"How To" Relocate DRLs To Fogs

[Ryda55555]

First of all i would like to thank and give all credit to JimmyJam for all the info i'm about to share and also for his really fast responses to my PMs, without him i'd still be scratching my head at the thought of doing a DRL Relocation.

This Mod will change your DRLs (lows) and perimeter lights to your Fog Lamps during the day but will activate lows (in my case HIDs) at night when all the other lights come on (dash lights, plate lights etc.)

(Things to consider)
Fogs do not turn off when lows come on at night, instead they stay on all the time
Only time they do turn off is when high beams are activated (lows and highs will be on together)
Fog lamp button on dash is useless and will no longer function (could wire something else to it though)
Fog Lamp indicator light on dash will always be on and headlight indicator light will come on when lows come on.

Difficulty:Easy (I'm a complete noob at electrical stuff but all you need to do is follow the colors)
Estimated Time To Complete:30Mins-1Hour including cleanup

Things you will need:
-Wire cutters/strippers
-crimps, solder, electrical tape or whatever you want to use to secure wire connections
-capacitor (i used the same one from my cap mod 10UF/50V)
-relay (any automotive relay works, i used the one from my HID relay kit)
-size 18 deep socket for the ground screw under the chair
-a drawn/printed diagram helps A LOT

You will be doing this mod in the rear fuse box (driver side)
connector 1 is the bottom one closest to the floor and connector 2 is the top one
The numbers (30,85,86,87) are all from the relay and are also labelled on the relay

Directions:
-splice pink (connector 2) and add (86) from the relay
-pink and white from connector side (connector 1) cut and attach to body side dark green and white (connector 2) and positive from capacitor
-dark green and white from connector left alone (this is the fog light button on the dash if you want to add something to it)
-(87) from relay attached to body side pink and white
-(85) hooks up to +12V (big red wire)
-(30) attaches to ground with capacitor

This Diagram is pretty much all the info you need to complete the mod

View attachment 28431

I attached a washer to the capacitor and relay ground by wrapping the stripped ends around a couple of times and then tightening it down with the size 18 deep socket

View attachment 28432

This is what it looks like when the sensor activates the lows

View attachment 28434

When the high beams are activated

View attachment 28435

And what the switches look like with lows activated

View attachment 28433

Happy Modding!

 

[DDonnie]

Nice!

 

[CdnGMan]

Nicely done dude...

 

[Ryda55555]

Nicely done dude...

Now you can install the HIDs and not worry about them burning out or running 100%

 

[CdnGMan]

Now you can install the HIDs and not worry about them burning out or running 100%

Will it still work since I'm running the 6-high mod?

 

[Ryda55555]

Thats a good question... Lol
What it does right now is have lows and fogs on with no highs
And when highs activate the fogs turn off

There's definitely a way to wire it up for 6 high mod though

 

[BINGA]

Nice work Ryda! I like how we were discussing it in the other thread, and then you took the initiative to dive in and tackle it. It looks good and it's exactly what I want to do as well. Now I'm gonna have to get off my butt and do it too! That's one thing I like about this site so much, is that those that know how encourage others to do it and are ready and willing to help in any way. Nice work Ryda and JimmyJam

 

[newfie6719]

Will it still work since I'm running the 6-high mod?

was going to ask the same ? got the 6 mod now.

 

[Ryda55555]

was going to ask the same ? got the 6 mod now.

I wish i could help out with this one, i know its the 4 mod right now.
I'll try and reasearch it and figure it out for all of you

 

[Black-n-Yellow]

Does this method send 100% power to the fogs, or is it sending 70% based on it thinking they're the DRLs?
Once I feel I understand your instructions well enough to try it (still scared lol) - I think maybe I should also talk myself into getting a set of 3000k HIDs for the fogs instead of just getting the low beams- but obviously not if the fogs only get 70%. Ryda, your pic there kind of looks like you may have 3000k in your fogs, do you?

Also Ryda, would you happen to be able to post a pic of yours with just the DRLs running? Would love to see this in action, like at dusk just before the sensor kicks on your lowbeams !

 

[Ryda55555]

Does this method send 100% power to the fogs, or is it sending 70% based on it thinking they're the DRLs?
Once I feel I understand your instructions well enough to try it (still scared lol) - I think maybe I should also talk myself into getting a set of 3000k HIDs for the fogs instead of just getting the low beams- but obviously not if the fogs only get 70%. Ryda, your pic there kind of looks like you may have 3000k in your fogs, do you?

