greg g Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 I have played with my front signal lights making sur they are grounded and wired correctly but just cant get them to show up well in the day light. I have painted one white and one silver, and neither made much difference. So I am giving some thought to powering my fog lamps from the signal circuit. But I also want to use them as fog lights without lighting the signals at night. If I put a diode into the line feeding the fog lamps from the signal curcuit would this prevent backflow from the fogs to the signals when they are lit through the regular fog switch. The other question concerns what would happen when the fogs are lit at night and also trying to be fed from the signal, would this be of no concern since the bulb was alread lit, I can't see how it would be like feeding double voltage to the bulb in the fog lamp. Also what sixe or type of diode (or other device) would be needed to pass through the load of a 35 watt light at 6 V ( am i correct that the draw would peak at 7 amps?? Quote
55 Fargo Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 I think you would need some type of relay in the circuit from the fogs, and diodes too. This way the circuit from the signal switch, can be broken when the fog light sare powered on, and the diode, would not allow current pass the diode to the fog lamp switch, while your using the fogs in conjunction with the signal lights. This would require some type of normally open- normally closed relays, open when the fog light switch is off, and open when they are on, or vice versa, used to know a Guy who could draw you a schematic for this. Maybe Tim Adams might have an idea... Quote
Jim Yergin Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 Greg, This is what I used to wire my car. Jim Yergin Quote
55 Fargo Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 That's a very good method Jim to incorporate the tail lights to the brake light circuit, and to allow signals to work with all. The 7 wire signal stat essentially does this with a very simple set-up. Greg wants to use His front fog lights in the signal circuit by day, those fogs have a lot more amp draw than the signal bulbs, will that work with the thermal signal switch? He also does want the fog light circuit broken, anytime He turns on the switch for the fogs. The set-up you have, which is what I will use with my 47 Chrys with factory 3 wire signal switch, allows the brake lights to work on all 3 lamps, tail lights and stop lamp. Once signal switch is turned on in either direction, it allows the corresponding tail light to flash, but not the stop lamp or opposite tail light to flash. Quote
Big_John Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 What about using replacement 6 volt LED lights. The increased brightness might be what you are looking for. Quote
greg g Posted September 8, 2012 Author Report Posted September 8, 2012 most led bulbs are for negative ground, replacing them will also require a different flasher I believe. Quote
40P10touring sedan Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 LEDs are picky about which terminal is hot and ground, but that shouldn't stop anyone from using them backwards from a normal neg ground set up...your ground would simply be the pos side and you'd hit the power to it/them on the neg side when the time came...right? As far as LED load- if your already running a full compliment of filiment bulbs and just adding a few LEDs to it, load isn't an issue...if your setting up your car for full LEDs that's another story as there's not enough load w/o the use of an LED relay...one can add ressitors to combat that too. BTW, simply as a suggestion fwiw, why not just hook up the fog lights to an under dash switch for on/off?...might be easier, but you might want it your way for a reason too....just another idea here, that's all. Quote
55 Fargo Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 LEDs are picky about which terminal is hot and ground, but that shouldn't stop anyone from using them backwards from a normal neg ground set up...your ground would simply be the pos side and you'd hit the power to it/them on the neg side when the time came...right?As far as LED load- if your already running a full compliment of filiment bulbs and just adding a few LEDs to it, load isn't an issue...if your setting up your car for full LEDs that's another story as there's not enough load w/o the use of an LED relay...one can add ressitors to combat that too. BTW, simply as a suggestion fwiw, why not just hook up the fog lights to an under dash switch for on/off?...might be easier, but you might want it your way for a reason too....just another idea here, that's all. He already has the fog lamps switched, what he is trying to accomplish is to incorporate the fogs with signals lights for day use. Then if he turns the switch on for the fogs, it closes the circuit from the signal circuit Quote
40P10touring sedan Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 Oh...duh on my part! I misunderstood the situation- Sorry. Yes then, diodes would work fine...they allow voltage in only one direction and not the other....band marked end is voltage flow towards the circuit as I recall{might be 2 for 2 wrong now}. Diode ratings are in volts and amps as I recall{3 for 3?} so find one with a slightly higher amp rating to keep things safe...voltage will be higher than needed but your worry about the load{amps} more- 6a 50v should do I'd think. There's a ton of diodes out there from lots of places...time to search and wire in. Quote
suntennis Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 Many of the new cars use yellow lights as turn lights. Can you get yellow light bulbs in 6 volts for the turn liights? If so, it would not cost much to try and see if this fixes your problem. Quote
