Fog Lights by-pass questions.

[Tim Zimmerman]

Does anyone have instructions to by-pass the switch that kills your fog lights when you turn on your brights? I know it's illegal to have 6 bulbs burning at once, but I only intend to do that when I go "off-road". I have a '97 GTS, help!

 

[BlackACR]

You can pull the relay under the hood in front of the power box. There should be 3 relays in the box. I cant remember which one. I will look when I get home. This will let you run with the fog lights and head light at the same time.

 

[Scorch]

I would not advise running all 6 bulbs at once. The wiring, switches, circuit breakers, and fuses are not designed to handle the additional current. Short term you will start blowing fuses and/or popping thermal breakers. This happens without warning and you will literally be driving blind (no lights, period). Long term the wiring (insulation) and switch contacts will start to degrade due to excess heat, the breakers will become less efficient and you could end up with a fire.

Please take my word on this. I am an automotive lighting industry expert with over 15 years experience and an electrical engineer. Don't do it if you value your car.

If you decide to go ahead with the modification, put the fog lamps on a seperate circuit with their own switch, fuse, breaker, and relay. Remove the fog lamps entirely from your cars existing circuitry. This is the only safe way to go. You can buy everything you need at your local autoparts store.

 

[shifter]

Jump the headlight trigger which will enable seperate control of the Fog lights (I did it to turn them on without the headlights, but the reverse should work as well). This is based off my 1998.

As been mentioned, it's up to you to consider the effect of what you are trying to do. I agree that the electrical system wasn't designed for all 6 bulbs drawing current at the same time. Watch the wires if you do so, there's a reason why the trigger to turn them off is there.

1) In the fuse block under the hood on the drivers side, remove the cover.
2) Pull the #2 relay, titled "Fog Logic Relay"
3) Make a small jumper wire from 2 male spade connectors (radio shack) and
about 1" of a 16 - 18 gage wire.
4) When looking at the pins in the pulled relay slot, plug one end of the
jumper into the male spade pin on the far left (it runs hood to trunk).
5) Plug the other end of the jumper to the middle spade pin in the grouping
of 3 (all aimed cross car) on the right.
6) Put cover back on
7) Go Pose'n...

You are jumping the headlight trigger.

 

[luc]

The simplest way is to pull the "fog light logic relay" and cut/snap terminal 86.

if you look very closely at the prongs,you will see,86,87A,87,85and 30.

As for blowing fuses,burning wiring if you run all 6 lights together, (high,low and fogs) it is BS.

The vipers like all modern cars ,use relays to transfer voltage and the swich only have low current going throught it to turn the relay on and off..

Furthermore,the low,high and fogs have each their own separate circuit and wirings,you are not adding load to a circuit/wiring like if you were adding 2 extra lights by wiring them on the SAME circuit than already power some lights.

The ONLY extra load will be on the battery/alternator/charging circuit and this extra load is completly inconsequential.

Luc.

 

[Paul S Lacey]

Must also disagree about the extra loading on the circuits.

European cars all come with this feature disabled, ie. we can run with all six lights on.

 

[Paul S Lacey]

P.S.

Sorry guys but anyone know how to turn on the Canadian Running lights, the Viper is a mighty big car in a very small country and I get sick of switching the lights on every time I drive off and for visibility it does make a difference.

 

[luc]

Paul,

For that you will need the "daytime running lamp module" and the "daytime running lamp jumper",they are located on the right frame rail.

On my 00 GTS,the wiring is already there,and the connector (with a plug on it ) is located on the right side (driver side for you)next to the round spring for the hood.
The connector has 6 wires and i will think that it is "plug and play)
If you need the parts # ,I will try to find them.

Luc.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Paul,
Can you post the wiring diagram of the European Vipers that shows how all six bulbs can be on? This would help those that want the conversion and also (as Dodge puts the wire gauge on the diagram) show if there are any wire size changes to accomodate this difference.

