Fog lights on a Tradesman

[TDRamOH]

That is great, very helpful. Thanks so much!

 

[djcwardog]

A few more photos to try and show some of what’s been described in words.


Here’s the BCM tucked above the left knee behind the dash. I had some 4-wire audio cable in a spool so I used that. My wire is thicker than what the OEM harness provides. You can see my white and black wires coming out of C1 and C4, respectively. Seeing this photo, I need to go back under there and zip tie the gray cable with a bit of slack to the existing harness. This will help to keep undue pressure off of my connections inside C1 and C4. Look closely and you can also see one of the two 3.5” tweeters that dropped right in on each side of dash - and which already had a factory harness waiting for them. $45 for an instant upgrade from 4 speakers to 6. Better stereo imaging and more highs also.


This rubber grommet pulls out easily - towards you (under the hood) in this view. Then you poke a hole with a Phillips screwdriver to pass your cable through to under the dash area. Hint, if you plan to add some audio amps, here’s the spot to run your 12v from the battery into the cab to power things.


Looking up under the front. Forward is to the left. You can see my cable along with the left fog light.


Look carefully and you can see the crimp-on connector that I sandwiched between the two big ground wires that were already there. I took both of the black, ground, wires from the factory fog light harness and soldered a thicker, single, black wire to them and shrink wrapped that. This photo shows where I grounded that single wire.


Here I tried to show you the simple H11 harness I spliced in to allow me to disconnect the power side of the harness coming from the BCM, in case I need to at some point. You can see it at the top where the gray cable turns to black electrical tape. You take a 6” H11 extension harness (male and female connectors) cut it in half, then solder one side to the two power wires coming from the fog light harness. Solder the other side to your two power wires coming from the BCM. You are dealing with two wires on each side so, unlike a usual power and ground usage for these things, both wires of the H11 harness carry power - one for the left fog light, the other for the right. Connect the harness together and you’ve fed your power out to the fog lights.

 

[TDRamOH]

Thanks so much! Excellent work. I will definitely use this as a model for how I do mine, and I truly appreciate your time and effort to share that information!

As for configuring and adding the sales code, I believe I need:
- AlphaOBD - would prefer PC version, but notice the price is in Euros
- OBDLink MX
- Security bypass cable mentioned earlier in the thread

Is that everything I need? I read on AlphaOBD that it only supported up to 2017, but I am guessing 2019 works as well.

Thanks!

 

[djcwardog]

Thanks so much! Excellent work. I will definitely use this as a model for how I do mine, and I truly appreciate your time and effort to share that information!

As for configuring and adding the sales code, I believe I need:
- AlphaOBD - would prefer PC version, but notice the price is in Euros
- OBDLink MX
- Security bypass cable mentioned earlier in the thread

Is that everything I need? I read on AlphaOBD that it only supported up to 2017, but I am guessing 2019 works as well.

Thanks!

Look earlier in the thread where I showed the entry you need to modify. Fog lights on a Tradesman
Yes, price in Euros - PayPal to Eastern Europe
Yes, I also emailed the developer and he said that he will update the menu to show the latest trucks as choices, but that it works fine already. Which a few of us can confirm.

 

[TDRamOH]

Thanks again, I appreciate it! Not sure when I am going to move forward with this, but I will post my progress when that happens.

 

[farmallboy]

Well this SUCKS! I recall buying a 300$ kit for my 2003. Came with everything. Just bolt the fog lights in, tie the harness up and run to drivers side of the bumper. Plug into existing harness. In the cab swap out headlight switch.

The new trucks are way more DIY!

Great write up. I'll probably do this down the road. I had fog lights and after market LED pods on my last truck so even though these headlights are good...I still have "new truck fears". I'm liable to makeup new curse words if I ever bounce a deer off this thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[farmallboy]

Look earlier in the thread where I showed the entry you need to modify. Fog lights on a Tradesman
Yes, price in Euros - PayPal to Eastern Europe
Yes, I also emailed the developer and he said that he will update the menu to show the latest trucks as choices, but that it works fine already. Which a few of us can confirm.

Good looking truck btw. Love the color


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[RedneckHippy]

Well this SUCKS! I recall buying a 300$ kit for my 2003. Came with everything. Just bolt the fog lights in, tie the harness up and run to drivers side of the bumper. Plug into existing harness. In the cab swap out headlight switch.

The new trucks are way more DIY!

Great write up. I'll probably do this down the road. I had fog lights and after market LED pods on my last truck so even though these headlights are good...I still have "new truck fears". I'm liable to makeup new curse words if I ever bounce a deer off this thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Did the same thing on my 03, man it was so much easier when it was all just plug and play.

 

[1500ram12]

I have a '17 2500 Tradesmen that does not have factory fog lights. It does have the wiring down to the bumper with a dead end connector, and I am assuming these wires run back to the BCM. My question is there a way to tell the BCM to turn on the fog lamps with out buying a new head light switch?

I doubt it's for fogs. The fog light connection stops under the hood near the drivers side headlight. Then a separate jumper harness goes to each fog light. The connector coming from the front end module under the fuse box would have 4 pins 1 for each fog light and 2 grounds.

