Hello, I have a 2000 malibu and i'm wondering how to wire the fogs to be on when the cars on? I don't even know where to start. I want them to automatically turn on instead of manually pushing the button every time. Thanks

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5629/img1597wg.jpg

Factory fog lights?

You'd need to bypass the BCM with a relay that gets powered on by a "Hot in Run" power source.

Or, there's a schematic here for a pulser that can fire the contact when you turn the car on. Do some searching in the Gen 7 forums (where, IIRC, DailyDriven posted it) (If not DD, then I apologize to the original poster!)

The schematic for factory fogs can be found at (amongst other sites!) www.philent.biz/images/2002_Malibu_Foglight_Schematic.PDF .

A work around would be a relay that pulses once when the power is applied, such as the first at http://www.the12volt.com/relays/page5.asp

RwP

haha man I thought it would be easy..

I don't know much about relays

haha man I thought it would be easy..

I don't know much about relays

Relays would be the easy way.

'Course, since it's under the control of the BCM, you could buy a scanner that will read the programming in the BCM, disassemble it, modify the fog light software, reassemble it, and burn the code back into it with the code fixed.

That'd be the EASY way - for some folks! :eek:

The relay would be much easier for Joe SixPack.

'Course, you COULD just ... keep pushing the button :p

RwP

haha man I thought it would be easy..

I don't know much about relays

Relays are really simple. Think of it as a switch for something powerful that you can turn on with something not powerful. The main larger gauge wire runs from the battery to the relay and then out to the foglights. The relay will be grounded. Only thing left is the trigger that lets the current flow thru from the battery to the foglights. This triger does not take much power so this means you only need a small wire to run inside to your switch to turn them on. Then from the switch to a hot insided the car. Of course you will want fuses between the battery and the relay.

If you just want them to come on with the headlights and don't need a swtich all you need to do is run the trigger wire to the hot on the headlights.

http://www.r1200gs.info/howto/images/Schematic4.gif
http://www.classictruckshop.com/clubs/earlyburbs/projects/bosch/foglite.jpg

Here you go. I redid it for you.
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/9081/fogsl.jpg

another option is to find the OEM relay for the fog lights and jumper a wire from the hot on the headlights or the parking lights(or the trigger to the relay for the headlights) to the trigger on the OEM relay for the fog lights.

Okay looking at your new picture.

give me a minute to process lol :X

so I need to disconnect the wire that connects to the switch (and indicator and fuse box) and connect the positive wire from my headlights to the relay? where is that relay located? sorry I'm asking so many questions i'm still learning!

so I need to disconnect the wire that connects to the switch (and indicator and fuse box) and connect the positive wire from my headlights to the relay? where is that relay located? sorry I'm asking so many questions i'm still learning!

You can just disconnect the fog light trigger at the fog light relay and tape it off. Then connect what ever you want to trigger the fogs to come on to the OEM trigger.

If it was me I would just put a jumper from the headlight trigger to the fog light trigger. That is what I done on my Camaro when I had fog lights on it.

I have no idea where your relay is. Mine was in the fuse box under the hood. I just had to unbolt it and get to the bottom to get access to the wires and jumper them.

One more note. If you do wire it that way with a jumper. If you turn your fogs on with your headlights off then your headlights will come on to.

If you don't want this to happen then you can use a diode for a jumper. What a diode does is let current flow only in one direction. That means the fogs come on with heads, but heads don't come on with fogs. If you don't care then a jumper will be fine.



Also just in case you didn't know. Around here it is illegal to run fogs and headlights at the same time. I have only been stoped once for this and I told them it was made that way fromt the factory and they let me go. They told me to get it disconnected.

the fogs aren't bright at all, they're not HID they're LEDs lol just want to use them for city lights and for looks i guess.

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/4062/img1601m.jpg

and when you say a "jumper", you mean just a wire going from one relay trigger to the other?

the fogs aren't bright at all, they're not HID they're LEDs lol just want to use them for city lights and for looks i guess.


and when you say a "jumper", you mean just a wire going from one relay trigger to the other?

Exactly from one relay trigger to the other relay trigger. You can probley just use a test light to find the trigger. It should be a smaller wire and it should only be hot when the switch is on.

LEDs really don't pull much most of the time. The relay is just to control something that has a high amp pull so you can control it with a small amount of power(trigger).
That is why a relay is needed.

Still the best way is to put a jumper if you can figure it out in case someone changes the lights back to regular bulbs in the future.

I found the relay for the fog lights, it's on the passenger side of the car.. idk where the headlight relay is i was kinda in a hurry cause it's raining haha. i'll check tomorrow.

One more note. If you do wire it that way with a jumper. If you turn your fogs on with your headlights off then your headlights will come on to.

