FordFan24

Can you wire up gt foglights up to your low beams without running into problems? A guy at a local hardware store gave me speaker wire, wire nuts, and electrical tape for a simple splice install.

I want to know if it will have issues doing it this way. As you can see the car did not originally have them, but with the issue from the pic I found a cheaper option to go with a different setup. I hadn't planned on this, but I'm certainly happy with it since it was a DIY installed using screwdrivers, 10mm sockets, and 7/32 sockets. The only issue is the foglights aren't active which is why I wanted to easily tie them into the low beams, however I don't know if this will cause any issues so I wanted to ask first.




I'm also selling the original bumper + grille for $200.00

Nuke

If I understand you correctly, you want to run your fog lights off the same circuit as your low beams by paralleling off the low beam circuit.

I wouldn't unless you are positive that the wiring, fuse(s) and relay for the low beams can handle double the amperage that they are currently handling (since both the low beams and fog lights are each rated 55 watts). You'll be adding 110 watts; nearly 10 amps; to the existing circuit. I'll put money that it can't handle it and you'll smoke more than one part of the circuit.

Starkey Products

I think you'll find the money that you save could cost you money in the long run.

Speaker wire is usable, but for a variety of reasons (gauge, insulation type, metal purity, etc) it really is not ideal for this type of thing. Wire nuts are a bad idea. They are meant for solid core wiring that is used in building electrical, not for automotive. The vibration inside the vehicle will eventually cause the wire nuts to come loose. If you need to splice into the factory wiring, use automotive wire taps if you don't want to solder connections.

If you are going to tap into the low beams, I would suggest creating a simple harness with a relay so you don't overload the factory electrical. Tapping into an existing circuit like the low beams can be done, but its really not a good idea. We get calls all the time from people that wired the lights themselves to save money and ended up running into trouble so you have to be very careful.

I am not at all saying it cannot be done DIY, but the person doing it needs to understand the way these newer electrical systems operate. Things just aren't as easy as they used to be...


For what its worth, I just looked and we have one refurbished 05-09 harness for $49 bucks on our website. Still caries the full warranty and new these cost $100. All you would need then is an OEM headlight/ fog light switch which is $70 from us.
http://www.starkey-products.com/v6-m...09-refurbished

Hope this helps!
Jason

FordFan24

Hi guys, thanks for your response to this

So we tried hooking up the foglights together using a simple splice method of both foglights bridged together into the right headlight low beam wire and a ground.

The results were...
The right headlight and both foglights would kick off 2-3 seconds later. When the foglights are removed from the equation the right headlight works as usual. When the bridged wire of both foglights is connected to the right light they light shuts off completely and not even playing with the normal headlight switch can bring it back online. The only way to make that right headlight come back on is to start the car up with a key. However removing the foglights it works as normal with no issues.

One of my buddies who is a certified auto mechanic told me that ford's wiring is setup a certain way to shutdown before it has a failure. Its why ford uses 22-24 gauge wire.
He told me I'd have to run the lights in parallel and that each light would need 1.5v, but it also has to share the other electronics out of the 12v, so a relay is a must! He also said that due to the way ford sets up the wiring and gauge to handle loads its not possible to have this running without issues unless you use a relay + an additional switch for the foglights themselves.

I went to O-Reilly's and bought a cheap foglight wiring kit that had a switch, a 4 prong relay, and all the needed wires.