Fogs On A Budget $143; wth Pictures

[ESFlash]

The goal was DIY fogs for about $75 each complete.

I looked at the items from various vendors and thought $400 plus for a complete setup was a bit steep for something as simple as 9006 halogen fogs, which would include: fog kit, wiring harness, euro switch and trigger wire. I researched many posts on the subject.

I decided to go the ebay buy it now route that included shipping.

I used 3 different vendors two USA (euroswitch, & wiring harness) and one offshore, China, for the fog light assy.

The chromed trimmed euro switch (not shown in the fotos) was $50 and had a made in Mexico stamp with VW logo and part no.

The trigger wire I made myself out of some stranded wire.

The offshore fog light assy was $80 - BTW: I ordered it on Sep 6 and it arrived Sep 17. The wiring harness was $13. Here are the fotos of the parts.

1. Wiring Harness with 40 amp relay and shrouding on all wires. It was generic for 9006 bulbs but the length fit perfectly with nothing too short or too long. There's a ton of these from different vendors. Even if you decide to make your own, you'd be hard pressed to snag the connectors alone for under $15.

2. Here is a close up of the 9006 connector -- keyed and with a hold down to clamp onto the 9006 bulb housing. A soft yellow gasket surrounds the 9006 connector which makes for a weather resistant seal when plugged in.

3. The 25 Amp fuse is in a hinged housing that contains a plastic mount so it can be attached to a straight clip.

4. The 40 amp relay shows what I guess to be an epoxy sealant around the pins, and fits securely in its connector. Being its connectorized means you can change it out to a Bosch or any other brand you desire as the 30, 87, 86, 85 pinout is standard on these relays. Also, the relay like the fuse, can be mounted onto a straight clip.

5. Plastic grill -- fit nicely and matched the center grill.

6. FWIW -- VW part no. on grill.

7. Projector housing contains adjustment screw and there's a hole in the grill so adjustments can be made on the car with a 6mm allen wrench. I changed both bulbs out and used a "brand" name item instead of the bulb that came with assembly.

8. FWIW -- Part no and Logo on housing

9. Before

10. After

 

[CryoTech]

well done - I got mine form vaglink before they dissapeared. You should link us to your vendors so everyone can bypasss the $400 overpriced and "bad service" ECS job. Man I will never buy anything from them agian.

 

[HotRodYogi]

Looks pretty darn good, reguardless of price. Can't wait to get my fogs on.

 

[ESFlash]

Hey CryoTech -- thanks for the encouragement.

Let me say I am not out to bash any vendors -- I ordered under seat drawers from ECS some time back and had zero problems with them, and an in dash cubby from a European vendor....or was it the other way around....memory fails me. Both vendors were pretty much the only game in town for what I wanted besides the dealer.

I would do business with them again if they had something I wanted at what I considered to be a fair price.
In my case they were honest, did not misrepresent their products and they had what I wanted at the time. Maybe I lucked out.

I don't think the ebay vendors I selected are anything special; which is why I didn't name them -- there are pages of them selling essentially the same product -- I basically went with the lowest price that included shipping. My guess is they all get their goods from the same vendor.

The euroswitch guy had what I wanted and seems to have plenty of them...I think $50, shppng included, is a bit high but it beats the other prices I found.

His ebay listed the euros as fitting "MKVI Golf Jetta" and under his application chart it said "not for sportwagen"
I was cornfused, so I wrote to him, saying afaik the SportWagen has Golf MKVI electronics (at least for the lights) and asked for clarification. He promptly wrote back saying I was correct and I ordered the switch which was the right part for my 2010. It's a super bummer that most euroswitch sellers fail to show the back side of the switch.
In terms of the wiring harness, I do a fair amount of technical and mechanical work and know some electronics.....and I know enough that 50 or so dollars, shipping not included, for a wiring harness is a bit outrageous, (and don't even get me going on the trigger wire for six or seven or whatever folks seem to like to charge for a couple of feet of 16 or 18 gauge wire) altho if someone feels comfortable and safer spending that amount of bread, on those things, that's fine with me .

