Fog Lights

In article Tim Burr writes: $The fog lights on my 02 Passat are pretty much worthless. Not like my $old Bosch rectangular shaped quartz halogens. Can a Higher wattage bulb $be installed? Or are these OEM fogs just for show?

I don't know about the fog lights in that specific model, but in many (though not all) cases, yes, OEM fog lights are mostly for show.

The fog lights on my 2001 Audi A4 help a little, but the low beams already do a decent job of covering most of the area that fog lights cover.

The fact that the regular headlamps stay on would seem to indicate a legal problem or a lack of interest in real fog usage.

In serious fog, the only time you need fog lights, the most serious part of the mix is the bounce back from the primary headlamps. Adding additional light does little to eliminate this problem. How serious that it is dependent on the design of the car and to some extend your seating position.

It is the same effect that is often used in theater where they can make a backdrop seem to disappear by turning off the direct light on it and turning on the light behind it.

I had a Miata. The pop up headlamps put them real close to my line of sight. This meant I got a great deal of bounce back. Driving in heavy fog or heavy snow was a real problem. I added fog lights but that did very little. The wiring was designed so the factory fog lamp wiring would not allow an easy conversion to allow the fog lamps to operate without the head lamps. After I moved to a location where fog was more common, I made "bags" that would fit over the headlamps and black them out. That worked great.

Sure, pickup up an auxiliary light switch/relay kit at an auto parts store (under $10 usually) and go to it. I wired mine so that the relay coil is powered off the parking light circuit, then the relay connects the fogs to the battery through a fuse. This way I can have fogs any time the parking lights are on and the fogs turn off if I turn off the lights. You may want to check your local light laws regarding whether you need to have fogs switched off when high beams are on. Some states have this requirement. From: Roger Brown, P.E. ( snipped-for-privacy@pisco.engr.sgi.com) Subject: Re: Fog lights Roger: I gather from you moniker that you are a professional engineer, so you should know better. I really hesitate to slag a colleague (and it's Christmas), but where did you get the idea to have your fogs wired to be on ALL the time? Unless you live in a perpetually damp climate (odds are you don't), then fogs are needed very occasionally (maybe

1-2 times a year where I reside, right next to a very large body of water). Sit down for a minute and think about where each type of light might be needed, and you'll come to the conclusion that less just might actually be more in many situations . . . H20nly

Roger's message did not seem to get to my server so here is my reply.

I am guessing your message was in reply to my comments. The problem is with the 2002 NB (and other models and years) US spec, there is no parking lights. The DRLs are on all the time, I would need to kill them. I suspect I could figure out how to do that if I really needed fog lights often. If I did need them often I think I would.

Your suggestion would have been great for my Miata. I wish I had seen such a suggestion back then.

But even the DRLs turn off when you turn off the engine. But if that's all you need, just use any ignition-switched power to feed the fog light relay coil and go from there. I just used the parking lights on my older 4Runner since it could be controlled via the dash light switch. And I did not consider DRLs in my reply, thanks for clearing that up.

I did not imply that I left the fog lights on all the time, you'll note I said "any time". In fact that is exactly the reason I wired them to turn off if I turned off the main lights so I would not have them on all the time. And I do only use mine a few times each year and only when needed, but because they don't get turned on that often, I could also forget to turn them off. I did want the ability to run the fogs independent of the high and low beams, which if you followed the wiring instructions that came with my light kit, they would only run w/ low beams. My fog lights do double duty as off-road lights and sometimes I find it handy to have high beams on for long range light down the road, but find that this leaves the immedeate ground in front of the truck unlit, thus the fogs on. And no, its not foggy when I do this as if it were, high beams are not a good idea to use in fog. This is out in the back country, pitch black, no oncoming traffic, need to get as much light on the road as possible. And I don't like having a whole mess of different lights sticking out of my truck, I have the headlights and some fog lights. I also wired the fog/driving lights in my VW to work this same way. 99% of the time I use them as they were designed to work but that one time where you need something different, lighting wise, its sure nice to have a flexible system.

Sorry for not explaining my setup more clearly in th original reply, I tried to keep it brief.