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BT7 fog light switch

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Deleted member 21878

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i am working on wiring my dash and plan to add fog lights to my car. originally i was going to drill a hole for the switch in the dash and order a wiper switch to go in there for the fog lights.
but although i see a number of cars with fog lights, none appear to have a switch on the dash for them. So i wondered where people put a switch.

any suggestions would be great,
thanks
 

Joe A

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I read somewhere that someone suggested replacing the panel light switch with the three position switch like the headlamp switch.

OFF - Panel ON - Panel and Fog or Driving lights ON. No new holes.

I am mainly familiar with the BJ8 dash. Does the BT7 have a Panel Light switch?

The extra current going through the main light switch suggests that using relays to actually do the power switching for the headlamps would be a good idea.
 
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Michael Oritt

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A number of years back I was on the concours judging team going over Kent Lacy's car. He had a pair of driving lights and challenged us to find the switch for them. After we gave up he told us he had used the panel light switch and merely ran the panel lights through the first (side light) position of the headlight switch. It is an elegant solution and requires no visible modifications.
 

Keoke

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:iagree:

With Joe A :
Just be sure to use at least one relay to switch power to the fog lights.

The "switched" power to the relay can be taken off the starter solenoid. :encouragement:

Make a decision do you want the head lights and fog lights on simultaneously or do you want them separate so in the event of failure of the headlights you still have light to get U Hom.--:excitement:
 
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Thanks for the idea. i did actually think of using the panel light switch.

And speaking of panel lights... keep in mind i did not take my car apart... how are you supposed to wire in the panel lights for the small gauges? do you solder wire to them or should there be a clip of some sort?
IMG_0226.jpg
 

John Turney

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The small gauges have that loop in the holding bracket that you show in your photo. The lamps should be in a socket that is a tight fit in that loop.

I made a small panel to go under the heater controls for extra gauges and switches such as for fog lights.

Dash.jpg
 

RAC68

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Before considering the switch, determine which lights you are interested to implement.

Remember, Driving lights compliment the high beams and should, by some states law, require that the driving lights are only activated when the high beams are on. When the high beams are turned off, so too should the driving lights be deactivated. In my implementation, the switch will not activate the lights unless the high beam floor switch is activated and will turn the high beams and driving lights off when the floor switch is flipped to low beams.

If, as you have said, you are going to implement FOG lights, these can be activated independently and need not be complimented by the head lights. However, when used with the head lights, low beams are the compliment as high beams would provide too much reflection and diminish, if not eliminate, their benefit.

So, which is it, Driving lights or Fog lights?

Either way, I agree with Keoke, and strongly suggest you provide power to the lights through a relay and only add low-amp switching power through your original harness. Either way, tying other lighting functions would be beneficial, if not necessary, and determine how, after turning on the switch, how the wiring should be routed to switch on/off the relay.

One last point. When implementing my driving lights in the early '60s, I took a simple light switch and installed it out of sight on the bottom left side of my dash. When redoing my Healey in the late 1980, I decided that my use of a windshield washer was approaching ridiculous and installed a push button switch inside the original housing. This approach did eliminate the (never used) washer but provided a useful incognito switch for my driving lights without changing or adding to the look of the original dash.

Just my thoughts,
Ray(64BJ8P1)
 
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Duane_Rhynard

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i am working on wiring my dash and plan to add fog lights to my car. originally i was going to drill a hole for the switch in the dash and order a wiper switch to go in there for the fog lights.
but although i see a number of cars with fog lights, none appear to have a switch on the dash for them. So i wondered where people put a switch.

any suggestions would be great,
thanks


I mounted my reverse light switch, and fog light switch for the factory optional L494 reverse light, and SFT 576 fog lamps utilizing original Lucas 56SA illuminated switches on an additional panel under the heater. The Lucas 56SA switches were packaged with both of the optional lights originally.

I also replaced the incandescent bulbs in the switches with LEDS.

Amps Bracket (3).jpg

switch2.JPG

switch1.JPG
 
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Appreciate all the tips. I kind of have a plan now.

Still dont understand how the panel lights are wired though. Anyone got a picture of that?
 
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Duane_Rhynard

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Appreciate all the tips. I kind of have a plan now.

Still dont understand how the panel lights are wired though. Anyone got a picture of that?

The panel lights are all wired in parallel. The power for the panel lights comes off of the S1 terminal on the headlamp switch and goes to the panel light switch that is installed on the bottom of the dash under the tach. The output of the panel light switch feeds all of the lights. The grounds for the panel lights are just the body ground on the brackets for the fuel and safety gauge and the case of the speedo and tach. The wiring harness has grounds to install on the mounting studs on the instruments to provide these grounds. Your shop manual has the schematic showing the basic connections.

