Aftermarket driving light problem.

[Mark Rosenkrantz]

The 85/86 is milliamps to trigger the relay.  15A is way overkill, if it
even needs fused (depends on the circuit you pulled from and the wire
gauge).  The 87/87a/30 side of a relay DOES need to be fused as that carries
the load.

You could check this circuit with a test light, but a cheap VOM would be
fine for these circuits (not a computer circuit, but as long as you're not
back probing an ECU, you'll be fine with a cheap one).

The ground locations seem suspect.  Generally hood lock mechanism bolts
aren't good grounds because they are bolted to a painted lock carrier
(radiator support) which is not always well grounded.  Quick check.... grab
some alligator clips and just run a parallel ground to a known good ground
(battery).
You really need to probe for voltage and ground at various spots in the
circuit.  The fact that it worked for a while suggests a burned out (because
of miswiring or faulty) fuse, relay or switch.  I understood it as only the
newly installed lights stopped working and so it's isolated to the new
work.  You did install the lights in parallel and not serially, correct?

Off to bed (aka... good luck!),
Mark Rosenkrantz

On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 11:32 PM, Danton J.A. Cardoso
<djacardoso at gmail.com>wrote:

> Yes, there is a separate relay for the Hellas.  I only used a wire and an
> in-line fuse holder with a 15 amp fuse for the terminal 85/86 trigger as per
> AudiDIY instructions.  As for ground checking, how do I go about that
> without an ohmmeter?  Lights are grounded by connecting the two light ground
> wires and a third going to a bolt on the hood lock mechanism.  The lights
> are mounted right below the grill.  Mounts were drilled into the metal
> surround.  Should I ground them at the brackets?
>
>
>
> *From:* Mark Rosenkrantz [mailto:speedracer.mark at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Friday, 08 April, 2011 22:15
> *To:* Danton J.A. Cardoso
> *Cc:* quattro at audifans.com
> *Subject:* Re: Aftermarket driving light problem.
>
>
>
> I presume you used a separate relay for the Hellas and only used the
> factory circuitry for the terminal 85/86 trigger?
>
>
>
> All grounds should be checked for less than 1ohm to the battery post.
>
>
>
> It's a simple 12V circuit... start checking grounds and power at the lights
> and work your way back through the circuit to the relay, switch, battery.
>
> Mark Rosenkrantz
>
> On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 8:56 PM, Danton J.A. Cardoso <djacardoso at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Ok, got me a set of Hella 500 FF's. Here is the problem. First, I have the
> AudiDIY mod where you jump the relay terminal with a fuse holder (15) and
> two spades so the fogs stay on with the high beams. Ok, now that is out in
> the open, here is the problem.
>
> Wired the 500's into the fog light circuit, because I want to use the
> factory fog switch, I don't like the one provided. Everything went well,
> aside from a minor ground problem from the relay anyone who decides to do
> this, make sure you ground the relay to the battery ask me how I know.
> Fired
> up the quattro, hit the lights, hit the fogs. Lights lit up well, fogs and
> driving lights lit up well too, and the driving lights were equal in
> brightness. Let the car run while I was cleaning up say 5-8 minutes.
> Driving
> lights went dark. Thought it was the inline fuse for the Hellas, no.
> Factory
> fogs are working. Is it the mod that I did? Should I put a higher amp fuse
> in say, 30?
>
> Car is an 98 A4 Avant- two piece lights.
>
> Prompt reply is appreciated, I got a long drive coming up, and the extra
> light would bode well.
>
> Cheers!
>
>
>
> Danton J.A. Cardoso
>
>
>
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