Northern 7

iTrader: (3)

Can anyone out there help me an electrical idiot with wiring up fog lights? The lights didn't come with any switches or wiring so I had to go out a buy everything seperately. So I have the lights, power, and ground wired up to the relay but I'm having problems with the switch. Only one wire runs from the replay to the switch - from there i am lost. What else wires up to the switch other than the trigger wire and how do you do it? What kind of switch do I need? This is an SE if it matters and what I'd like to do is just get them working either off a switch or my park lights - Help would be much appreciated - any please.... in detail if you have the time

enigma32

A SPST (single-pole, single-throw) switch should do what you need. It'll have two electrical terminals.

One terminal (doesn't matter which one) goes to power (e.g., the battery) and the other goes to what you're switching on and off (Sounds like this would be a relay?)

edit:
I should, of course, point out that if you have a DPST switch it would be easy to make it work as well. (Or even a SPDT or DPDT, although the switch would have more than just 'on' and 'off' positions)

Northern 7

iTrader: (3)

So I have power to the relay and the switch?

enigma32

Well, power goes through the relay to the fog lamps,
And power goes to the relay to activate it.

The two pins that probably have a coil symbol next to them are the ones that should be hooked up to the switch and ground.

The other pins are used for the hot coming from the battery and then out to the lights.

Do you have pics or a model number from the relay?

Northern 7

iTrader: (3)

Well the relay is a 5 pin - one for power, one ground, one to trigger the switch and 2 for the lamps (one for each lamp). The trigger wire is fed through the fire wall. What I now have for a switch is push/pull illuminated (3 prongs although I don't know which is which and what goes to each prong.) I guess what you're saying is I run the trigger wire to one prong and find a power wire for the other - the third is probably a ground. I'd like to use the park lights (side markers) power wire if I knew where it was (color code??) - if not, I'll just look for a hot wire - would that work or is there a better way?
thanks

enigma32

Ahh, I see.

What you're suggesting will work, just make sure you crimp your hots well and double check which pins on the switch are supposed to go where--- If you hook a hot and ground up to the switched pins and press the switch you could be seeing some nice sparks =)

Pedestrian X

splice the power and run it throught the switch
power--------| |--------lights | | = switch? im not expert by any means, but i hope that helps.

Matty's first 1st Gen

what do you guys use for the switched positive terminal, right now i use the fuse box, but i find it drains too much power from everything else.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

Okay, dig it... I drew ya a diagram...

You say the foglights take too much power from the fusebox... **** that, suck it from the battery... But you loose power over the distance of wire and foglights should use a fairly thick wire... 8 gauge or so should suffice. Hard to get that thick wire all the way into the apssenger compartment and back out.

The low power flows through the switch and triggers the relay... The relay activates the high power circuit for the lights... by power, I mean Amperage... Think of it this way...

Electricity is like water... It flows... Voltage is like pressure... You can have 12 psi of water in a straw, garden hose, or huge *** sewer pipe... Amperage is like volume... you can shoot that 12 psi of water into a cup from a straw, or you can fill a swimming pool from the huge *** sewer pipe.

You try and pump water through a straw to fill a pool and you'll have some problems... There is no problem with filling a cup with a sewer pipe though.

Thick wire handles more amps... It's all the same voltage... Besides, you dont have to worry about voltage gettign too high for your wire till you hit about 600v... And if that's in your car, You've got other problems. The foglights take over 5 amps a piece... but the relay takes less than half an amp.

Anywhozer... Dig it: