Fog Lamps Help

Pugga and Dark,

Thanks for the info I will look at the wiring harness PIAA sent me when I get home for the white wire with red harsh marks and then go from there.

 

So I went out to my truck at lunch and realized I had the wiring harness inside my truck. The switch cord runs about 2 feet before splitting out into 3 wires. red, white and black. The white wire does not have any red-hash marks. The 3 wires go into a connector connecting to 2 white hours and 1 black. These white wires do not have have red marks either. Now I know the hot wire for the parking light is the green wire ( I thought it was the green wire anyway) so my question is the white wire from the switch the correct one to wire to the green hot wire? there is no red marks on the wire.

 

Read the PIAA instructions, maybe they have changed the wiring harness but the wire that goes to the parking light hot wire is probably labeled "switch power".

It is not directly off of the on/off switch itself. you will find it coming off of the connector that goes to the on/off switch if I remember correctly.

 

So I fly home from work, mount the light and as i am tightening the bolt the top of the light keeps tilting down. Is there anyway to secure the top? Or to better tighten the bolt at the bottom? Did you guys only use the one bolt at the bottom?

 

adjust the mounting bolt so the light is as far back in the hole as possible.

 

I think i should get some fogs (well, driving lights in the fog hole)

 

Dark, I push the light as far back as possible and when I tighten the bolt down it pulls the bottom of the light in pushing the top out so the light becomes tilted downward. There is a small ridge that the guard seems to hit on the right side that was there to hold the plastic insert into place. Now If I turn the light to the left the light and guard will slide in further but it looks funny cause the PIAA symbol is slanted left. I am going to try to place a locknut on both sides of the plastic hole with a washer to see if that helps or maybe just grind the plastic ridge down so I can just slide the guard in straight. If anyone has any obvious answers that I am missing let me know. I would just take the guard off and put the light in but my issue is the gap is over over 1/4 inch around the light and the edge of the hole and it looks horrible. It wont let me copy pictures for some reason so you can guys can see what i am talking about.

 

A big thank you to all you that helped with installing my PIAA's. They are working exactly as I had hoped and are good and secure. I just need to make a few adjustments and install a better looking switch that fits properly. Thanks again to all of you!

 

As soon as the weather warms up a little, I'm putting my 510's in the stock fog location with the mesh guards and I'm curious what the answer is to this problem. I'm assuming that the area in the bumber that interferes with the mesh cover needs to be cut or ground down??

I know this is an old thread, but I subscribed long ago specifically for this answer as no one seems to have answered it before...

 

Nope you don't need to cut or grind down anything. I have mine in with the guards. I actually found a much easier to way mount these. This is what I would recommend. Take out the inserts ( keep them incase you decide to sell the truck.) I drilled a hole in the bottom center of the housing. I did this after messing with the predrilled mounting whole and it was just a pain in the ass keeping the light straight and secure this so much easier. Went to ace hardware bought of strip of quarter inch aluminun plate for like 10 bucks. Cut into 2 peices so they fit along the underside of the housing.The metal does a great job of dispersing the pressure along the whole bottom side of the housing making sure the lights are good and tight without breaking the housing when tightening down. If you have any questions just ask.

 

I had to read that a few times and I think I understand that correctly....

So what you're saying is you didn't have the mounting bolt going through the back of the housing - you drilled a hole through the plastic from the underside of the housing, had the bolt come straight down through the plastic, go through the aluminum and used the aluminum as security to bolt to instead of just the plastic housing?? How difficult is this to get into the round housing with the bolt bracket on the light housing tightened and pointing downwards?
Would a fender washer be just as effective as the aluminum strip, or does the aluminum strip somewhat "squash" the housing to help hold the light?

If this is the way you did it, how did you know how far back to drill the hole - just gauged it by sight??

Also, I see on here in other threads that people have had problems with the PIAA's leaking and retaining moisture. Have you had any issues??
I would think that with these recessed into the housing with the mesh cover around the area of the seals that there really shouldn't be any water issue.

