im gonna wire up some el cheapo fog lights on the back end. i know how and where but dont know if i should wire them up to my existing harness so that it comes on with i put it in reverse or put them on a toggle. you dont need the extra lighting in the city but do you always wanna flip a toggle?

what did you do?

 

I would do both. Get a two way switch. One way of the switch would be between the positive of the light and the fuse box. Flip the switch this way, and the lights are on. The other way of the switch is between the poistive of the RELAY and the fuse box. This relay would be tapped into the reverse light harness. Flip the switch this way and the lights are only on when in reverse. Leave the switch in the middle, and they are never on.

Make sense?

 

IMO: wire the lights to a relay with a master switch. get the power from the reverse light circuit and then put the master switch into that.

 

3-way switch, on, off, and automatic, run it like this:

hook up a relay that will switch on the backup lights anytime when +12v is applied. Run a wire from that to the common pole of the switch. Then run a wire from the existing backup lights to one pole of the switch and a always hot lead to the other.

Then you will have always on, always off, and automatic.

Jason beat me to it, his idea is the same.

 

Before I crushed the lights I had mounted under the bumper, I just had the harness work with the OEM lights. So, they would only come on when I was in reverse. I never needed to see behind me unless I was backing up. And, if I was sitting still and needed to see behind me, I could just move the shifter towards reverse and they would flip on. I didn't see the need for another switch when the shifter itself acted as one.

As far as not needing it in the city, who cares? They'll come on only when you are backing up, so if you need them you'll need them, and if you don't, you don't. It's not like you are wasting anything by having them on, but if there's an aux switch, then that's just one more thing to worry about...

 

Not really something to worry about. I would be more worried about the stock wiring then a simply toggle switch.

I wired mine up with a simple 2 way switch, using a relay and wired to the battery. Its nice being able to turn them off and on whenever I want. I tend to coast backwards alot

 

i have mine wired with a relay that's trigered from the original reverse lights. Like KevinInSac said they're not really needed unless your going backwards.

One other thing to consider it's illegal in this part of the world to have more than 2 reverse lights. You may want to check the regs where you live, and if that's also the case pull the candles out of the exisiting ones.