Control Additional Lights with High Beams…Solution Finally?

[Nibroc99]

Not sure how much longer I can keep up this whole “turn AUX1 switch on to get big boi lights to run with the brights” nonsense…

It's working fine for me! Think I have enough lights?

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[SierraBronco]

It's working fine for me! Think I have enough lights?

You say that now. Wait until your right shoulder looks disproportionate from all the days of lifting it one extra rep with no weight compared to the left arm.

And no. Need moar.

 

[Nibroc99]

You say that now. Wait until your right shoulder looks disproportionate from all the days of lifting it one extra rep with no weight compared to the left arm.

And no. Need moar.

That's just the thing - I'm balancing out my left shoulder by waving a peace sign with it so often when seeing other Bronco owners around. It all evens out!!

 

[cbrenthus]

I read the whole thread and think I have an idea that hasn't been mentioned. I don't want a canbus reader, I just want to use old fashioned 12V and relays. I want the driving lights to come on with highs, which has been figured out in here, but I want fogs to stay on, which I don't think has been figured out without the canbus reader, but I have an idea...

1. Don't enable "bambi" mode.

2. Wire up the relay method discussed in here, where when the parking light 12V is on and the 12V for fog light is off, the driving lights turn on.
2a. Tap into parking light wire
2b. Cut the wire for the fog lights - I wouldn't cut the ford wire harness, but I have adapters that plug into the factory fog light plugs and will cut the wire after that.

3. Put a diode on the fog 12V, tap into the fog 12V prior to the diode as your signal, and then run 12V from the driving light 12V to the fog 12V downstream of the diode to the fogs.

Hope the above makes sense, I'll try to draw it up soon. This will result in the driving lights and fogs being on anytime the parking lights are on and fog lights switch turned off, though, but if you turn the fogs on then the fogs will be on but the driving lights will turn off. I always have my fogs turned on so it should work perfectly.

My only concern is that the fogs will blink when the highs come on, but maybe I can add a capacitor or something if that happens.

 

[Nibroc99]

I read the whole thread and think I have an idea that hasn't been mentioned. I don't want a canbus reader, I just want to use old fashioned 12V and relays. I want the driving lights to come on with highs, which has been figured out in here, but I want fogs to stay on, which I don't think has been figured out without the canbus reader, but I have an idea...

1. Don't enable "bambi" mode.

2. Wire up the relay method discussed in here, where when the parking light 12V is on and the 12V for fog light is off, the driving lights turn on.
2a. Tap into parking light wire
2b. Cut the wire for the fog lights - I wouldn't cut the ford wire harness, but I have adapters that plug into the factory fog light plugs and will cut the wire after that.

3. Put a diode on the fog 12V, tap into the fog 12V prior to the diode as your signal, and then run 12V from the driving light 12V to the fog 12V downstream of the diode to the fogs.

Hope the above makes sense, I'll try to draw it up soon. This will result in the driving lights and fogs being on anytime the parking lights are on and fog lights switch turned off, though, but if you turn the fogs on then the fogs will be on but the driving lights will turn off. I always have my fogs turned on so it should work perfectly.

My only concern is that the fogs will blink when the highs come on, but maybe I can add a capacitor or something if that happens.

Totally makes sense. You'd basically be using a 2-way relay but instead of the fogs being powered by the BCM or whatever, you'd use the factory fog light power as the signal to the relay, and then you'd power the fogs with both outputs of the relay with a diode to block backflow. Very clever! Me likey!

 

[cbrenthus]

Totally makes sense. You'd basically be using a 2-way relay but instead of the fogs being powered by the BCM or whatever, you'd use the factory fog light power as the signal to the relay, and then you'd power the fogs with both outputs of the relay with a diode to block backflow. Very clever! Me likey!

Yep, I decided to go ahead and do a quick drawing and realized I need 2 relays if I don't want to use an aux switch. Unless, there is a single relay that can accomplish this that I'm not aware of, but here is my crude visio drawing:

 

[Nibroc99]

Yep, I decided to go ahead and do a quick drawing and realized I need 2 relays if I don't want to use an aux switch. Unless, there is a single relay that can accomplish this that I'm not aware of, but here is my crude visio drawing:

I'm not sure that I understand the need for two relays. If the trigger for the driving lights is when the fog light signal turns off, you can just power the fog lights from 87A as well as 87, with a diode between the fog and driving lights so that 87 doesn't backfeed into 87A. This takes the parking lights out of the equation, and the Bronco fog light harness wouldn't even power anything other than the trigger for the one relay. Much simpler circuit too!

 

[Nibroc99]

Yep, I decided to go ahead and do a quick drawing and realized I need 2 relays if I don't want to use an aux switch. Unless, there is a single relay that can accomplish this that I'm not aware of, but here is my crude visio drawing:

EDIT: I switched the trigger and power inputs by accident oopsy. Fixed now. I might have 87A and 87 flipped but you get the idea haha.
Here's an even cruder schematic I made in Adobe Illustrator. lol

 

[cbrenthus]

I'm not sure that I understand the need for two relays. If the trigger for the driving lights is when the fog light signal turns off, you can just power the fog lights from 87A as well as 87, with a diode between the fog and driving lights so that 87 doesn't backfeed into 87A. This takes the parking lights out of the equation, and the Bronco fog light harness wouldn't even power anything other than the trigger for the one relay. Much simpler circuit too!

