driving lights question

[96terrano]

Just wondering, is it legal to have a set of spotlights wired in so they come on with the high beams? No problem if not, just thinking of how ill sort out the switch gear for my Hyundai's lighting as I wanted to have the yellow ones on a separate fog light switch to everything else

[Lazy-Ferret]

You must get the names right...

Spot lights, must only come on with main beam, and can have an isolator switch, so you can switch them off.

Front Fog lights, can only come on with parking lights and/or dipped beam, must not come on with main, or no other lights.

Driving lights, are technically not legal, as most police will call them fog lights, and stop you if you have them on when it is not foggy.

Then there are Day Light running lights, which can be on during the day with no other lights, but must either drop to a low power, or go off completely when you turn the lights on.

[96terrano]

Right, ill explain with the pic, basically see those lights in the middle on the grill, well I was wanting those to come on with the main beams, and go off with the dip beam, and have the yellow lights witch will fit in those blanks in the bumper, have those on a switch seprate to everything else


Would this be ok?

[Lazy-Ferret]

Yep, the ones up by the Grill, are spot lights, so must only come on when the main beam is on.

The lower ones are Fog Lights, there are limits on the hight from the ground a fog light can be, where as Spots want to be up higher to enable the beam to travel further. Fogs should be wired up so they can only come on when you have the parking lights on, or via the dipped beam.

[96terrano]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

Yep, the ones up by the Grill, are spot lights, so must only come on when the main beam is on.

The lower ones are Fog Lights, there are limits on the hight from the ground a fog light can be, where as Spots want to be up higher to enable the beam to travel further. Fogs should be wired up so they can only come on when you have the parking lights on, or via the dipped beam.

Ahh thanks for that, just now the spots are wired in via a relay and switch, but will be easy enough to change them to run off the main beam

My Hyundai doesn't have the parking lights, so could I just have the fogs on a seprate switch?

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by 96terrano

Ahh thanks for that, just now the spots are wired in via a relay and switch, but will be easy enough to change them to run off the main beam

My Hyundai doesn't have the parking lights, so could I just have the fogs on a seprate switch?

You must have parking lights... they are a legal requirement when parking a car on many roads at night.. Some oldies, still refer to them as "Side lights", but when they changed the law to make it illegal to drive in just those lights many years ago, they were re-classified as parking lights. You should know this, as you would have read it in your highway code...

[96terrano]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

You must have parking lights... they are a legal requirement when parking a car on many roads at night.. Some oldies, still refer to them as "Side lights", but when they changed the law to make it illegal to drive in just those lights many years ago, they were re-classified as parking lights. You should know this, as you would have read it in your highway code...

No, never read about them, I refer to them as side lights, parking lights are what you can activate and they illuminate one side of the car, our mondeo had them

[96terrano]

Like that, that's what I was told parking lights were , see how the LH side is lit

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

Not disagreeing but on the t2s the front fogs work as said with the side/parking lights
but dont have an interlock to prevent working with main beam.

also on the mk4 the fog switch combines front and rear fogs though the fronts can work
with out rear though not other way. the fog switch is combined with dip/park switch
so fogs go out if no side / park /dip selected.

seen those park lights on one side dad in law had on late cavalier though i believed
all four corner sides/parks had to light if was parked on more than a 30mph road. gets
tricky there as also rule anything of 1500? ish kg unladen needs park lights on regardless
of speed of road. so most suvs and vans illegal even on side streets without them?

[96terrano]

Originally Posted by Thomas-the-Terrano2

Not disagreeing but on the t2s the front fogs work as said with the side/parking lights
but dont have an interlock to prevent working with main beam.

also on the mk4 the fog switch combines front and rear fogs though the fronts can work
with out rear though not other way. the fog switch is combined with dip/park switch
so fogs go out if no side / park /dip selected.

seen those park lights on one side dad in law had on late cavalier though i believed
all four corner sides/parks had to light if was parked on more than a 30mph road. gets
tricky there as also rule anything of 1500? ish kg unladen needs park lights on regardless
of speed of road. so most suvs and vans illegal even on side streets without them?

Interesting, so would my Hyundai be illegal then with the fogs through a seprate switch?

[Lazy-Ferret]

As Thomas the Terrano says, the ones that light up one side are not actually legal to use in this country.

My T2, turns the fogs off when I flick to main beam, but I think the fogs going off on Main are more to save battery, rather than a legal thing, as lets face it, if you are on main, then there should not be anyone in front to see if it is on or not.

I know a lot of cars are going to the interlock switches, or the push button to turn on and off, but they always turn off when you next switch the lights off, or stop the car. I think that is to stop the idiots who turn their rear fogs on in November at the first fog, and then do not turn them off again until September.

Having yours on a normal switch, but just making sure you only have them come on with parking lights, is fine and legal, just make sure you turn them off when it is not foggy.

[briggie]

driving lamps are generally lower wattage than fog lamps , the problem arises when people use fog lamps as driving lamps .

[96terrano]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

As Thomas the Terrano says, the ones that light up one side are not actually legal to use in this country.

My T2, turns the fogs off when I flick to main beam, but I think the fogs going off on Main are more to save battery, rather than a legal thing, as lets face it, if you are on main, then there should not be anyone in front to see if it is on or not.

I know a lot of cars are going to the interlock switches, or the push button to turn on and off, but they always turn off when you next switch the lights off, or stop the car. I think that is to stop the idiots who turn their rear fogs on in November at the first fog, and then do not turn them off again until September.

Having yours on a normal switch, but just making sure you only have them come on with parking lights, is fine and legal, just make sure you turn them off when it is not foggy.

well with our vauxhall, the fog lights only work when on dip beam and main, also, they switch off with the engine, and you can't put them on without the engine running, or separate to the main/dip beam



so just to clarify, i'll be ok if i wire the spotlights to only work with the main beam, and wire the fog lights through a switch....but.....they only work with the main/dip beam, if the main/dip beams are off, the fogs can't operate

[Lazy-Ferret]

Eggzacttlllyyyy

[96terrano]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

Eggzacttlllyyyy

yay, i know what i'm doing now when i get the car back