Foglight wiring: OEM-style

kray

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Oct 20, 2013
Location
Knoxville, TN
TDI
Golf TDI
Does anyone know where the stock wires from the fogs end up? I have OEM wires in my #2 holes that lead up through the engine bay with the OEM bundles. I would like to sent power out to the headlight assemblies using those wires instead of running new wires.
 

romad

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May 27, 2011
Location
Prescott, AZ
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2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
kray, to save shipping you could always ask your local dealer if they'll price match.
 

romad

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May 27, 2011
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Prescott, AZ
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
That is where knowing the owner for over 20 years comes in handy! I have no qualms dealing with them.
 

kray

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Oct 20, 2013
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Knoxville, TN
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Golf TDI
That is where knowing the owner for over 20 years comes in handy! I have no qualms dealing with them.
Yeah, I don't feel like I should have to "known someone" to get decent customer service and fair prices. Every time I walk into my local dealer I feel like a piece of gum on the ground because I don't drive an R8 or 911.
 

romad

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May 27, 2011
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Prescott, AZ
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2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
Actually, I knew the owner, service writer, and parts manager when they just had an independent repair shop. It was later on that the owner was able to move from being an authorized service place to a full blown VW dealer.
 

dirtride

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Apr 30, 2013
Location
GROK-west coast, USA
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2003 Golf
Just finished this mod/upgrade over the weekend. All went very well, installation is just as described and works great! Got relays and OEM connectors from Pick & Pull doner vehicles.
 

hussainm

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May 30, 2013
Location
Toronto Ontrario
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2000 Jetta
I did this modification as in the diagram in the first post. Works like a charm and is a tidy installation with the factory relay and all. I ran two wires directly from the relay to reduce the voltage drop.

After doing this I removed the main fog light fuse (36 if I remember correctly) while installing the lights. I made an observation at this point. This disabled the front and back foglights as well as their corresponding led's in the switch. The power feed for the fogs at the switch went dead (terminal 2). This gave me an idea for an improvement to the circuit. By putting the relay before the switch instead of after the switch you gain the following features:

When the high beams are switched on, both the front and rear fogs are disabled (the current diagram only disables the front) and the led's become disabled (the current diagram keeps the led's lit even though the fogs are disabled with the high beams on).

The change to the wiring would be as follows:

1. Terminal 8 from the switch would be wired directly to the fog lights.
2. The wire coming into terminal 2 at the switch would be cut and wired to terminals 87 and 30 at the relay.

That's it. Terminals 85 and 86 would be wired as in the diagram.

I am going to make the change when I have some time.
What does he mean in his second point? The wire going into Xr - #2 is spliced into two and connects to both 87 and 30 on the relay? That doesn't seem like it makes sense. I'm a noob at wiring but that doesn't seem right. I wish he made a diagram for this!

Can someone clarify this point? I think this wiring would be superior to that of the original poster (no offense to the OP).
 

romad

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May 27, 2011
Location
Prescott, AZ
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
Except that you want the REAR fog to be available no matter whether the headlights are in low or high. WaKramer obviously doesn't understand the different reason for the rear fog over the front fogs.

The rear is so someone approaching from BEHIND you will see you in the fog (and hopefully not hit you); the front fogs are so YOU can see the road and markings in FRONT of you. The current wiring is correct in that if you turn on high beams, the fog lights go out. High beams are NEVER to be used in fog, fog lights are never to be used in conditions that allow high beams (actually they should never be used in non-fog conditions), and the wiring conforms to this.
 

hussainm

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May 30, 2013
Location
Toronto Ontrario
TDI
2000 Jetta
When tapping wires in the fuse panel, always tap the wire after the fuse or the load side of the fuse. This way, whatever you add gets the protection of the fuse.
Which side is AFTER the load of the fuse? How can I tell? I'm in the middle of doing this and just realized I didn't know which way current was flowing and don't know how to check either!
 

romad

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May 27, 2011
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Prescott, AZ
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2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
Which side is AFTER the load of the fuse? How can I tell? I'm in the middle of doing this and just realized I didn't know which way current was flowing and don't know how to check either!
1. Pull the fuse.
2. Use a voltmeter to test each side of the socket. Remember the black probe should go to ground and the red probe to the test point.
3. If no voltage reading on either side, turn the ignition switch to the "Run" position as the circuit may use switched power.
 

tongsli

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Jan 31, 2000
Location
Baltimore, MD
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2000 Jetta TDI, 2004, Jetta Wagon TDI PD
Back from the dead again. From reading all of this it sounds like the sole purpose of the relay for factory wiring is to shut off the fog lights when the high beams are turned on. Is this correct? Can the switch handle the current loading of the fogs? Is it possible to wire up the relay, or a different relay that will fit in the factory location, to run off the trigger from the switch?
Did you ever wire up your fogs?
 

