Rear Fog Lamp

[miikae]

Nigel if you turn them Diodes the other way they will be correct , as the arrow head points in the direction of + flow , the white marking on the diode body is on the - Neg end, Hope this helps somewhat .

 

The 1N4001 is suitable for most low voltage (50v) circuits with a current of less than 1A.

An 1N5401 is suitable for 100v circuits with a current of less than 3A.

 

Mike

[Guest petelee]

Hi guys

 

Thanks for your thoughts on this. The problem is that I spent hours getting the XR3i stalk (it's just the left one) to work the headlights correctly. The main stumbling block then (I wasted hours and hours with this!) was the dim/dip function, so in the end I think what I did was to join the brown and brown/black earth cables together (which were separate on the Sierra stalks), and then everything worked! But the main beam circuit seems to use a separate circuit from the dip and dim/dip, so both need to be joined in to the rear fog lamp somehow.

 

Would a 5-pin relay be an option? Or is that for switching TO two circuits rather than feeding FROM two circuits? I've never dabbled in relays before - until last night! Diodes? I don't even know what they do! I'm learning quickly though! Blooming IVA!

 

Pete

[Guest petelee]

Hi again!

 

Having studied Nigel's diagrams and Mike's notes, (and reading up about diodes!) it looks like quite a practical and straightforward solution to my problem!

 

I don't know what I'd do without you guys!

 

Off to Maplins today (luckily there's one in Peterborough town centre - where I work!) to get some IN4001's! (Probably won't get a chance to try them out until the weekend though).

 

Thanks guys.

 

Pete

[Guest Techmage]

If your using the diodes, u dont really need the relay, using the diagram just go strait

from where cable join after diodes (purple) through the switch to the fog light.

The fog light doesn't draw enough to require the relay and it makes it much less complicated.

[Longboarder]

I remain totally unable to get electronics despite having a vague knowledge of the existence of some of the little lectric gubbins used. I no longer get out library books titled 'Crystal Sets for Dummies', 'Fun with Oscilloscopes' and 'Making Friends with Capacitors' in an attempt to understand what it's all about or even what a little of it is about. Just does not compute. Very irritating as I often suspect there are simple electronic circuits that will do what I want.

 

I do try to keep it as simple as possible and not assume any level of knowledge. A desire to learn, the ability to read and look carefully, awareness of the existence of wires, switches relays is about all you need. I once had a 'cookbook for beginners' which contained such gems as 'stir till a dropping consistency' and 'start by making a basic roue'. If I could make a basic roue or knew quite what a dropping consistency was I would have been able to use the recipes therein but it assumed a level of knowledge above that of beginner despite saying it was for beginners. You can just imagine Delia or Gordon slapping their foreheads and rolling their eyes and muttering 'You mean there are people in this world who don't know how to whip up a basic roue!'

 

The relay is there as an electro-mechanical switch only because I don't know how to do an electronic switch. It's on the shelf at Halfords beside rolls of wire and terminals so it's easy to get hold of one. It's not there because of the current load. One fog light at 25 watts or two fog lights 2 x 25 are going to draw 2 or 4 amps (Volts x Amps = Watts). Hardly stressful for a simple dash mounted mechanical off/on switch. Clumsy perhaps but it would work and the detail is there to give pete a fighting chance of sorting the problem.

 

So are the diodes mentioned up to carrying 2 or 4 amps. From the information given by miikae the 1N4001 isn't because a single fog takes 2amps and the other one wouldn't run two fogs (which most of us fit.)? I can't assume Pete would work that out and I'm not sure I have correctly although I think I have.

 

So this mini rant is just an effort to get people to keep it simple, and try to help. I know there are plenty of people with the skills to assist. Draw the picture or circuit, flesh out the details and don't assume pete or I can whip up a roue with our eyes closed.

 

Nigel

 

I wonder if I should have written this? Done now and no offence intended. I'm trying to work out if it's possible to get my ECU to output a variable signal to operate variable cam timing. It can manage an idle air bypass and Aux 1 does PWM so I suspect it may be but I'm well out of my depth.

[Guest Techmage]

That time of the month then, but point taken

[Guest petelee]

Hi guys

 

Sorry if I've started something here!

 

Well, I've got my diodes - I bought IN5401's to be on the safe side - hope that's the right thing to do.

 

Can't wait to try it out, but think I'll have to wait 'til the weekend.

 

Thanks again.

 

Pete

[Longboarder]

That time of the month then

Time of the day more like. Getting a bit ratty trying to re-wire for the VVC on the ST170 engine. Ecu loom is fixed under the scuttle which is not removable on my car. The loom does have a few redundant wires but none coming from the auxilliary output terminals. The VVC requires just one. Can I move the plug into sufficient space to strip it down, remove one of the redundant wires and shift it to position 12B for aux2 output. No but if I remove the steering wheel, the dash and all the instrument loom wires I can just reach the plug but my glasses keep falling off and moving one wire from a 36 wire ECU and repositioning it into the correct empty slot has just taken about three hours and a bit of skin and thats just to get the new wire appearing in the electrical box in the engine bay. Wiring in another relay and stripping the engine loom to run two wires from relay to cam oil pressure diverter will start soon after a trip to Halfords to get said new relay.

Having to take half the car apart to replace one zetec with a posher one was unexpected. 'Last straw/man on the edge' stuff. Sorry. Air is a bit blue and anyone coming round is liable to get a smack!

 

Nigel

[Guest Techmage]

Pete

 

One of your questions that wasn't answered, was can you use a 5 pin relay.

 

This link gives a easy to understand overview of relays and the differences

http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/hweb2.pdf

 

and the answer to your question is yes, but just treat it as a 4 pin relay by ignoring

the 5th pin (usually numbered 87a)

[Guest petelee]

Thanks Guys!

 

I took the diodes route, without a relay, and it works brilliantly - main or dip! Fantastic!

 

I would never have done it without you - I didn't even know what a diode does before, but now I know how useful they are.

 

...and the link to the article about relays was also fantastic - it helped me immensely, as I've just now wired a relay into my radiator fan circuit.

 

Thanks again, guys.

 

Pete