foglights and the parking light harness upgrade....

[xray]

So I was bored over this past week (on vacation with two kids under 3--no fun trips yet) so I decided to yank out the dash and wiring harnesses...found the taped up connectors for the foglights and the non-connected connector by the fusebox, and got to thinking:

My understanding is that the foglights worked off the parking light/dash light circuit. So---if the parking light harness relay/upgrade offered by ZsondaBrain is installed, would I be able to add some beefy foglights without frying my wires? If not, since foglights as standard equipment were pretty rare, what would be the appropriate replacement?

Oh, and thanks again (as usual) to a resurrected post from Enrique Scanlon for describing the foglights and available switches from Radio Shack, as recently noted on the IZCC listserve.

Thanks for any input.

Steve

[xray]

reposted here from IZCC listserve without permission...thought it would do well in the archive since it's such a great discussion of this "option" but feel free to delete if inappropriate.

"Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 16:36:09 -0600

From: E Scanlon <escanlon@worldaccessnet.com>

Subject: Re: <240> Fog Lights prewired

Going through some old e-mails and noticed this one. Saw one answer,

but

felt that there was a bit more information that should be included.

Jean-Pierre Lemonde wrote:

> Question: The 240Z was prewired for fog lights. Anybody knows

where

> the wires end up in the car and ultimately where would be the

switch?

The 240's had the fog lamp wires taped with blue vinyl tape to the main

LIGHT wiring harness, in front of the radiator. You should find two

sets

of wires right by the wirng for the horns.

The colors for these wires are : RED and BLACK.

They are wired in parallel so if you only hook up one fog lamp you

definitely should insulate the other pair from ground or each other.

Inside the cabin, by the fuse box, you'll find a 2 wire connector that

has spade connectors arranged in a "T". That is, one spade will be

"horizontal" while it's pair will be perpendicular to it. In the cabin

however, the wiring color CAN be slightly different than the Red and

the

Black at the lamps. The schematic shows it to be a RED wire and a

RED/GREEN wire, but I have seen this be a GREEN/WHITE wire instead.

Since the Fog Lamp circuitry is actually receiving power from the

Parking

Lamp circuit (As well as the instrument lamps, although it's hooked up

ahead of the rheostat and inst. lamps.) all you need to power the Fog

Lamps is a Switch, or simply join the two wires at the "T" connector by

the fuse box. So a simple SPST switch is all you need. You CAN use a

lighted switch, but you must provide a ground for the bulb in the

switch.

In the Series I cars, the true OEM Fog Lamp Switch was located above

the

Hazard Switch on the Dash. To my knowledge no U.S. or Canadian

vehicles

were shipped or received with the Switch in place. As a result, the

OEM

Fog Lamp Switch is but a mere vague memory to most Z fans in North

America. Kind of like the Individual Side Marker Lamp circuitry that

was

used in Japan. (Lighting up the traffic side of the vehicle in areas

where no street lighting was available. It allowed independent

lighting

of either the Left or Right sides of the vehicle, both front and rear,

via a small 3W bulb.)

But, the location for that Ind. Side Marker Lamp Switch, is on the

Series

I console. Just to the right of the Hatch Window Defrost Switch. If

you've ever seen an EARLY Defrost Switch, you'll recall that it's NOT

lighted. If you were to put two of those switches in the same housing

side by side, you'd have the Ind. Side Marker Lamp Switch.

But I digress, the reason for mentioning the Ind. Side Marker Lamp

Switch

is that it's location on the console is PERFECT for an aftermarket Fog

Lamp Switch. The only problem is that most Fog Lamp Switches that are

Light, are of the NARROW type. Leaving a lot of space on the sides of

the switch. So now you need to fill that space, or find a different

switch.

After a LONG and tedious search at my local Radio Shack, I found 3

switches that fill that hole very nicely. I'll give you the numbers so

that you don't bug the hell out of your local Radio Shack help

scrounging

through their switch drawer.