You can buy a sophisticated 500GB hard drive for your computer for $50; and let's face it, a HD is a lot more exotic & complicated and has a thousand more parts in it, than a "dumb" harness consiting of a few wires, a fuse, a relay (or two relays on the fancy ones) and two connectors.

Now take into account that the harness manufacturer who's tooled up and buys extrmly large quantity of raw materials, wire, relays, connectors, fuses, shrouding etc etc brings their build cost down to a pretty low number. In my situation, the task was installing a pair of 55 watt halogen, non HID, fogs. Something I hoped wouldn't cost a small fortune and that should have been included on the car to start with.

When it comes to certain "custom" items there might only be a few vendors who stock that piece, and if you want said part ie: underseat drawer, you only have a few options.

Luckily, when it comes to fogs and other lighting items, there are some choices available.

Many folks on this board won't go near the stuff or vendors I purchased from; that's fine with me. I'm not out to convince anyone that Apple is better than PC or this Vendor is better than that one.

Or that because Vendor A charges $325 shipping not included for fogs, and another $80 shipping included, Vendor
A has a higher quality or morally superior product. Folks can make all the assumptions they want, fake, stolen molds, rip off, chintzy.....I prefer the one that these fogs, grills, housings are all pretty much coming from the same place, and the only thing different is the mark up.

There haven't been many detailed pictures on this board of what fog light budget stuff looks like which is why I decided to post all this.

And for the frugal DIYers out there: If you want a rock solid relay...about $7.00, here's the part no.....

Bosch SPST dual output "horn relay":
0 332 019 150

Note: the above model contains dual output's. two 87 terminals -- the HID relay in my foto 1, contains a single 87 pin which goes to both lights.

And if anyone decides do their own wiring here are two good vendors that sell relays, and supplies at decent prices.

http://www.suvlights.com/product_info.php?products_id=119

http://www.theelectricaldepot.com/relays-12/high-capacity-and-standard-relay-73/

For general automotive lighting and wiring information, especially when it comes to adding and installing additional lighting, check this site:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html

 

[740GLE]

so tempted now!

 

[740GLE]

What did you search for on ebay for the wiring harness? Anything VW specific? or did you just search for 9006 fog wiring harness?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/H3-H...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e6336b219

 

[rambalu80]

1. Wiring Harness with 40 amp relay and shrouding on all wires. It was generic for 9006 bulbs but the length fit perfectly with nothing too short or too long. There's a ton of these from different vendors. Even if you decide to make your own, you'd be hard pressed to snag the connectors alone for under $15.

2. Here is a close up of the 9006 connector -- keyed and with a hold down to clamp onto the 9006 bulb housing. A soft yellow gasket surrounds the 9006 connector which makes for a weather resistant seal when plugged in.

What is the female 9006 connector for? No use for it, I suspect?

 

[Tweak3D]

any pics of how this looks in regards to light output? Preferably against a flat wall/garage door at night from a reasonable distance.

 

[ESFlash]

@740GLE -- Do an ebay search for 9006 wiring harness or fog light harness -- they're usually listed as a 9006 HID conversion harness by most sellers -- here's five pages of them, nothing VW specific, but the one I bought fit quite snuggly with no extra wire.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...9006+wiring+harness&_sacat=See-All-Categories

@rambalu80 That single female connector I took apart; rather than fabricate a male connector for it -- I installed crimp bayonet (spade) connectors at the ends of the two wires: the Red wire on it goes to your trigger wire coming from the euro and the black wire is your ground.

@tweak3D -- I need a good flat wall so I can aim them correctly instead of the rough aiming I did. From what I've learned about fog lights....it seems they should be set up to throw the light down and a little ways forward, and not necessarily generate a long distance beam. I'd like to split the difference and gain a little more light when combined with the factory headlights. Even with my rough setup, they make a nice difference from before I installed them.

