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Fog Light Mod??

12K views 23 replies 10 participants last post by  heinrich848 
#1 ·
Hey guys, so I haven't seen another topic on the fog lamps that would help me with this. Any input on this would be appreciated.

15 Koup SX-T Halogen bulb w/LED Halo

So I want to mod the fog lights so that only the halo comes on when I use the multiswitch on the dash. I pulled out one of the lamps, unplugged the 2 prong connector and peeked inside and I see a board with a connector going to it. Red and Black from connector to power to board - Blue and Gray to power the Halogen bulb. Now if you take out the halogen bulb the LED goes out with it.. Meaning they are run in series. Tried a jumper wire from Blue to Gray with the bulb out and still no LED. That tells me the LEDs are using the resistance in the halogen to work. Resistance across the bulb is 00.2 OHMS.

Just figured out all of this today.. Tomorrow I'm going to stop at the local radioshack and pick up some resistors. Im not sure they are going to have one small enough.

I will continue, with this tomorrow!
 
#4 ·
Ok so I went to RadioShack today and got the smallest resistor I could find to match the ohms read across the halogen bulb to try and just run the resistor in line in place of the halogen bulb, it was a .47 ohm 5watt coil wire resistor. Took out the bulb and put the resistor in its place, the LEDs would turn on for a second then flicker out, resistor got HOT! to the touch which is was telling me it's not big enough...now I'm off to find another one or maybe get the same one and run 2. We shall see.

For those wondering I will be running the halogen bulbs off a seperate power wire with a switch to turn them on seperate. I will be posting pics and step by step if anyone wants to do this themselves.
 
#5 · (Edited)
It might be a better Idea to pull the housing apart and eliminate the series wiring. What ever you use for resistance will always get just as hot as that halogen bulb did. More than likely they have the circuit board ran in series using a resistor on the circuit board for voltage drop to get a 5-6 volts to power the LEDs. Pull it apart and then hook everything back up including the halogen and take a reading from one point where one wire attaches to where the second wire attaches to the circuit board and that is what is needed to power the LEDs (I have seen as little as 3 volts used in other cars). Then you just need to make a small voltage regulator (similar to a cell charger) to get the right voltage and hook it in parallel with the parking lights leaving the fogs on the regular switch and not affecting the canbus module that controls the lights.

Of course I should mention you will have to disconnect the wires from the circuit board and connect them together to separate the two then attach your new power source to the board.
 
#11 ·
I discovered this issue when I went to replace the Halogen fog light bulbs with LED's. LED replacement worked fine, but no LED Halo lights. Gave up and just put whiter Halogens in. Gets tougher and tougher to modify cars, even supposedly easy things like light bulbs.
 
#12 ·
OK.... I blew up my LEDs was messing around some more with resistors and ran 12V to them directly.... Which they only take 5.2V in case anyone was wondering. Disappointed..gonna go full on custom LEDs in the lamp.. To make life easier Im getting 12V DC LEDs lol.... will show pics of the build hehe..
 
#13 ·
Alright fellas I'm finally done!

I have a lot of hours wrapped up in these from the first post till now.

I used LED's that I ordered so it took a few days to get them.

If you do not want to do this yourself I am offering my services to do this for you for ABOUT $135 depending on shipping costs, the price will include the parts needed.
JUST SEND ME A PM

 
#14 · (Edited)
Wow great video and DIY. I worked with a couple of aftermarket fog lights with built in halo rings, but they used to have much easier connections. Fog light wires plug and play, and the halo only had positive and negative wires to be spliced to parking light power source. By the way, in case anyone needs, here is the instruction how to hook up the fog lights themselves.
 
#15 ·
Wow great video and DIY. I worked with a couple of aftermarket fog lights with built in halo rings, but they used to have much easier connections. Fog light wires plug and play, and the halo only had positive and negative wires to be spliced to parking light power source.
Thank you! Halo Rings wouldn't fit in these fogs with how the factory ring is. They step down all the way around to make the LEDs shine forward and the reflective has the holes in certain places where the LEDs sat on the ring. That's why you see when I was drilling the holes i had the reflective (painted mine black) on it to make sure they would line up perfectly.

