Headlights dimming…

I have a ‘20 Sport with the LED strip on the side. When I turn my fog lights on, that LED strip dims to about 1/2 as bright. Is there a way to stop it from dimming, without opening up the housing and replacing the board?

Thanks!

 

Normal

 

I know it’s normal… but I’d like to find a way to override it so they stay at full brightness… if possible.

 

They dim for the same reason you can't run the fogs with high beams. As in fogs work best with low beams. For fog, snow, rain, etc.

If you're trying to use the fogs as driving lights, IMHO you need to replace them with actual driving lights and wire them separately so you can use them as such.

 

Oh, my DD Pro fogs are plenty bright enough to use as driving lights… just hate the fact that I can’t find a way to stop the LED running light strip from dimming down. But now that you mention it, I’d like to find a way for fogs to stay on with high beams as well.

 

https://www.aspireautoaccessories.com/thebritebox

 

You're referring to your DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS - that are suppose to be used in the daytime - the daytime. They NEED to be brighter in the daytime in order to fulfill their function - to help you be seen but if you leave them at the same level at night when you turn your headlights on they will then be to bright and cause glare to oncoming drivers. That, of course, would put you in a less safe situation and just be rude.

 

No, your fog lights are not bright enough to use as driving lights. They have completely the wrong beam pattern and about one eighth the throw of an actual driving light, not to mention they are mounted far too low to be effective even if they were driving lights, which they are not.

 

@tclavell
Thanks for the link… looks like that’s the closest I’m going to get. Will order one soon!

@Sasquatchian
Thanks for telling me how MY truck works. I had no idea that I couldn’t use just my fogs at night… that would be silly of me to know MY truck personally. This thread was to ask a question about how to manipulate or rewire something… didn’t need your two cents.

 

Cut the yellow wire on the DRL relay, insulate the side that ran towards the relay. Add a small length of same size wire to wire still attached to the relay. T-tap the IGN wire of the battery charger relay, mate it to the wire previously mentioned.
On the connector that goes into the headlights, cut & insulate the pink (Left hand) Baby blue (Right hand).

 

And so they don't turn OFF when you select Low beams, cut the red and T it into the ground wire of the battery Charger ground.

 

@caribe makaira
Thank you! That’s exactly what I was looking for. Your the man!!

 

MY truck has fog lights. I will relate how MY truck works. Your truck may or may not work the same.

The fog lights work quite well with the low beams in rain, fog, snow, etc. The fog lights throw a short, broad beam under the low beams. The high beams on my truck simply bounce glare off the rain, fog, snow, etc.

My typical after dark driving only requires low beam for clear visibility.

I had some driving lights on a previous ride. They were only effective on the open interstate without on-coming traffic in the adjacent lane. The driving lights threw a long, narrow, bright beam. When traveling 2 lane or 4 lane roads, the on-coming traffic would consistently flash their high beams when I had the driving lights on. I realized the driving lights were more trouble than benefit.


Technically, I think when fogs and high beams are on simultaneously its an equipment violation. Due to obscuring vision of other drivers.

Do as you think is best.

 

https://law.justia.com/codes/maryland/2016/transportation/title-22/subtitle-2/section-22-217/

 

@Knute
I had factory fogs as well and have since replaced them with the Diode Dynamics Sport fogs. I have zero concern about them or their brightness. I live in the country and we have a lot of long dark roads, covered with deer. I just wanted a way for my fogs to stay on while using high beams. I like to see way down the road, but also to the sides… deer like to run out at full speed, so side view is just as important as what’s way down the road while doing 60mph.

That being said… my original post was just to find a way to keep the LED running lights at full intensity, even while fogs, headlights and high berms are on. No particular reason, other than just my own personal preference.

 

In my experience, also on long country roads and with a 45 mile commute (one way), not only is it illegal to have your fogs and high beams on at the same time, it is generally pretty pointless. By the time your fogs pick up the edges of the road and see a deer it is far too late to do anything. In the proper applications for your fogs, you generally don't want high beams anyway. I'd recommend upgrading your low beams though.

I too did wonder if there was a way to keep the DRLs bright. I just figured it had to do with electrical load.

 

@RedWings44

That’s what I figured too, that there was just some difference in the load. Maybe a resistor or relay I could just remove and then jump back to the “all lights off” side of the switch to keep things bright.