Driving Lights

[HMeeder]

The earlier post about fog lights brings me to a few questions that I hope to get answered. I changed in my fogs for a pair of H3 driving lights.

1. I rewired my '72 according to this old post that describes the procedure so that the driving lights stay on whenever the ignition is on.

914 FOG LIGHT CONVERSION 1970-1974

Many of us 914 owners have wished our U.S. fog lights worked all of the time and not just with the low beams. Well it's not as hard as you think! You will need only basic hand tools and a few assorted solderless connectors.

First: Disconnect the negative side of the battery.

Second: Remove the fuse cover, remove the mounting screws and pull down the fuse block and let it hang.

Third: Remove the headlamp, fog and hazard switches from their dash mounted locations and let them hang down with the fuse block.

Fourth: Take the headlamp switch and look for a black wire w/blue stripe that is plugged into the #56 terminal, there will also be a grey wire and a red wire w/white stripe all connected together, carefully cut the black wire w/blue stripe as close to the end as possible leaving no part of the wire exposed. Install a piggy-back spade connector.

Fifth: Locate the #15 terminal on the headlamp switch and pull remove the connector then plug in the black wire w/blue stripe and then piggyback the connector that was just there.

Sixth: Now find the white wire w/blue stripe going to the #1 fuse, this wire is coming from the #85 terminal of the fog light relay (round black relay, far left on fuse block). Be certain you have selected the correct wire (white wire w/blue stripe) you are about to cut at the #1 fuse (just as you did before), cut it and find a solderless connector to fit the ground connection located at the upper left side of the fuse block mount. You will see a group of brown wires held down by a 10mm nut. Remove the nut and add the white wire w/blue stripe. You may need to add a 2 to 3 inch piece of wire so it will reach the ground connection. Be sure to tighten this ground connection.

Seventh: Reinstall the three switches and fuse block in reverse order making sure not to pinch any wires when tightening up the fuse block. Now connect the negative battery cable to the battery.

Eight: To test--turn the ignition switch to the "ON" position and turn on the fog lights. You may now enjoy your fog lights any time the ignition is on.

Problem: The lights still go out when High Beams are engaged. though they do work when the lights are off. Great for using them as daytime running lights in inclement weather.

2. My '74s fogs were re-wired by the PO and do stay on all the time. When I pulled the fuse block to see how he did it I found that the relay seems to have been bypassed and the switch was simply wired straight to the block (the white and blue wire and the white and red wire were both cut and it looks like hot juice is run from the fuse block, through the switch and then on down to the fogs.) Is this dangerous? Or is it a perfectly valid way to accomplish what I want to do in the first place?

Thanks and sorry for the long post. Perhaps someone can use the conversion instructions!



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Herb

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

It's not a really good idea to have all that juice running directly through the foglight switch. That tends to put more stress on the internals of the switch, and can lead to premature failure.

You can try to feel the body of the switch (the part with the electrical stuff in it) after the lights have been on for a while. If it is warm to the touch, you should consider re-wiring things so you use the relay. If it is HOT, you should definitely go with the relay.

In the other fog light post, I put up a link to an article on the fog light conversion. It looks like it takes the high-beam signal out of the fog light circuit.

--DD

[campbellcj]

I recently rewired my driving lights to come on with the highbeams and go off with the lowbeams by simply moving the control lead for the relay to the opposite fuse block. I'm sure the article posted by DD illustrates how to go about this -- it only took a few minutes & no cutting/crimping/soldering.

[HMeeder]

Thanks Gentleman!

Exactly what I was looking for. It looks like the diagram in that link bypasses the light switch completely yet keeps the relay. It appears that the lights would stay on regardless of high/low beam position, and when lights aren't on at all, which is what I want I'll also check the switch in the other car for heating and rewire if necessary.

Motor On!

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Herb