This also gives anyone who wants to do this the opportunity to choose what color they want to use, even though doing them one by one and wiring them all together all 8 + and - wires for each individual bulb.

My original goal was to just make the LED ring work individually from the fog light itself, but the fog is using resistance from the board that powered the original LEDs to work. So running them separately and putting a switch on the LEDs was easier than trying to figure out how to get enough resistance to power the fog, and also trying to wire a separate switch for the LEDs.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Can I just remove the bulbs to get the ring only look? Can I remove the bulbs without pulling the bumper cover?
Yes, you can remove the bulb without removing the bumper cover; however, I am not sure how the circuit is built - if by a chance LED halo is not in line with light bulb. Cannot say for sure.

I would rather keep the light bulb in, just unplug the connector. Keep it sealed so that in future fogs will still work.
 
#20 ·
Someone else was able to pull it and just keep the led ring
access to the bulbs is easy, so why don't you simply try yourself?
 
#22 ·
Hi, trying to do this to mine too. I tried setting up the wiring without opening the light but something isn't working and now I need to open it up to test voltages output by the circuit board. I agree, the light does seem to be in series and somehow using the halogen bulb for resistance.

Today I've wired it up for the halogen to bypass the circuit board and connect to the internal interface directly. This way the fogs will still turn on from the original switch and input. For LED halos, I pulled out the leads that go into the circuit board, and fused together the leads that formerly were used to power fog lights. I was planning to wire this LED halo circuit into a relay tapped into the parking light or accessory circuit. I tried plugging in the fogs to the vehicle and they work just fine (on and off with the switch).

However, the LEDs don't work at all now even when testing it on external voltage. There is continuity on the LED halo circuit but whenever I hook it up to any voltage 12v, 5v, 3v, it immediately short circuits. Not sure what is happening so now I want to take apart the light to troubleshoot what is happening on the circuit board and see what voltage is actually being sent to the LEDs. I have a feeling the current continuity of the circuit is a primary loop that is suppose to send power to the fog light which I've fused the leads together. But the LED isn't working because it may be on a second parallel loop to the first loop, but it has been fried or voltage is not being regulated properly due to the missing fog light.

I just tried baking the light in the oven for 10 min at 160 degrees CELCIUS, I was aiming for your suggested 250 degrees FAHRENHEIT. but this was no where near hot enough to soften the sealant.

So my main questions are:

1) What temperature did you mean 250 FAHRENHEIT or 250 CELCIUS? I assume FAHRENHEIT since you're probably American.
2) Once it is hot enough, how do you pry it open? The housing assembly seems very weak and prying around any small lips seems like it will damage the plastic housing of the light.
3) What tools did you use for opening it?

Thanks in advance, Heinrich
 
#23 ·
1) What temperature did you mean 250 FAHRENHEIT or 250 CELCIUS? I assume FAHRENHEIT since you're probably American.
2) Once it is hot enough, how do you pry it open? The housing assembly seems very weak and prying around any small lips seems like it will damage the plastic housing of the light.
3) What tools did you use for opening it?

Thanks in advance, Heinrich
Yeah... that would be 250 F. Do not cook them :)
They are glued using some black, sticky glue. You need any flat blade tool. Screwdriver could work, but might damage the lens. Wear some gloves as the assembly will be hot. Take your time and slowly pry. If it is not coming off, put it for a bit longer.

So you start in one spot. Nothing specific. Then slowly go around. Again, take your time. Apply steady force in one spot and observe if the glue is giving up.

Preheat your oven for about 10 minutes first.
 
#24 ·
Just tried again to open the light. Heated it in the oven at around 250 fahrenheit for 30min and tried to pry on it but still won't budge. The glass was chipping before any sign of the sealant giving. Besides the 5 little clips around the light, and the sealant, is there anything else holding the glass to the housing? I can't see any screws or anything that attach the glass to the plastic. How do people open these lights?
 
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