Also Ryda, would you happen to be able to post a pic of yours with just the DRLs running? Would love to see this in action, like at dusk just before the sensor kicks on your lowbeams !

The capacitor makes the truck send 100% to the fogs all the time.
I just bought 2500k hyper yellow lightbulbs for like $20 at a flea market
I'll post a pic later tonight for you
It scared me at first doing the wiring but as soon as you get in there its really easy

 

[Ryda55555]

Here you go, its not the best pic and its not really in the dark but if you want a better pic lemme know

 

[Black-n-Yellow]

thanks for doing that--- looks pretty sweet, and i'm impressed that those fogs are just a bulb swap and not an addition HID conversion.
your pic did however confirm something I was wondering about with this mod. I was hoping that when the fogs came on as DRLs the parking lights would come on too since they are normally on when fog lights are on.

still scared despite becoming more convinced that I really want to do this. the fear is coming from feeling dumb about not really understanding what i'm doing. splicing and crimping wires doesn't bother me really, its moreso that i don't have much of an understanding of capacitors and relays.

given that I don't already have a cap laying around like you did from a previous mod, nor an extra relay.... what exactly would I need to buy to have the things I need?

 

[Ryda55555]

thanks for doing that--- looks pretty sweet, and i'm impressed that those fogs are just a bulb swap and not an addition HID conversion.
your pic did however confirm something I was wondering about with this mod. I was hoping that when the fogs came on as DRLs the parking lights would come on too since they are normally on when fog lights are on.

still scared despite becoming more convinced that I really want to do this. the fear is coming from feeling dumb about not really understanding what i'm doing. splicing and crimping wires doesn't bother me really, its moreso that i don't have much of an understanding of capacitors and relays.

given that I don't already have a cap laying around like you did from a previous mod, nor an extra relay.... what exactly would I need to buy to have the things I need?

These were just perimeter lighting because i was in my underground, if i turn on my voy the HIDs come on too cause its dark.
In The day you just click the light switch over one and the parking lights come on too, i'll try and take a pic when i go out in about 30 mins.
I didnt understand relays and capacitors either really until this mod hahaha, the relay is what triggers the HIDs to come on when the sensor realizes its dark, and the capacitor sends 100% power to fogs instead of 70%
The capacitor you can get from a radio shack, look/ask for a 35w 10uf (microfarad) capacitor. (I got mine from a local stereo repair shop) it cost me a dollar
The relay is any standard automotive relay, you can get them from auto part stores or the dealer, i attached a pic for you (some relays come with a 87a and some dont but you only need the 30,85,86,87 so you dont have to get the 87a type but it'll still function the same either relay you get
I hope this helps

Btw follow my diagram when wiring it up, 30 goes to ground and 85 to +12V i honestly dont know why it only works this way but jimmyjam is the one that solved that problem for me
If you follow my diagram you'll have no problems whatsoever
And if you do i can help you out just like jimmyjam did for me

 

[BINGA]

thanks for doing that--- looks pretty sweet, and i'm impressed that those fogs are just a bulb swap and not an addition HID conversion.

I had thought awhile back that I wanted to do HIDs in my fogs as well, but many people have stated that while the HIDs in fogs looks cool, that they scatter the light too much in the stock housings and don't function as well as traditional bulbs for their intended purpose. If you're going for looks alone, HIDs rock, if you want them to be functional (and cheaper), bulbs are the way to go. You might ask around some of the guys on here running HID fogs what they think.

 

[dmanns67]

I had thought awhile back that I wanted to do HIDs in my fogs as well, but many people have stated that while the HIDs in fogs looks cool, that they scatter the light too much in the stock housings and don't function as well as traditional bulbs for their intended purpose. If you're going for looks alone, HIDs rock, if you want them to be functional (and cheaper), bulbs are the way to go. You might ask around some of the guys on here running HID fogs what they think.

IMHO, HIDs in the fogs are the way to go if you are looking for additional usuable lumen output. I have been running 4300K HIDs in the fogs for over 2 years now and the light output on the road is amazing compared to the standard 880 halogen bulb. Especially driving down dark two lane country roads at night. I am not using the HIDs in the orginal OEM housings. I upgraded to the Spyder OEM sytle fog light housing. The light from the HIDs is better directed down onto the road and off to the side of the vehicle where the light is needed versus the original OEM fog lights.

Everyone has their own opinions and style they are going for. HIDs in the fogs will definitely give you more than just looks. If you are going for looks, you can throw in an 880 LED bulb, usuable lumens will be poor though. Since we are talking about using the fog lights as the DRLs, the 880 LED bulb might be a good option since LEDs have a lot longer life span than halogens or HIDs.

