Has anyone here figured out how to run the fogs seperately from the headlights yet? If it's possible, i was thinking about replacing just the stock bulbs with a HID kit. hehe. I think that will be really nice. Stock look with the brightness of HID and i can actually use the lights without the headlights.

 

depending on what state law is in your state they can only be on if your low beems are on. In PA that is the case. I wanted them on a seperate switch but I wouldn't pass inspection.

 

Even in actual heavy fog? Aren't fog lights only supposed to work when they are on by themselves? If you have lowbeams on, it will reflect back in your face. Thus defeating the purpose of the lights right? Or so i thought...
I'm in Georgia. I dont plan to run the fogs except when there's actually fog. This one time the fog was so heavy the usual street that was filled with lights was dark until i actually got within 3 feet of the lights. My 4runner at the time had fogs, running them with the lowbeams in the fogs were useless.

I dont even have to have the fogs on a seperate switch. Just as long as i can operate them seperately i would actually prefer to use the stock switch.

 

Bump?

 

In every case I've seen, fogs always run with the Headlights, even though I've seen other cars where they run independently, but I thought those might be called driving lights.

As far as how fogs are supposed to work, using them in conjunction with low beams is correct. The low beams are at such an angle as to be sufficient. The fogs alone would not be sufficent as they don't provide enough light; they only augment light to the edge of the road.

To be honest, the correct fog light would be more yellow in color. The whiter the light, the more reflection you would get back.

 

If you wire them yourself it should be pretty easy... I did it on my last car. I mean, just wire the fogs to a separte switch. Now if you want to use the stalk that comes with the OEM fogs... that's a little more difficult.

Otherwise its just a simple circuit... fogs>battery>switch. Or you can use an add a circuit to wire into your fuse box so you can't turn then on without the car being on. Although in the past I wanted to be able to have them on without the key so I just wired them straight to the battery.

 

Just got to be careful doing it this way b/c the reason a relay is put in between the switch and battery is to protect high voltage coming through the switch. I would recommend using a relay in between even if you do a custom switch.

 

Oh yeah... and like two in wire fuses. At least that's what I had. Probably unnecessary but better safe then sorry

 

You're sure about that they are supposed to be run together with the low beams? Can anyone confirm this? I've always thought they were supposed to run seperately and that on OEM cars they run them together because the fogs mostly are for cosmetics.
I have run into some serious fog before to where i cuold barely see out in front of me. Scared me quite a bit actually. What i want to do is get the OEM fog kit so that everything is integrated. But i will just get a H11 HID kit and yellow lenses or bulb to replace the OEM. Do you think that will be enough light? lol

Think that'll work? If i can only confirm that the fogs indeed need to be on together with the lowbeams, then i could use the stock switch on the light stalk.

Which way do real fog lights work best? I know you aren't supposed to use high beams. I tried that one time. Almost blinded me.

 

Fogs are suppose to be run with low beams and never high beams. Also if you replace the fog lights with hid kits you technically lose the functionality of the fog lights. Fog lights are somewhat cosmetic, but they're really suppose to help when its raining, snowing, or foggy. How it works is that with Hids and high beams, the particles in the air reflect the light back at you making your lights useless, fog lights emit a low light towards the floor hence minimizing the reflection. Since they're not that bright they don't provide a far distance, but considering that when you do need to use the fog lights, its in conditions where you shouldn't be going over 30-50 depending on what your in.