If you don't want this to happen then you can use a diode for a jumper. What a diode does is let current flow only in one direction. That means the fogs come on with heads, but heads don't come on with fogs. If you don't care then a jumper will be fine.



Also just in case you didn't know. Around here it is illegal to run fogs and headlights at the same time. I have only been stoped once for this and I told them it was made that way fromt the factory and they let me go. They told me to get it disconnected.

What kind of hick officer told you that? If it's stock from the factory then it's legal to operate without modification. He's either smokin' sumpin' or on a power trip. Or both.

Fogs are generally used in conjunction with low beams, not instead of. Their purpose is to light the road immediately in front of the vehicle when visibility is extremely limited.

If the high beams were on and the low beams were on and the fogs were on, all at the same time, then he has a case. Federal law makes it illegal to have more than 4 light sources above a certain brightness (not sure of the exact level), and 6 road lights at once is 2 too many. It'd be my guess that it would be a rare ticket, but it'd be a technically correct one.

What state are you in, if you don't mind sharing that?

What kind of hick officer told you that? If it's stock from the factory then it's legal to operate without modification. He's either smokin' sumpin' or on a power trip. Or both.

Fogs are generally used in conjunction with low beams, not instead of. Their purpose is to light the road immediately in front of the vehicle when visibility is extremely limited.

If the high beams were on and the low beams were on and the fogs were on, all at the same time, then he has a case. Federal law makes it illegal to have more than 4 light sources above a certain brightness (not sure of the exact level), and 6 road lights at once is 2 too many. It'd be my guess that it would be a rare ticket, but it'd be a technically correct one.

What state are you in, if you don't mind sharing that?

I'm in TN and I got pulled over in Nashville. I was driving thru down town and an officer on the street walked out in front of me and directed me to pull to the side.
He told me that I can only run 2 lights at a time. They have to be treated like high beams.

I couldn't find the law for tn, but its defintley not the only state and it may be nationwide law and just not enforced everywhere.

Here is Oregon's law on fogs:
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TS/docs/VehEq/Revised2fog_lights.pdf

When I drive a car with fog lights, I like to run them all the time because then at least some people know the car behind them is not a police car because police cars don't run fogs. Also if a car behind me has fogs on then I know its not a police car. Not that I try to speed or anything, but I sometimes am just cruising and not paying attention to mph and sometimes can creep up. I got a ticket for that one day. It was a nice day and I was just cruising along, in no hurry and then all of a sudden I am getting a ticket. If anything the police should be required to dim there superbright LEDs at night. They are great in the day, but at night they will blind you.

Fogs and headlights, or fogs, low, and high beam?

All three pairs at once == illegal.

It is, however, illegal in Louisiana to have fog lights on and NOT have the low beams on.

(And I reckon in most states that take financing from the US DOT . But, I could be wrong.)

RwP

When I drive a car with fog lights, I like to run them all the time because then at least some people know the car behind them is not a police car because police cars don't run fogs. Also if a car behind me has fogs on then I know its not a police car.

Won't work around here, the Police Interceptors and the Impalas the local police and sheriff departments use have fog lights also.

(That's an option, natch, but it's almost always ordered around here.)

RwP

I'm in TN and I got pulled over in Nashville. I was driving thru down town and an officer on the street walked out in front of me and directed me to pull to the side.
He told me that I can only run 2 lights at a time. They have to be treated like high beams.

I couldn't find the law for tn, but its defintley not the only state and it may be nationwide law and just not enforced everywhere.

Here is Oregon's law on fogs:
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TS/docs/VehEq/Revised2fog_lights.pdf

When I drive a car with fog lights, I like to run them all the time because then at least some people know the car behind them is not a police car because police cars don't run fogs. Also if a car behind me has fogs on then I know its not a police car. Not that I try to speed or anything, but I sometimes am just cruising and not paying attention to mph and sometimes can creep up. I got a ticket for that one day. It was a nice day and I was just cruising along, in no hurry and then all of a sudden I am getting a ticket. If anything the police should be required to dim there superbright LEDs at night. They are great in the day, but at night they will blind you.

That foglight pdf is a bunch of crap, IMO. People run foglights all the time around here, and unless your foglights are totally messed up they shouldn't blind or mess with anyone else on the road.

Oh and sk8almost44....You can turn your headlight switch to the parking lights and turn the foglights on that way. Atleast your headlights will be off and your fogs will be on.

Parking light switch is the position between turning on your headlights and the "OFF" position - if you didn't know ;)

That PDF is some kind of recommendation and I agree that it sounds odd.

It says that in low visibility situations the fog lights should be turned off when approaching traffic. WTF? If that is the difference between seeing where I'm going or not why would they want me to turn them off?