If you have a way to do this, I'd also be interested in how the mystery light button is wired - maybe there are some unused wires in the harness that would help us figure out some use for this switch. Thanks.

 

[jcaspar1]

When I jumped the lows and highs on my Chevy K 2500 so the lows would not go out when the highs came on I had recurrant flickering due to tripping the circuit breaker. I ended up rewiring the lighting system to get around that.
On my Viper, I cut the tab on the fog light logic relay as above and it seemed to work fine. Recently I have been having recurrant shorting of the high beam (20 amp) fuse. Am not sure if having all 6 lights on is the cause.

 

[Janni]

Thanks again to this board - we practiced tonight at night at VIR for the enduro and the night driver mentioned how he'd like to have the brights and fogs on at the same time. Henry remembered this thread, I did a quick search, am printing the instructions now and we'll rewire when we get to the track in the AM. (sleepy aside... 4:30 is going to come fast...)

Thanks to all for the GREAT info. And yes, this is strictly for "off road use!"

 

[gotV10]

I am a new viper owner, and have never looked at my fog light switch yet, however i did wire the fog lights on my cobra so that they will stay on as long as the car is running and the switch is on....regaurdless of the high/low beam headlights. what i did was take my fog light switch out and useing a volt meter, found which wire was the power wire, by flipping the high beams, and watching when the power was cut. i then sniped that wire about 2 in from the back of the switch and ran a new power source to it from my dash clock. anything in the car that get constant power when the car is on would be fine. I am able to run fog lights only, fogs and lows, and fogs and high beams...or i can simply flip my fog switch and they are off. hope this may be of some help.
ryan
-------------
94 viper rt/10
94 mustang cobra
00 Suzuki gsxr (fully chromed)

 

[BillS]

I installed the jumper to allow me to turn on all 6 headlights on my trip home from Denver the day I bought my car. It allowed me to spot furry animals contemplating suicide alongside the road. (3 mice, 3 rabbits, 1 bobcat, 2 elk, 2 road kills, 1 tumbleweed) This was on 140 miles of back roads... only saw 4 other cars... I don't recommend using 6 headlights in populated areas.

Bill

 

[cgmaster]

Can anyone do a post in the illustrated upgrades section?

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

Can anyone do a post in the illustrated upgrades section?

Why yes...yes I can. Talk to me.

 

[ruckdr]

How about/;
DRIVING / FOG LIGHTS AVAILABLE ALL THE TIME

Just a thought; why not fog lights ALL the time or switchable ON/OFF any time with it's own switch ??
For older cars without auto day time lights, like my 96 Chrysler T&C, I made my fog (driving) lights to come on with my ignition on (switchable).
I did the following to the ’96 Viper:
I disconnected the wires to the fog lights at the fog light housing. Be sure to note which one is + and - .
I ran separate wires from the fog lights(2; one +, one -) up to and under the dash. I then found a wire that is hot when ignition (key) is ON (this being the +). I found this available from a blank position in the fuse block. (Fuse cavity # 10 on my '96 RT10). By the way, in the start position, the lights go out, as the wire is hot ONLY with ignition in ON position, not the start position.
I tied into this wire an inline fuse, to a switch under the knee panel, to be the hot (+)wire to the fog lights (both). The other ( - ) wire went to a ground inside the engine compartment. I can turn the fog lights ON or OFF ANYTIME from the switch, or leave the switch ON, and the fog lights come on and off with the car running,(ignition ON/OFF).
I have had this installed for about 9 years now; also, on my wife's Ply. Voyager, (now sold) and my ‘96 Chrysler T&C Van, and on the ‘96 Viper RT/10, for 4 years.

Later,

 

[Paul Hawker]

As an aside. I previously upgraded the lights on a Lexus. After about 2 years the connectors got brittle, fell apart, and I had to replace them. I now understand the systems are designed as a package, an the extra heat from the extra wattage caused the wiring to degrade quickly.
This experience would lead me to install seperate circuits for the fogs. This is the way all my off road buddies go when they add extra lights to a vehicle