Fogs with High Beams on Mod!!! Write-up with Pictures!!!

[clumpymold]

I FINALLY did it. With the help of 99mtres, I figured out how to keep my fogs from turning off when my high beams are turned on.

Since he (99mtres) didn't provide any pictures nor details, I decided to provide a write-up for all those also interested.

Okay. Before I begin, I just want to let you all know that, by doing this mod, you are doing it at your own risk. Please be careful when working with electrical circuits.

So, without further ado, here you go:

__________________________________________________

TOOLS NEEDED:

- Screwdriver
- Torx T10 bit
- Wire cutters (I used scissors)
- Wire stripper (I used scissors)
- Wire connectors (I used one male and one female connector)
- Wire crimper
- Electrical tape

I also had to use an extender and a "snake" attachment (because my screws were screwed in crooked by the previous owner), my Bentley (to verify the wires that needed to be cut), rubber gloves (to keep my hands from getting dirty), and a magnetic tray (to keep organized).

The tools I used (minus the rubber gloves)



The Bentley diagram of the fuse and wires going to it:



TIME FOR MODIFICATION: 15-30 minutes, depending on how much experience you have.

__________________________________________________

Step 1:

Open hood and locate fuse box. Remove the four screws holding the fuse box (see red circles in picture below - the two screws near the front windshield are down behind the box) and remove the top of it as much as possible (see picture below):




I couldn't get mine completely off so I just moved it as high as you see in the pictures. It worked fine for me but for those with larger hands, it might be a tight squeeze.

Step 2:

Locate the following wires for the foglight relay (see arrows in picture below as well as Bentley diagram above):

Red/white
Yellow/gray
Red/yellow
Red
Brown



Make sure these are the correct wires. There will only be this combination for one relay in the fuse box (with the exception of the brown wire). I believe it's the upper center DARK ORANGE fuse of the six larger ones you see (two white, two dark orange, one light orange, and one red). The brown wire is coming from another fuse.

[clumpymold]

Step 3:

Locate ONLY the RED/WHITE wire going TO the fuse box (it's VERY thin) and the BROWN wire in the nearby fusebox. Cut each wire and connect the red/white wire coming FROM the fuse with the brown wire coming FROM the other fuse using a connector. Use a connector for the other BROWN wire while leaving the other red/white wire coming FROM the interior cabin alone (be careful and do NOT connect the wrong wires or else you could end up with a fried wire like mine - see second picture below):



Step 4:

Connect the wires using the connectors and wrap with electrical tape. Also wrap the free red/white wire just in case. My red/white wire coming from the cabin, unfortunately, FRIED and some MAJOR smoke was coming from that wire when I connected THAT one with the brown wire. Instructions I read weren't that clear. Here's the remains of the plastic covering that wire



I had to use a bit of electrical tape to tape as much of that bare wire as possible. I'm assuming the entire wire is now uncovered as I saw smoke from the cabin of my car and can only assume it was the plastic covering frying.

[clumpymold]

Step 5:

Admire your work (please ignore the wire in front of the car - that's my work light)



With LOWEST light setting (-2.0):


With HIGHEST light setting (+2.0):


For those interested, I have Philips 6000K HIDs in my low beams, Xtec 6000K in my fogs, and Osram 6000K in my high beams. I'm using ZKWs with Lava Lighting Angel Eyes as well as eyebrows.

__________________________________________________ _

I hope this helped!

Any questions? Shoot me an email: clumpymold@sbcglobal.net

: :

[hamanncheese]

holy crap...(3) sets of 6000k's running at the same time! awesome! you can go rallying now! i still can't decide if i wanna go hids in the fogs.

where'd ya mount your 6 ballasts?

[adeelpowers]

nice!

[LTrain]

Congratulations, now your car won't pass inspection =p

[RRSperry]

What a stupid thing to do. They are FOG lights for gosh sakes. NOT DRIVING LIGHTS.

[Extrav.Dreams]

The man likes his lights. Probably kills bugs that get in the beam.

I never understood why you put them in the highs, no sense in that.

[D_ALPINE_M]

Looks good!

[jgerry2002]

Don't see why you could not try to do the same mod at the fog light switch area. I guess it depends if the car interupts the hot side of the switch or the hot side of the feed to the lights.

Wow, I think you have more candle power than the landing lights of a large jet.

-Justin

[RotaryBzzz]

y0 - call OFF the search party mang!

Nice DIY....good job

[RRSperry]

Well, it's very annoying, and illegal. Let's see, all six light lit up, yup illegal. That and they don't do squat for lighting the road...

[KidCorrado]

How can it be annoying when you wont see all the lights on at once anyways? It's not like he is driving around with his high beams on and now it's gonna be even more annoying because his fogs are on at the same time....I think it looks good and something different..nice work!

[JeffCupino]

Just support guys... nice DIY and it looks great. I was just wondering if you can give me a set of HID's! LoL! HAHA J/k! BUT GOOD JOB AND GOOD LUCK PEACE

JEFF

[ASCH MAN]

How is your vision at night on a deserted road, it must light it up pretty well. If you just turn on the HID Fogs by themselves, do they perform as driving lights, or are they just whiter fogs on the road?

Does anyone sell driving fog lights for the E36?

[bmattick]

One very important step you missed in your excellent DIY- disconnect the battery before doing anything else!

