96-98 Hella Fog Light factory wiring and parasitic amp draw from its relay.

[19963.4lsr5]

I wish I had a wiring diagram of the harness that came with the Hella fog lamps that were a dealer option.

The relay is constantly energized, the switch in the dash doesn’t turn off the relay. That above constant amp draw on the battery will draw it down over a few days in the winter. I parked my Toy for 3 days and the battery was down to 12.04v.

I verified the relay doesn’t turn off on the 97 Puppy Hauler also.

You would think the switch would operate the relay. But Toyota switches grounds to operate lights so who knows.

Jumping the connector pins for the normally open contact (30 to 87 I think) produces the same results as plugging the relay into the connector. So I’m going to repin the connector to the normally closed contact of the relay. Plug the relay in and not hook the wire up to the battery.

I need to hand trace and draw out the circuit. It really looks like the fogs are being powered by the low beam circuit and not by the fuse and relay mounted on the inner fender beside the battery. It looks like the red wire on the battery post goes through the fuse holder and then to the coil of the relay. The relay switch 2 wires. I can jump the two wires and bypass the relay function and the fog lights still operate with the switch in the dash.

Does anyone have a drawing?


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[19963.4lsr5]

Jumping these two terminals has the fog lights operating with the switch just like if the relay was plugged into the connector. The relay has no real function to me. And this includes not having the ring terminal connected to the battery positive.

This is the fuse holder.


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[jgue467]

So do the fogs turn on with the ignition off now? :cowboy:

 

[19963.4lsr5]

So do the fogs turn on with the ignition off now? :cowboy:

The power for that whole assembly connects to the positive post of the battery. The entire circuit makes no sense to me.

That jumper still acts like the energized relay closing the normally open contacts. The fogs still turn on and off with the headlights on low beam only, with or without the ignition. I don’t even have the power wire connected to the positive of the battery.

May be that interstate isn’t a POS after all it just had a constant .2a draw on it. It doesn’t seem like much but it is a lot more than one thinks. Especially if the vehicle sits a while without driving it.


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[TheDurk]

I bought a Hella set 17 years ago that did the same thing. Two of the wires were swapped in the relay plug. Check that first. It's a pretty easy fix if that's it. It's hard to believe they did this twice so many years apart. What they did was the relay coil was on permanently connected between the battery and ground and the switch controlled the full circuit power, not the relay. Hard to detect since the lights worked just as they should. Drove me nuts finding it. Pull the battery ground cable with the lights off and reconnect. If you hear the relay click, I win.

Once I had it figured out, I did a double cut and splice to unswap the effed up pair, and all was well.

 

[brillo_76]

What do the fog lights look like? I am wondering if I have the same setup on my 97 5 speed? Does the switch illuminate when the fog lights are on?

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[19963.4lsr5]

I bought a Hella set 17 years ago that did the same thing. Two of the wires were swapped in the relay plug. Check that first. It's a pretty easy fix if that's it. It's hard to believe they did this twice so many years apart. What they did was the relay coil was on permanently connected between the battery and ground and the switch controlled the full circuit power, not the relay. Hard to detect since the lights worked just as they should. Drove me nuts finding it. Pull the battery ground cable with the lights off and reconnect. If you hear the relay click, I win.

Once I had it figured out, I did a double cut and splice to unswap the effed up pair, and all was well.

My relay is on permanently the other 97 does the exact same thing. I’ll look into it thanks. I think they made a bunch of harness wrong. Or all of them wrong.

I figured the switch was intended to control the relay. Was going to trace out the wiring an make a drawing.

Thanks Durk


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[19963.4lsr5]

What do the fog lights look like? I am wondering if I have the same setup on my 97 5 speed? Does the switch illuminate when the fog lights are on?

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Rectangle, look between your battery and inner fender. There will be a relay and fuse holder screwed to the inner fender.


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[19963.4lsr5]

I just got these and I get to see which one releases the barb to swap the two wires.


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[TheDurk]

My relay is on permanently the other 97 does the exact same thing. I’ll look into it thanks. I think they made a bunch of harness wrong. Or all of them wrong.

I figured the switch was intended to control the relay. Was going to trace out the wiring an make a drawing.

Thanks Durk


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The main thing is that the big fused power line goes to pin 30 or 87 on the relay and the load (the fog lights) goes to the other one of 30 or 87. (Convention is power on 30, but it doesn't matter.) Then the other two go to either of the pins left over (85 and 86, which are the coil.) One of them will go to the switch, and the other will go to ground or power, depending on how the switch is wired and how you want the lights to behave (on anytime, on with ignition, on with lights, on with low beams, etc. )

Diagram:

On mine, the plug had the 30 and 85 wires reversed from the factory. This meant the relay coil was energized permanently and the lights drew their full power from the switch, not the battery connection.

 

[brillo_76]

I just got these and I get to see which one releases the barb to swap the two wires.


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Those are very good to have. I don't have a set yet.

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[brillo_76]

Yes I have the addon. I will report back how mine is wired. I am suspecting it's the same as yours and the Durks.

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[19963.4lsr5]

That was the ticket Durk.

Thanks for the insight. It saved me some wire tugging and drawing a schematic. All though the last two places I worked that was the norm on old circuits without any electrical drawings.

My weapon of choice to remove the connectors from the socket to put them where they belong.

And my lights are brighter since I removed 6a of fog lighting from the low beam circuit with its dinky 18awg wiring.


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[19963.4lsr5]

The 4Runner turned over much faster this morning at 33 degrees. Finally maybe my 3 year old interstate battery Isn’t as bad as I thought.


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[brillo_76]

I mostly charge the batteries at 2 to 10 amp overnight once when the weather changes. Seems to help with the efficiency loss as lead acid loses capacity the colder the ambient temperature is. Especially if they are outside and we get those 0 and below nights. If we have an extended cold snap probably do it again during that time.


Keeping lead acids at float levels really extends their lives. I seen standard auto batteries last 10 to 11 years if they are kept fully charged.

I think my father in law had a lawnmower battery last 15 years as we trickle charge them all winter.

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[19963.4lsr5]

I’ve killed batteries leaving them on a trickle too long without checking the water level or loading them on occasion. Now I have an old headlight bulb I clamp on batteries I have in storage.


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[19963.4lsr5]

Without the relays .167a constant drain on the battery my starter turns over fast enough to have the oil light turning off just as the engine starts. I’m happy, it was bugging me since I put the new engine in and it took around a second after the engine started for the light to go off.


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[brillo_76]

I’ve killed batteries leaving them on a trickle too long without checking the water level or loading them on occasion. Now I have an old headlight bulb I clamp on batteries I have in storage.


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Hmm.. you must have left them on trickle chargers forever to do that. Your trickle chargers have the float ability. We mostly leave them on during the winter months.

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[19963.4lsr5]

Hmm.. you must have left them on trickle chargers forever to do that. Your trickle chargers have the float ability. We mostly leave them on during the winter months.

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Yes they were on a tender for two years strait.


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[brillo_76]

Yes they were on a tender for two years strait.


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Ok great to know. mostly nothing on tenders in the summertime. I better stick to my winter only and pull of in spring setup..

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