Did I mention in not the best with electrical?

dhawkins556

New member
So I can humble myself enough to say that I am not the best at electrical. I bought 2 55 watt lights for my bumper, rather than running them to a switch, could I just tap into my foglight wiring and put a bigger fuse, or is that a no no? Looking for ideas.
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
Generally not a good idea, because the lights, fuse and wiring are complementary / sized to match each other. Increasing the power draw without increasing the wire size could be a very bad idea. You're talking about adding ~9 amps of load / draw / demand to the existing circuit (watts = volts x amps) . If you are adding the lights to the fog lamps circuit, what is the power rating / draw of the fog lamps. Add that to the new lights and look up what wire gauge and fusing you should use for that load and see if your existing wiring meets or exceeds that. Only if it does should you attempt your idea of just adding the new lights to the existing circuit.

It's really quite simple to add a proper wiring / switch / relay circuit, to either an existing fuse panel or direct to the battery or a new additional fuse panel. And not difficult at all to learn the basis. Ideally you have a relay involved in the heavier duty circuit, with only minor power / wiring leading off from the relay to the dash switch location.
 

Buliwyf

Viking with a Hammer
No.

You can pull 12v from your fog lights and use it to power a relays control circuit. Use a Hella 12v relay or similar. The relays coil is very little load, no larger fuse needed. Then connect the switched side of the relay directly to the battery and lights.

I do this with my high beams. My high beams control my aux lights making them easy to turn off. In the stix, I do use my aux lights on road at night.
 

ckupq

Observer
Depends on the vehicle. My Jeep XJ came with two 55W fog lights. I replaced them with two 55W spotlights.

Check the factory wattage on them and see if they are comparable, otherwise use a relay.
 

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