Radio Shack Part Number 274-731; This one is a direct fit, and it has

an

LED in it. However, for my vehicle, I didn't care for the lone LED dot

next to the Lighted Defog Switch. But, the switch is a direct fit, 12V

and Lighted. The "frame" around the toggle is squared with rounded

corners. The toggle button is a round rocker style. It "snaps" into

the

surrounding plastic/metal that you mount it onto. You can connect to

it

with standard Spade connectors.

The next two switches are 125VAC, which simply means that they're rated

for a much higher voltage than you'll be submitting them to. If you

use

the Illuminated style in 125VAC, the light won't work with 12V. But if

you cannibalize a 12V Lamp from a 12V Switch,

Radio Shack Part Number 274-694: This one has a Square Frame and a

Square

Toggle. The Toggle is cast in Red plastic with White "O" and "I"

painted

on it's face. It is a "threaded" mount style, which means that you'll

be

tightening a "nut" on it's back side to mount it. Connections are

Solder

Style.

Radio Shack Part Number 274-692: This one is very similar to the 12V

switch (275-731) except that it has a rounded Red Toggle Switch that is

illuminated from inside the switch. It is a Threaded Mount, and uses

the

narrower Spade Lug Connectors. It is however a 125VAC switch. To

convert it to 12V you will have to cannibalize a 12V Lighted Switch.

But

once you do so, the match to the Hatch Defrost Switch is much more

appealing.

All of these switches FILL the space to the right of the Hatch Defrost

Switch. Perfect if you don't have the filler plug. If you DO have the

filler plug....DO NOT THROW IT AWAY. There are several people who are

in

need of just that plug.

To see a picture of the installed switch, follow this link:

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=2596&cat=500&ppuser=1490

Hope this helps.

Enrique"

[Arne]

You could simply add foglights as is, but I think you'd be defeating the purpose of the parking light relay. The idea of the relay kit is to make MORE power available for the parking lights. If you then put more lights on the same circuit, they draw through the same relay and fuse as do the parking lights.

It would be better to use another fuse and relay for any additional lights that you may add.

[Zs-ondabrain]

You could simply add foglights as is, but I think you'd be defeating the purpose of the parking light relay. The idea of the relay kit is to make MORE power available for the parking lights. If you then put more lights on the same circuit, they draw through the same relay and fuse as do the parking lights.

It would be better to use another fuse and relay for any additional lights that you may add.

You also have to realize that Datsun obviously did not foresee the future problems that the 240Z has now-a-days. They would most likely not have run the high wattage driving/fog lights that we now have.

Arne is correct in saying that you'll defeat the purpose of the upgrade harness. I'm going to assume that nissan wired it so the headlight switch would supply power to the foglight switch, then out to the fog light wires.

You'll still be using old wires. (even if they've never been used before)

I do however, offer a fog light setup with the headlight upgrade harness I connect an extra relay and socket to the headlight relay sockets and run the wires to the front of the radiator area (by the horns) the wires are hidden in the same split loom as the headlight harness. the extra relay is powered by the same (if not bigger) power wire that powers the headlight relays (so there are no extra wires to run or hide)

The only thing you have to do is install the headlight harness like you normaly would and run 1 wire from the relay to the inside of the car

*OR* I can make one of the (red) Stock foglight wires into an input wire. Then all you have to do is connect the red wire in front of the radiator into the harness and find that same wire inside the car. Then run a small ground wire to a "micro switch" on the center console and run the fog light wire to the other side of that switch. The reason I say "a ground wire" is because I activate the relays with a ground rather than a positive. one lest hot lead running thru the car.

It may sound complicated but if I build one for you, and write some simple instructions, you'll agree that it's a breeze.

The headlight upgrade harness with foglight fog light relay is only $150 and I'll even throw in the micro switch. just let me know what style you want.

Once again, I've saved your helpless fusebox from utter disaster. And your stock harness's from a possible fire. You can thank me by ordering one of these great harness's :cheeky:

Let me know what you guys think,

Dave.