Adding fog lights to the Caprice

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storm9c1
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Re: Adding fog lights to the Caprice

Post by storm9c1 »

Keep in mind that if you use 55 watt bulbs, that's 110 watts total. Which is very close to 10A current draw. So if you plan to use that pin (or any other hack in the harness), make sure it can handle 10A. I wouldn't trust using the parking light wire or tapping into it. I don't think it is designed to handle high current.

I'd say go with 14 ga wire. Unless of course you are using smaller wattage bulbs.

If you want to know how many amps a lamp circuit will draw, here is the formula:

A = watts / volts
Tom (AKA: Storm)
2011 Caprice 9C3: L77, 8K miles, first-owner, purchased July 2011.
1995 Caprice 9C1: LT1, 178K miles, summer car.
1995 Impala SS: LT1, 21K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 62K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 128K miles. Rust In Pieces
1994 Caprice 9C1: LT1, beater winter car.
1969 Chevy C30: 383ci stroker, 4L80E, rollback car hauler.
1972 Chrysler Newport: 400ci big block, survivor 27K miles, 2-door hardtop.
1969 Dodge Charger: 383ci big block.
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bkwagonss
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Re: Adding fog lights to the Caprice

Post by bkwagonss »

It has 14 ga on the power side of the relay with a 20A fuse.
Smaller on the control side of the relay that goes to the switch.
I tested it and it works pretty good.
Of course I didn't have it on very long, seems fine.
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bkwagonss
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Re: Adding fog lights to the Caprice

Post by bkwagonss »

Well, it seems I killed my battery with the fog lights and I'm not really sure why.
Everything worked perfectly yesterday and today the battery was dead.
Here's the circuit I used.
Image
Something else I learned while hooking it up, pin 6 on the headlight switch is the correct pin for the fog lights, but when you turn the switch on, it doesn't connect pin 6 to power, it connects it to ground.
so my control line goes from + battery to the relay and from the relay to pin 6.
When the switch is turned on it trips the relay like it's suppose to.
Then the + battery also goes to the 30A fuse, to the relay and out to the fog lights.
It's a pretty simple circuit, but something is creating a slight draw on the battery.
It didn't shot quickly and blow a fuse, it drew power from the battery over a day and night of sitting.

The only other thing I can think to do is run power down to the fogs, fused of course.
And instead of tying the fogs directly to ground, run them up to the relay.
That way the ground will be switched instead of power.
Last edited by bkwagonss on Wed May 29, 2013 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Tom Slick
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Re: Adding fog lights to the Caprice

Post by Tom Slick »

You know, if you still have the police wiring harness installed, you could always utilize the grill lights/siren wiring for it!

Later,
Tom Slick
1932 Glassic Ford Model A Roadster Replica - Ford 302/C4, approx. 1400lb... :-)
2015 GMC Sierra SLE Extended Cab - 5.3L
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bkwagonss
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Re: Adding fog lights to the Caprice

Post by bkwagonss »

Thanks.
I'm not really sure what's going on with all that police wiring.
I have the aux battery and everything, but I don't think it does anything for the car's normal operation.
It would have been nice to switch over to the aux battery to start the car when I killed the regular one.
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storm9c1
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Re: Adding fog lights to the Caprice

Post by storm9c1 »

If I were to guess, when the car was off, power may have backflushed through either the relay coil or through the fog lights themselves to an accessory to cause the power drain. If you were to take power from an ignition point instead of directly to the battery for the fog lights, I'd be curious to see if that fixes the problem.

Having a multimeter with an Amps scale really helps. You can look for parasitic draw without worrying about draining the battery overnight. Without this, it may be a troublesome trial and error process.
Tom (AKA: Storm)
2011 Caprice 9C3: L77, 8K miles, first-owner, purchased July 2011.
1995 Caprice 9C1: LT1, 178K miles, summer car.
1995 Impala SS: LT1, 21K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 62K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 128K miles. Rust In Pieces
1994 Caprice 9C1: LT1, beater winter car.
1969 Chevy C30: 383ci stroker, 4L80E, rollback car hauler.
1972 Chrysler Newport: 400ci big block, survivor 27K miles, 2-door hardtop.
1969 Dodge Charger: 383ci big block.
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Tom Slick
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Re: Adding fog lights to the Caprice

Post by Tom Slick »

bkwagonss wrote:Thanks.
I'm not really sure what's going on with all that police wiring.
I have the aux battery and everything, but I don't think it does anything for the car's normal operation.
It would have been nice to switch over to the aux battery to start the car when I killed the regular one.
The auxiliary battery is mainly for the law enforcement equipment... there are three harnesses under the dash... one 50-amp power (P280), one with 2 30-amp power (relay controlled) & two controlled circuits(Hot-Accy & Run, Hot-Start & Run) (P278) , and one for the equipment wiring (grille lights, siren/speaker, etc.) and one controlled circuit (Hot-Out of park) (P277)...

