I'm going to throw some fog lights in the lower valence of the Dakota. I was just going to pick up one of the 20 dollar jobs from autozone. Do I already have the necessary wireing or is that something I'll have to install? The truck does not have fogs now and has no holes cut for them.

So my question is, is it a plug in, mount and go, or a complex wireing job and a hole in my firewall?

2000 3.9 sport

 

one way is to tag on to the ignition circuit with a relay, so it goes off with the ignition. OR start at the battery with a fuse right at the battery, with a manual switch under the dash. BUT you WILL leave it on. so you need to to make a buzzer to tell you it still on. you can made a good buzzer with this circuit.
http://www.sentex.ca/^^mec1995/circ/headalrm.html NOTE: the two ^ are to be one sine wave, that my key board cant do. that buzzer circuit i have made a number of times. i even put two of them one box. its one of the easiest circuits i have made. new subject: you will need a good crimper/cutter. go to auto zone, or advance auto. get a Dorman crimper/cutter no, 86263. youll NEVER beat it

 

My `97 had all the wiring from the factory even though it didn't have the lights , all i had to do was cut the holes in the lower front bumper valance for the fog lights - used a 4 inch hole saw for that and finished it up with a sanding drum on a dremel tool - and install a relay in the place marked fog lights in the power distribution center under the hood , and install the switch where the dummy plug was on the dash next to the light switch and i had working fog lights ! Now the fog light switch changed after `98 ? and was incorporated in with the headlight switch so you might have to find a new switch with fog lights if you want to use the factory wiring ,, look under the front bumper area where the factory lights would be and see if you can find a two wire plug connector , one on each side , tied up somewhere in that area , if so then you should be able to do the same as i did and use the factory wiring already installed in your truck . I didn't mess around with aftermarket style lights i bought oem replacement style fog lights with brackets off of ebay and a switch from a durango that i found in a junkyard for a plug -n- play set up .

 

I went the hard way. I had the stock fogs, but I put HID fogs there, and the $30 orielly fogs in the lower bumper.

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Oh man. Yes. This is a far too complicated task for me to tackle.

 

on my diagram, ignore the inside relays, only the outer 2 are for the fog light system. Just just say I've been pulled over by a cop for "too many light beams"...i still use all 6 beams off road and on the backroads where there's no streetlamps.

The HID's saved a dog about 3 weeks after I put them on. Theres a dark, barely lit road to get to our development, and I saw a lump in the road from a good 1/4 mile away. Well out of range of the driving lights and headlights, but those bright-as-hell HID's light things up that far out in pure darkness. Yes, the heads and centers will make reflective thing, well, reflect, but the HID's help define a better color contrast- it helps bring the white balance back in from all the yellow. HID's in reflector housings don't project far, but they have a wide projection pattern- about 170 degrees across the nose of my truck. So I can see animals well off the road, and prepare incase they make a break for it. And they make reflective things reflect just as much as the halogens. Really, over what I have otherwise, they just add side vision and white balance.

The headlights are silverstars with in-need-of-help headlamp housings, center driving lights are basic O'R 55 watt units, HID's are 35 watt 6500K.

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i also have a 97 that i am wanting to put some fog lights in. i read this and went out to look to see if i had the wiring but was only able to find any sort of open 2 wire plug on the passenger side (looks like a perfect length/ position to run to our fog light mount area) so my question is, is there a plug for each side if they are pre wired, or do the lights themselves come with a split wiring or somehting? and is this even the right plug at all? (sorry for the glare, had to clean it off with some WD40 to even look at it)

 

That does appear to be the right connector. I'm at work, I forget the proper bulb number. I'm not sure if the wiring is under the dash though, since non-fogs use a slightly different headlamp switch I believe. I imagine the port on the CTM and other computer units are just unpopulated.

For my aftermarket switch panel, I took that little space where the 4wd controller usually is, and made myself a little 3-switch panel there. Looks semi-factory, doesnt require drilling, and real easy access to the cable run areas.

 

from what i've seen (i could be completely wrong) i do not think that the headlight and fog light switches are related. in my truck i have a flat square next to the headlight switch that i assume a factory fog switch would be located (no, i will not install something like this, but you get the idea)

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&s...2&tx=118&ty=33

here is an actual switch that i assume would be in that location since i can't find a dash picture with a stock one installed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1997-2000-DO...9#ht_500wt_715

 

somethign must have changed in '00. 01 and beyond, you pull the headlight switch outward for fogs.