6 replies to this topic

[[email protected]]

Can anyone provide any insight re: what the 6 pins do in the green Front Fog light switch?

 

I'm planning on adding some spot and fog lamps and if the 6-pin Front Fog switch is not more sophisticated than the 2-pin Rear Fog switch, I might just opt to use two of the simpler rear switches (there'd be less to go wrong!)

 

The "6 pins on the back" (like the Hazard Switch) in the description caught my eye because I thought the switch might do more than the 2 pin/2 position [off-on] rear fog switch.  And I confirmed with Minispares that it is not a typo in the description and you can see a rear image picture here.

 

I thought maybe the switch had separate pins for left and right lamps, or to separate driving/spot and fog/diffuse beams or that maybe it might be more hardy simply because it was splitting up the current.

 

For example: does the Front Fog switch accept two hot connections (let's call those pins 1&2) and then pass current to the first pair of "output" pins (3&4) on first click (let's say two diffuse spots on a four light bar) like a DP/ST switch?

 

And on the second click does it "change up" and pass current to the final 5&6 pins (let's say the other pair of driving spots) like a modified DP/DT switch?  (sort of the reverse of the way the main lighting switch feeds the side & rear lights only on first click but then BOTH the side & rear lights AND low beams on the second clicks...?)

 

If anyone has used a continuity tester and knows which pins are connected as you cycle through the positions of the switch - I'd be very grateful if you could post that wisdom here!

 

Thanks,

Jim

[KernowCooper]

Sorry I cant help out but put your meter on the switch and its easy to find what pairs do what, unless of course you dont have a multimeter?

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the suggestion Dave.  I've certainly got a multimeter... What I don't have is a switch in hand to test.

 

I'm sorry - I should have been clearer in my first post: I do NOT have the Front Fog switch yet - I'm "pre-purchase" at the moment.  

 

If I did have the switch I realize I could "tone it out" myself with a simple continuity test on each of the 6-pins.

 

The one thing I believe I can assume is that just like with my existing Rear Fog switch, I'll need to tap one of the "outgoing" 6 pins/wires to connect to one of the mini-spades while the other mini-spade gets wired to ground in order to power the illumination-lamp inside the switch when toggled into the ON position.

 

I'm trying to get a better understanding of the differences between the two in order to decide whether to buy a Front switch or simply another Rear switch - all without having a FF switch to figure it out myself unfortunately.

 

So I'm just hoping someone already knows what this 6-pin switch does and can post the pin-out or an internal diagram showing the innards and "what connects to what".

Edited by [email protected], 13 May 2016 - 01:21 PM.

[Ethel]

The illumination is via the small spades on each side. They're connected to the side light circuit and an extra window is uncovered to as a tell tale when switched. 

 

They are Lucas Delta switches and the pinouts will be shown in the Lucas switches catalogue, it can be found online as a PDF.

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the tip Ethel.  

 

I've scoured the online catalogs but haven't yet found a pinout for this switch, but I have left a "contact me" note at http://www.lucaselectrical.co.uk/ and am hopeful that they will reply.

 

There was a very helpful post in another forum that said "when you have the four fog/spot light set up it will only work with the high beams on so that may have something to do with the extra connections"  which makes sense considering I know in my Mini that my rear fog won't light unless the regular lights are on.  They might have placed a similar restriction on the front fogs that would warrant a special pin arrangement.

 

Interestingly enough, I also found a posting on another site that read...

 

"The original factory fitted switch had a green lens and 6 connectors, but the replacement switch available today now has an orange lens and 4 connectors." 

 

...so even if I find the original pinout it might just be moot!

Edited by [email protected], 20 May 2016 - 07:24 PM.

[Ethel]

Fogs are usually wired to be dependent on headlights, though they could be wired as an alternative to headlights if they are positioned accordingly.

 

http://www.autosluzb...alogue 2008.pdf

 

page 69-70, but you're right there's no fog light among them.

 

 

 

http://www.europaspa...tch-lights.html

 

suggests it's a simple on/off switch - the spade terminals are for the switch illumination.

[[email protected]]

Thanks for both the links Ethel - I'd seen the Lucas pdf, but the Europa site is brand new to me - I always appreciate having more resources available!

 

I found a switch in a wiring diagram in the Haynes for a later year Mini that was actually called a "Front Fog switch".

 

It has 6 "connectors" in the image, but I suspect that two of them to be the 2-spades for the indicator light just as you mention in your earlier post, making for just 4 true "pins" + 2 "spades". 

 

This would contradict the image found here that clearly has 6 "pins" and 2 "spades", but maybe it syncs up with the newer description of "an orange lens and 4 connectors" where the only "connectors" counted are 4 pins, while the 2 spades are "ignored" - or maybe it is as you say, a "simple on/off switch" like the rear fog switch that I KNOW has only 2 pins and 2 spades for a total of "4 connectors".  That is certainly what I would deduce from the Europa Link you provided.

 

Here's the diagram I found:

 

 front-fog-switch.jpg   68.69K   10 downloads

 

Pin 2 is the "hot" line in that is switched to pin 3 to feed the relay and looks like it is looped externally to one spade (connector #5 in diagram) to feed the internal indicator light by exiting the switch on the other spade (#6 in diagram) and going to ground.

 

What I find weird is the "loopback" that appears to run from from pin #1 to pin #4.  it looks like it is "open" normally and "closed" when the ganged switch is thrown, but it seems to serve no purpose.

 

Could the engineers have simply leveraged the innards of the Hazard switch for this, and just thown a wire loop on the open pins so no one will connect anything else to them?

 

It does look like it offers a bullet male (#1) and a female (#4) to possibly wire in another "something" (maybe spots?).

 

I'm thinking it's time to just order one and see for myself!

Edited by [email protected], 20 May 2016 - 08:00 PM.