You can add your own harness coming from the front end module for fogs really easy. Programming with alfaobd to enable fogs is simple. I'm not sure if there is a way to engage fogs without the correct headlight switch. I do know once they are on you can put the original switch back in and they'll stay on. So if you know someone with factory fogs you can use there switch to turn them on a plug yours back in.


2018 Ram 2500 6.4L Hemi Tradesman

 

[henrywatson44]

@ djcwardog Thank you for the description and details! I was trying to figure out how to do this since I bought my 2019 CC Cummins Tradesman back in January (2020). I purchased and installed the fog lights, and switch. However, my BCM is much different than yours... I'm guessing because of the different engine. Where did you find the wiring schematics you provided above? Was a dealer kind enough to supply these for you? https://www.ramforum.com/members/djcwardog.93604/

 

[Jimmy07]

@ djcwardog Thank you for the description and details! I was trying to figure out how to do this since I bought my 2019 CC Cummins Tradesman back in January (2020). I purchased and installed the fog lights, and switch. However, my BCM is much different than yours... I'm guessing because of the different engine. Where did you find the wiring schematics you provided above? Was a dealer kind enough to supply these for you?

The 2019 6.4 and Cummins use the exact same BCM and wiring schematics. Yours is in the same location as described earlier in the thread. Where are you looking for it, and can you post a pic of what you’re seeing.

 

[henrywatson44]

View media item 29188View media item 29187View media item 29186
This is located under the drivers side speaker, or the upper left hand corner of the firewall, behind the emergency brake pedal

 

[henrywatson44]

Haha. No need to even bother replying. I see what I did after looking at these pictures and the thread.... When I was fighting my hand underneath the dash I had grabbed the connector under C1 and was comparing that to the schematic. I apologize for the confusion on my part!

 

[farmallboy]

A few more photos to try and show some of what’s been described in words.

View attachment 198561
Here’s the BCM tucked above the left knee behind the dash. I had some 4-wire audio cable in a spool so I used that. My wire is thicker than what the OEM harness provides. You can see my white and black wires coming out of C1 and C4, respectively. Seeing this photo, I need to go back under there and zip tie the gray cable with a bit of slack to the existing harness. This will help to keep undue pressure off of my connections inside C1 and C4. Look closely and you can also see one of the two 3.5” tweeters that dropped right in on each side of dash - and which already had a factory harness waiting for them. $45 for an instant upgrade from 4 speakers to 6. Better stereo imaging and more highs also.

View attachment 198562
This rubber grommet pulls out easily - towards you (under the hood) in this view. Then you poke a hole with a Phillips screwdriver to pass your cable through to under the dash area. Hint, if you plan to add some audio amps, here’s the spot to run your 12v from the battery into the cab to power things.

View attachment 198563
Looking up under the front. Forward is to the left. You can see my cable along with the left fog light.

View attachment 198564
Look carefully and you can see the crimp-on connector that I sandwiched between the two big ground wires that were already there. I took both of the black, ground, wires from the factory fog light harness and soldered a thicker, single, black wire to them and shrink wrapped that. This photo shows where I grounded that single wire.

View attachment 198565
Here I tried to show you the simple H11 harness I spliced in to allow me to disconnect the power side of the harness coming from the BCM, in case I need to at some point. You can see it at the top where the gray cable turns to black electrical tape. You take a 6” H11 extension harness (male and female connectors) cut it in half, then solder one side to the two power wires coming from the fog light harness. Solder the other side to your two power wires coming from the BCM. You are dealing with two wires on each side so, unlike a usual power and ground usage for these things, both wires of the H11 harness carry power - one for the left fog light, the other for the right. Connect the harness together and you’ve fed your power out to the fog lights.

Obviously I still want to do the fog lights but nobody else commented on the speaker tidbit you put in there...drop in descent 3.5 and plug into factory harness for instant 6 speaker setup. That's awesome!


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[TDRamOH]

Thanks to @djcwardog and everyone else who contributed priceless information to this thread. I finally got it done, configuring it this morning. I worked on it for 3 nights, a lot of that was installing the lights and making the harnesses. Last night I did the termination into the BCM. That was a bear. I had a rough time with the two connectors. Got a real scare when I put everything back together, and was getting a lot of alerts like low brake fluid, vehicle not in park, etc. It would not shut completely off, only going from run to Acc. This came after hooking up the bypass cable and accessing it with AlphaOBD (albeit before I had a license). I thought I really hosed something up, though I had followed these instructions to a T. Then I figured it had to be one of the BCM connectors. I looked at the pin out sheet then turned the lights on - no right side low beam or marker light. C4 was not completely seated. Fiddled with that some more and finally felt it go in. Turned on the lights and bingo, as the lights were on both left and right.

Couple more questions, though. When I took the attached pic I swear I had just the fogs on without the ignition. I changed the Fog Light Drop Out Enabled to No to that the fogs will be on with the high beams. I now see that the fog lights will only come on when the ignition is on. Is this normal? Not a big deal, but they come on with no ignition on in my '05 TJ.

