DIY: EVO-R Foglight Install
 

I've just installed my EVO-R foglight with now both of its functions active (set to FLASH in reverse, and SOLID ON function controlled by a second hazard switch).

First, make your connections for the foglight from the pigtail on the light to the wire EVO-R sends you (I did these inside because it was about 20 degrees outside, and probably about 40 in the garage):
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m..._fog_parts.jpg

Next, cut the shrink tubing included into 6 pieces and place on all wires:
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...onnections.jpg

EVO-R included blade style connectors. I prefer the tube style seen in the picture below for a more watertight seal. Your preference! Crimp the connections and shrink the tubing with a heat gun to seal (I did this on our Silestone counters...indestructable!):
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...heatshrink.jpg

Put the double sided tape on the light housing. You'll need to trim the tape EVO-R sends with the light by about a third so it fits on the frame of the light. I did this inside as well, to keep the doubled sided tape nice and flexible, and pointed a heater at the rear bumper for quite awhile for good adhesion (again, it was a cold day!).

To remove the old light, refer to AK370's DIY for the OEM light/harness and the DIY by Simota1. Both are excellent, and also show you how to run a wire up into the cockpit if you opt to connect either function to a switch!:tup:

Install the light in the openning (It looks darker in person. The flash of the camera made the lens appear more clear). Remember to reinstall the metal backing plate that helps to support the rear valance (sorry, no pics of that here - easy to do, just 4 snap in connectors):
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m..._installed.jpg

Next, watch SlikNik's Video 1 in the Audio section (it is VERY helpful:tiphat:) on how to remove the panels and other stuff in the trunk to get to the wiring harness. One word of caution: when removing the side panels, use a door panel tool like the one in the video for the first 2 clips. Then pull the panel toward the center of the trunk for the last. I cracked a panel being overly zealous with my tool (um, that didn't sound right:icon17:). Anyway, here is what your empty trunk will look like:
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...370Z_trunk.jpg

Now, you DO NOT need to remove the tail light! You can, if you want to get to the harness close to the connector. I considered this at first (see below)
but then realized I could do the wiring connection all inside the trunk (second pic below). So I sealed up the wiring harness and re-installed the tail light.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...t_harness2.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...ht_harness.jpg

The ORANGE wire is for the reverse lights. This is the one I tapped into with one of these handy connectors:
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...ght_splice.jpg

Replace the grommet, and wire up your ground (see the blue connector):
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...connection.jpg

Put everything back together, and enjoy the flashing light!

Now for the switched "solid on" function:

Purchase a hazard switch from Nissan. Even better, get the connector, too (you can skip the next step if you do!). Cut the housing from around the contact pins so you have room to make connections. With needle nosed pliers, bend the poles in opposite directions - on forward, one back, etc.:
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...cut_switch.jpg

Get some of these .110 female connectors. The fit nicely on the contacts, with just a little crimping with pliers:
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...connectors.jpg

Remove the shift trim. Remove the hazard blank (note: you guys with Syncrorevmatch will have to find another location for a switch) by removing the screws holding the shift boot in place. Insert the new switch.

Tap into the yellow accessory wire under the radio for your power (you can see the red wire I ran from the trunk of the car in this picture, too) I ran an inline fuse to the switch just to be on the safe side (not visible in this picture):
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...wer_splice.jpg

Here is the wiring sequence when looking at the hazard switch, pins on top: 1st pin -ground, 2nd pin - power out to light, 3rd pin - power in from accessory line, and 4 illumination. In the picture below, you can see that I ran a jumper from the illumination of the REAL hazard switch over to my fog switch (it connects with the orange wire on the hazard light switch):
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...tch_wiring.jpg

Check to make sure everything works, reinstall the shifter trim, and enjoy your new light and switch!
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m..._installed.jpg

Is there a way to not have the light flashing?

Yes, the EVO-R foglight has two leads. One for flash, one for solid on. I will be wiring the solid on function to a switch between the heated seat switches soon, but you can also tie it into the parking lights or brake lights (no need to run a wire into the cockpit that way).

Great write up Dave. Can I link this to our site for installation? This is so much clear.

Sure!:tup:

Thanks for taking the time, If mine ever gets here I will be using this for help... Rep Given... Looks great....

And.... Did you opt against painting the valence ? Go to a shop, $100 should cover it and you dont have to worry about it.

Thanks for the rep!:tiphat: My light was in customs for 4 days :eekdance: Hope you get yours soon.

I just couldn't get the garage warm enough to paint the valance when I did the light install. I think it will look great with that smoked fog lens. I still plan on tackling it myself, although a hundred bucks sounds quite reasonable, so maybe I'll hit the local body shop!

Great write-up. Thanks Dave! I will be installing mine in the next few weeks.

Thanks! :tiphat: I should be updating the DIY soon with the last phase - hooking up the solid on function to a factory switch (still working on either a heated seat switch or second hazard switch solution) in the next week or two. (edit - I did this second phase already, and update the DIY above to include pics and instructions).