79TA7.6

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Live: Wilbur/Creston; Work: Moses Lake Washington
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No I have not. I was running them directly off the switch for a while but I have removed the bumper so many times for different reasons I have just left them unhooked. I have been playing with a license plate mount that will allow the weight of some off road lights. When I get that figured out I will get all the relays to run all of my lights the way they need to be.
 

tongsli

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Baltimore, MD
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2000 Jetta TDI, 2004, Jetta Wagon TDI PD
No I have not. I was running them directly off the switch for a while but I have removed the bumper so many times for different reasons I have just left them unhooked. I have been playing with a license plate mount that will allow the weight of some off road lights. When I get that figured out I will get all the relays to run all of my lights the way they need to be.
thanks for the update! I still have my fogs but rarely use them in the city
 

79TA7.6

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Live: Wilbur/Creston; Work: Moses Lake Washington
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My driving is 100% country back roads. I do not need fogs very often, but I do need better lighting. Even my FXR retrofit is lacking. 10% of my drive is gravel, 25% there are no lines on the road, 50% there are no side markers for the road. All this for 69 mile one way travel. Hence my want for better lighting. I do plan to reference this for wiring up my fogs and my extra high beams. I plan to do it in a way that the fogs will only be active with parking or low beam, as OEM like this thread refers to, my driving lights will be triggered from the high beam with another switch so I can run either just stock high beams, or both. I want to keep this as clean as possible to keep future issues to a minimum.
 

tongsli

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Jan 31, 2000
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Baltimore, MD
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2000 Jetta TDI, 2004, Jetta Wagon TDI PD
My driving is 100% country back roads. I do not need fogs very often, but I do need better lighting. Even my FXR retrofit is lacking. 10% of my drive is gravel, 25% there are no lines on the road, 50% there are no side markers for the road. All this for 69 mile one way travel. Hence my want for better lighting. I do plan to reference this for wiring up my fogs and my extra high beams. I plan to do it in a way that the fogs will only be active with parking or low beam, as OEM like this thread refers to, my driving lights will be triggered from the high beam with another switch so I can run either just stock high beams, or both. I want to keep this as clean as possible to keep future issues to a minimum.
Sounds like a good plan. Since this original thread, I modified my Hella Micro DE's to be HID's instead of Halogen. The shrouds are ceramic and they have glass lenses.

The HID fogs are nice and the conversion was very simple.
 

79TA7.6

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May 8, 2006
Location
Live: Wilbur/Creston; Work: Moses Lake Washington
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2003 TDI Jetta, 2002 TDI Golf, 2005 TDI Golf
I have a set of cheap fogs. I am not sure I want to put HIDs in them. They would likely melt and burn my car to the ground. I should have got some Micro DEs when Aaron, BoraParts, had them for an unreal price, but at the time I was flat broke.
 

tongsli

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Joined
Jan 31, 2000
Location
Baltimore, MD
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2000 Jetta TDI, 2004, Jetta Wagon TDI PD

tongsli

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Joined
Jan 31, 2000
Location
Baltimore, MD
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI, 2004, Jetta Wagon TDI PD
Hmmm:

87 negative out of 12,507 is NOT a lot of negative. That is less than 0.7% negative.
Yeah, I agree. That is a lot of transactions. I have 491 without a single negative feedback. But I'm also not a "vendor".
 

diesabora

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Dec 9, 2004
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Los Angeles, CA.
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2004 Jetta GL TDI, Spice Red, 2015 Golf Sportwagon SEL
Buying from Bulgaria does sound a bit risky, but the lights look a lot better than the Spyder Chinese ones I just installed. I would worry about the fit on the passenger side as the Tow Hook fitting and the Intercooler might be an issue.
 

ItAintRodKnock

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Sep 29, 2008
Location
Fraggle Rock, CO
TDI
01GolfTDi
So, what is the proper way of wiring lights like rally style, on a front bumper.
Looking to do it to a seperate switch next to the hazard button.
Could I run it through the fuze box and run it on a fuse, or run directly from the battery positive and negative; negative to switch and positive direct to lights
 
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