 

[Tweak3D]

@tweak3D -- I need a good flat wall so I can aim them correctly instead of the rough aiming I did. From what I've learned about fog lights....it seems they should be set up to throw the light down and a little ways forward, and not necessarily generate a long distance beam. I'd like to split the difference and gain a little more light when combined with the factory headlights. Even with my rough setup, they make a nice difference from before I installed them.

sounds great, most good fogs i've seen have a nice sharp cut off which makes them great for lighting up the sides and front of the car. I know the chinese lights are missing a reflector which the OEM lights have so I am just curious to see if this causes them to generate any glare at all.

 

[leroyal]

JSW just looks like crap without fogs.

 

[740GLE]

How did the ebay grill insterts compare to the OEM ones you took out? fit and finish close or good enough? did you feel like you got OEMish quality?


I just ordered a euro switch and wiring harness for a total of $44.99 free shipping, $34.99 for the swtich (over seas 45 days shipping) and $9.99 for the wiring harness (US shipping 2-4 days). We'll see if I'm as lucky as you and eat my words in the other thread. I figure worse case i can toss more heat shrink on the harness by the 9006 connectors to make it last as long as possible with the winter salts.

 

[ESFlash]

@740GLE -- fit, and finish all seemed good and matched nicely to the existing grill.

On another topic, I think whoever at VW designed the fog light system to be an integral part of that plastic/styrofoam bumper cover missed the boat. When doing the install, I was quite surprised to find that there was no hole, or well, in the cars' sheetmetal for the lights to fit into.

Sounds like you got a great deal on the harness and euro.

If you don't like the harness you can DIY & beef up the wire and either run secondary wire thru the shrouds and attach it to the connectors with the existing wire or just use the 9006 connectors, fuse/housing, relay/connector and fabricate a harness exactly to your specs; it's a pretty simple job. Also make sure you put some type of shroud or heat shrink around your trigger wire coming from the euro.

One thing I do suggest, is to replace the generic bulbs that'll come with your fog lights with some brand name ones. It's (almost) easy enough to gain access to the lights and change bulbs once assembled by removing the bottom plastic piece that runs the length of the bumper. Good luck....it's a fun install.

 

[CryoTech]

the ones I got from vaglink came with osram bulbs

 

[FrankTR]

ESFlash great job. Maybe the next time I am in Austin you can do mine

 

[ESFlash]

@CryoTech ---- nice ---- looks like vaglink is no more -- it seems their site has been down for quite some time......too bad, many folks got pretty decent deals from that outfit.

@FrankTR --- if you're gonna be in the five one two after October 5th PM me and I'd be happy to walk & help you thru the job if you're serious. I've got a driveway suitable for automotive work

 

[jackchit]

Where did you get the pins for the repair wire?

 

[nhdude]

Nice job! I'll be putting this project on the list for my 2011 JSW!

 

[740GLE]

Trigger wire you mean?

 

[jackchit]

Trigger wire you mean?

Yeah...
000 979 009, Trigger Wire

 

[ESFlash]

@jackchit -- I didn't use a pin.

After I ran the trigger wire from the engine compartment up to the underside of the dash, I stripped & twisted the wire, seated it into the connector (empty pin 6), tie wrapped the trigger wire agnst the existing bundle and plugged the connector onto the euro switch.

I then turned turned the euro one click to the right, parking lights, and pulled it out one stop, fogs and checked for 12 volts at the trigger wired end in the engine compartment. No problems.

If you do want to crimp on a pin, you can buy a small single row female connector from Radio Shack that's very similar to the connector at the back of the euro. That RS connector comes with crimp pins which you can use.

The pin is nice but not 100% necessary. Work neatly (no scragglys hangin out), don't overstrip, or remove too much insulation from the trigger wire at the connector end, and tie wrap it securely to the existing bundle. You should be good to go. The other 10 or so wires, you tie wrapped to, will provide more than adequate holding power.

