Keep blowing fuses!!

[mcaz5]

I installed these lights
12 Volt Halogen Vehicle Work Light
into my ODL bumper and wired them to the factory relay and wiring. They worked great for about a week or so then they suddenly stopped working. So today I had time to get under and check everything out and everything seemed to be okay so i check the fuse box and of course, blown fuse. I can't for the life of me figure out why they keep blowing.
These lights only come with 1 wire and it says to connect another wire to the bolt, as a ground, which I've done and like I said they worked great for a week.
I noticed today that if I only leave the right fog light plugged up then they dont blow, but as soon as I connect the left, they blow. I haven't tried this vice versa. I've also tried switching the two wires on the left fog light, but to no avail. Any help would be appreciated because I'm clueless. Thanks!

 

[SparkEE]

You are probably overloading the factory circuit. The manual for those lights says to use a 15 A fuse. Don't put in a bigger fuse but use the factory circuit to switch a relay. Use the relay as the 'switch' in the wiring diagram in the user manual.

The user manual is on the link you posted.

 

[mcaz5]

You are probably overloading the factory circuit. The manual for those lights says to use a 15 A fuse. Don't put in a bigger fuse but use the factory circuit to switch a relay. Use the relay as the 'switch' in the wiring diagram in the user manual.

The user manual is on the link you posted.

The factory fuse is a 15A.
I'm kinda confused on what you're describing about the factory circuit and relay, all I did was the splice the wire from the original factory fogs and connect them too the new fog lights. The negative battery wire is wrapped around the bolt mounting the light and is then connected to the stock wire.
I'm not very good with wiring so if you could try and explain it as simple as possible that would be greatly appreciated haha

 

[SparkEE]

Ok. So, everything that runs off electricity is a 'load'. A load draws current, or amperage. The factory lights draw a certain load, or number of amps. From your description of the problem, the factory lights plus your new lights draw more than 15 amps. Since the instructions from the aftermarket lights recommend a 15 A fuse by themselves and that is the value of the current fuse for the factory lights, that is (most likely) the problem.

Side note: Don't just put a bigger fuse in because that will allow the original circuitry to have more current pass through it. More current increases heat in the wire and could fail.

This is where the relay comes in. The relay is an electromechanical switch. It will switch your extra load (new lights) by being triggered from your factory lights. The relay is a load on the factory circuit but it is almost negligible.

http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/93000-93999/93904.pdf

The switch on the factory wiring diagram is where the relay goes.

Here is a typical diagram of standard automotive relays
http://www.rowand.net/Shop/Tech/images/RelayWiringGuide.jpg

From your factory wiring, connect the +12v to terminal 86. Connect terminal 85 to chassis ground. This is the 'coil' of the relay. Energizing the coil causes the internal switch to change states.

For the lights, connect a fused (15A) lead from the battery to terminal 30 (Number 14 wire would be sufficient). connect a lead from terminal 87 to the positive lead of your lights. Leave the chassis ground wire from your lights as it is.

Hope this helps

 

[mcaz5]

I really do appreciate you trying to explain all this to me, I understand how frustrating it can be to try to explain something to someone that just doesn't get it haha.

Maybe I used the wrong term when I said spliced (I'm a noob to wiring) but I completely cut out the stock fogs. They are no longer connected, from the way I was reading your comment it sounded like you thought I had the stock fogs and aftermarket fogs wired together(my fault) but I'm not that dumb haha. Does this change anything?

 

[SparkEE]

Why yes, I did read it as you tapped into the wiring and left the original lights operable. No worries though

It doesn't change a whole lot. You said that if you hook both new lights up the fuse blows but if you hook the one up it doesn't. Try the other light by itself. If it doesn't blow the fuse, then go with the relay wiring from above. If the other light by itself blows the fuse then either the wiring with that one is wrong or the light itself is bad.

Check your new wiring to see if there are any nicks or cuts in the wires that could ground out. Also, make sure your new wiring is protected - wrapped in loom and zip tied to safe locations.

Follow the mfg recommendations for hooking the wires on the lights up.

 

[mcaz5]

Why yes, I did read it as you tapped into the wiring and left the original lights operable. No worries though

It doesn't change a whole lot. You said that if you hook both new lights up the fuse blows but if you hook the one up it doesn't. Try the other light by itself. If it doesn't blow the fuse, then go with the relay wiring from above. If the other light by itself blows the fuse then either the wiring with that one is wrong or the light itself is bad.

Check your new wiring to see if there are any nicks or cuts in the wires that could ground out. Also, make sure your new wiring is protected - wrapped in loom and zip tied to safe locations.

