Yet another light question!

ok, this is slightly confusing me.

I have an ES but no lights in the bottom of the plasticy spoiler bit at the front and i wanna put some in, cos the disco's basic lighting is terrible. BUT i'm confused about how i'm supposed to wire them.

Now, reading LRO mag a couple of months ago, it says that you wire it up to the dipped beam circuit. Ok, fair enough, i see loads of cars with these lower lamps on at the same time as the dipped.
But surely that means when i flash someone, the dipped ones go out don't they? So they'd cut out too, right.........
Or can i put the input to the relay on the main beam as well, but surely that'd blow the relay up. Unless i could get a dual input relay?(brain wave)
Or can i take the lower lights input from under the dash, if that stays on all the time maybe?

Can't seem to find the info anywhere, i've looked on RAVE (best i got was a black and white picture of the adaptor for the genuine ones that clips on behind the main lamp fittings) and Good old useless Haynes.

Any help would be great, as i can't see a bloody thing (no i'm not blind, no i'm NOT wearing my sunglasses, and yes the lights are aligned properly)

Metallicachick.

Disco headlights should be good! My td5 has the best headlights on any car I've owned, the higher trajectory sees to that. Suggest you fix the root cause and get better bulbs!

It's actually illegal to drive with front fog lights on, the highway code (rule 236) states "You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226) as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves."

The police will/can use this as an excuse to stop you (last winter a colleage was stopped an breathalyzed at christmas for driving with front fogs on).

These recesses in the lower bumper are for fog lamps, and yes it is an offence to use them unless in fog or falling snow.

My car has them fitted and i've tried then in foggy conditions an found them to be useless. Save your money and look to upgrade the bulbs already fitted to your headlamps.

Fair enough, alot of people must be risking themselves. i see drive around with bottom fogs on and only sidelights too, now i know thats wrong.

I've tried upgrading the lights, still think its terrible, not as good as some more modern NAS's.

I've ordered some with a beam pattern of driving lights that i'm gonna retro fit in. We'll have to see i guess. I'm sure if i get those aligned properly too i might be ok, suppose i best look further into it.

Cheers for the replys, anyone got any idea with the wiring of my intended setup?

i upgraded my bulbs and jobs a goodun!!

RAZ8550TDI said:

i upgraded my bulbs and jobs a goodun!!

Click to expand...

With?

I got the 'super brilliance' bulbs from Halfrauds, they helped a little i guess

With regards the legality of driving with front fogs on (whilst in good visibility): The police (in Edinburgh/Scotland) seem to use this as a reason to pull someone over whilst looking for alternate reasons (ie. breathylise, MOT/Tax check) rather than for the offence itself. If the driver then gets awkward then maybe it becomes an issue!

If you're a copper looking down a line of oncoming cars, it's the car that "stands out" (front fogs on, noisy exhaust, headlight bulb blown, etc etc) which will be the one that gets singled-out (plain logic?). That's what i would do (no, I'm not a copper!).

Better to whizz by without causing yourself to be singled-out?

Good point, i'll leave it.

In that case, would it be ok to use one switch in the cab for 2 sets of lights? going through relays i mean. or would this be too much load throught the switch? i can't see it being that bad.

I would have thaught that your ES should have the wiring in place all ready as, as far as I'm aware, the looms are all the same. My ES now has cruise control and all I had to do was buy the switch and column controller.

Dex said:

I would have thaught that your ES should have the wiring in place all ready as, as far as I'm aware, the looms are all the same. My ES now has cruise control and all I had to do was buy the switch and column controller.

Click to expand...

Well i thought that, but, looking on RAVE, theres a unit thats on the back of the headlamps, built in to the normal clip thing. And the wires run down through the holes in the car behind the lamps, but no fancy plug. Then again, there are some plugs we cant figure out what there for..... might have to get under with my DMM and press the fog button

Hi,

In reply to your thread I wired up driving lights on my A bar to a switch
on the dash,next to the electric mirror switch.

This uses a relay mounted in the engine bay & takes a feed from the dipped headlight supply so the the driving lights can only be switched on
when the headlights are on but are "independent" as they have their own
switch so that I can switch them on/off as I please.

Also about your connections at the rear of your headlights,mine has these
too but I've been informed that they are for motors used for electric headlight levelling which I dont have (if you have it you'll have another selector switch next to the mirrors switch with positons 0 to 3 I think).

Cheers............Kertir.

kertir said:

Hi,

In reply to your thread I wired up driving lights on my A bar to a switch
on the dash,next to the electric mirror switch.

This uses a relay mounted in the engine bay & takes a feed from the dipped headlight supply so the the driving lights can only be switched on
when the headlights are on but are "independent" as they have their own
switch so that I can switch them on/off as I please.

Also about your connections at the rear of your headlights,mine has these
too but I've been informed that they are for motors used for electric headlight levelling which I dont have (if you have it you'll have another selector switch next to the mirrors switch with positons 0 to 3 I think).

Cheers............Kertir.

Click to expand...

yep I did the same but to the highbeam feed. Fogs should be wired to dipped beam.

There is usually(??!!) wiring in the loom already (on an ES) for both front fogs AND driving lamps (the type most people have infront of the rad on the bumper).

The driving lamps come on with the MAIN beam.

thebiglad said:

The driving lamps come on with the MAIN beam.

Click to expand...

Yep but I'm amazed how many people have their fogs wired to the mainbeam, and their driving lamps wired to dipped beam.

Yeh i've got some spots on the main beam, and some fogs on a switch in the dash, but its linked to the side lights (easier to splice at the time but its used the same way).

Oh and the roof bar......

Just a question, if you pull your flasher and lock it, does the dipped voltage drop completely? Cos i thought then if it does, any extra lights attached to the dipped beam would shut off, if i'm correct in thinking.

All discos from 96 have the wiring in place for the front fogs,I know this because I fitted the original kit off ebay,the connectors are behind the headlights.The switch wiring is taped up behind the speedo binnacle.

So did you pay £65 each per light like the only one i've ever found?

And mines a 94'

Then you don't have the wiring there it was a genuine ebay bargain,the whole lot including apron £89