 

[jackchit]

Good to know and less headache--rather spend money on the lights rather than shipping on a damn wire; ordered everything sin China manufacturing...we will see. Would anyone happen to know the range of safe wattage that can go to each bulb? Is 55watts per bulb too much for this set up?

 

[rambalu80]

Good to know and less headache--rather spend money on the lights rather than shipping on a damn wire; ordered everything sin China manufacturing...we will see. Would anyone happen to know the range of safe wattage that can go to each bulb? Is 55watts per bulb too much for this set up?

I think 55 watts is standard.

 

[CryoTech]

mine from vaglink came with 55w osrams installed.

 

[htseng]

Where did you attach the trigger wire to your harness? The red or black wire on the 9006 adapter? Trigger to pin 86 and grounded the other wire? Got any idea what guage the wires on your harness might be. It seems that even swapping out the longer wires for 10-12 guage would be a better deal than buying from the aforementioned vendors.

 

[740GLE]

looking at online wire gauge tables looks like for 10ft, at 100w on a 12v circuit 16-14 gauge (remember it's fused at 20amp) is more than enough. 10awg to 12awg would be a bit overkill.

 

[ESFlash]

86 is the relay switching (control) circuit input. Connect trigger from your euro switch to this pin

85 is the relay switching (control) circuit output ground. Ground to car chassis

30 is the power circuit input. This goes to your battery and should be fused (close to your battery)

87 is the power circuit output. Goes to your fogs

14, 16 and even 18 should be adequate.

 

[htseng]

thanks for all the knowledgeable answers. Seemed like $60 for harness and shipping was a little too much. I'd pay the $50 if it was a necessary safety issue but am reassured that even 18guage would be adequate. Was able to pick up a trigger wire on ebay. (again $11 shipping for a trigger wire was too much for me). Hopefully will be up and running soon.

I was also trying to find information on your concerns regarding unhooking the battery: other than surges for the airbag and having to reset window pinching up-down and unhooking negative post first, what was your concern regarding unhooking the battery? Would it cause the radio to need a security code?

 

[ESFlash]

I don't recommend disconnecting the battery unless absolutely necessary. You can do a search on this BB and see what's involved once you reconnect it......quite a few things, some of which supposedly reset automatically......the radio code, alas, is not one of them.

This is definitely the quirkiest and most sensor riddled car I've ever owned.,.,....and who at VW had the major hard on for all those torx screws?....but I digress....prbly a subject for another thread.

Instead of disconnecting the battery, I removed the air cleaner and the associated plastic housing/hoses/etc. which only takes about 15 min.

With that garbage out of the way its a simple matter to remove the battery hold down bracket. Now slide the battery forward (towards the radiator).

You'll have plenty of clearance to run and secure you tirgger wire. A few tips: shroud your trigger wire from where it enters the engine compartment up to the relay once you test it to determine if it's getting voltage when you pull the Euro one click out. Note: if you don't see 12 volts at the end of the trigger when you connect it to the Euro and close the circuit (pull the switch out one click), STOP and determine why. Don't proceed with the install until you have pressure on that wire when you close the switch. BTW Radio Shack sells something reasonably passable to shroud the trigger wire.

As far as running the trigger wire goes.....I used a small thin, pointy shishkebob skewer to poke a hole in the gasket above and near the pedals, where the trigger wire passed through. Work your skewer from inside the car. Once you see it poking thru the engine compartment, tape your trigger wire to it and pull the wire back into the interior of the car.

Another tip.....Spend the time to remove the bumper. Quite a few folks say you can do the job with the bumper on, and I imagine you can. However, removing the bumper is a simple job and once it's off, it's much easier to run and secure your wires as well as test and troubleshoot your installation.

 

[jackchit]

http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/edoc/mkvfog.pdf

Is this a good how to?