Fog Light question

[spddmn713]

I have heard that there is a way to solder the LKM to where the fog lights will stay on even when the brights are turned on. I was wondering if anyone knew exactly where you need to solder on the LKM to get this to work? Is there any downsides to this? Thanks!

[scott540]

why would you want your fog lights and brights on ?

[tim]

agreed. defeats the purpose of the fogs.

[spddmn713]

Well, I live south of Atlanta, GA and there is a lot of deer on the backroads around here. The fog lamps illuminate the sides of the road better than both the low beams and the high. A large deer tore up my prestine 1968 GTO because I did not see him on the side of the road. I am just trying to do everything that I can to avoid that in the future. I know that it sounds kind of pointless, but the fogs do make a difference for visiblitity on the side of the road.

[bimmerd00d]

get the deer whistles, and mount them behind the grills. that's what i did and i've noticed a HUGE difference, they get out of the way now lol

[liquidtiger720]

Just get dem whistles! But if you really really want, here is a write up from a e36 guy.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=236573&highlight=foglight+mod
It may or may not be the same.

[jplacson]

My E34 is the Euro version, and the fogs stay on even with the brights on... draw back... my fogs only come on when the low beams are on. I can't drive with just fogs on. (It's supposedly illegal in some EU countries)

[spddmn713]

get the deer whistles, and mount them behind the grills. that's what i did and i've noticed a HUGE difference, they get out of the way now lol
I am not a big believer in the whistles because my girlfriend hit a deer while the whistles were on her car. Then right after she hit one her mom hit one that ran into her car, not just out into the road but into the side of her car. So I don't really believe they do much good.

[jplacson]

I have a similar question as well... is there a way to rewire MY lkm to allow the fogs to be independent of the low-beams? I want to be able to turn them on when my parks are on.

[spddmn713]

I have a similar question as well... is there a way to rewire MY lkm to allow the fogs to be independent of the low-beams? I want to be able to turn them on when my parks are on.

If I have the fog light switch turned on and turn my parks on - the fog lights come on with them

[jplacson]

I know... I think this is a US LKM version. Do your fogs stay on when you turn on your high-beams?

[Karl]

On my US car the fog lights can be turned on with the parking lamps, and go out when High beams are switched on. I'm with spddmn here, would like to have the fog lights on to fill in the sides even when the high beams are on. BTW my wife calls them ditch lights -- mught have picked that up from trains or something.

[shogun]

I assume it is just the wiring and has nothing do do with the LKM. I have originally a japanese specification car, but I have also a European LKM-L as spare. Just tried that for a test. No difference.
Same is with the rear fog lights. You need the wiring, the switch and the bulbs. European cars have it, Japanese too, but here many modify the rear fog light to an additional brake light or tail light.
Here a pic form my car
http://tridem.han-solo.net/auto/erich/halopics/index_018.jpg

[jplacson]

shogun, can you turn on just your fogs, without the low-beams?

[shogun]

and I think it depends on the country traffic laws:

parking light only (2 front, 2 rear). In Germany for example you even can select one side only by using the lever for the turn signal and then switch engine off into locking position. So if the car is parked on a street, the lights towards the inside/middle of the road can be kept on. In Germany rquired by law outside cities. It's also mentioned in my owners manual.
Good idea for power saving and safety.

-parking lights with fog lights on

-parking light plus fog plus dip/low headlight
-parking light plus plus... as shown on above above pic.