 

[CdnGMan]

The capacitor makes the truck send 100% to the fogs all the time.
I just bought 2500k hyper yellow lightbulbs for like $20 at a flea market
I'll post a pic later tonight for you
It scared me at first doing the wiring but as soon as you get in there its really easy

Aren't those 55W bulbs gonna melt your foglight housings??
I had a set of 55W in mine and I know that they melted my original set...

Now I'm making sure that I've got 37.5W bulbs in there...

PS. I still need to swing by and paint up those calipers...

 

[Ryda55555]

Aren't those 55W bulbs gonna melt your foglight housings??
I had a set of 55W in mine and I know that they melted my original set...

Now I'm making sure that I've got 37.5W bulbs in there...

PS. I still need to swing by and paint up those calipers...

I dunno... They've been fine since October. I might get a lower wattage bulb anyways to make it even more yellow. Im thinking of possibly getting a whiter/bluer bulb (like a 5k-6k)

Monday and part of tuesday i'll be cutting my headlights apart to paint them but lemme know when so i know not to do anything on those days off

Bulbs that look something like this

 

[Ryda55555]

Btw heres a pic of the fogs on with the parking lights

 

[BINGA]

Aren't those 55W bulbs gonna melt your foglight housings??
I had a set of 55W in mine and I know that they melted my original set...

Now I'm making sure that I've got 37.5W bulbs in there...

PS. I still need to swing by and paint up those calipers...

Is this what you are afraid of?

I think I've got 55watt-ers in there now and this happened to my passenger's side and I thought it was a fluke, but now its happened to the other side. You can see in the second pic that the plastic piece inside has melted over and is actually touching the bulb...got to be more than a coincidence...

 

[CdnGMan]

Is this what you are afraid of?

I think I've got 55watt-ers in there now and this happened to my passenger's side and I thought it was a fluke, but now its happened to the other side. You can see in the second pic that the plastic piece inside has melted over and is actually touching the bulb...got to be more than a coincidence...

That is EXACTLY what happened to my original set...

And Harmless can attest to that since it was him who noticed it...

 

[CdnGMan]

Here you go, its not the best pic and its not really in the dark but if you want a better pic lemme know

That's not bad really... I'm thinking that I'd rather go with a 6000K bulb in my fogs tho...
I'm just not sure that I want them in HID tho..

My current bulbs are the same brand as the ones in my headlights, so it still looks pretty much stock...

 

[Ryda55555]

Yea thats pretty bad, maybe its different for envoys because theres more space in the foglight? But we'll see what happens, no problems for me so far

Plus yellow bulbs make driving in snow 100X easier

 

[BINGA]

Yea thats pretty bad, maybe its different for envoys because theres more space in the foglight? But we'll see what happens, no problems for me so far

Plus yellow bulbs make driving in snow 100X easier

Well if its any consolation to you, it takes a while for them to do that. I think mine were in for several months. Of course, it also depends on how long you have them on for. Pretty sure mine occured when coming back from a 4 hour trip in a monster rainstorm, fogs on the whole way...

 

[Black-n-Yellow]

Ryda,
thanks again for the updated info and more pics... I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with this whole process now.
so, you added the pic of the fogs + parking lights... do they both run together as the DRLs when this is set up? or do you have to turn the parking lights on?

I would like to never have to touch my light switches after this mod. god bless the ambient light sensing auto on lol

 

[Ryda55555]

Ryda,
thanks again for the updated info and more pics... I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with this whole process now.
so, you added the pic of the fogs + parking lights... do they both run together as the DRLs when this is set up? or do you have to turn the parking lights on?

I would like to never have to touch my light switches after this mod. god bless the ambient light sensing auto on lol

I dont know how the lights work in the states but the parking lights only come on at night when the lows come on in canada
I wish i could assist more in this area but i have no idea

 

[BINGA]

...
so, you added the pic of the fogs + parking lights... do they both run together as the DRLs when this is set up? or do you have to turn the parking lights on?

I would like to never have to touch my light switches after this mod. god bless the ambient light sensing auto on lol

In the stock configuration I believe the parking lights come on when the lows come on automatically at night, if you manually turn the lows on or when you press the fog light button, but do not come on with stock DRL setup. I don't think the parking lights come on automatically with the fogs with this modified setup. I bet jimmyjam would know though...

 

[Ryda55555]

In the stock configuration I believe the parking lights come on when the lows come on automatically at night, if you manually turn the lows on or when you press the fog light button, but do not come on with stock DRL setup. I don't think the parking lights come on automatically with the fogs with this modified setup. I bet jimmyjam would know though...

