[kunwar.g]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

I've been using Micro Fogs for last 2 and half years as well as Mini V3 in headlamps for last 3 months. My fog lamp high beam is connected to the low beam of headlights and there is a switch to control it. Basically I can switch on high beam of fogs even when I'm using low beam of headlights just by flick of a switch. Details of wiring in my ownership thread.

Can you activate high beam of fog if headlight is not switched on ? Cause what I am understanding is that the power to the switch for high beam of fog is coming from low beam female socket. If headlight is not switched on, then fog high beam can also not be switched on.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by kunwar.g

Can you activate high beam of fog if headlight is not switched on ?

No. The Micro Fogs will work only in low beam if headlights are not switched on.

Cause what I am understanding is that the power to the switch for high beam of fog is coming from low beam female socket. If headlight is not switched on, then fog high beam can also not be switched on.

You are correct. My earliest connection was directly from battery through a switch. This was changed after it was left in power on mode inadvertently and drained the battery once. Then I took power from headlights high beam. But then to activate high beam of fogs, I would have to switch to high beam. Therefore I came to this current setup. Moreover, I have too much intensity of headlights now so I doubt if I need to switch on Micro Fog high beam also.

[MrBeast]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Did you add an inline fuse or something? Effectively the same wiring is now doing extra work than what was designed, right? When in high-beam (not just flash), the solenoid will continue to draw power to remain in position. Or thats all taken care of in the stock wiring quality & no need to worry much? I have no idea - curious because I'm thinking of doing this setup in my car in a couple of months.

I don't think such a complex setup will be required to power the solenoid. It hardly draws any major power. I am using it since past six months and have not suffered any problems so far.

A friend also has an Aspire and was using LED lights in the main headlamps. Sometimes, the headlights used to switch off randomly in his car and later we found that headlamp circuit in the Aspire/Figo/Freestyle is controlled by the BCM and the BCM switches off the circuit if the load is more than the specified limit. It has not happened with me till now, and thus I believe that the solenoid is consuming almost negligible power, which can be handled by the stock wiring.

[kunwar.g]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

No. The Micro Fogs will work only in low beam if headlights are not switched on..

Okay. The way I have it wired is I can use Fog high beam seperately if HL is on low. Also if fog is on and I used HL high beam, the fog solenoid also get activated

I used a diode on the power line to fog solenoid from seperate switch and a diode to the power coming from high beam of headlight. Both are connected to the solenoid wire of fogs directly.

So if Fog is off, and I flash high beam, only the solenoid of fog will work, the HID ballast and Bulb will be off.

When both fog and HL are on and I want to flash to alert opposite direction vehicle or to get side, the effect is quite bright.

Only issue is if I want HL to be on High and Fog to be on low, I can't do that in current set-up, though I never felt the need of it. What I have found is Fog in high and HL on low is usable in city without creating issues for all, provided the fog is aligned correctly and not high.

[vsrivatsa]

Thanks everyone for the comments and support on this thread. My review of the iPHCAR Projector Fog Lamps is out now: Link

[indrasis_gun]

I have received the kit from Blaze India for latest swift zxi+. It has H16 19W stock fog light. The kit has 55W fast start non canbus ballast. I also have 35W Osram Xenarc canbus ballast-bulb with me. Will the stock wiring be able to take the load of 55W? If not, please give some alternative.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by indrasis_gun

I have received the kit from Blaze India for latest swift zxi+. It has H16 19W stock fog light. The kit has 55W fast start non canbus ballast. I also have 35W Osram Xenarc canbus ballast-bulb with me. Will the stock wiring be able to take the load of 55W? If not, please give some alternative.

I've been using 35W HIDs in my Micro XP fog lamps for over 2 and half years on stock wiring. The connection was taken using scotch locks. Brezza has a 24W fog lamp. So till now, the wiring hasn't given any issue. The ballasts are 55W but bulbs are 35W. I don't know about compatibility of ballasts that you have. As far as wiring is concerned, it'll be safer to add a relay to the setup. I have a relay with me which I need to fix which is getting delayed due to paucity of time.

[condor]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

The ballasts are 55W but bulbs are 35W. I don't know about compatibility of ballasts that you have. As far as wiring is concerned, it'll be safer to add a relay to the setup.

Doc, 55W Ballasts will have sufficient juice to drive the 35W bulbs. And about relays, I dont think you need a relay since you are not going above the stock rating of 55W.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by condor

Doc, 55W Ballasts will have sufficient juice to drive the 35W bulbs. And about relays, I dont think you need a relay since you are not going above the stock rating of 55W.

But the stock fog lamps in Brezza are 24W and in Swift is 19W. So even a 35W bulb would be over the rated wattage of stock fog lamps. Or am I missing something?

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

But the stock fog lamps in Brezza are 24W and in Swift is 19W. So even a 35W bulb would be over the rated wattage of stock fog lamps. Or am I missing something?

Originally Posted by indrasis_gun

I have received the kit from Blaze India for latest swift zxi+. It has H16 19W stock fog light. The kit has 55W fast start non canbus ballast. I also have 35W Osram Xenarc canbus ballast-bulb with me. Will the stock wiring be able to take the load of 55W? If not, please give some alternative.

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

I've been using 35W HIDs in my Micro XP fog lamps for over 2 and half years on stock wiring. The connection was taken using scotch locks. Brezza has a 24W fog lamp. So till now, the wiring hasn't given any issue. The ballasts are 55W but bulbs are 35W. I don't know about compatibility of ballasts that you have. As far as wiring is concerned, it'll be safer to add a relay to the setup. I have a relay with me which I need to fix which is getting delayed due to paucity of time.

