I think what OverLOAD has been doing is a bit far more complicated that I want. I wouldn't mind having the fog light as my fourth brake light. Without any microcontrollers and what not.
I'm not experienced in electronics at all, but could it just be as simple as connecting the fog light wiring to the brake light wiring?
That's pretty much what I want. :D

 

Yup, it works, only problem is that the 4th lamp is too bright if you do that.. you could wire up some series resistors (BIG resistors to dissipate about 10Watts) to reduce the brightness.. Kind of innefficient, but it works.. If you want to do that, a better choice would be a 25Watt resistor, of about 15 Ohms.. it would work well and have enough reserve power handling to not catch stuff on fire..



Regards,

OverLOAD

 

Yeah, catching stuff on fire is baaaad.

 

Oooh cool.. thanks a lot. Maybe I could find a guy in this part world to help me out.

 

I love what you've done Overload! I also bought just the light and the dash switch (I got the specific fog light switch and not the dual switch) from Canzoomer. My car's in storage and it's been too cold to really do anything with it yet.

I have a mechanic friend who is trying to find me the correct harnesses to connect to the light and the switch. Where were you able to find those? Do you think you can help me find them?

I look forward to learning more about what you've done. This is exactly what I want to do. I didn't want to just add it as another brake light, but I figured that if it was strictly a fog light, it would see very limited use. Your idea makes the best use of this cool mod.

Congrats on your ingenuity. You are a true asset to this forum.

 

Thanks for the kind words.

I did most of my work on my unheated garage floor installing that lamp. It's not too warm, but the car is fun, what can I say?

I wish I had gotten the correct connectors, I know that it'll be about the biggest pain in the butt though. Mazda doesn't sell spare parts like that. You can only get connectors as part of harness, and that's usually $$$. My budget for the fog lamp was already getting up there, so I just bought a couple of round pin connectors, bent them flat, shoved them in the fog lamp harness pins, hot-melt sealed the whole shebang closed and hoped for the best. If water gets in there and shorts my connection, I've got a fuse in the controller box to replace when it dries out, no big deal.

On the switch end, I got even less patient. I clipped off the exposed side of the switch and soldered my connector wires directly to the switch. It's pretty reliable, but not very pretty. I'm sure that the connectors can be sourced, but probably only in lots of 1000 or something rediculous like that. I'll save hard work like that for bigger and better projects that are more than 2 or 3 wire connection points.

If you really are set on having those connectors, your local Mazda dealer will be able to get you the whole harness assembly, just be prepared to be shocked by the cost. The fog lamp connector may not be so difficult to get, since those connectors might be more common. I didn't check but it's probably the same as the brake lamp connectors.

Thanks again, and good luck!

OverLOAD

 

Overload

Great mod you are a bright sparky , talented and modest he he he .

Have you changed your car battery to get one with extra ampage?????

Our current battery i believe only puts our 360 amp.

cheers
michael

 

Not yet, but I looked at a smokin' optima red top the other day. 900 cold cranking Amps? That'd start up the 8 in half the time..

And, with flattery like that, you have me suspicious that you want one of these lamp controllers..

Regards,

OverLOAD

 

Overload

As soon as i get my stage 1 and 2 plus my exhaust mods done and have the energy left i certainly will look at doing your mod .

I am not pissing in your pocket ( old Australian saying similar to crawling up your *** .

You deserve the KUDOS for a innovative and excellent mod great to see that some people still think outside the square .ha ha ha .

cheers
michael