 

Sorry about the confusion! I wrote that in haste! I tried for days trying to use the hole what was already in the housing and could not get the light straight or secure. I took the light and moved the bracket down and slid the light into the housing as far back as I could. I eyeballed the hole on the bracket where the bolt goes through and into thehousing. I then drilled the hole in the housing. I did not drill the hole from underneath just simply eyeballed it and drilled. Once you slide the light in the whole with the bracket facing down you can see that its really easy to eyeball it. The light will move around a bit until you tighten it down so you have some wiggle room. After I drilled the hole I put the bolt through the bracket. I then had a light that was sitting almost straight inside the hosuing. It was a good fit I then took the piece of aluminum ( I guess it could be anything stiff that wont rust, maybe a piece of plastic?) I drilled a hole through it and crawled underneath the truck slid this over the bolt and applied the washer and nut and then tightened it down. I made sure the metal was running the length the housing (think front wheels towards the back wheels) I used a rectangular piece This way when tightening down the nut, the metal applied pressure all the way across the housing to prevent breaking through it and it makes the light not move at all. That was my biggest fear hitting bumps and having the light wiggle and it breaking. I have not had any issues yest with moisture.Only issue I had was a bad bulb that came with the light it was burned on in 3 months. Found cheap replacement bulbs for 20 bucks online ordered 4 of them so now I have extras. Only thing that is still tricky, dark had the same problem is keeping the drivers side light from looking slightly crooked, I dont know why but that light is tricky! I just kept loosening the nut adjusting the light, tighning a little bit then rechecking I was adventually able to get it. I will try to take some pictures for you tonight so you can see a little clearer. I wont take the light out but I will take one underneath so you can see exactly what I did. Does this help? If your worried about a drilling a hole, I was too but then after I did and got the light and it took 10 minutes vs the days it took messing around trying to secure the light other way it was totally worth it. If I ever selll it or trade in I will take the lights out put the inserts back it and no one will ever know.

 

That makes sense now. I'll take a look at mounting it both ways (through the back and the way you did it). I know others on here have used the existing hole in the back of the housing and I'll try that first.
At least I now know there's another option if that way doesn't work.

 

No Worries man! I will take some pictures on my break to give you a better idea I had the lights mounted in about an hour using this method. I could probably do it now in about 30 minutes and took me another hour to wire. I could do that now in probably 30 minutes.

 

I mounted the lights today as it was a little warmer out. I also put in my circuit breaker and blue sea fuse panel for accessories.
I'll see if I can wire up the lights tomorrow afternoon as I ran out of time today.

I mounted them using the standard bolt hole in the bumper. I ended up using a longer M10 bolt with a nut and flat washer against the plastic inside the opening and a fender washer, lockwasher & nut on the backside. Using this setup, I was able to control the depth the lights sit at as well as bolt it tightly. I also rotated (or flipped) the brackets on the lights themselves as this seemed to allow the lights to mount more centrally in the openings.

They are very sturdy and look great. By leaving the guards on, it keeps the lights straight and centrallized in the opening.

I've noticed two things:

1) You really can't adjust the beams of the lights as they are straight in the openings when the guard is against the plastic of the housing around the edges - you really don't have any way of adjusting them.
As I don't have them wired yet, I don't really know if any adjustment would be necessary anyway.

2) With the lights bolted tight as far back in the housing as they can go, the guards actually stick out a little further than the opening when viewed from the side. I don't have a problem with this and actually like the way it looks, and I really don't see any way possible of getting them further back into the housings without using a dremel and cutting the ridges inside the housing to allow the lights to seat more fully.

Overall I like the look and I'm happy with the way they're mounted.
Now to take an hour and get them wired up...

 

With mine is far back as the go the guards stick out a little and I like the way it look. Keep in mind with the ATP light they do project out further than a normal fog would. If they sit to far back your going to lose light going out. Thats why I don't recommend any trimming so they don't sit back further than they were meant too. One thing I did notice with my method with he bracket for the light facing down I am do have a little tiny bit of room to move the light up or down left or right. My lights dont sit all the way back because of how I have them mounted. This allows the light to be slightly wider. Without the guards there is a nice gap that is noticiable if your up close looking at at. But with the guards it fills it in. I am glad to see you didnt have any problems mounting them with the predrilled mounting hole. I was just having to much problem keeping them tight.