If the rain lets up over here for more than 15 minutes (well, hopefully much longer than that) I'm going to install my headlight relay harness and H4 upgrades, but in the meantime I am just browsing the internet. I found an XJ on the auto wrecker website with OEM fog lights installed in the photo and have some questions before I consider spending the time and $$ heading out there.
I have a 1991 Limited. My XJ has the brackets on the bumper, fog light harness/pigtails and the switch on the dash for fog lights. So I'm pretty sure I can just plug and play. Questions below:
Are the OEM ones any good or worth the money?
Are the OEM fogs (for my year, 1991) accept replaceable bulbs or are they sealed (ie: does the whole unit need to be replaced)? This sounds silly I know but I haven't found anything to suggest what kind of bulbs go into them.
If the bulbs are replaceable, are LEDs a good or bad idea?
Is the OEM fog harness any good, or do I need to rewire it / add in relays, etc?
What alternatives do you recommend to the OEM fogs? H4 vs LED? Anything low cost?
I honestly got a little overwhelmed looking into this since I can't really find much specific information or photos of the OEM ones. I have found sources to buy them new as well, but those don't have too much info. I don't remember so many options for fog lights years ago, but right now I just see the market flooded with cheap LED ones and I honestly have no idea where to start looking anymore.
Fogs on our XJ would be used .. well for fog. I live in the PNW and we often get fog on the highways or back roads. I'd just like something to complement the new H4 headlights (once they are installed) to help improve visibility in the fog.
I honestly would prefer to just bolt them on the bumper and plug them in to the stock harness, but I don't want to waste money on that approach if the OEM ones are garbage. Alternatively, if the harness is OK and there are recommendations for a good AM set I don't mind making a small pigtail to adapt a different set of fogs to the OEM harness. I really do want to minimize the work on this one though and just get them in...
Looking forward to any feedback or suggestions you might have!
Does anyone know if the OEM design is any good? It'd just be nice to plug and play but not worth it if they suck.
I realize the OEM ones accept bulbs - found something confirming that but no confirmation on bulb size/ type. I have also found that LED aren't recommended at least in those housings for use with fog so I'll stay away from LED.
I'm not seeing much more than this in my budget. I don't want to spend much more than $50/light if I can. The rectangular Hella ones seemed OK - anyone have any feedback on these?
So the next question will be whether the stock fog light harness is any good or if I'd have to rewire it anyways.
If I have to wire a new harness, I'll wait until next year probably because it's a pain to work on the Jeep in the alley when it's raining and dark out in the winter. If I can plug/ play I'd like to jump on it before the winter.
I've been driving since 1962 and lived in southern New England for a lot of time where fog is a normal thing most nights. I like amber fog lights because they can be intense without blinding you. But that's my opinion. Also you need area coverage rather than narrow beams like built in factory lights. I've been buying these cheap Chinese lights pictured below that come with a complete wiring harness, relay, fuse, and switch for around $40 and they work excellent for me, although the bulbs last about 2 days at most. I replace them with Hella H2 bulbs that last about 1 year using them constantly. Because of them getting damaged with snow, I've moved them to the top of the bumper and aimed them towards the shoulders so I can see the edges of the road better. Also you need amber lenses, not amber bulbs because they don't really look amber in the light they produce.
I had also found some amber ones online, including some versions of the rectangular Hella ones with an amber lens. I'll focus on getting amber aftermarket ones then!
I'll need to look into the harness itself and decide if I'm going to rewire it or not.
Just make sure they are powered from a relay and not just a switch. 55 watt H2 halogen bulbs draw about 4 amps each. H2s have a pigtail wire and H3s have a spade connector right on the bulb.
Thanks! I was able to do a little more focused reading yesterday after you posted this and was finally able to find some circuit diagrams and some posts suggesting the existing harness is undersized. I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'll need to run new wires for power and this won't be a plug and play (I mean, where's the fun in that anyways!).
I'm thinking I could piggyback off of the existing harness to trigger the relay, then run new wires to power the lights. Essentially I'd be doing the same thing the headlight relay harness does. Will that work, or should I rip out the old harness and pull all new wires through?
I would just cut the wire supplying power to the fog lights, use the wire from the switch to trigger the relay, run a fused wire from the battery or PDC to supply the relay input. Then connect the original foglight wire to the relay's output and a ground on the trigger coil side. That way you're only using the foglight switch to trigger the relay and all the power to light the foglights is fused and coming directly from the battery. No need to rip out the old harness or add a new one. You're only adding 2 wires, one from the PDC with a fuse in it, and one to ground the trigger coil. The original wire sizes are adequate to carry the load, it's just the switch can't without eventually burning out because of it's resistance. You can cut that foglight wire anywhere between the switch and the lights to install the relay. The best place is in front of the battery to keep everything out of the way and easy to access.
Same thing with the headlight harness. That upgrade harness is designed to be plug&play for simplicity and most people probably won't go to the trouble of stripping out the unused part of the old harness, but it isn't being used and just adds to the clutter.
NOW! If you want to add complexity to this, I've done this to many of my vehicles. Install a double-throw/center off toggle switch in the dash. Connect the relay trigger wire to the center terminal. Then a fused supply wire from the battery to one side terminal and a wire from the low beam headlight circuit to the other. What this does is give you the option of having the foglights on all the time or only on with the low beam headlights. Make sure that battery wire comes off the ignition circuit so they go off when you turn off the engine. I didn't do that on my first car, left them on when I parked it, came back in 3 hours and the battery was dead! D'oh! The easiest place to pick up that ignition wire is the cigarette lighter socket, IF it turns off with the ignition. It does on my WJ.
