in mind I might want to re-install the original units at a latter date plus, in order to re-gas the air conditioner, the drivers side fog light needs to be removed quickly to gain access to the valves.

I acquired some 3mm thick aluminum and made the first set of backing plates. They worked well but were a hassle to remove. After 3 more modifications, they finally fit well. The base or backing plates use the 3 screw mounts from the original fog lights. I also made the base plates universal, that is they can go on either the Left or Right side as the original fog lights are not mirror image mounts. The new wires are connected onto the loom behind the original fog light plugs. The LED lights also have some scope for adjustments, i.e. Up/Down, Left/Right as well as forward/backwards to meet snugly on the Grill panel. Even though I have the custom grill, I also test fitted it with the standard grill, with the same results.

A few tests while assembling, and everything is working well.

The LED light set varies around $14-17 from Ebay. The aluminum Backing plates were made from 2 scrap pieces measuring approx. 115x95mm. Plus 4 new "L" brackets were made to mount the LED units with.

I did not have to remove the front guards and panels, but if they were it would have made the manufacturing job easier. TIME, about 4.5 hours including the making of the plates and altering them. If I had to do it again and the backing plates were already made, 15-20 minutes tops.

Previously I had an extra set of Fog & Driving lights mounted in the front Valance (as seen in above pics). Although they looked good and worked well in the beginning, the constant vibration of the front plastic panels caused more trouble than what they were worth. They both ran separate relays so there was no extra power drain on the standard wires that they were connected to. End result I removed them.

Installing a larger set of Auxiliary lights now require a sturdier mounting. This posed a slight problem as I did not want to mount them on the Valance again. End result was a Light Bar or Rail welded up and mounted behind the Valance, this also fixed another problem of disconnecting extra wires every time the front panels had to come off.

An off cut length of 16 mm square tubing by 760 mm long approx. was purchased and 2 small pieces of angle was welded to it. Drilled, Tapped, Etch primed and painted produced a good sturdy and strong mount.

The lights to be installed are all LED. Four 9 LED by 70 mm round lights and Two 12 LED Ovals. My main aim is to assist with the Fog lights. They are mainly angled to shine along the road surface thus creating a broader light source across the front. They also could assist in the high beam driving.

My idea is they come on when the Fogs are activated, simple, connect them to the Fogs. But I also need them when Driving with High on as well, without the Fogs On. Split wiring, two separate switches, is not an easy solution. High beam On with Fog lights, not advisable. My solution, High beam activated, they are On. Switch fogs On without high beam, they come on automatically. With a 5 pole Relay, DPDT Toggle switch and an indicator LED, the process works without hassles.

How it works:

A medium core wire is connected to the High beam circuit, runs through the toggle switch and onto the relays pin for Normally ON. Another medium core wire is connected to the Fog light circuit, runs through the toggle switch other side and onto the relays pin for Normally OFF as well as to one of the solenoid activation pins on the relay. The other relays solenoid pin goes to Earth (-ve). This leaves one pin on the relay, the pivot point. This has a medium core wire going off it to the Auxiliary lights. It also has a light duty wire connected (either at the relay or somewhere convenient) to an indicator LED. The toggle switch and indicator LED are so you can switch the Aux lights Off if needed.

The light bar of LED lights draw a small amount of current compared to the (now removed) 50w & 75w Aux fog/spot lights so the relay used is only for automatic switch over, the lighter medium core wire can handle the current easily.

Construction of the bar took a couple of hours. While the paint was setting and hardening, the multi-connection wire loom was soldered together and made. The installation of the Relay and switch was added into the process of Relays for the headlights. The switch is temporarily mounted under the center dash. The indicator LED light was installed conveniently next to the Fog light switch.

A few tests and all is good. Finally re-assemble everything and test again. I have also installed an extra 10A fuse on the relay.

Final pic shows the Angel Rings, Parkers, Fogs & Auxiliary lights ON.

A very pleasing weekends work.

Happy SMARTing. . . Rob

Edited February 23, 2014 by SmarteeBluey

[Wild! 118]

Nicely done!