On my old duramax, I rigged up the headlight relays so that when I had my high beams on, my fog lights also stayed on, whereas now on the Ford, they go off.

Also, since the low beams and high beams were in separate housings, I also modified it so that the lows were also on.

So when I had my high beams on, I had - Highs, Lows, Fogs and DRLs.

I'd like to do something similar on the Ford, but cant seem to find any electrical schematics online.

For the Duramax, it consisted of using diodes between the relays to accompish this.

Anyone have access to the schematic on our trucks so I can do the mod and a right up?

I really miss having all the extra light when driving at night on rural roads.

 

I would suggest the Bright Box. Do a search, there are threads on it. Gives you the ability to have Low, High, and Fogs all on at the same time. Not cheap but also gets a better electrical connection to the headlights. If I understand correctly there are bus signals that can get things mucked up if not there and the Bright Box takes care of that.

 

I am aware of that product, but feel it is overpriced.

Similar products existed for GM products for the same price point.

The solution I have in mind, will cost less than $5, so long as I can access the wiring schematics of the relays that control the lights. This would all be after the can BUS and shouldnt cause any interference.

I am willing to be the first guiny pig and post a how to here.

 

The fact you know about a "can BUS" and what a diode does puts you further ahead than I. I went for the Bright Box; received about 2 weeks ago but not installed yet. If you make this work for under $10 I will be depressed. Good Luck .... subscribing.

 

Don't be depressed, the bright box is a good product and they have found a niche market. it is a simple device, more or less plug and play.

If our trucks have a dedicated relay controlling fogs/lows/highs, like my GM did, then this will be a piece of cake. It will require the use of a soldering iron to make up the diode jumpers.

 

Do keep us informed. I want the same thing you do but don't want to pay for the Bright Box.

 

Try looking through this:
https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas...1/maintoc.html
My internet connection is too slow or I'd look through it myself.

 

I may be mistaken, and if I am, please don't give me h&ll about it, but I'm thinking that there is a federal and or state law in most if not all states that prohibit having the high beams AND the fog lights on at the same time. Might be worth checking into before you change wiring around.

 

Its annoying. Personally I hardly ever use the fog lights actually for fog. I like them for more as driving lights. When you use your high beams you definitely loose some of the illumination directly in front of you so it would be nice if the "fogs" would stay on. Sure I could add some aftermarket driving lights, but with as many lights that are already on these trucks I shouldn't have too.

 

I checked into it several years ago. What I found was the limit was no more than 4 lights on for low beams (driving in traffic). Hence why only lows and fogs are one.

I found one reference somewhere about high-beams, but the thought was if you turned your highs off like you should when driving in traffic, it wouldnt be a problem and no one would notice.

I also read that since you dont use high beams in fog, that the fog lights were always wired to not come on then.

I dont use mine as fog lights, I use them as driving lights to see the outer edge of the road...on my other truck, the factory fogs lit a lot of more of the side ditches than these do. They definitely helped see animals lurking on the side of the road like deer, coons, etc.

I also imagine it is one of those laws on the books that aren't enforced unless you are being stupid about it. Like window tinting.

 

I spent some more time on this last-night, and it appears that the relay for the fogs is an internal relay inside the interior fuse box.

The fuses for the fog lights are pre-relay, so using a diode from the high beam to this fuse, wont work, because the relay is not energized.

So next up, I'll design my own harness and relay that allows me to control the fogs from an up-fitter, bypassing the headlight switch.

I will then probably leave them on all the time as DRLs, since our trucks dont have DRLs and I like the safety they can bring.

I already have my lights on whenever I drive...I set the switch to auto, and then unhooked the dash light sensor, so it thinks it is always dark out.

With my planned setup, if the upfitter is off, then the fogs will come on/off like they do stock, the upfitter will simply override that option and turn them on whenever the ignition is on.

I just cant justify the cost of the bright box, personally.

 

Not addressing your plan to have all lights on at the same time, just responding to the DRL part.

I read multiple times that the F250/350 trucks in Canada are required to have DRL. It is turned off in the US. The simplest solution was to take your truck into a dealership and have them turn on DRL on your truck.

I plan on doing this when I get to the dealership. Using the fogs as DRL's is not a bad plan either though.

 

Correct. I had this done a couple of months ago. Very simple and they did it for free. They wanted to charge me $50-$75 but I told them I'd read on here that most dealers were doing it for free because it was an added safety feature. Believe it or not, they agreed and didn't charge me.

 

A couple of things - all of the lighting is controlled by the BCM output through mosfets rather than relays. The CANbus monitors which position the lighting switch selector is in to allow the BCM to determine which lights should be turned on.

Your truck does have daytime running lights as a programmable option - normally they run at anywhere from 60 to 80 percent of full power - however, if you install a variable voltage ballast HID system like the DDM Tuning sets for around $100, the HIDs will be full power even though the system runs in DRL mode. The DDM HID's at 4500k are significantly better than the stock system, especially when it is raining.

I'm in Canada where the DRL are already programmed since it is federal law here. But, you can get get it programmed at your dealer or by anyone with a VCM.

 

Good to know the dealers will do this.

I also want to ask mine to make it so when I open the doors at night, all the exterior lights do NOT come on.

I understand why they did this, but I dont want it.

I do not like being in the not so good part of town, at 1am, opening my doors and my truck light up like a christmas tree.

In my case, it draws attention to a high dollar truck, at the wrong time.

They could have at LEAST made this an option in the dash control software.