DRL-Fog Light Hack

[redciv1]

So, I was thinking if the city/parking lights can be used the same way? Haven't checked to see if there is a relay for city/parking lamps, does anyone know?

[particlewave]

No relay and they aren't very bright.

[redciv1]

Boo, thanks Particle!!!

[redciv1]

BTW, if no fuse taps then you can easily take 16-18g wire, strip both ends and then wrap one end around one blade of the fuse and then take the other end and wrap around the 86 relay terminal. This is the way I have mine setup.

[Anker]

Originally Posted by redciv1

BTW, if no fuse taps then you can easily take 16-18g wire, strip both ends and then wrap one end around one blade of the fuse and then take the other end and wrap around the 86 relay terminal. This is the way I have mine setup.

Not a good idea. If you make the connection on one fuse leg the fog leg connection will be unfused and if do it on the other the fuse risks being overloaded when you turn the headlights on. Good fuse taps have a fuse on the tap. They are inexpensive and easy to order from Amazon.

[pilut2]

My car must be unique. No DRL fog light hack needed. I replaced my fog light bulbs with led's and just leave my fog lights switched on. They turn on when the key is turned on, and off when the car is shut off. They also switch off when my high beams are on.

[JayG]

Originally Posted by pilut2

My car must be unique. No DRL fog light hack needed. I replaced my fog light bulbs with led's and just leave my fog lights switched on. They turn on when the key is turned on, and off when the car is shut off. They also switch off when my high beams are on.

In Canada, the cars have DRL from the factory

[pilut2]

Originally Posted by JayG

In Canada, the cars have DRL from the factory

Mine is a US car- I purchased it in North Carolina. No DRL's. I am just leaving my fog lights turned on.

[redciv1]

Originally Posted by Anker

Not a good idea. If you make the connection on one fuse leg the fog leg connection will be unfused and if do it on the other the fuse risks being overloaded when you turn the headlights on. Good fuse taps have a fuse on the tap. They are inexpensive and easy to order from Amazon.

Good info Anker

[redciv1]

I just did this hack and purchased 2 LED H7s. I was adjusting my headlights after a HID projector retrofit and noticed after about 20 minutes and the car on in the garage, that my LED bulbs begin to flash alternately. I'm pretty sure that means I need a capacitor on each LED, but was wondering because other than one post in March of this year, I didn't see anyone speaking of this. Decided to undo the hack and put regular halogens back in for fogs.

[BruceH]

I finally got around to doing mine. I bought the fuse taps at Autozone for all of $1.99, I already had some wire. I have no idea why it took me so long, it works great!

[particlewave]

Looks great with those headlights, Bruce!
I've gotta say, with all of the headlights that I built, I've always liked the look of yours the best. They're so clear and clean, and go really well with your car color.

[BruceH]

Originally Posted by particlewave

Looks great with those headlights, Bruce!
I've gotta say, with all of the headlights that I built, I've always liked the look of yours the best. They're so clear and clean, and go really well with your car color.

Thanks Charles! I'm very happy as well, you and Fred make a great team

[BruceH]

Some more pics

[Anker]

I have the fog light/DRL hack installed.

You should be aware that in many places the DRL is supposed to turn off when the flasher is turned on if there is less than a certain distance between them. I believe this applies to all US cars.

[Oldcarguy]

Did the DRL/foglight hack today with OPT7 H7 CREE LED Fog Light Bulbs and a toggle on/off switch. Very happy with the result. Some specific items:

- trimmed the hook off of the fuse tap that I used on relay post 86. Rounded the corners of the tap end and fine sanded lightly to ensure a smooth blade, re-bent to fit the relay body and taped the tap to the relay body. Goes in and out like butter and less likely to snag on or distort the relay socket

- used a dual fuse tap on A7 to get power. This insures both the original and new circuits are fused correctly. The fuse tap 'just' fits under the fuse box cover due to A7 being under the 'finger indent'. The cover still snaps securely into place.

- used a 25A toggle switch mounted to the foot well relay shield with 3M Dual Lock Reclosable Fastener TB3550 so that I could have on/off control of the DRLs when I want it. 25A is overkill with the LEDs, but I wanted the switch to have the same capacity as the circuit.

- used insulated blade connectors for all connections.

Here's a couple of pics (the other fuse tap is for my Valentine 1 and BluTrznlt bluetooth):





I hope this helps to stop the zombies from pulling out in front of me.

[BruceH]

I did mine a few months ago, I don’t know why I waited so long! Easy and it looks great! Sorry though, it doesn’t stop all of the zombies

[Oldcarguy]

Just a quick clarification regarding the ‘OPT7 H7 CREE LED Fog Light Bulbs’ I used to convert my fog lights to DRLs in my earlier post.

The OPT7s seem to be great daytime DRLs but they are terrible fog lights. In fact, IMHO they render the fog light function worthless due to light scatter and they should not be used at night for the same reason (they could blind oncoming drivers). That’s one of the main reasons I installed the on-off switch.

Not a concern for me because my 986 is a fair weather car driven mostly during the day, but could be a major consideration for others.

[soxfan1966]

I got some LED bulbs for my fog lights and already have them installed.

From reading this thread, it looks like there are two ways of doing this.

One is the fuse tap and the other is the wire tap on the two wires coming off the switch.

Do both work on US cars? And are they basically the same thing?

Is there any advantage to either one?

I was leaning towards the wire tap version, but since it's raining here today I want to hold off. So figured it was a good time to start?

[savinor]

I developed the fuse tap and have not looked at the other approach. This mod. is specific to the Boxster. Other vehicle wiring will likely be different.