For example, if you have an amplifier you want to install... you can use power from the 50-amp power (P280), and use the amp turn on signal from Hot-Accy & Run (P278)... though, the amp wouldn't be on when the key is completely off, while the radio is still on...

For fog lights you could wire the on/off switch through the grille light wiring (P277), with a small relay controlled by the Hot-Start & Run (P278)... This would ensure that the fog light would never be on if the car isn't on...

It's kind of nice to have so much wiring already run...

Later,
Tom Slick
1932 Glassic Ford Model A Roadster Replica - Ford 302/C4, approx. 1400lb... :-)
2015 GMC Sierra SLE Extended Cab - 5.3L
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bkwagonss
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Re: Adding fog lights to the Caprice

Post by bkwagonss »

storm9c1 wrote:If I were to guess, when the car was off, power may have backflushed through either the relay coil or through the fog lights themselves to an accessory to cause the power drain. If you were to take power from an ignition point instead of directly to the battery for the fog lights, I'd be curious to see if that fixes the problem.

Having a multimeter with an Amps scale really helps. You can look for parasitic draw without worrying about draining the battery overnight. Without this, it may be a troublesome trial and error process.
Taking power from an ignition point probably wouldn't solve the problem, but being off it should cure the problem of draining the battery.
2011 Caprice PPV 9C3 "karma"
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bkwagonss
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Re: Adding fog lights to the Caprice

Post by bkwagonss »

Tom Slick wrote:The auxiliary battery is mainly for the law enforcement equipment... there are three harnesses under the dash... one 50-amp power (P280), one with 2 30-amp power (relay controlled) & two controlled circuits(Hot-Accy & Run, Hot-Start & Run) (P278) , and one for the equipment wiring (grille lights, siren/speaker, etc.) and one controlled circuit (Hot-Out of park) (P277)...

For example, if you have an amplifier you want to install... you can use power from the 50-amp power (P280), and use the amp turn on signal from Hot-Accy & Run (P278)... though, the amp wouldn't be on when the key is completely off, while the radio is still on...

For fog lights you could wire the on/off switch through the grille light wiring (P277), with a small relay controlled by the Hot-Start & Run (P278)... This would ensure that the fog light would never be on if the car isn't on...

It's kind of nice to have so much wiring already run...

Later,
Tom Slick
Thanks,
I want to use the G8 headlight switch for the control wire to the relay.
The signal from the headlight switch is gnd, so the other end of the control needs to go to power, but it could go to an ignition power.
That way no parasitic draw on the battery.
So the fogs go to gnd and up to power with a fuse.
But you are saying there's a power from the aux battery I can tap from in the engine compartment or are they all under the dash?
I pulled the dash wires out to look at them, didn't know what they were for and pushed them back.

BTW, do you guys know of an easy way through the firewall?
I went into the drivers fender and into a hole above the inside fuse panel.
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elc32955
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Re: Adding fog lights to the Caprice

Post by elc32955 »

There's some info. in the upfitters guide (it's in the file section), I seem to recall a cable routing recommendation around the cabin filter. There's at least two potential ways to get new wiring past the firewall with either no or minimal drilling.

I'll second the idea on using the existing upfit wiring. There are at least four conductors already going to the front of the car in the upfit package, usually two wires for a speaker, two wires for grille lights. That's one of the few benefits we have in driving 9C1/9C3 cars in that a lot of the wiring is already done for us. Use it if you can, it's already paid for :)

Eric
System Manager and your tour guide for the day. 2015 Caprice w/LFX, former NC DPS staff car. Partial hybrid G8/SS/Camaro SS interior mods, SS MyLink radio upgrade, 2016 Camaro V6 rims, GMPP Malibu chrome exhaust tips, otherwise bone stock for now.
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