Using a higher wattage ballast with a lower wattage HID bulb will result in the bulb not outputting the designed color temperature.

For example, a bulb is rated at 35W and 4300K color temperature will work at 4300K color temperature only with a 35W ballast. With a higher wattage ballast the color temperature shifts towards the colder side,ie,whiter. Hence, it is important for the bulb and ballast wattage to be the same.

Also unless the fog lamps from factory are of 50W plus, it is never a wise idea to tap from the factory harness using scotch connectors. Scotch connectors are for low duty loads like a reverse camera or to get a signal to activate a relay. Using it to draw power to a HID ballast is very very risky and one may end-up with electrical issues down the line. Always use a relay harness which plugs into the factory harness (with a waterproof connector ) to get its signal. Lot of them are available on aliexpress. Search for HID wiring harness.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Using a higher wattage ballast with a lower wattage HID bulb will result in the bulb not outputting the designed color temperature.

Thanks for this information. I have a relay and the P24 connectors for the fog lamps which need to be fixed. Issue is time. For doing a clean wiring, I need to dismount the front bumper and then do a neat install. Will see if I can do that on any of the Sundays now. As far as the different wattage of bulbs and ballasts is concerned, I was not aware about it. I'll check details and try to fix up things.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

I've been using 35W HIDs in my Micro XP fog lamps for over 2 and half years on stock wiring. The connection was taken using scotch locks. Brezza has a 24W fog lamp. So till now, the wiring hasn't given any issue. The ballasts are 55W but bulbs are 35W. I don't know about compatibility of ballasts that you have. As far as wiring is concerned, it'll be safer to add a relay to the setup. I have a relay with me which I need to fix which is getting delayed due to paucity of time.

Why did you have to use scotchlock for powering the fog lights? Isnt the HID kit supplied with a coupler that will match the fog light coupler? As Sagarpadaki mentioned, its not a good idea to use scotch lock to draw power for a light rated at 35/55w. Its best used to draw signals. If the Brezza has a relay already to power the fog lights, then it is not required to add another relay since these relays are usually rated for 5A at least and should be good enough to power the HID whether it is 35w or 55w. Typically these chinese 55w rated ballasts are just hyped about and usually dont draw 55w.

Originally Posted by indrasis_gun

I have received the kit from Blaze India for latest swift zxi+. It has H16 19W stock fog light. The kit has 55W fast start non canbus ballast. I also have 35W Osram Xenarc canbus ballast-bulb with me. Will the stock wiring be able to take the load of 55W? If not, please give some alternative.

Similar to above, check if your car has a relay for fog light. You can check the owners manual in which the details of various fuses is given. In this diagram, you will also find the location of relays. If it is indicated in the manual, do physically verify if this relay is present. In the earlier cars, the fog lights were 35W H8 which always came with a relay. But it looks like the Brezza, Swift have got fog lights with lower output. Not sure if they also decided to scrap the relay for the same reason.

[audioholic]

Since the edit window closed by the time I wanted to share some more stuff, here it is - I installed a similar 3 Inch bixenon projector in place of the fog lights of my SX4. It was running a 100/90 headlight setup and was pretty good. However the fog lights had become useless due to stone chips and the 35W bulbs turned out to be an inefficient load. Hence I decided to go the projector way and must say its awesome. Here are some pictures. Planning to roll back the headlights to 60/55 since the projectors are more than enough for any scenario. The one I got is from Aliexpress and is slightly different in construction compared to the popular IPHCAR design. The low beam is focussed such that it doesnt cause any glare to oncoming vehicles. Here are some pictures:


Projector low beam in a semi-lit street - Notice it goes far ahead, but doesnt rise up till the drivers seat level of cars, hence no glare to oncoming road users. I have included the instrument cluster to show the amount of exposure the camera had


Both low beam:


Both high beam:


Flat cutoff:


In Pitch darkness - Low beam of projector



Both low beams


Both high beams

[VMRKarnati]

Originally Posted by audioholic

The one I got is from Aliexpress and is slightly different in construction compared to the popular IPHCAR design. The low beam is focussed such that it doesnt cause any glare to oncoming vehicles.

Excellent light output. I liked them so much, both from the focus and distance coverage point of view.

Could you please share your setup Ali Express product links and more details of the HID Ballast and Bulbs selected.

Inbuilt fog wiring capacity for SX4 seems perfectly sufficient for them to light up as day light.
for some reason on latest cars with such fog projector setup some how the light output is somewhat weak. Old is always Gold.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by VMRKarnati

Could you please share your setup Ali Express product links and more details of the HID Ballast and Bulbs selected

I usually don't post links to Aliexpress since they always expire and the products keep changing. However the brand of this projector is Royalin. I chose this since compared to the commonly available Iphcar since this has an even beam spread and a cutoff pattern which is more suitable for installation in the fog light level which is close to the ground. Iphcar design works better if the fog lights are located a little higher. Else its beam height is quite narrow for low height application. In fact IPHCAR too has two different patterns but as far as I know, only one is available through the sellers here.

Coming back to the Royalin projector I have, I opted for 4300K bulbs since I wanted to match the output of the halogen headlight. I used the bulbs and ballast sent in the package itself. However the ballast is not a quick start version. It will take a few seconds to get its intensity levels and half a minute to get the right colour. Since its for the fog lamps those aren't an issue. However I have some spare quickstart ballasts which I will swap at a later stage if these give any issues.

So far so good, I am pretty happy with them and wanted to do it for my other cars as well, if not for this China tension and the curbs on Chinese imports.