40P10touring sedan Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 (edited) What about using replacement 6 volt LED lights. The increased brightness might be what you are looking for. Yes and no there- imho. My '40 ply taillights are dim by way of engineereing with having the bulb, without any kind of reflector, sit almost half way back from the lense...alot of light is lost to the trunk{fine at night when ya open the trunk...not so good for added visibility for cars behind you}. Alot, but not all, of the available LED bulbs in 12v and 6v are more oriented towards forward firing light emission which doesn't always illuminate a lense that well as the intended incandescent bulb did...there's alot of LED bulbs out now that, with enough room around it, might do as well or better than... edit- I should clearify the above as the newer LED bulkbs "focus" a light pattern more than spread one out, thereby not lighting certain tailllight lenses as well since some require a spread of light to be seen better. Edited September 8, 2012 by 40P10touring sedan Quote
oldodge41 Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 Ok, there are many ways to skin a cat. I am not a fan of using diodes so I would wire it as follows using two double pole relays. You could use one 4 pole relay but availability and cost of 4 pole 6 volt relays may be cost prohibitive. In my system both relays would be controlled by the fog light switch. Relay #1 would have two N.O. contacts supplying power to each fog light when the relay is energized with the fog light switch on and preventing power feed to the unwanted fog light when the fog light switch is off and a turn signal is activated. Relay #2 would have two N.C. contacts supplying power to each fog light when the fog light switch is off and its respective turn signal is activated. When the fog light switch is on these contacts would open preventing power flow back to the turn signals. I have attached a print of how I would wire this. This relay should work http://www.newark.com/te-connectivity-potter-brumfield/kup-14d15-6/power-relay-3pdt-6vdc-10a-plug/dp/24F2623 Not the only way to do it but just what I would do..............Tim Quote
55 Fargo Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 Yes and no there- imho. My '40 ply taillights are dim by way of engineereing with having the bulb, without any kind of reflector, sit almost half way back from the lense...alot of light is lost to the trunk{fine at night when ya open the trunk...not so good for added visibility for cars behind you}.Alot, but not all, of the available LED bulbs in 12v and 6v are more oriented towards forward firing light emission which doesn't always illuminate a lense that well as the intended incandescent bulb did...there's alot of LED bulbs out now that, with enough room around it, might do as well or better than... All good points, how about reflective mirror type tape lining the park light housing, and even placing some inside the tail lights, on the body, and in the housing itself? I would think that would reflect like crazy... Quote
40P10touring sedan Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 I grabbed my "how to convert to 12v" guide as I'm in the process of rewiring the car...well, planning it out at least. To figure for amps, take the circuit voltage and divide by the watts to get amps- 35 watt bulb divided by the voltage{6v} = 5.8333... call it 6amps. Quote
40P10touring sedan Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 All good points, how about reflective mirror type tape lining the park light housing, and even placing some inside the tail lights, on the body, and in the housing itself? I would think that would reflect like crazy... Ah, there's the rub....my car{'40 ply} has the bulb in a 2 armed spread clip set roughly 2/3 the way in from the body...there's a hole for the bulb to poke thru...but no reflector at all{cheapskates!}. I can add some amount of reflective tape to the body area behind the lense but it wouldn't be that much at all. OF course they make LED taillight for the later model 46 or so mopars, but nothing for my earlier year car...maybe some day. At the risk of being shot here{hanging a target now}, I'm toying with the idea of a pair of tombstone taillights since my car is going to be a custom look{lowered 3"/visor/skirts/ribbed bumpers/spots...ok, maybe spots}...I can get a set of LED harley tombstone taillights that actually look pretty neat on the rear fenders...it's just pulling the trigger on doing it is all. Nice part is there'd be no hacking up of the body to do it so going back to stock would be easy...dimmer, but easy. I have a license plate surround with brite white LEDs on either side for my b/u lights...no body mods for that one and folks will get the idea when I want to back up. Quote
greg g Posted September 8, 2012 Author Report Posted September 8, 2012 The HD style lamps would not look out of place on your car IMHO. Thanks for the ideas folks, although both scematics are beyond my ken without further cogitiation. Quote
Big_John Posted September 8, 2012 Report Posted September 8, 2012 most led bulbs are for negative ground, replacing them will also require a different flasher I believe. http://www.highspeedmotors.com/6VoltLEDInvoice.html Quote
DCurrent Posted September 9, 2012 Report Posted September 9, 2012 http://www.highspeedmotors.com/6VoltLEDInvoice.html What is the difference between idex and non-index? Darren Quote
Frank Elder Posted September 9, 2012 Report Posted September 9, 2012 What is the difference between idex and non-index?Darren Index has one pin higher on the socket.....non index both pins are equal. Quote
Don Coatney Posted September 9, 2012 Report Posted September 9, 2012 Index has one pin higher on the socket.....non index both pins are equal. Pictured are indexed bulbs. Note that one pin is higher than the other. These bulbs are designed to only go in one way. Quote
DCurrent Posted September 9, 2012 Report Posted September 9, 2012 OK thanks! Geez it sounds like a dumb question now! I got it! Darren Quote
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