If the authors of that poorly assembled document want to do something about maladjusted fog or accessory lights then why not just do that instead? A poorly adjusted fog light provides no real aid to the driver plus, if it's adjusted too high, it'll just blind other traffic. Get a ticket for that and adjust it correctly. It'll then become an aid to the driver without harming other traffic.

I don't think anyone is climbing down your throat about the PDF. We just don't agree with it. Not all auxiliary lights are fog lights, but all fog lights are auxiliary lights.

Straight out of the TN driver's manual, note that they, too, figure you should turn them off when approaching traffic in either direction the same as you would high beams:
• Limited Use of Parking Lights or Auxiliary Fog Lights:
The following procedures should be followed when using
these types of lights:
1. The law requires a vehicle stopped or parked on a road or
shoulder to have parking lights on when limited visibility
conditions exist.
2. Do not drive a vehicle with only the parking lights on
when driving at night or in inclement weather. The small
size of parking lights may cause other drivers to think
your vehicle is farther away than it actually is. When
there is limited visibility, the use of parking lights alone is
not only unsafe, it is against the law.
3. It is also illegal to have auxiliary lights or fog lights on by
themselves or on at times when you are required to dim
high beam headlights. These very bright lights make it
difficult for oncoming drivers to see, and the glare may
reflect blindingly in the rear view mirror of vehicles you
are following.
Notice they say "may" offend drivers. I think that's the key to whether or not you'll get any attention. That plus the color. TN law says they can be amber or white but not blue. If the officer says you have to drive with the headlights off while using the fog lights, he's not telling you to operate your vehicle legally! I'd say let him write the ticket, then call his supervisor and find out why he's performing that kind of a poor service to the public, his career, and his fellow LEO's. I have no beef with the police - I just don't like having someone in authority stuffing crap like that down my throat.

I don't agree with it at all. I just wanted the OP to be aware of it before wiring them to be on all the time with the headlights.

When I got stopped for it was when I was younger. I seemed to get stopped for everything, but probley had to do with I was out late and they just wanted to see if I was doing anything wrong. I got pulled over 25 times in a 2 year period when I was 18-19. Got search 4 times. Every time I was stopped was for something different. Even got stopped for window tint and then he says I'm going to show you why I pulled you over. He pulls out a digital meter and sticks it on my window. The meter read the legal tint amount. Then he was like oh um well I guess it is OK and then let me go. I only got 1 ticket of those 25 times and it was for speeding 12 over.

I can't find the headlights relay :/

I can't find the headlights relay :/

You could try hot from parking lights connected to trigger on fog light relay

I don't get how i get to wire that connects to the relay??

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/560/img1610l.jpg

I see the block, I just don't know how to get to the wires or which wire is the trigger wire. I was also thinking the big group of wires in that see-thru case (on the right side) might have the wires to the relay but i don't know how to take it off!!! >:(

The bottom will show all the wires. You have to unbolt/clip the fuse block to get access the bottom. Only other way would be to connect a wire to the relay prong, but not sure I would do it that way, I don't think it would be a good connection.

Also when you get access to the wires get a test light so you can see how it works. find the different connections and see what they do with switch on and switch off. Just so you can make sure its wired like the model I showed you. Once you figure out which wire is the trigger you may want to cut that wire and tape it off on the car side.

This image is not for your car, but shows how the wires come out the bottom:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads10/FuseBlockBottom1178298303.jpg

Well I must of done something wrong... My AC stopped working, my gas gauge and engine tempature gauge is broken... I dont even know where to start.. I pulled out the purple wire which was connected to 85 in the relay. I put it back in the relay and now my fogs don't work anymore...

Well I must of done something wrong... My AC stopped working, my gas gauge and engine tempature gauge is broken... I dont even know where to start.. I pulled out the purple wire which was connected to 85 in the relay. I put it back in the relay and now my fogs don't work anymore...

:eek: that sucks. It sounds like you may have disconnected somehting else in the process of pulling the block out. You didn't need to pull the wire out of the block. just tap onto it. I would guess that your wire is not in all the way on the fogs. Check your fuses too. you may have grounded something.

Well got it all working now, thank you.


http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/297235_263978360300998_100000665096471_835261_1623 808356_n.jpg

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/313118_263978470300987_100000665096471_835263_9924 24976_n.jpg

You realize that having all six lights on at once is illegal due to federal regulations, right?

Just so you know if you get pulled over (truthfully, you may never get even a slap on the wrist about it - but eh. At least you DO need to know.)

RwP

I only have my low beams and fogs on, thats 4

I only have my low beams and fogs on, thats 4

Sorry, the pic made it look like the highs were on also.

RwP