Do-it-yourself LED lamps in fog lights. Installing fog lights - correct installation and connection

Today I want to tell you how to fix the fog lamp on your car.

So, we take a broken headlight:

We remove the remnants of the old glass and, if possible, the old sealant.

Next, measure the diameter of the headlight and select the appropriate diameter glass jar or a bottle. I'm almost perfect
the usual three-liter jar came up. I don’t think that problems may arise at this moment - store shelves are replete with containers
any size, shape and color!

Now we take the glass cutter and draw a line near the bottom of the can

Of course, the glass cannot be broken off along the drawn line, especially if you draw it with such a shitty glass cutter that I had.
Therefore, we do 2 things at the same time: put the kettle on to boil and put the jar in the refrigerator
(so that it cools faster, I filled it with water from the well)

We take a cold jar, a hot kettle and pour boiling water into the jar

Immediately we hear the crackling of glass. The result is a fallen off bottom of the can

As I said, the glass cutter I had was shit, so the bottom didn’t fucking break off on a straight line drawn,
but this does not matter - we remove the extra protrusions using the same glass cutter and pliers (unfortunately the process was not filmed).

We insert glass

Outside, we also pass sealant

And spread it evenly

Here's what we got! Leave to dry

When the sealant dries, install the finished foglight in place. Guess which side is the non-native glass?

Fog LEDs are an excellent solution for those who are used to off-road driving. Competent replacement of regular lighting will help to significantly expand its functionality, improve basic qualities. The headlights will not only become more practical, but they will also look noticeably better. The main attention should be paid to the choice of the LED, since the design and capabilities of the new fog lamp will depend on its characteristics.

What should be considered?

Installing LEDs in fogs is not a very difficult task, but you should consider all the details in advance in order to avoid problems with operation in the future.

Characteristics of the LED. The color temperature of the devices, their power and flow properties must comply with the standards established for fog lamps. Ideally, you need to find the optimal solution so that the car stands out on the road, but the lights do not interfere with oncoming cars.
Cooling. To maintain the required temperature, you can use not only radiators various designs, but also heat pipes(used in laptops). In this case, the size of the cooling system should not exceed the dimensions of the headlight itself.
Powering the LEDs. Using drivers will help control the current and voltage indicators.

You can select not only ready-made LEDs with an appropriate base, but also assemble fog lights yourself.

A set of tools and a sequence of actions

Not only the possibilities, but also the design of the new headlights largely depends on which LEDs have been chosen for mounting. It hardly makes sense to discuss circuitry, it can differ significantly in each specific case. You can only approximately draw up an algorithm according to which you have to assemble fog lights with your own hands.

Would need:

regular headlights;
soldering iron, sandpaper;
paint, glue, epoxy or small self-tapping screws;
LEDs and wires.

The idea is to strip the contents of the old headlights by sizing them to fit specific LEDs. Next, assemble the cooling system and, if necessary, the driver. You can try to make radiators yourself from sheets or pieces of metal of a small thickness of 2-5 mm. After that, the LEDs themselves are fixed, connected by wires to the rest of the components of the circuit.

If you choose the right LEDs, fog lights can also be used as daylight. Manufacturers provide many ready-made options, but it can be quite difficult to find effective lamps at an affordable price, which significantly increases the popularity of light tuning with your own hands.

The main result of a light device is a beam of light; accordingly, it is necessary to start the development of PTF precisely from determining the shape of the light beam that you want to receive. Since the task is to make a PTF, we turn to UNECE Regulation No. 48, paragraph 6.3 "Front fog lamp", subparagraph 6.3.5 "Geometric visibility" - the beam boundaries in the vertical plane 5 degrees up and down, in the horizontal plane 45 degrees outward and 10 degrees inward. It turns out that a standard fog lamp should produce a "sausage" with aspect ratios of 10 to 55.

Having decided on the required shape of the light beam, you should decide on the light source. The modern Chinese industry offers a huge selection of LEDs, of various shapes, designed for different currents. The final luminous flux is measured in lumens, the efficiency of the LED is indicated in light output Lumen / Watt, the average for cheap super-bright LEDs is about 200 lumens per watt. In my opinion, 3 W LEDs are optimal, which, with a small amount of light-emitting surface, have good light output. Why should not higher power LEDs be used - due to the large area of the light-emitting crystal, which makes it much more difficult to obtain a light beam of the required shape. I ordered 3 W LEDs 50 pieces in China. When applied to about 3.5 volts, they consume a current of approximately 700 milliamps and glow as brightly as possible. At this current, the LEDs get quite hot. It is impossible to exceed the current, and even a short current surge is enough to burn the LED, that is, a voltage regulator (ideally current) is required. As the LED heats up, the current consumed increases, which leads to even more heat generation and LED failure. In general, often for LEDs they indicate a service life in hours of 10 thousand, 50 thousand. The meaning of this figure is similar to the half-life of radioactive elements, that is, if it is said that the service life of an LED is 1000 hours, this means that after a thousand hours the LED will produce half as many lumens .