Thanks for pitching in,
If i flick my switch one to the right the parking lights come on with no lows but thats only if i flick the switch
Other than that they only come on during the night when lows kick in

 

[BINGA]

Well if its any consolation to you, it takes a while for them to do that. I think mine were in for several months. Of course, it also depends on how long you have them on for. Pretty sure mine occured when coming back from a 4 hour trip in a monster rainstorm, fogs on the whole way...

One other thing to note about running 55 watt bulbs in the fog light housings. When it happened to my passenger's side, I replaced just the passenger side whole housing with one I bought off ebay. After examining it a little closer, the aftermarket one doesn't have that divider in the middle of the housing that the stock one does. This might explain why my driver's side one is now melted (OE Fog) and my passenger one is fine FYI...

[EBAY]200749331143[/EBAY]

 

[Ryda55555]

One other thing to note about running 55 watt bulbs in the fog light housings. When it happened to my passenger's side, I replaced just the passenger side whole housing with one I bought off ebay. After examining it a little closer, the aftermarket one doesn't have that divider in the middle of the housing that the stock one does. This might explain why my driver's side one is now melted (OE Fog) and my passenger one is fine FYI...

[EBAY]200749331143[/EBAY]

Thats nice to know, theres nothing in my fog light its hollow, if your fogs ever melt again you could get the glass fogs
I bought these bulbs a couple months ago for my previous car and they were very nice but had no beam whatsoever, pretty much useless other than for visual
Might throw them in tomorrow and see what they look like though

 

[Black-n-Yellow]

In the stock configuration I believe the parking lights come on when the lows come on automatically at night, if you manually turn the lows on or when you press the fog light button, but do not come on with stock DRL setup. I don't think the parking lights come on automatically with the fogs with this modified setup. I bet jimmyjam would know though...

Thanks for pitching in,
If i flick my switch one to the right the parking lights come on with no lows but thats only if i flick the switch
Other than that they only come on during the night when lows kick in

You're right... the parking lights do not come on automatically with the DRLs, they come on when the lows come on whether by ambient sensor or by switch, and when the fog lights come on.
But I can't help but wonder if they would come on with this setup because the indicator light on the fog-light switch is illuminated; so wouldn't the bcm be under the impression that the fogs are on? --- that being said.... Ryda, have you gotten around to testing hooking something up to the unused dark green wire to confirm it can in fact control an additional accessory via the fog-light switch??

 

[Ryda55555]

You're right... the parking lights do not come on automatically with the DRLs, they come on when the lows come on whether by ambient sensor or by switch, and when the fog lights come on.
But I can't help but wonder if they would come on with this setup because the indicator light on the fog-light switch is illuminated; so wouldn't the bcm be under the impression that the fogs are on? --- that being said.... Ryda, have you gotten around to testing hooking something up to the unused dark green wire to confirm it can in fact control an additional accessory via the fog-light switch??

Originally i hooked up the pink and white from the body side to the dark green and white from the connector side because jimmy jam made a mistake in the wiring diagram of the relay when he posted it.
This allowwed me to turn on the lows with the foglight button whenever i wanted but they dont come on automatticlly at night, just fogs on all the time and parking lights at night, i guess that could be a way of doing it but you'll only have lows when you push the fog button

 

[Black-n-Yellow]

Originally i hooked up the pink and white from the body side to the dark green and white from the connector side because jimmy jam made a mistake in the wiring diagram of the relay when he posted it.
This allowwed me to turn on the lows with the foglight button whenever i wanted but they dont come on automatticlly at night, just fogs on all the time and parking lights at night, i guess that could be a way of doing it but you'll only have lows when you push the fog button

Nah- wouldn't like that route... I definitely want to keep my auto on at dark.
I'm just trying to think of a way to keep this setup EXACTLY as you have it except possibly have the parking lights come on with the fogs... Not too worried about it though.

 

[Ryda55555]

Nah- wouldn't like that route... I definitely want to keep my auto on at dark.
I'm just trying to think of a way to keep this setup EXACTLY as you have it except possibly have the parking lights come on with the fogs... Not too worried about it though.

The orange/black wire on connector 2 is for courtesy lamps supply voltage
And the dark blue/white wire on connector 1 is for courtesy lamps on signal

I think if you hook one of those to the pink/white wire it'll keep the courtesy lights (parking lights) on with the fogs

You can hook it up to the fog light button but then it wont come on with night lights

But this means the parking lights (signals, plate lights, rear tail lights) will always be on