Follow the mfg recommendations for hooking the wires on the lights up.

I'll try checking the other light and wiring tomorrow and report back. Thanks again for helping out!

 

[Drcoffee]

Power the lights from the battery and use a relay on the fog circuit to switch them on and off. The new Halogen lights you are adding probably have a greater initial load when they come on than the factory fogs had. Using the factory wiring harness to supply power to aftermarket lights will just cause issues. Take a look at the wires that plug into the fog lights. They are far too small to carry the load your new lights will need.

So do this. Wire the lights ground to the frame just as you have done. Wire the light's power lead to the relay (87) mounted anywhere between the lights and battery. Then from the relay to the battery with an inline fuse close to the battery (30). Then use the factory fog light plug down behind the bumper to connect to the other two posts on the relay (85 & 86)
* if it were me, I would ground the lights to a factory bolt on the frame rather than the bumper. Better yet, to one of the existing factory ground locations if its convenient.

So now when you turn on the fog lights, you are turning on the relay which turns on the lights. The power to the lights is pulled from the battery directly and you are now using the factory wiring to only power the relay, which needs very little amperage. Its really easy to do once you understand the steps.

 

[mcaz5]

Power the lights from the battery and use a relay on the fog circuit to switch them on and off. The new Halogen lights you are adding probably have a greater initial load when they come on than the factory fogs had. Using the factory wiring harness to supply power to aftermarket lights will just cause issues. Take a look at the wires that plug into the fog lights. They are far too small to carry the load your new lights will need.

So do this. Wire the lights ground to the frame just as you have done. Wire the light's power lead to the relay (87) mounted anywhere between the lights and battery. Then from the relay to the battery with an inline fuse close to the battery (30). Then use the factory fog light plug down behind the bumper to connect to the other two posts on the relay (85 & 86)
* if it were me, I would ground the lights to a factory bolt on the frame rather than the bumper. Better yet, to one of the existing factory ground locations if its convenient.

So now when you turn on the fog lights, you are turning on the relay which turns on the lights. The power is pulled from the battery directly and you are now using the factory wiring to power the relay, which needs very little amperage. Its really easy to do once you understand the steps.

Okay, so powering one fog light at a time works, which means like you said, the initial load is causing the fuse to blow. I just don't understand why they worked for the first week and not now?

I wanna use the factory switch so the way you're describing should do that correct? I understand the part about grounding the wire from the bolt of the light to a bolt under the hood somewhere, I'm just not comprehending the positive wire. I understand the number like 87,30 correspond to the relay, but from what I understand, to connect to those points I'll have to find the coresponding wires under the fuse box? Is this correct?

 

[Drcoffee]

Okay, so powering one fog light at a time works, which means like you said, the initial load is causing the fuse to blow. I just don't understand why they worked for the first week and not now?

I wanna use the factory switch so the way you're describing should do that correct? I understand the part about grounding the wire from the bolt of the light to a bolt under the hood somewhere, I'm just not comprehending the positive wire. I understand the number like 87,30 correspond to the relay, but from what I understand, to connect to those points I'll have to find the coresponding wires under the fuse box? Is this correct?

Oy vey! And I'm not Jewish

Follow me. Marry both (+) wires from the two lights together. then do this exactly as stated.
Light (+) wires TO relay (87). Relay (30) TO inline fuse. Inline fuse to BATTERY.
Ground to frame.
Fog light plug (+) to relay (86). Relay (85) to fog light plug (-).
Pink is (+)
White is (-)

The new lights will operate via your fog light switch on the stalk. You can even safely leave the factory fogs connected this way.

 

[mcaz5]

Oy vey! And I'm not Jewish

Follow me. Marry both (+) wires from the two lights together. then do this exactly as stated.
Light (+) wires TO relay (87). Relay (30) TO inline fuse. Inline fuse to BATTERY.
Ground to frame.
Fog light plug (+) to relay (86). Relay (85) to fog light plug (-).
Pink is (+)
White is (-)

The new lights will operate via your fog light switch on the stalk. You can even safely leave the factory fogs connected this way.

I'm starting to understand this now! I probably won't be able to tackle it until this weekend sometime, and I'll probably have a few questions then. Thanks!!

 

[mcaz5]

Oy vey! And I'm not Jewish

Follow me. Marry both (+) wires from the two lights together. then do this exactly as stated.
Light (+) wires TO relay (87). Relay (30) TO inline fuse. Inline fuse to BATTERY.
Ground to frame.
Fog light plug (+) to relay (86). Relay (85) to fog light plug (-).
Pink is (+)
White is (-)

The new lights will operate via your fog light switch on the stalk. You can even safely leave the factory fogs connected this way.