Since the brightness of the glow of one LED is significantly inferior to a halogen lamp, and even more so to a xenon one, to obtain a light beam of the required brightness, several blocks are connected in parallel (diode + reflector). the number of mini-blocks.

A more preferable device for forming a light beam in comparison with a reflector is a lens, but I did not find any ready-made ones with a beam of the required shape (10 to 55 degrees), and it is rather difficult to make a lens myself. Nevertheless, I plan to soon buy lenses with a scattering angle of 5 degrees and assemble a 100-watt chandelier, but that's a completely different story :).

So the first attempts to create a reflector were as follows:

A rather strong light is visible to the sides of the main beam, which, in addition to reducing the useful glow, will also blind the oncoming driver. That is, it will turn out neither to itself, nor to people. A very long reflector also did not solve the problem, since the effect of multiple reflections of light from the walls already appeared and, again, a narrow beam did not work:

As a result, I had to write a program and calculate the optimal shape of the reflector, while keeping its dimensions reasonable:

The main difficulty lies in the large area of the light-emitting surface of the LED - a circle with a diameter of about 6 mm, as shown by calculations, to obtain a clear beam, a large reflector is needed. And the larger it is, the more accurate the beam will be. Having made a calculated reflector, a beam of the following form was obtained.

Let's say you have installed fog lights and you need to deal with the connection. I hope we can help with this, there is nothing complicated in this situation.

First of all, you need:

minimal knowledge in electrical engineering (find + 12v and ground);
tool - knife, wire cutters, pliers, terminal block;
consumables: blue iso-tape, heat shrink of a suitable diameter, plastic clamps, car corrugation, mass and connecting terminals.

Select the appropriate basic materials:

wire 2-wire 1.5 mm2 - approx. 6m;
switching relay with a connector (ordinary light relay with VAZ 2108) -1 pc;
remote fuse 30A -1 pc;
power button (to choose from by design, preferably with backlight);
connectors for fog lamps (if not) - 2 pcs.

Now that everything is ready, we assemble such a scheme
fig 1.

Assembly order

The first step is to make and connect the connectors to the foglights, screw the ground wire (brown in the diagram) through the terminal to the body. Lead the positive (blue in the diagram) to the battery area (it will be connected to the relay, terminal 30).
We fix the relay in a suitable place and connect the wires. Red (87) to the battery through the fuse (you can use a relay with a built-in fuse). with a nominal value of 30 A. Cherny (86) to the body through the terminal (possible to the minus of the battery). We lead the control wire (green) from terminal 85 into the passenger compartment (drilling the motor shield is allowed). Pairs of terminals 85-86 and 87-30 are interchangeable.
We install the button in any convenient place, when connecting, we follow some rules.

We choose the possibility of turning on the foglights with our own hands:

autonomous (turning on regardless of anything, but there is a chance to completely discharge the battery by accidentally forgetting to turn off the fogs) connect to the dimensions or constant + ACC.
use only when the ignition is on (there is no way to use the backlight, for example, from an alarm), take a plus from the ignition switch or look for IGN1, or better IGN2 according to the circuit, device or control light. Everything, we check the performance.

There are two types of fog lights on a car: front PTF and rear PTF. As for the PTFs located at the rear, according to the law they must be present in all cars, so we will not touch on them in this article. Almost all modern cars have front PTFs or places for their installation. With the development of the automotive market, at first glance, such a "penny" option should be in the basic configuration of the car, but it is this element that often indicates a higher equipment of the car, which car marketers perfectly use, adding additional options to the regular fog lights that raise the cost of the car and make it higher class. As for cars that are not equipped with PTF from the factory, in this case they can be installed independently. This article will talk about how to install front PTFs, having the minimum skills of a car mechanic and an electrician, as well as installation rules and which lamps to use.

Fog lights at night with fog

Fog lights are designed to illuminate the road in conditions of limited visibility.

From the name it follows that such an element is designed to illuminate the road with limited visibility in the fog, that is, it is used outside the city, however, in practice, PTFs are supplemented by headlights, illuminating the space in the lower part in front of cars, as well as additionally illuminating the roadside.
When the car is moving in a straight line, the area from the ground to the headlight is unlit, so the light beam from the head lighting falls unevenly on the roadway, i.e. its lower part is quite blurred, which strains the eyesight. If you turn on the fog lights, the light border becomes bright and clear, which makes driving easier. In addition, when the headlight is on, there is the concept of the main focus, and if the focus is combined from two headlights, then this only enhances the brightness of the light. You can order the option to connect fog lights from the authorized dealer who sold the car, but the cost of the fog light kit will be very significant: about 2 - 5% of the cost of the car.
The driver should decide which lamps he wants to install in the headlights, because in addition to the regular ones, there are more modern types of lighting systems:

You can install "xenon" in foglights - the brightness of the light is 10 - 15% more efficient than halogen;
Can be put LED lamp- 10% more efficient than "xenon";
Installing lenses in foglights - has a clearer and more collected light border, because the beam of light is refracted and "collected" at a certain angle;
Installing yellow lamps in foglights makes it much easier to move in conditions of heavy rain or fog. The body of the lamp is covered with a layer of heat-resistant yellow varnish.

