playing with foglights (with pics!)

[britlude]

with the spare time generated by the unfortunate web issues, I've been playing with the rear foglights on my NSX. When the car was imported (it's JDM) the fog light was made by disconnecting the inner pair of brake lights, and rewiring them to a foglight switch, which then made the brakelight warning lamp come on, so the enterprising importers cured this with black tape!... this was all well and good, but changing an extra pair of brake lights to make fog lights is a grey area, so I wanted a better solution.

Now, fog lights have to be central or on the offside, and what have we got centrally, a nice, blank, red space... so here's what I did!

take off the center but! the white bit is a foam gasket that connects to a hole in the back panel, and subsequently give the route for the dampness that causes the condensation in the centre bit of the back lights! not sure if that was the intention, but definately the result!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20diy%20fog%20light/z30012011095640x480.jpg

so the gasket/raised pillar was removed and the backing perforated...
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20diy%20fog%20light/z30012011096640x480.jpg

a simple stripboard circuit was made up, 72 LED's in 12 colums of 6
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20diy%20fog%20light/z31012011107640x480.jpg

this was hotglued on, after the board was sealed with varnish. a couple of layers of tanktape was put over the top too, just for luck! i would have liked to boxed it all in, but depth is a premium!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20diy%20fog%20light/z31012011108640x480.jpg

[britlude]

dimming the lamps down so i can get a pic, it looked like this....
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20diy%20fog%20light/z31012011106640x480.jpg

so awkward to get a pic, but this is the new fog with the old inside brake light fogs
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20diy%20fog%20light/z31012011103640x480.jpg

and this is the final thing, the foglight with just the sidelights!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20diy%20fog%20light/z31012011104640x480.jpg

it should do the trick!!!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20diy%20fog%20light/z30012011101640x480.jpg

[Senninha]

Interesting solution to the problem ... If I was doing this, or you were seeking comment, then I would be inclined to 'square' off the LED's around the H badge. So in picture 5 above, I'd loose the odd 6 bulbs to the right and then two columns to the left. I also suspect that by doing this you're less likely to get any questions come MOT time.

I do like you little projects! Keep 'em coming ...

regards, Paul

[britlude]

i did try that and it looked too narrow!!! so it was a bit of a compromise... actually the second picture only has 10 columns drilled... but i prefer the idea of too much fog light, rather than too little, and it's not like it's on all the time anyway! but it is a shame that the keyhole is there!!!

i could have just changed a reversing light bulb, but i like the symmetry of the back, and it would have been far too easy!

[Sudesh]

Hi Jonathan,

I understand where your coming from with the fog light issue as I also have a JDM car but also ran into a similar wiring issue on another members JDM car when it came in previously for work.

Personally I'm not a fan of that mod or any of the LED stuff they are doing in the US, it looks a little cheap and tacky to me, but that just my opinion and of course everyone has there own tastes, but still appreciate your work. I would be a little concerned about moisture and fogging up of the lense on that mod though?

There is a very nice and simple solution to the fog light issue which doesnt take much and leaves our lovely JDM tail light setup pretty much they way it should be with all the tail and brake lights unaffected and also the ability to still have the nice twin reverse or, one reverse on fog with no more than a couple of mins swap over. Also there are no tail light warnings displayed on the dash.

In short, you basically convert the drivers side reverse light to operate as both a fog and reverse light, all thats required is a red bulb and dual fuse holder.