MotoJeeper

I'm thinking about getting a pair of Duallys soon to replace my fog lights I took off when I put my new bumper on. I read that RI's harness has a relay in it, and my question is will I get any flickering issues if I wire the factory fog hot + ground into the relay to act as the switch?

red09

Yes you will get a flicker when you turn off your jeep or, have one of the doors open and they are not on. Mine flickered when the tailgate was open and the lights were not on. Don't know why, they did. RI offers a resistor that you can solder/clamp in-line that solves this flicker for most people. Didn't solve mine. After you turn off the jeep they will flicker up to three times and stop. It doesn't hurt anything on the jeep so if they do, big whoop.

Permanent fix to the flicker for me was an sPOD. Makes connecting just about anything a snap and not having to fight to get wiring through the firewall and up over the foot pedals.

14Sport

The problem comes from trying to use the factory fog light feed to trip the relay. If you simply use the harness that comes with the lights including the switch, you won't get flicker. However, I totally understand why you would want to use the factory switch.

MotoJeeper

If it's going to flicker anyways I might as well just wire them directly then. I was just trying to avoid wiring a 4th accessory into the cab. I just don't have the money for a $500 spod. LCpl pay only goes so far and I used a good chunk of the money I had from deployment on my lift. Would I be able to figure out what wires coming out of the steering column are for the fog switch and just bypass the CANBUS?

Edit: I was doing some thinking, what if you wired a resistor with the same impedance as the stock fog light into the trigger wire going to the relay to trick the CANBUS into thinking the stock fogs were still installed?

14Sport

From what I've read, the fog light wire is a CANBUS wire and doesn't simply carry 12 volts. It carries signals. I don't know CANBUS and have no desire to cut into any CANBUS wires in my Jeep so really can't help you there. I have read that some guys have had limited success soldering in capacitors and/or diodes. If that's what you would like to try I suggest you do more research. Sorry dude, wish I could be more help.

jksteve2013

why wouldnt u just use the wiring harness from ridgid to power the led lights and use the fog light wiring to signal the relay. that way the lack of 12v shouldnt matter as its just a switch signal. '


i could be wrong...

14Sport

That is what has resulted in flickering for most people. You would think that would work but doesn't seem to be the case.

jksteve2013

doesnt make any sense to me at all.

how can it make the light flicker when the light is 100% removed from the can bus power system?

Mark Doiron

I've read that the headlights use a pulsed DC signal for power. That is, the power switches off and on really fast. This makes the bulbs run cooler and last longer. With incandescent bulbs, you don't notice because the bulb can't stop glowing as fast as the pulse rate. However, LEDs and relays and such may have a quicker response to pulsating voltage. Thus, bulbs flicker and relays chatter (passing flickering to whatever is on their switch contacts). A suitably sized capacitor may reduce the flicker since it tends to smooth out voltage fluctuations. I don't know if this is the case for the fog lights, but a simple check with an oscilloscope/scope meter should provide a quick answer.

14Sport

What Mark said. The speculation I read is that it is turning the relay on and off at a rapid pace by the pulsed signal.