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Hey everyone,

I recently bought a pair of fog lights from ebay to install in my 7th gen civic sedan. Install went pretty well but i installed the switch that came with the lights and wired the + power wire directly to the battery. Now if i forget to turn them off when i leave the car, my battery will die.

So i wanted to ask if there is another way of splicing into power that is only on when my ignition is on. Kindof like the 12volt accessory plug but i don't want to tap into that becuase i already have interior footwell lights tapped into that.

So basically my question is is there another source i can tap into for power like the parking lights that won't be on unless my ignition is on?


thanks,

don

 
Rep Power: 512

Wire in a relay.

Quick drawing from my tablet


Ignition on -> current flows through pins 85-86 -> magnetically closes switch between pins 87-30 -> current flows to fogs.

Ignition off -> circuit deenergizes.

The challenge is finding a +12VDC line that's hot while the ignition is on

 
Rep Power: 244

^ Nice! wire it like that.

You can use an ignition wire from the under the steering column. Black/Red is the accessory wire that turns your radio and HVAC controls on. Use that wire to trigger the relay pin 85 in the drawing above.

 
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I think I technically have pins 85 and 86 switched. Pin 85 is the coil ground. Though, I'm not entirely sure if it really matters. Time to experiment with a random relay at home.. lol

Edit: google images shows a general consensus of pin 85 being the coil ground, though a few drawings show no indication of which is the coil pos/neg, and some others show 86 being the ground.

tl;dr of edit: apparently doesn't really matter for the coil, so long as you have current flow through it. If it doesn't work one way, swap it.

 
Rep Power: 244

It doesn't matter. Relay coils don't have polarity.

The source should be on pin 30 though and the load on 87 like you have it.

 
Rep Power: 512

Yeah, I figured as much, since every time I wire up a relay, I don't pay any attention to the orientation for the coil pins.

I do, however, pay attention to the 30/87 pins, though, moreso with regards to 5-pin relays, simply because of the switching mechanism.

 
Rep Power: 210

I'm a little confused. You should already have a relay supplying power for the fog lights. All the switch should be doing is powering the relay which is low amps. The accessory circuit with the footwell lights should handle the additional amps unless your footwell lights are already at the maximum amps for the fuse.

 
Rep Power: 244

You are correct if OP has a switch wired to a relay as he should. The extra relay is not needed.

OP only has to run his switch's 12V that he has connected to the battery to the ignition harness or other 12V source that is hot when the key is on.