Man, I should have waited for this DIY before I did my install. I connect all my wires to the wires right before the tail light harness. It was kinda hard because there was hardly any slack in the wires. Nice DIY.

Thanks ncheung85 :tiphat:! Figuring out the wiring for the hazard switch was the toughest part.

nice write up. thanks dave

OK. I did not do a fancy switch like the original post, but wanted to share my experience.

First off EVO-R shipped super fast upon payment! Thanks!

So in my 2011, I had the same issue with the one nut on the housing. What the heck! So I tried a dremel to make a notch with no luck. Checked back here and before trying to cut it off, I put a 10mm socket attachement on the drill and just smoked that sucker out. So that took longer than I expected, but houseing and fake light off.

After getting all of the wiring run into the back of the car, it was time to make my connections. Huge lesson learned here and HUGE thanks to Professor Dave for the tip. When making my connections, I was not getting contact on the small wires in the taillight harness. No matter how hard I squeezed that sucker it would not work. So I wrapped the wire a couple of times around with electric tape to make it sit in the connector a bit better, and bingo connections made and light working.

I did run into a wiring issue along the way. I wanted to have the new fog light blink in reverse and be steady on when the parking tail lights were on. I surfed all of the posts and came up with Green wire = tail light and Orange = reverse. The orange was correct, and the light blinked when I put the car in reverse. The green wire was the brake (it DID say that green was the brake in the instructions that came with the light). The instructions showed the parking lights to be the red wire and that was correct as well, so I must have read a post incorrectly.

Everything else was easy. For someone who has never done stuff like this, I have to say I was surprised at how easily I took everything apart and put it back together. My neighbors think I am insane, as I do not even have the plates for my car yet, but had it in pieces all over the garage.

Thanks everyone who I asked questions along the way. Will post pics tonight.

C-
Anyway, all done!

Chuck, glad everything worked out :tup: As far as I know, you are the first 2011 owner to install this, and the wiring sequence you describe will undoubtable help those with newer Zs find the correct wires in the harness.

Glad the tape trick work - happy to be of service:tiphat:

Great DIY. Thanks:tup:

how do i set it up where it would stay on when i turn on my headlights and then when i hit the brakes, it would light up brighter like the rear tail lights?

please help professordave! i am terrified of wires =X.

Shoop, I don't think the EVO-R light can do exactly that. I think you can tap the solid on lead to the Red wire in the harness (assuming you have an 09 or 10 Z) to come on with the tail lights, and then connect the flashing lead to the brakes (green wire). That way, the light would look brighter and flash if you hit the brakes while the tail lights were on.

Hope this helps!:tiphat:

Is that all you need from the old fog (dummy light) that backing plate ? If i was going to install this on a new bumper. One that didn't have the old fog would the backing plate be the only thing i'd need to get extra ? Thanks for the help and a great write up rep to you:tiphat:. Would you happen to know the voltage range the new led fog you installed can handle ?

Thanks!
Technically you don't need the backing plate, but the center of the valance is pretty flimsy without it. But yes, that is the only part of the olddummy light that gets re-installed.

I know the light is 12v, but don't know what range it can handle. I'd PM Jay over at EVO-R (check the vendor area, or the Exterior/Interior thread for one of his posts). If you get an answer, post it here:tup:

Yes i had sent him a pm last night. I'll post any info i get thanks for the help and the great diy...

:tup: Thanks again!

Yeah, Jay can be a pretty busy guy, but he always does respond.

Just curious, what are you hoping to do with the light? More voltage? Less?

Maybe it's a surprise ?:stirthepot:

If the light can take a little less voltage, then i'll be able to hook it up like this. On when the taillights are on, brighten up when you hit the brakes and flash when in reverse.

I'm pretty sure someone (one of the first to receive the light, maybe?) hooked theirs up to a 9 volt battery to demonstrate how it worked. Are you hoping for the ability to use even less voltage than that?

If the 9v to 12v difference is noticeable enough that will work just fine.

I need to ask the factory who made the PCB LEDs for me.

Thank's for the reply:tiphat:, i'll be looking forward to their answer good sir.:tup:

If you can get this done let us know! I will send rep points your way. =)

That will look great! :tup:

I've found that the light is a bit dim in daylight (which makes sense of course - since it's meant to be a bad weather safety light). So connecting them to the taillights for the solid on (if not connected to a switch) sounds like a good plan.

Sharing my experience on the DIY
 

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but on my '10 Z Roadster, the brake was green, but power for parking lights (LEDs on when parking lights are on), the color of wire was actually purple. I attached the leads from the fog light to the driver's side rear taillight harness. Also, for people wanting to remove the troublesome dummy light, I found it easiest to use a Dremel tool. At first, I was going to create a slit in the stud to hold that steady to turn the nut, but then realized that the longer I use the Dremel tool to make a slit, the hotter the stud became, and eventually just melted the plastic. I say, why waste time struggling with those nuts when you can just melt the plastic? Anyways, I wanted to share this experience with others that are going to install this fog light.

