how to keep fog lights ON when using high beams ON ?

[fenixus]

question: why do fog lights turn off when high beams turn on ?

asking because main reason of using high beams is a very street (not blinding others on well lit highways), and high beams themselves are fine, just one problem - they work "long distance" and do not light up well the close proximity (fog lights would).

is there any way to mod something, so fog lights would stay on with high beams ?

[LynchburgCSI]

It could be done fairly easily, but it would be illegal. US DOT says they have to be off when your high beams are on.

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by LynchburgCSI

It could be done fairly easily, but it would be illegal. US DOT says they have to be off when your high beams are on.

huh, what an idiotic regulation. what's the harm to keep them on together with H-beams ? Europe doesn't have this regulation...
of course it doesn't do any good to use H-beams IN A FOG, so assuming that once you use H-beams you have no fog so no fog lights are needed is plainly logical, but also dumb. what if i want to use fog lights to see sides of a back road AND use H-beams to see far away (clearly no oncoming traffic to blind) ?

mod itself, seems easy by looking on another car instructions. some diodes and that's all. i found this mod based on some truck:
http://www.fullsizechevy.com/forums/...-mod-03-a.html

is there a camry version anywhere, i'd like to know where is the plug i want to modify and what diodes need to be used ?
if anyone knows answers, you can PM me if you don't want to ignite flaming incidents in this thread.

[LynchburgCSI]

welcome to the US!

i'm not 100% fimilar with the wiring on the solara, but it should be fairly simple to override. I think all thats really happening is that the high beams power disengages the fog lights. similar to the turn signal mod for the gen 3 camry.

[fenixus]

will keep searching for more detailed instructions or tips from someone who did it recently
also i have to admit that OEM fog lights suck and i maybe replace them in future with something better.

[bigbird]

you could just take the lights off a relay and jsut run them to a switch...problem solved.

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by bigbird

you could just take the lights off a relay and jsut run them to a switch...problem solved.

yeah it is a thought. however i've heard of simpler solution which doesn't involve rewiring fog lights (hard access).

[White95Cam]

Having the fogs on while using the high beams on supposedly drawn you eyes to in front of the car instead of down the road.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...fog_lamps.html

I did the Celica fog retrofit on my 3.5 and installed a switch beside the hand brake in one of the pop outs. I also used a wiring harness with a relay and picked up the power for the switch from the parking light wiring. The relay handles the major power directly from the battery to the lights. I wired them this way so I could use only the fogs & parking lights without headlights in the worst conditions. I got to try this on the way to my mother's house for Thanksgiving. I actually was driving through a cloud in the VA mountains, but I could see the road marking. When I would switch the low beams on I could not see as well as with just the fogs because of the reflection of the low beams on the fog.
W95c

[fenixus]

US DOT is bullshitting IMHO about fog lights and h-beams. on the other hand its a fact that fog lights are mostly useless in fog, especially that they need low beams turned on to work which is a joke honestly.

however there is no such explanation that would convince me to have fog lights OFF as a must when using h-beams ON.

[bigbird]

your opinions on "why" are irrelevant. the fact is they turn off when you highs are illuminated. id focus on trying to figure out how to stop them from doing that and less about why. i will say that the term fog lights is used too often to describe driving lights...big difference. im not sure what the solara ones are but the spread is pretty good as you mentioned eariler.

personally id do this. ASG14 is pretty good with this kind of stuff and likes helping. try PMing him and see if he can help ya track down a good way to do it.

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by bigbird

your opinions on "why" are irrelevant. the fact is they turn off when you highs are illuminated. id focus on trying to figure out how to stop them from doing that and less about why. i will say that the term fog lights is used too often to describe driving lights...big difference. im not sure what the solara ones are but the spread is pretty good as you mentioned eariler.

personally id do this. ASG14 is pretty good with this kind of stuff and likes helping. try PMing him and see if he can help ya track down a good way to do it.

good idea bigbird will try PMing ASG14 later on, maybe he knows what needs to be modified.

sorry i kept pursuing "why" issue, but it was hard for me to understand the basis of US DOT regulation. it just seemed odd, especially that I come from opposite corner of world with different rules.

also by "fog lights" I understand only the bottom lights mounted in bumper. the other lights are for me just "head lights" which can be low or high beam.

[bigbird]

Adam did the lights in my car and they are better then stock, plus he has worked on solaras before so he knows them pretty well. i think he knows the foglight system pretty good too, he helped Dawgz with his projector retro fogs i believe.

and i definatly dont understand a lot of the crap DOT does. but meh, i do what i want.

for future reference(i recently looked this up to find out myself) fog lights have a spread out low light pattern which is supposed to be better for driving in bad weather. driving lights are more like headlights, they have a more direct light spread, are brighter and are usually on when highs are, so they light up the ground better. but it really all depends on the car and the design of the lights that determins how effective they are at any of thoes things.

[fenixus]

ok, thanks!