Let me know if you want more pictures!

Thanks,
Duane

LED Light for Fuel / Safety Gauge with Original Bulb Holder
Light2.jpg


LED Light for Speedo / Tach
light1.JPG
 

Keoke

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I think what may have slipped by here is the the panel lights come as sockets with short pigtails and the socket plugs into that bracket you showed. The pig tail has a standard Lucas bullet connector on it that plugs in to the harness ???
 

Jack T

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I mounted my reverse light switch, and fog light switch for the factory optional L494 reverse light, and SFT 576 fog lamps utilizing original Lucas 56SA illuminated switches on an additional panel under the heater. The Lucas 56SA switches were packaged with both of the optional lights originally.

Wow, is that elegant! Would love to find that setup for my car.
 
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ok on my harness, i have two bulb holders that are on long red/white wires. i assume they go in to the tach and speedo. the wires are long so that they can be run first to the bulbs for the safety and fuel gauge (pic of bracket above) and then back to the tach or speedo. i just don't know how the red/white wire is supposed to attach to the bracket/bulb shown above. i don't have any pigtails on mine.... but it is possible they got thrown in the box with the old wiring. So i will look there first.
Thanks for the info.

my plan on the fog light is this:
i have put in a sub fuse panel on the inside of the bulkhead. i will run a 15A fused wire from that for the primary power to a relay. i will leave the red wire from the harness going to the panel light switch to supply power to the back side of the relay thru that switch. i will move the red/white wires that went to the panel light switch to the S1 terminal on the light switch. i have also added an inline fuse after the light switch on the red wire to the lights, as suggested on the wiring diagram. think i got that covered.

going out now to look for some sort of pigtails on the old harness.
Thanks
 
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Duane_Rhynard

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I think what may have slipped by here is the the panel lights come as sockets with short pigtails and the socket plugs into that bracket you showed. The pig tail has a standard Lucas bullet connector on it that plugs in to the harness ???

Keoke,

My new harness from British Wiring (BW) did not come with bullet connectors or pigtails for the panel lights, and my original BN6 harness did not have them either. Just a solid red wire from the harness to the headlight switch, and back into the harness with a red wire to the panel switch. It has red/white wires that are in the harness with stripped ends to attach to the panel switch. The other ends are connected to the panel lights for the fuel, safety, tach and speedo gauges.

My original panel switch has screwed connections for stripped wires. I used my original sockets for the fuel and safety gauge, and soldered the wires in parallel as my original harness was.

Additionally, my original workshop wiring diagram which shows the all the harness bullet connections, does not show any bullet connections in the panel light circuit, so I am confident that it came from the factory without the bullet connectors or pigtails, since it's easier, simpler, and cheaper with less parts used!

Thanks,
Duane
 
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Deleted member 21878

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ok, i went out and cut out the connections that came with this car from the old harness. easy to miss when i looked at the old harness...
pic below
IMG_0227.jpg

so i was looking at this and it looks like maybe this connector (in the middle of the wire above) maybe fit between the bulb and the base of the holder. it looks like the base may have an insulator at the bottom which would have kept it from grounding..... well as long as you got it centered properly.... or am i wrong about this set up?
see below
IMG_0229.jpg
 
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Duane_Rhynard

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Wow, is that elegant! Would love to find that setup for my car.

Jack T,

Pretty easy actually, I could not fine the bracket I wanted, so I had one custom made. The company that made it for me liked my design so they added to their product line. They are available at the link below, just send him an email, he's very helpful! The Lucas 56SA switches are available on Ebay!

https://www.cubbypods.com/gallery

Thanks,
Duane
 
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Duane_Rhynard

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ok, i went out and cut out the connections that came with this car from the old harness. easy to miss when i looked at the old harness...
pic below
View attachment 50665

so i was looking at this and it looks like maybe this connector (in the middle of the wire above) maybe fit between the bulb and the base of the holder. it looks like the base may have an insulator at the bottom which would have kept it from grounding..... well as long as you got it centered properly.... or am i wrong about this set up?
see below
View attachment 50666

You are correct. The red hot wire comes from the headlight switch to the panel light switch. The red/white long wires go from the panel switch the to the fuel light and to the safety gauge, the hot wires then go from those gauges to the tach and speedo as single hot wires. The hot wires are in parallel on the fuel and safety gauges.

I hope this helps!
 
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Deleted member 21878

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just went on Moss and it looks like they have a newer version of the same thing. they have an insulator and a clip on the backside. that looks a whole lot safer. So i am going to order a couple.
 

Keoke

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Keoke,

My new harness from British Wiring (BW) did not come with bullet connectors or pigtails for the panel lights.

Yeah Ive heard them old cars was different.:excitement:
 
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