Thanks xinlee. Good tip re: wiring colors on the roadster. Also, I wish I had tried the dremel tip. I removed my dummy lens before I received the EVO-R light and thought I might have to reuse the mounting screws. So I was trying to be careful. The Dremel approach would have saved me a lot of trouble!

Looking forward to the answer. I really like the idea of having it on dim with the parking lights then brighten up with the brake lights.

I haven't heard anything from evo-r on this. My guess is it will work...

Do you have a picture of this on at night? If so would you please share? Thanks.

I think I have try that before. If you wire the stop light srouce with the parking light. It does that

I just wanted to post 3 things:

1) The instructions in my kit actually show the factory orange wire as being the brake (it’s really reverse). My brake wire was green but I hear some people have instructions that say the brake wire is green unlike the ones that were included with my fog.

2) Use a torch on the back of the factory dummy light. I held it for about ten seconds and the nuts came off super easy. Before I heated it they would just turn in the housing as discussed before due to loctite. Don’t worry about scorching the little black plastic bracket the factory one fits into. (A) You will never see it, and (B) it is removed once you install the light since the EVO-R light sticks on with double sided 3m tape and is not bolted to it. Install took about a half hour with the exhaust out. I did this when installing my CBE. Fog light is by far one of the coolest little exterior upgrades. The LEDs accent the rear lights perfectly

3) Lower voltage to the LEDs worked on my bench supply. I ran 6volts to the light. I know the current draw would be double at 6 volts so hopefully the internal resistors to the LEDs are a high enough wattage. I only did this for a few seconds to test. I have not taken a light apart to do any modifications since I wanted mine to flash when I hit the brake anyways. This is a good idea to look into and if you could open up the housing. I’m sure the board could be easily modified to a larger wattage resistor to handle the higher current draw with running a lower voltage. Most LEDs illuminate at 3v. The 12-14v source from our cars will go to a resistor on the led matrix (this is inside the fog) which drops the voltage down to 3-4v. If you gave them 6volts that same resistor would then drop the led voltage down to 1.5-2 roughly with a higher current draw (which is why you may need a larger wattage resistor internally). This would allow you to provide 6volts when you have the lights on the 12v when you hit brake (will be brighter). You can do the switching with a transitor or relay. Diode isolate your sources.

Great tips Svre46! I know there are several light owners who want to exactly what you described re: the increase is brightness when you hit the brakes.

So can we increase the brightness without opening no right?

If the resistors are a high enough wattage to handle the increased amp draw then yes. I did not open my light so someone would need to investigate this. I just did it for a few seconds on mine to test but obviously prolonged use you risk damage unless again, the resistors are a high enough wattage to handle the decreased voltage and higher amperage. Someone should try a 24hr run at 6 or 7 volts and see if it holds up if we cannot open one. Maybe EVO-R can let us know the specs, or they may not want to share because a second version of this light could potentially be released. My light did dim a bit but keep in mind current is a big factor with LEDs and not so much voltage. I would really need a light to play with to get into the heart of this.

It would be nice to have a dim when on, bright when brake, and then the optional flash for reverse (could actually just use a flasher relay if it was into built into the light) and diode isolate it from the tails so your tail lights don’t flash with it.

One last thing. LEDs do have a limit of how low the voltage can go before operating. Current is the big factor on their illumination. If we decrease the voltage the dimming on them is pretty minimal but noticeable at least on my light. If you go to low they may not illuminate at all. We may need two types of LEDs in the light(one brighter than the other) or open it up so I can find a way to modify the flashing circuit (will always be bright when 12v is applied to the flashng wire) and use an external flashing relay so that it will flash in reverse but not flash on brake.

Maybe I will open up my blank oem housing and install a custom led matrix to do these functions as a test.

GUYS READ THIS TOO

It explains LEDs and dimmers ect. Someone may be brave and do their own modification.
http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/led_dimmer.htm

I finally put mine in today... and may need to take it off and re - install it because with my blacked out valence , I liked how the dummy lights color was very much the same as the valence.. this one stands out... I wired it to reverse to blink and brake to be steady.. but put a switch in-line the brake wire so I can turn it off it I get sick of it... everything works great but the color is a little to bright.. also on one side of the light I can see a smidge of white where I didn't with the stock one.. so I need to take it off again, tint it, and spray inside of the bumper where the light sits... oh well.. but overall I am happy with it...

Also, yesterday and this morning I sprayed PB blaster on my bolts and they came off VERY easily. I'm not sure if mine were just installed without locktite of the pb blaster worked but they came off with zero hassle.

Chuckd, do you have pics with the blacked out valance? I like the look of your valance, and have plans to have mine painted the same way. But I think I can picture how the EVO-R light would stand out. Post a pic if you can :tiphat: