3rd gen - Fog lights anytime

There's someone doing a deep search for the mating side of the M6. It's not a Toyota part, it's TE. The matching terminals have been identified, still working on the non-board receptacle.

 

From my research on the inverter switch, TE has different style connectors for wire to wire vs wire to board. Makes sense for real world use.

I’ve contemplated depin and repin to wire 2 wire connector then make an short wire to wire back to wire to board. That way I could put in an extension to move the switch. But that’s only 5 pins vs the ECU needing much more and also that would make a ton of bulk.

 

So, ignoring the indicator for a moment, the primary decision to make is use OEM relays or a replacement.

I’m thinking replacement relay feeding into the fog lights at the 2 pin connector behind the front bumper. Super easy to change back to OEM for inspections by switching back to the OEM harness feed.

Then it’s just a tap of the blue trigger wire from in cab feeding to the engine bay. Run that to sealed relay #1 to turn on/off ignition switched power. Then feed that into relay #2 to send +12V to the fog light connector.

I can see how it might be nice to have the indicator. But I think it’s rather essential to leverage ignition switched power and messing with the OEM relays doesn’t sound like a great way to avoid spending on a fully independent solution.

Really wish the Switch-Pros had 3 more aux trigger wires. One for dome, one for high beams, one for DRL, one for fog. That would cover a lot of bases. Also would be nice if you could connect trigger wires to either the power module or the control module.

 

Blue wire in cab at M6 is the return from the Main Body ECU (cuts power when High beams are selected) to switch to ground.

 

Ah, so J6 pin 7 is the source, when ground it's enabled, when floating it's not?

So, only need one NO relay with + coil on ign switched +, and - coil to J6 pin 7, when switched on this would establish the ground which is T'd into the circuit at junction 90980-11155?

Effectively bypassing the OEM relays but I think this maybe uses the OEM fuse since you'd pass through the + portion of the T, ignore the input ground and supply your own from the replacement relay?

 

nooooo
J6 is junction AFTER the switch.

 

With this setup you loose the dash indicator.

 

Yeah I was thinking in my head of a way to do all of this with only two taps.

1. Interruption at front of bumper junction EN1
2. Tap of trigger wire from OEM fog light switch

But that still means needing a tap of ignition switched power somewhere.

The upside of doing a completely independent relay system is that EN1 junction T can then be quickly removed for pure OEM functionality at any time for inspections or troubleshooting.

In your diagram, that red wire tap is the one which makes me a tiny bit sad. But it seems necessary.

I also assume it’s possible or even easy to locate OEM grade relays somewhere. Since this would go in an external sealed enclosure near EN1, I’m not sure it is really necessary to reuse the OEM relay. I definitely wouldn’t want to swap it back and forth for inspections.

Basically use the hot fused lead as high current in and a sealed relay to switch it to the + out. Ground the - out and then it’s sourcing feeds for the relay coil. One from IGN source and one from fog light switch assuming ground switching there. And the indicator is now not entirely accurate. Which is the second imperfection.

I think in general your original approach is superior. I just still don’t like the extra hidden switch. Would make more sense to have a removable T harness but with these TE connectors to board it’s not possible.

 

It's necessary...

 

That's a negative trigger (-)

 

Actually removing the tap on the fog relay slot and returning the fog relay (or spare) to its location is quicker.

 

I think undoing the T harness at front bumper is easier because there is so much room there. Messing with the relay box is harder mostly because of the tight spaces. And it’s an especially annoying level of effort if disassembling the OEM relay box to modify. That’s probably where I’d draw the line.

 

Yes which makes it nicer since one relay with this and IGN can break/connect fused fog power to the lamps.

 

Just removal of the relay and the fog fuse. No disassembly of the fuse/relay box.
Inspection is a yearly thing, except for 5-0...

 

This is what I used just a plug and play and it works
https://www.aspireautoaccessories.com/thebritebox

 

We are not discussing alternative aftermarket equipment here.
Start your own thread.

 

That’s cool for fog lights on with high beams. But that specific combo makes near zero sense. Fog lights are designed for low speed driving in severe fog. High beams on in that situation is counterproductive. When high beams are on, fog lighting is similarly counterproductive by increasing foreground light this reducing distance vision.

The more interesting one for me is fog lights on without anything else on. Admittedly not likely worth the effort since parking lights or DRL enable fog lamps already. But my DRL’s are rather bright and my grille lights come on with parking or DRL and all that extra light might be a small annoyance.

but mostly it’s a fun thought experiment. An optimization problem. How best to accomplish X. The fact that X isn’t worth doing is secondary

 

This one is ON with high beams, so technically it's also "anytime" (all-the-time? except when vehicle OFF)

With "State Inspection" switch.

 

Updated with a no-cut harness added (@kmorgan3 )


Change what you have @hirod

 

Part numbers for the connectors and pins?