Foglight switch questions

[Feuerstoss]

'Ey, all. Just joined up, but I've been a lurker for a bit, and have gleaned some pretty useful info. In short, I decided to take a 'break' from my 'Four, and concentrating on my '88 LX daily driver.

Firstly, I want to install foglights on my car. I'm pretty much a novice when it comes to wiring stuff, but I absolutely hate the looks of the switches aftermarket foglights come with. I have read other threads of somehow rigging a spare cruise control switch to do the same job, and that's what I want to do.

I have torn apart the spare CC switch I have, and have a pretty idea what it generally does, and where the leads on the circuitboard on the back originate. I know the connector on the back has five leads, but since the plastic part which actually connects to the wiring harness is covering where these leads terminate, I have absolutely no clue what lead goes where. Here's what I've brainstormed so far:

I want the CC/fog switch to operate like stock. That means illumination, the indicator light on the label, etc. I will probably need a spare CC switch wiring harness from a junked 3G, or if I'm lucky enough to come across it, the actual fog switch/harness(if they aren't the same). I have not decided upon a specific light kit(mounting will be in the 'foglight hole' ), but depending on the wiring to the switch, I may have to splice dash illumination off of the CC switch.

Now... does anyone have any wiring diagrams, or would mind catching me on AIM/YIM to explain what sort of wiring tricks/components I may need to pull this off, as well as having decent diagrams of the CC switch layout? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[kennyaccordlxi]

There should be a factory foglight switch on the left side of dash board near the steering wheel; my 87 HB LX-i had one along with a pre-wire foglight harness also reach up under your bumper where the foglight cutouts are and there should be some wires under there, all you have to do is pull them out gently and plug the foglights in correctly and mount them. The switch has a a round yellow amber light.

[w261w261]

One thing you might take a close look at is whether the CC switch and the foglight switch have the same current ratings. Our Accords do not use relays in the headlight switch circuits, for instance. In a relay-controlled circuit the switch itself operates with a low current. That low current in turn controls a relay that directs the high current to the lights. The idea is similar to a manually controlled switch on a train track - the relatively small effort of opening the switch allows the major force of a train to go one direction or the other. Since the Accord does not use relays, all the current that operates the headlights goes through the headlight switch, and if you install bigger bulbs (say 80-90 watt) instead of the stock 55 watt, you will slowly cook the switch, even though they may work for awhile.

So i think it's safe to say that the same situation applies to the foglight switch - it is being asked to carry the operating current for the fog lights. That current may be more than the current necessary to operate the cruise control, and therefore the CC switch *may* be undersized when used to control the fog lights. A year ago the foglight switches were still available from Honda for about $20.00. It might be a good investment.

[POS carb]

Black/Red-stripe is power in, Light Green is power out to the relay, Black is ground for the ON indicator light, Red/Black and Red are for the switch illumination. You can hook up the Black, Red/black, and red to the original cruise control switch, put 12 V to the Black/red-stripe and the Light Green goes to your relay's coil

[kennyaccordlxi]

One thing you might take a close look at is whether the CC switch and the foglight switch have the same current ratings. Our Accords do not use relays in the headlight switch circuits, for instance. In a relay-controlled circuit the switch itself operates with a low current. That low current in turn controls a relay that directs the high current to the lights. The idea is similar to a manually controlled switch on a train track - the relatively small effort of opening the switch allows the major force of a train to go one direction or the other. Since the Accord does not use relays, all the current that operates the headlights goes through the headlight switch, and if you install bigger bulbs (say 80-90 watt) instead of the stock 55 watt, you will slowly cook the switch, even though they may work for awhile.
So i think it's safe to say that the same situation applies to the foglight switch - it is being asked to carry the operating current for the fog lights. That current may be more than the current necessary to operate the cruise control, and therefore the CC switch *may* be undersized when used to control the fog lights. A year ago the foglight switches were still available from Honda for about $20.00. It might be a good investment.



Its up to whoever plugs aftermarket foglights into the factory pre-wired harness to use low wattage foglights they do exist, I was just pointing out the location of the factory switch. anyway there are pre-wired foglight harnesses on the market low 55 watts and higher watt I`ve seen them at some aftermarket auto accessories shops including cheesy autozone.

[w261w261]

dIn any case, it's no big deal to take the original wiring to the lights and use this voltage to control a relay. Run a fused new circuit from the battery to provide power to the lights and you can pump out whatever wattage you want.