[clumpymold]

Originally Posted by RRSperry

What a stupid thing to do. They are FOG lights for gosh sakes. NOT DRIVING LIGHTS.

I drive with my fog lights on SOMETIMES when my low beams are on. But I don't use them exclusively as driving lights. : Plus, they're aimed WAY down (too low, IMO) so they won't affect anyone else's vision.

Originally Posted by LTrain

Congratulations, now your car won't pass inspection

Why not? It already did pass inspection when I purchased it and I don't believe we have to do it again. Not sure though, but I think CA is different from VA.

Originally Posted by Extrav.Dreams

The man likes his lights. Probably kills bugs that get in the beam.

I never understood why you put them in the highs, no sense in that.

As far as me putting them into my highs, it was because my original HID set in my fogs started turning greenish and didn't match my low beams anymore. Got a great deal on a new set ($290, shipped) and so I swapped them out for those. Didn't think anyone would buy the original HIDs in the fogs so I decided to put them in the highs just for kicks. Turned out great. =) Plus, I HARDLY use my highs anyway. This mod was mainly done for canyon runs late at night.

Originally Posted by AudioMan

How is your vision at night on a deserted road, it must light it up pretty well. If you just turn on the HID Fogs by themselves, do they perform as driving lights, or are they just whiter fogs on the road?

Does anyone sell driving fog lights for the E36?

Haven't tried them out yet. Just did this last night (note date in pictures). The HID fogs are bright, but they're aimed WAY down so they can't be used independently. They are, however, wired up to do so (I can even turn them on without the key =) - see here, post #13: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...hreadid=188902). Not sure about what you mean by driving fog lights? Why would you want that? Isn't that what your low beams are for?

Originally Posted by KidCorrado

How can it be annoying when you wont see all the lights on at once anyways? It's not like he is driving around with his high beams on and now it's gonna be even more annoying because his fogs are on at the same time....I think it looks good and something different..nice work!

EXACTLY! Thank you VERY much! I don't plan on using all six HIDs at once on "normal" roads. That'd be insane. This is, like I said above, only for those late-night canyon runs. Plus, they're all aimed differently.

Originally Posted by RRSperry

Well, it's very annoying, and illegal. Let's see, all six light lit up, yup illegal. That and they don't do squat for lighting the road...

Yeah, I'm going to be driving around town with all of them on. : They're not solely designed for lighting up the road. It helps other people (and airplanes ) see me too. =)

Originally Posted by RotaryBzzz

y0 - call OFF the search party mang!

Nice DIY....good job

Originally Posted by JAYSWHITESEDAN

Looks good!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by jgerry2002

Don't see why you could not try to do the same mod at the fog light switch area. I guess it depends if the car interupts the hot side of the switch or the hot side of the feed to the lights.

Wow, I think you have more candle power than the landing lights of a large jet.

-Justin

I tried that. No workie. Blew out my dome light trying. See link above on what happened.

Originally Posted by bmattick

One very important step you missed in your excellent DIY- disconnect the battery before doing anything else!

No, I didn't really have to do that since I wasn't working with any live wires. All the wires I cut (only two) were both dead. Granted the fuse box has many live wires but I was careful (and noted that others should also be careful). Disconnecting the battery is sort of a pain and I think it should be done on more serious electrical mods. If I HAD done that, it would have been a pain to keep reconnecting it just to check the lights to see if the mod worked.

[DeeM3]

Wow a lot of people hating on you now. Anyways I think it's great that you can do your mods and share the knowledge in case someone else is interested in doing something similar. That's what these forums are all about. Personally I think your setup looks cool but I wouldn't do it on my car.

[jsm3]

While I won't be doing this mod, I am, *again,* impressed with the quality of your DIY. Great pix, clearly marked, and clear explanations throughout, even the "mistake." Post more DIYs as yours are some of the best I have seen.
Thanks CM!
jsm3

[ChadsM3]

I have to say. Not many people out ther can REALLY melt the bumpers off Hondas. Damn...!!! Nice job.

[KnightRider/AMG]

damn curtis? got this done last night so you can make its debut at the pasadena meet? I really wanna see how it looks, of course only for a split second, any longer and I can have permanent eye damage!

[MaloventEvil]

what he said. i think this is a hot mod! (also why is this illegal again? and who actually checks for it)

[fivefreshfish]

Excellent write-up, Clumpy! This mod would be something I'd consider, but I am planning to add a pair of aftermarket Hella driving lights that switch on with the high beams. I did a search but haven't found anyone who added driving lights to their M3.

[RRSperry]

Ok, they are aimed so low because they are FOG lights. To be used when there is FOG. In FOG, or snow, even low beams will cause so much glare you might not be able to see anything. The fog lights light up the edge of the road, a short distance ahead, so that you can see something and not crash. When you do a H7 or HID mod to the FOG light you remove the shield around the blub. The shield is what keeps the lights from blinding other drivers. Yes several companies make driving lights for our cars, just but for the fog light replacement. It would make no sense to put driving lights that low. Rant off. sorry

[D_ALPINE_M]

No prob I was thinking of doing this mod a while back. Does it make a difference from rewiring from the fog light switch itself or do I really need to do it from under the fuse box? I have seen the one done where the fog light switch is at.