I also enabled the feature where the corresponding fog light turns on when you turn the wheel. This was kind of by accident because I couldn't find the Front Fog Lamps Output Power setting (More on this later). I noticed it driving home tonight making a left turn. I didn't see it while making a right turn because I only enabled the left side. Took care of that tonight. This feature was listed on the main menu when you changed to the Active Diagnostics tab in AlphaOBD and not in the list for Configuration Change. Something like Left Front Fog Lamp and Right Front Fog Lamp - Can't remember exactly, but you'll see it.

The CBC I/O - Front Fog Lamps Output Power setting showed up a little different in this version. Also, this version had model years 2019 & 2020 listed for connecting. It was listed as something like CBC I/O - Connector C1/Pin 1 C4/Pin 13 Front Fog Lamps Output Power - just looked at it but can't remember exactly. Changed that to yes and I was in business.

One other thing - Is there any need to aim these? I saw on the light assembly where that adjustment is made, but wasn't sure if I have to mess with it. I wouldn't know exactly what to do as far as getting them properly aimed.

Anyway, thanks again!

 

[Ramthebull]

Hi. One question for djcwardog: do you have to use any kind of inline fuse from the bcm to up to the fog lights?
I am in the same boat. I have 2019 bighorn and first want to ad fog lights. and upfitter switches.

 

[Jimmy07]

Hi. One question for djcwardog: do you have to use any kind of inline fuse from the bcm to up to the fog lights?
I am in the same boat. I have 2019 bighorn and first want to ad fog lights. and upfitter switches.

Those wires do not get fuses between the lights and the BCM. They are already fused in the PDC before the BCM with the rest of the exterior lighting circuits.

 

[Ramthebull]

Thank you.

 

[tron67j]

Thanks to @djcwardog and everyone else who contributed priceless information to this thread. I finally got it done, configuring it this morning. I worked on it for 3 nights, a lot of that was installing the lights and making the harnesses. Last night I did the termination into the BCM. That was a bear. I had a rough time with the two connectors. Got a real scare when I put everything back together, and was getting a lot of alerts like low brake fluid, vehicle not in park, etc. It would not shut completely off, only going from run to Acc. This came after hooking up the bypass cable and accessing it with AlphaOBD (albeit before I had a license). I thought I really hosed something up, though I had followed these instructions to a T. Then I figured it had to be one of the BCM connectors. I looked at the pin out sheet then turned the lights on - no right side low beam or marker light. C4 was not completely seated. Fiddled with that some more and finally felt it go in. Turned on the lights and bingo, as the lights were on both left and right.

Couple more questions, though. When I took the attached pic I swear I had just the fogs on without the ignition. I changed the Fog Light Drop Out Enabled to No to that the fogs will be on with the high beams. I now see that the fog lights will only come on when the ignition is on. Is this normal? Not a big deal, but they come on with no ignition on in my '05 TJ.

I also enabled the feature where the corresponding fog light turns on when you turn the wheel. This was kind of by accident because I couldn't find the Front Fog Lamps Output Power setting (More on this later). I noticed it driving home tonight making a left turn. I didn't see it while making a right turn because I only enabled the left side. Took care of that tonight. This feature was listed on the main menu when you changed to the Active Diagnostics tab in AlphaOBD and not in the list for Configuration Change. Something like Left Front Fog Lamp and Right Front Fog Lamp - Can't remember exactly, but you'll see it.

The CBC I/O - Front Fog Lamps Output Power setting showed up a little different in this version. Also, this version had model years 2019 & 2020 listed for connecting. It was listed as something like CBC I/O - Connector C1/Pin 1 C4/Pin 13 Front Fog Lamps Output Power - just looked at it but can't remember exactly. Changed that to yes and I was in business.

One other thing - Is there any need to aim these? I saw on the light assembly where that adjustment is made, but wasn't sure if I have to mess with it. I wouldn't know exactly what to do as far as getting them properly aimed.

Anyway, thanks again!

View attachment 210817

Installed aftermarket fog lights on my truck, I used the OEM wiring harness and switch and a connector from one of the vendors here. I went in and changed the code for fog lights to be on but they don't work. Was there anything you had to do afterwards like running the engine for a while or did they just up and work as soon as you put the code in and enabled it?

I also got a warning light, it was the light icon, and it buzzed before shutting off, after two times it stopped even though I had the security bypass harness and one tool plugged in. Not sure if that is now contributing to my problem but have no warning lights.

 

[Mpgrimm2]

Installed aftermarket fog lights on my truck, I used the OEM wiring harness and switch and a connector from one of the vendors here. I went in and changed the code for fog lights to be on but they don't work. Was there anything you had to do afterwards like running the engine for a while or did they just up and work as soon as you put the code in and enabled it?

I also got a warning light, it was the light icon, and it buzzed before shutting off, after two times it stopped even though I had the security bypass harness and one tool plugged in. Not sure if that is now contributing to my problem but have no warning lights.

Disregard... He's got a 4th gen

M² Mods.