Fog lights mounted on hood

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:54 pm

I have seen this done and would like to do another smaller mod to my Jeep. Is there a thread on this? Im already running 2 hella 500FF lights on my bumper and theyre hot wired to my battery because the fuse box way wouldnt work. How would i go about doing 2 more lights; would i have to do the fuse box way with the 2 on the hood or could i hotwire from the battery? i figured it would be too much for the battery to run 4 lights off it...this is also something im not smart in...

Someone chime in... :2cents:

much appriciated

:JEEPIN:

STINGN · **Posted:** Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:01 pm

i got all 6 of my hellas and sub and cb on my battery for over 1 year +

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:09 pm

sweet! so ill do the battery way.

now i need some info on how to mount the lights on the hood. i cant find any threads

JustinP · **Posted:** Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:10 pm

I may have misunderstood your question, so forgive me if I answer this wrong, but regardless if the lights are hooked up to the battery, the fuse box or an aux fuse box, they are all still pulling from the battery. If your looking for quickness and ease of install, you could run the power wires straight to the battery, make sure you at least put an inline fuse (closer to the battery the better). I think you should take the extra time to install an aux fuse block, and relays for your lights, to make an aux lighting system you can be proud of, but you seem like thats not what youre looking to do. Straight to the battery will work as long as the wiring and switch you use will handle the amperage of your lights.

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:40 pm

yeah it should handle it. and since im in no way capable of wiring this stuff, i have someone that would for me...

how would i mount them on the hood?

STINGN · **Posted:** Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:35 pm

wait. you want to mount lights to the hood :shock:

JustinP · **Posted:** Sun Jan 23, 2011 9:17 pm

I haven't seen anyone mount them directly to the hood. There's someone with them mounted to the cowl under the wipers, and someone who modified the side mirrors to put lights on them. If you want them on the hood, find a spot and drill a hole. Well maybe two holes. Just remember to measure twice. It's easier to drill the hole than to un-drill it.

It seems to me like lights on the hood directly, would create a lot of glare off the hood. Especially with fog lights since they scatter light. I'm not sure how functional the fogs would be that high up anyway, maybe consider a driving light instead?

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Jan 23, 2011 9:38 pm

Yes since fog lights should be 24 inches or so and under to work best

and please hook the lights up correctly just running wires to the battery and a switch is not the correct way, looking to start a fire that way

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 23, 2011 10:04 pm

STIGN: Not on directly on the hood, I should have said something like up by the windshield. What JustinP said below you.

JustinP: What you said up by the cowl or whatever is want I was meaning to say, what you said. Now that I think of it, mounting them directly on the hood would be pretty cool and an extreme mod. But I see your point. Maybe you could put something under it to give a little height over the hood???

Tom: As you already know, I am not capable of electrical stuff (wiring, etc etc...). The fog lights on my front bumper, I did not install those. A man who I've known for years and has watched me grow-up installed these for me, for free at that. I offered money but he wouldn't take it. It took him awhile because he had to drill through the frame to even mount the lights on the bumper. Originally he had the fog lights running to the fuse box. They turned on fine at first but later on that night, they wouldn't turn on. So the next day after having them installed I went back down to his. Well he did his thing and said we're going to have to hotwire these to the battery. Ever since then, they have worked fine and I love them. This guy knows what he's doing and said he would work on my Jeep anytime I needed help. I had to say all that to say this: if this project ever goes through, this guy will be doing 99% of the work not me. That's if he's able to do it. So if he says running the lights from the battery is fine then I'm game for it. If my Jeep caught fire, well I have Full Coverage for that and I doubt it wouldn't be because of 2 fog lights or 4 at that.

waywardtravel · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 8:03 am

IMnotsoHO lights on the mirrors,front hood do little more than blind you while driving. I won't even put them on a roof rack unless they were very focussed beams and you could build deflectors to not light the hood AT ALL, Haven't done that yet.
I would invest in good front bumper mounted lights and be done. If you want round things on top why wire them at all if it's for looks anyways. Red light working on the bridge of a boat or aviation cockpit are used to minimize this but when you use white lights, it takes abought 5 minutes to get your "night eyes back"

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:39 am

I already have front bumper lights wayward. Honestly I cannot see how the lights would blind the person driving the vehicle with them mounted up by the windshield. I see it more as it would blind the people coming towards me.

JustinP · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:39 pm

I think wayward is saying they are gonna glare against the hood. I think the same thing. I think the lights will glare off the hood creating a super bright light you can see as the driver, and never letting your eyes adjust to the darkness. I hope you plan to only use these high mounted lights off road, cause they are gonna be way too high up to drive with, without blinding other drivers of course.

waywardtravel · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 1:03 pm

I am trying to say the front hood will illuminate like a light in your eyes. I've done it before when I was young and have rode in other peoples since. For me never again. Fog light's will make it worse than focused beams. Heck my CJ has custom Rhino lined light mount's sitting on the window hinge that I will never use.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:31 pm

if they're mostly for looks (which is absolutely fine) then put them wherever ya want

I know my roof lights kill my night vision by glaring off the hood, makes it worse when there's any dirt what so ever on the hood. A fine layer of dust on the hood just pops the light right back into the cab

for optimal fog lights you'd usually put them as far to the front of the vehicle as possible to minimize hitting unnecessary particulate as much as possible and mounted somewhere between below the headlights and the road surface

usually for cowl or mirror mounts people use spot or driving lights and aim them so they cross 50-75 feet in front of the vehicle

mounted on the hood or cowl, they won't blind ya, but it'll kinda cause that feeling when you turn them off for oncoming traffic, as if someone had their highbeams on and passed ya

IMO, do it, find someone to help ya hook it up via a relay and get creative with what sort of switch you use

RED_KJ_666 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:56 pm

If you move your roof lights back on your roof, which can't be done with the factory Renny lights you will get Zero hood glare. Any custom install I would recommend placing them way back on a custom bar on the roof rack,

infernicus · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:10 pm

I have mine on the cowl.
Here is how I wired it, I believe it is the best way.
viewtopic.php?p=478384#p478384
Enjoy!

You can Definitely mount them a little further back, depends on how thick the lights are.
This was temporary for me, until I found a better way, but they seemed to work perfectly fine this way.
This works for cheap, or really light (in regards to weight) lights.
They shake a little at highway speeds but I don't really use them.
They have taken a beating between driving through the woods, multiple automatic car washes and snow storms.

Here is what it looks like at night/dusk (with a cheap cell phone camera).

You can kind of see how the light reflects off the hood in this video @ around 30 seconds and again at around 1:30.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnK4XMKezpo

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:34 pm

JustinP: Okay, I got it now. These would be for offroad use only and when i'm driving home on HWY 70 from or to my farm it gets really dark at night. The Hella's on my front bumper work wonders for me. I have P.O. people driving with my factory headlights &fog lights+Hellas. :-)r

But I can see better though.

waywardtravel: I was wanting to do something off-the-wall and different to my Jeep. No one where I live has a Liberty like mine or lifted at that. I think it would look really cool.

JeepinJarhead03: Yes they will be mostly for looks. The fog light mod will be my only other mod besides buying a set of Grand Cherokee wheels and painting them black. I am picking up the wheels this week. The lights will be done when it's warmer.

RED_KJ_666: If you're talking about moving my existing Hella lights or the new ones up to the roof to make a custom light bar, I won't be doing that. I was going to make a custom light bar, but that idea kind of flopped. So I forgot about it. To be honest, I cannot follow what you're trying to say.

infernicous: So you're the guy with the fog lights up where I want them? I couldn't remember the person on here that did that. Thank you for the thread link. I will have a look at it shortly. I can also see where they would shake at highway speeds. My lights won't be going through an automatic car wash beating, since I never use those anymore. They never get my Jeep clean, like I want it.

Thanks to all for the input, suggestions and comments. Much appriciated.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:48 pm

red was takin to me in regards to the hood glare from the stock renny location lights, same glare that the cowl / hood would likely cause, but that's majorly dependent on the shape of the light, beam pattern, and the angle as to whether it lights up the hood via ambient light.. or BLAM glares off of it. In most situations, the glare won't bother ya, ie: when ya intend to leave them on like night froadin or something

bw, have you seen the mod where the guy put the lights on the knuckle of the mirror? it's a somewhat complicated install technique but I personally think it's pretty cool

also if you wanted to, you could mount them to either side of the hood but attached to the fender, some what like using one of the Dodge CB Antenna fender mounts to hold the light? Get what I mean?

Either way ya go, should be pretty sah-weet

blackwidowkj06 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:09 pm

Oh okay, because I was pretty lost on what he was saying. I like the idea of attaching them to either side of the hood as well.

Thanks, you have given me another idea. I was going to buy another set of Hella 500FF Foglights from Walmart, where I got my lights for the front bumper. It seems that Walmart does not carry them anymore because I cannot find them at any Walmart or online. I may go with the KC Lights instead, but I really like the Hella 500's. :juggle:

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:18 pm

It's a shame the blackmagics are so expensive

amazon has the 500FF fog kit for about 70 bucks, not sure how much walmart was selling them for, comes with the lights, bulbs, wiring harness + relay (i think) + switch

I'm not sure if the lights would clear the hood on the actual dodge cb antenna mount, they may have to be turned when opening/closing the hood.. or they may actually clear, no idea but like you said.. it's an idea

Fog lights mounted on hood

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