Fog light confusion...

[Helga]

I have a 1982 2 litre westfalia conversion. Now, did this originally have any sort of fog light system fitted? What I have now is this:

A set of spots / fogs at the front added later (and badly). Inside, there is a two position (on / off) fog light switch. When I turn the lights on and THEN the foglights the spots at the front come on BUTthe headlights then go down to main dipped beam - i.e the spots won't work with high beam... is this correct?

Also when the spots / fogs are turned on, there does not seem to be any extra red lights at the back... is this because bulbs are perhaps gone... or because this 82 van never had rear fogs?

ALSO... if I wanted to replace these messy spot/fogs at the front, would anysort of fog light do, or does it need a certain wattage etc.

Any help greatly appreciated!!! Helga

[Helga]

To begin to answer my own questions...

From reading other posts it seems I probably don't have any original factory fit fogs as this is a German 1982 import... so probably never had them fitted - plus it seems that the added fog / spots at the front ARE supposed to 'knock off' the high beam when they are turned on! I hope this IS ALL right?

But this leads to the question of turning the fogs into driving lights... how can I wire them so that they DON't knock off the high beam, but instead give me a bit of extra light on country lanes whilst still using highbeam? I suppose I could simply wire them to a new switch on the dash, with a live feed taken from the fuse that is supposed to be for interior lights (I have long since wired interiors to leisure battery) - this would give me the feed to the dash, new switch (use an old rear screen switch), then live feed out the front off the van, to both lights! Would that all work do you think?

Others mention using 'relays'... but I don't know what one of those is!!! lol

Thanks!

[andisnewsyncro]

To answer the 1st half of the question, if the front auxilliary lights are indeed fog lights, then they can only come on with dipped beam by law, so what's happening seems "proper". if they are "spot " or "driving lights" they can be wired up to come with main beam & off with dip. It depends on the marking code letter on the lens as to which they actually are classed as, but I can't remember them off the top of my head, I'll have a look later if you need to know which you have.

As far as a rear fog lamp goes, it has to have one to pass an MOT if it was registered after 1980. You say you have a 2 position switch, so logically the on position should put on the rear fog light. Generally (I think) if a vehicle has front & rear fogs, it should have a 3 way switch; 1= off, 2= on rear only, 3= on front AND rear - or it could be 1=off, 2= on front only 3= Front & Rear.

Yours will originally have had a left hand side (looking from the rear) fog lamp at the back. On importation it should have had either a new right hand side rear bulb holder with fog wiring in it fitted, or more usuall just a cheap extra light bolted below the bumper on the right hand side to comply with the MOT.

First thing to do is check the bulbs and see what you have back there.

Andi

[andisnewsyncro]

To begin to answer my own questions...

From reading other posts it seems I probably don't have any original factory fit fogs as this is a German 1982 import... so probably never had them fitted - plus it seems that the added fog / spots at the front ARE supposed to 'knock off' the high beam when they are turned on! I hope this IS ALL right?

But this leads to the question of turning the fogs into driving lights... how can I wire them so that they DON't knock off the high beam, but instead give me a bit of extra light on country lanes whilst still using highbeam? I suppose I could simply wire them to a new switch on the dash, with a live feed taken from the fuse that is supposed to be for interior lights (I have long since wired interiors to leisure battery) - this would give me the feed to the dash, new switch (use an old rear screen switch), then live feed out the front off the van, to both lights! Would that all work do you think?

Others mention using 'relays'... but I don't know what one of those is!!! lol

Thanks!

You obviously type faster than me ....

To wire in a set of spots, you need a relay with four connectors, one to fused feed from main battery, one to ground, one to the feed to the lights and one to the main beam switch/wiring. It's not as complicated as I've just made it sound, honest.
You also need a good set of driving lights, not fog lights, the beam pattern is different and throws the light much further ahead. Someone will be along shortly with a diagram I'm sure, which will make everything clear for you.

Andi

[Helga]

Ah, that has answered another question.... whether spots and fogs are different! Thanks Andi

Ok, so don't need front fogs by law? In that case will get rid of them - as I have never driven in fog!!! But do drive dark anrrow lanes, and the original main lights are rubbish... even with new better bulbs.

So fitting a set of driving lights it is!

So Andi, a four wire realy... what is that? Anyone got a link to one anywhere so I can understand?

1. One LIVE wire FROM fusebox to relay...
2. Second wire ground... where does that come from? Is that the same as EARTH?
3. Then a wire going out to the actual lights yes?
4. And one to high beam - God this is getting complex now!!

Couldn't I NOT add it to High Beam but just have these secondary lights on a totally different circuit?

Thanks

[Helga]

A four wire 'really'? I mean a four wire 'relay'!!!

[andisnewsyncro]

Ah, that has answered another question.... whether spots and fogs are different! Thanks Andi

Ok, so don't need front fogs by law? In that case will get rid of them - as I have never driven in fog!!! But do drive dark anrrow lanes, and the original main lights are rubbish... even with new better bulbs.

There is no legal need for front fogs, just one rear one on the offside of the van.

There's a few threads, and info in the wiki, about uprating the headlights, I did it and it makes a HUGE difference, the problem is the bulbs aren't getting full 12v with the original wiring set up, so even new "hi tec" bulbs won't be as good as they could be.

If you're not sure about doing it youself, (I don't blame you for that, I took mine to a local auto electricians to get the lights done - I understand it, but they do this sort of thing day in day out and have for the past 50 odd years and there were a couple of other jobs I wanted help with too) how about having a word with Si, see if it's something he could help with over the weekend mentioned here https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52622 I don't know if he's looking to do electrical work as well as general servicing and mechanicals, but it can't hurt to ask him - you'll get the chance for a good going over of your van too

Andi