Driftboater

Hi All,
For those looking to take advantage of the stock wire harness and switch for the foglights because you're replacing the OEM foglights or found out that you have the harness tucked away even though you don't have the lights, an inexpensive 9006 pigtail may simplify installing aftermarket fog/driving lights. This will not compromise the OEM harness or put the extra load on it if your new lights are higher wattage.

By way of brief background, I installed 2 sets of PIAA lights-1 fog, 1 driving, each bulb is 55w- on a heavy duty bumper. Since I removed the OEM foglights, I hoped to splice the new fogs directly to the OEM harness and use the OEM switch, but the OEM foglights were 37w each (pic #1). The new driving lights were wired separately to supplied switch.

PIAA said if the the OEM harness was protected by a minimum 10amp fuse, I should be OK, 15amp no problem. Ford service tech wouldn't confirm or deny if OEM harness could handle the extra load, but did say splice in at own risk- any damage would not be covered under warranty. A few forum members said use a harness and relay. So I played it safe and compromised- here's how.

Purchase a 9006 male pigtail from theretrofitsource.com for $7.50 total (pic #2).

Lay out wire harness. Determine where you want to run the wires and secure the relay(s). I secured the relays next to the battery, adjacent to the windshield wiper fluid container (pic #3) and ran the wires down to the lights behind the washer fluid container, along the fender (pic#4).

I ran the wires for the passenger side lights thru a cross member using a wire fish so they are out of the way and protected (pic #5).

Splice the 9006 pigtail to the the new light harness switch wires from the relay (pic#6) and plug the 9006 pigtail connector to the OEM foglight connector. I used marine grade butt connectors for the splice.

Ensure the lights are plugged in and connections are good. Connect + and - wires to the power source per the manufacturer's directions. PIAA recommended connecting to the battery directly. Once done, turn on the truck, and the new lights will operate directly off of the factory switch just like the old OEM foglights. Hope this tip is helpful to someone.

Platinum2897

This may be a stupid question, but did u have to connect anything to the battery? Or I'm guessing the supplied power came from the OEM harness??

STingray1300

For just sheer light output, a 9005 would net someone an added 6 watts of output (61w vs 55w). But and with any output upgrade, the degrading of the plastic reflective surface over time can become an issue Going to a 9145 is a 7 watt upgrade from stock, as the 9140 bulb is only good for 37 watts, generally speaking. That's a 20% increase, and no wiring hassles.

FWIW

Cowpig

if putting in different lights/housings, i'd just use the stock harness to switch the relay but have proper gauge wiring from battery/fuse/relay/out to lights

TJPlatinumEB

You could also just use a very simple and inexpensive Add-A-Circuit wire and plug it into the stock Parking Light fuse or Foglight fuse and use that for your signal wire on the aftermarket lights. Both are in passenger side kick panel and are very easy to install and get access to.