The process of connecting foglights with your own hands

Do-it-yourself foglight installation

There is a difference in preparatory work for PTF installation in European and Japanese cars, because the Japanese usually lay all the necessary wiring with connectors up to the bumper, and you only need to buy headlights and a shift knob, but many Europeans only lay wiring if foglights are installed at the factory.
The cost of installing fog lights depends on the model of the car and the kit that will be installed. Judging by the market offers of the cost of the elements, the price starts from 5,000 rubles. for the simplest system.
What you need to install foglights:

The cost of installing fog lights depends on the model of the car and the kit that will be installed.

Screwdrivers "+" and "-";
Wires with corrugated braid;
Connectors (chips) for connecting foglights;
Relay;
Fog lamp fuse kit;
Switch button or fog switch fork.

Wiring diagram for fog lights

The fog lamp installation sequence consists of the following steps:
IMPORTANT: Here is a general sequence of actions without unification to certain brands of cars and the wishes of the owner (where to get headlight power, where to install the fog lights on button, etc.), therefore electrical circuits connections should be searched on the Internet for your car.

You should search the Internet for wiring diagrams for foglights under the model of your car.

It is necessary to remove the bumper from the car and get the fog lamp plugs. Usually they are screwed on with a pair of screws or put on latches. Check the normal fit of the foglight housings in regular sockets.
It is necessary to stretch the wiring from the foglights into the engine compartment. And before that, place the wires in the corrugation and figure out where the wire will go so that it does not touch other wiring elements. On many cars, for wiring, it is necessary to remove the wipers, plastic jabot, and possibly the trapezoid. Usually the wiring is laid on the driver's side, because in the cabin the fuse box and electrical relays are located in a niche that is located below the left side of the steering wheel. Some cars have a diagnostic connector there, and the unit is located under the hood.
It is necessary to decide how the fog lights will be turned on (where they will be powered), and for this it is necessary to select elements that work constantly when the ignition is turned on, or take the “plus” directly from the battery.
When connecting the PTF through a relay (at least 30A), it is necessary to fix it to any wiring harness or to any convenient place. Next, connect the previously selected “plus” to it and install a fuse of at least 15 A in the wire break.
The next step is to install the button for turning on the fog lamp relay, and for this they must be connected with a power wire.
Next, you need to insert the fog lamp bases into regular places in the headlight housings and fix them. Connect the connectors and install the bumper in place.
Each fog lamp has an adjustment screw that allows you to adjust the main focus of the lamp. Sufficient time must be given to this process so as not to dazzle oncoming drivers when driving.
It is worth noting that some drivers, in good and clear weather, close the PTF windows with plugs so that they are not damaged by stones, but this is not very convenient. good decision will choose foglights that are made of plexiglass, especially since such material is not afraid of heating from the lamp and it is quite durable and tough.

How to connect xenon to foglights

Fog lamp kit for installation

When installing xenon in foglights, it is necessary to additionally install an ignition unit.

The use of this type of lighting certainly improves visibility at night. The connection diagram does not differ from the one described above, only between xenon lamps and a fog light relay is installed, which is responsible for heating such a lamp. Of course, the cost of installing such a kit is higher than the usual one.

Connecting LED lamps

At present, the effectiveness of diode light has been tested in practice by many motorists and is becoming more widespread compared to factory lamps. Although, many car manufacturers have also started using LED headlight bulbs along with LED fog lights. Such light is more uniform and clear, and also these lamps are characterized by low power consumption and it is possible to choose a different color palette of lamps. They are installed in regular places in the fog lamp housing.

Rules for installing fog lights

PTF installation rules

It is important to remember that the fog lights must be switched on together with or with the dipped beam headlights. Separate inclusion of PTF is not allowed.
If the car does not have places in the front bumper to accommodate fog lights, this does not mean that they cannot be installed, only for this you need to know the installation rules. According to traffic rules (rules traffic) and according to GOST R41.48-2004 (clause 6.3), fog lights can be installed in the amount of two pieces. And the rules are:

Fog lights must be turned on together with the dimensions or with the dipped beam headlights. Separate inclusion of PTF is not allowed.

The distance from the outer side of the bumper to the beginning of the fog lamp housing is not more than 400 mm;
From the roadway and the lower part of the fog lamp no more than 250 mm;
The headlamps must be above the fog lamps;
The lighting angles should be sufficient for visibility by other road users and be +15°…–10° in the vertical plane, and +45°…–10° in the horizontal plane.

Similar rules apply to the installation of daytime running lights:

The distance from the roadway to the lower edge of the fog lamp is at least 250 mm;
The distance from the roadway to the upper edge of the fog lamp is not more than 1500 mm;
The distance between the fog lights is at least 600 mm;
The distance from the outer edge of the fog lamp to the outer edge of the bumper is not more than 400 mm.