This would be correct if only using a positive signal and 87. For instance, I had a silverado that came with no fogs so I simply tapped into the parking lights for 86 and the battery for 30. But because in this case we are powering something when the signal is low, you can't wire 30 direct to the battery or 87A will be on all the time. So to do a single relay, you have to use an AUX switch input with enough amps to power the max current of 87 and 87A.

Or, in my case, since I don't want to use an AUX switch, I'm using the second relay in place of a switch to power the fog and driving light circuit.

EDIT: I switched the trigger and power inputs by accident oopsy. Fixed now. I might have 87A and 87 flipped but you get the idea haha.
Here's an even cruder schematic I made in Adobe Illustrator. lol

In the diagram, if the vehicle is off but 30 is direct to the battery, the driving lights will be on

 

[cbrenthus]

To throw another wrench in the gears, I'm going with a 3 light pod set in the bumper - amber fogs, white fogs, and white driving lights. I'm thinking I'd like to use an AUX for the amber, but shut off the whites when the amber is on. But I'd also like the ambers to only be on with the parking lights, this is how I imagine it would work if it was factory

So, this gets a bit complex, but here is an updated drawing including the ambers. NOT SHOWN: I would have to use a fourth relay to supply battery power to the amber fog relay instead of wiring the parking lamp 12V direct to 30, but I'm running out of room in my diagram.

I'm also thinking it might be nice to have control over the lights, so maybe AUX 1 enables the whites, and AUX 2 enables the ambers, and I can run either, all, or none. Here is what that would look like, simpler and gives me more control so I like it:

In this case, I have control over which lights come on, but they only come on when the parking lights are on and the engine is on. Whatever config I leave it in will stay for the next time I turn the lights on.

EDIT: This last scenario also supplies power from the AUX switches to the relays instead of direct from the battery, which is also nice.

 

[cbrenthus]

It just hit me that with my last diagram, if both AUX switches are off, then the white fogs will work as they came from the factory! So I can even pass inspection without doing anything!

 

[Nibroc99]

This would be correct if only using a positive signal and 87. For instance, I had a silverado that came with no fogs so I simply tapped into the parking lights for 86 and the battery for 30. But because in this case we are powering something when the signal is low, you can't wire 30 direct to the battery or 87A will be on all the time. So to do a single relay, you have to use an AUX switch input with enough amps to power the max current of 87 and 87A.

Or, in my case, since I don't want to use an AUX switch, I'm using the second relay in place of a switch to power the fog and driving light circuit.



In the diagram, if the vehicle is off but 30 is direct to the battery, the driving lights will be on

Ah I gotcha, I figured you would just wire the positive to a fuse that's powered with ignition - something that the aux switches are already wired for (they turn off with the ignition).

It just hit me that with my last diagram, if both AUX switches are off, then the white fogs will work as they came from the factory! So I can even pass inspection without doing anything!

Are fog lights actually part of your annual vehicle inspection? They aren't in MA, very odd!

In any case, it sounds like you're set on your path, so good luck with everythign and let us know how it works out when you're done! Would love to see a video of the final assembly showing how all your switches work together! Cool stuff dude.

 

[cbrenthus]

Are fog lights actually part of your annual vehicle inspection? They aren't in MA, very odd!

Technically they are supposed to check that the fogs go off with the highs in PA, but I don't know if everyone does that.


I made a matrix of how this plan should work with all the possible light combinations, and, as noted above, bambi mode needs to be disabled:

Scenario 2 is good for inspection.

Scenario 3 is what I'll probably run 90% of the time

Scenario 4 could be fun for show and maybe dark trails

Scenario 5 maybe for neighborhoods to keep it dim with lows, but if I need highs it will be super bright

Scenario 6 could be good for patchy rain / snow / fog where you might toggle from just lows and ambers for visibility, but when clear hit everything on highs

Scenario 7 for heavy snow / rain / fog but I would imagine in this scenario I'd probably never hit the highs anyway, so would probably use scenario 6 most of the time

*The driving lights can never be one without the highs and fogs also on.

 

[SierraBronco]

*The driving lights can never be one without the highs and fogs also on.

I’ve never understood wanting driving lights on without the highbeams. Talking specifically about the super bright, daylight colored lights. The confusion is not applicable to ambers or fogs. If I’m wanting the power of the sun to be emitted from the front of my vehicle, why not also use the brights to help assist with that?

 

[cbrenthus]

I’ve never understood wanting driving lights on without the highbeams. Talking specifically about the super bright, daylight colored lights. The confusion is not applicable to ambers or fogs. If I’m wanting the power of the sun to be emitted from the front of my vehicle, why not also use the brights to help assist with that?

exactly, if I wanted to have them on without the highs, I could use an AUX switch and a diode on the power coming out of the relay to turn them on whenever I want, but I agree that I would never want them on without highbeams

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