Brock Lee

My 06 4Runner has two little OEM fog lights with H3 bulbs. I find them to be lacking. So I disconnected them and instead ran the wires to a couple 5" (maybe 6") PIAA lights that are mounted on the bull bar. I want to be able to use the OEM fog light switch. Everything went easy-peasy until I turned them on and immediately blew the 15A fuse. I'm certain my wiring job is solid. To troubleshoot I reconnected the OEM fog lights and the fuse doesn't blow. Reconnect the PIAA lights and the fuse immediately blows! I thought this would be an easy in-n-out operation.

I'm assuming my 15A fuse blows because the PIAA lights draw too much amperage. Is this right and what should I do to stop my fuses from blowing? I'm not known for my electrical acumen so please spell it out for me.

old87yota

What lights, exactly, did you install? What are the specifications of these lights?

What are the specifications (wattage) of the H3 lights?

Do you have a link to the new lights you bought?

Either your new lights are drawing too much current or you have a short in your new wiring.

Does the fuse only blow when you turn on the new lights or when you plug them in?

Brock Lee

There's no short in the new wiring; it's solid. That was proven when I reconnected the OEM lights via the new wiring harness. So I must be correct about my assumption that the new lights are drawing too much power?
Fuse only blows when I turn on the new lights.

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

How do you know you don't have a short in the PIAA light wiring? did you pull apart the housings and inspect the internal wiring?
how many watts are the PIAA lamp bulbs?
That is more than likely your issue. stock bulbs were probably 35 watts

Brock Lee

Uhhhhhhhh, your assumption is correct. I don't know there's not a short inside the PIAA light housing itself. Didn't look in there.


Uhhhhhhhhh, dunno. I'll pull 'em apart and peek inside.

Brock Lee

Gonna install a couple KC HiLites Pro6 LED lamps; 20 watts each. That ought to fix my problem!

Brock Lee

Just a little update for the sake of wrapping up this thread: The KC Pro6 lights are installed and work great. So obviously the problem with the other lights was they were drawing too much amperage and thus popping the 15 amp fuse. As a bonus, the new lights look great and provide much more lighting than the stock fog lamps. In fact, they provide so much more light that I gotta make sure they're legal. And I gotta make sure I have them aimed such that they don't blind oncoming automobiles. :-)

DRCOFFEE

The ebay LED lights cast a pretty nice light these days and they are inexpensive. I just installed some yellow lights https://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-G4-9006-...72.m2749.l2648 for $25/pair. No modification needed.