Okay, so I've read this a few times and visualized it and I think I understand it.
From the fog lights:
Take the red(+) wires from each fog light and wire them together, then take that wire to 87.
Connect a ground wire to the bolt of each fog light then ground that wire somewhere under the hood.

Inline fuse to relay 30, other end to battery. The diagram with the lights recommend a 15A fuse. I'm assuming that's what size inline to get?

This is the only part I'm a tiny bit confused about. Pink wire (+) to 86 and white wire (-) to 85. To get to these wires ill need to undo a section of the factory tape around the wires and then go from there, does that sound right? That's really the only part I'm slightly confused on now.

 

[Drcoffee]

From the fog lights:
Take the red(+) wires from each fog light and wire them together, then take that wire to 87. YES

Connect a ground wire to the bolt of each fog light then ground that wire somewhere under the hood. NO
*Just run the ground wire from the new lights to a bolt or screw on the frame or fender of the truck. No need to use the mounting bolt.

Inline fuse to relay 30, other end to battery. The diagram with the lights recommend a 15A fuse. I'm assuming that's what size inline to get? YES


This is the only part I'm a tiny bit confused about. Pink wire (+) to 86 and white wire (-) to 85. To get to these wires ill need to undo a section of the factory tape around the wires and then go from there, does that sound right? That's really the only part I'm slightly confused on now. YES
*You can either wire splice them like you see in the picture or put spades on the relay wires and plug them into "Just one" of the fog light sockets. You only need to use one factory fog light socket to power the relay. I suggest the driver's side since it is closest to the battery.

 

[mcaz5]

From the fog lights:
Take the red(+) wires from each fog light and wire them together, then take that wire to 87. YES

Connect a ground wire to the bolt of each fog light then ground that wire somewhere under the hood. NO
*Just run the ground wire from the new lights to a bolt or screw on the frame or fender of the truck. No need to use the mounting bolt.

Inline fuse to relay 30, other end to battery. The diagram with the lights recommend a 15A fuse. I'm assuming that's what size inline to get? YES


This is the only part I'm a tiny bit confused about. Pink wire (+) to 86 and white wire (-) to 85. To get to these wires ill need to undo a section of the factory tape around the wires and then go from there, does that sound right? That's really the only part I'm slightly confused on now. YES
*You can either wire splice them like you see in the picture or put spades on the relay wires and plug them into "Just one" of the fog light sockets. You only need to use one factory fog light socket to power the relay. I suggest the driver's side since it is closest to the battery.

There's only 1 wire coming from each fog light and the diagram just shows a wire going to the bolt area, so I assume that'd be the way to do it.

I really do appreciate all the help with this! This is why I love this forum:thumb3:

 

[Drcoffee]

There's only 1 wire coming from each fog light and the diagram just shows a wire going to the bolt area, so I assume that'd be the way to do it.

I really do appreciate all the help with this! This is why I love this forum:thumb3:

Interesting, because the online instructions shows 2 wires hot and ground. Well, if the lights do not have a ground wire, I would run a wire from the mounting bolt to somewhere on the truck frame to ensure a good ground connection.

 

[mcaz5]

Okay, so I was going to do some pre-wiring on my lights today. (A little background info) When I bought my 4runner there were some lights installed on the brush guard and I ditched those soon after I bought it, but I left everything wired up and have always had an empty switch on my dash, I tried wiring the fogs to those too after they didn't work on the stock relay. Didn't work either. So for whatever reason, I started looking at the wiring the PO had done now that I understood a little more how everything worked. All I could see was the wire coming from the firewall down to the lights, they have to get power somewhere right? So I took apart my dash to find there was a relay underneath with an in-line fuse. The fuse was blown just like the factory relay which had to mean a bad ground or wire somewhere because this was a 30A fuse. Sure enough, when I was installing my bumper and doing a little grinding on the brackets I nicked the wires for the fogs. Anyway I just decided to go ahead and use the aftermarket wiring and relay. At first I wanted to run the pink and white stock fog wires to the relay but I couldn't find them so that'll just be a project for a different day. The only thing that bothers me is the relay is getting power from the black wire with a yellow stripe. I followed the wire and found that a bigger black and yellow wire connected to a smaller black and yellow wire. The relay is getting power from this wire, does anyone know what this wire is?

Big black and yellow wire connecting to little one.

In line fuse connecting to big black and yellow wire. Follow the top red wire and you can see in between the 2 plastic pieces, the wire it connects too.

And the relay