sirtokesalot Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 how can i make the low beams and fogs stay on when the high beams are switched on? i have a 95 legacy l wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 (edited) Highs and lows are the same bulb so only one will work at a time. Fog lamps can be made to stay on fairly easily, But should only be done if your local laws allow it. Most require that the fog lamps turn off when the high beams are on. The ground for the fog lamp relay normally splices into the low beam ground near the hi/lo dimmer switch under the column. Find the ground wire and connect it to chassis ground and the fogs will stay on all the time. Edited February 20, 2015 by Fairtax4me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp98 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 (edited) There is actually a way to keep the low beams and high beams on together but I haven't seen it for a Subaru. For my truck there is a modification called a "brite box" that is wired into the harness that allows both of them to be on at the same time and the both of the elements are in the same bulb. I'm not sure if it will work on a Subaru but a quick search turn up this one Brite Box Edited February 20, 2015 by jp98 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNY_Dave Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 On my '03 I wish the low beams would turn *off* when I put on the brites... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Since both hi and low elements are built into the same bulb, I would guess that both cannot operate at the same time because of the high amount of heat that would be generated inside the bulb. To run both bulbs simultaneously, would prolly burn out the bulb within 20-30 seconds maybe less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Yes, it is Doable, but the Halogen Bulb will be burnt faster... In my '85 Subaru "BumbleBeast", the beam stick can stay in the Middle position, I don't know if that is due to a Design flaw or (Most Likely) due to age and Wear... so I tried Lo + Hi Beams at same time together, but that melted the Bulb's Socket, Then I went with Ceramic Sockets and after that, Bulbs got burnt 10X faster than usual... So, I believe that is better idea to add Fog Halogen Lamps on independent wiring, instead this. Kind Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirtokesalot Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 interesting. i did this mod to the bmw years ago and never had issues. the mod required re-grounding a relay inside the fuse box to a ground that did not switch off with the high beams on. it never burned out the bulbs in the year and a half i had it that way before i did the hid swap and yes i did use projectors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upnorthguy Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 There is a nice thread over at subaruoutback.org about how to do the mod to have your fogs stay on with the high beams (see pages 2+ in the thread). http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/80-electrical-electronics/6378-97-ob-fog-light-relay-location-2.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 interesting. i did this mod to the bmw years ago and never had issues. the mod required re-grounding a relay inside the fuse box to a ground that did not switch off with the high beams on. it never burned out the bulbs in the year and a half i had it that way before i did the hid swap and yes i did use projectors. If its a dual headlamp system you can do that and it'll be fine. The bulb filaments on these share a common power, so voltage across the filaments will drop when both are burning. This will also increase the current through the already undersized wiring that these use, which will cause the terminals in the connectors to burn, and probably burn the wiring as well. If you really wanted to try it, it could be done, but the lamps would need to be re-wired to deliver enough current for both filaments to burn at the same time. But this also carries with it a much shorter bulb lifespan since both filaments burning will cause the bulb to overheat and burn out. If you're not happy with the light output, re-wiring the lamps with relays and larger guage wire and better connectors is not hard to do and will increase the light output without decreasing bulb life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valvestem Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 It is illegal to do what you want, that is why they are like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dj7291993 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 "The bulb filaments on these share a common power, so voltage across the filaments will drop when both are burning. This will also increase the current through the already undersized wiring that these use, which will cause the terminals in the connectors to burn, and probably burn the wiring as well." Not true. They are in parallel, so the voltage drop wouldn't be an issue. The current would, though. It would probably burn up the socket, bulb, and possibly wires. One other thing to consider, is I think your car has plastic headlight lenses. The extra heat could burn or melt the lens. In addition to those, as stated, it could be illegal in your area. If you don't care about legality, you could try some brighter bulbs, but they will create the heat issue as well. Are your lenses forges up? If so, you could try replacing them with some fresh, clear ones, see if that makes a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Not true. They are in parallel, so the voltage drop wouldn't be an issue. The current would, though. On paper you can look at it and say there will be no drop, but in reality there will be a drop. There is a significant drop on the stock wiring when just one filament is burning. Double the load on wiring that's already near its capacity and you get a big time voltage drop. If you size the wiring properly to handle the extra load, the drop will be hardly noticable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholi2789 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 In Oregon it is illegal to have your highbeams and foglights on at the same time. Still though it is nice to be able to have the choice to turn them on or off at will. On my 95 Legacy L it didn't have foglights installed but it had cutouts on the bumper for it. I went and bought a nice set of H3 style rectangular foglights and installed them myself. I wired it so I have a toggle switch under the steering wheel that operates independantly of the regular headlights. That way when I'm driving at night and I really want some serious lighting, I flip the foglights on with my highbeams. It's like spotlights. So bright. H3's are really bright little bulbs so I would never keep them on with my highbeams if other cars are around. One thing I would highly recommend if you just aren't happy with your headlight brightness is an HID kit. I know a lot of people are gonna flame me for saying this but whatever. I also wanted brighter headlights so I started looking into HID kits. I bought a full HID kit off Amazon that included the bulbs, ballasts, all necessary wiring, plus capacitors (reduces flickering) and a relay harness (protects factory wiring harness) for 60$. And it comes with a 2 year no spoob warranty. That's about what you would pay for two high quality Halogen bulbs from Autozone or something. I installed the Kit and those by themselves are 10X brighter than my stock halogens. Don't even need my fogs anymore, but if I flip them both on its crazy bright. Installing the kit was a breeze. Literally plug and play into the stock wiring. Took 15 minutes to install. I've had them installed for 2 weeks with no problems. A lot of people bitch about people with HIDs but I haven't had one person flash their lights at me since I installed them. I bought a 6000K H4 Bi-Xenon kit (make sure to get Bi-Xenon not Hi/Lo) and they are bright as hell and have that cool bluish tint to them, or if you don't like the blue order 4000 or 5000K bulbs. I Highly recommend HIDs. I am currently looking for some projector lens to furthur control my beams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirtokesalot Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 (edited) i wont go the hid route without projectors. i did that once on the bmw and hated the way the light came out of the stock halogen housing. my car is also a legacy l wagon witch did not have fogs from the factory i also installed them myself but i wired them like stock fog lights should be and used a subaru fog light switch. so the fogs only come on with the low beams. ive been thinking about rewiring them to be on anytime the headlights are on. Edited February 28, 2015 by sirtokesalot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholi2789 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 i wont go the hid route without projectors. i did that once on the bmw and hated the way the light came out of the stock halogen housing. my car is also a legacy l wagon witch did not have fogs from the factory i also installed them myself but i wired them like stock fog lights should be and used a subaru fog light switch. so the fogs only come on with the low beams. ive been thinking about rewiring them to be on anytime the headlights are on.Yeah i want a set of projector lens but they are extremely hard to find for this car. I did find a company that fabricates them tho. Honestly I don't see what the big deal is about projectors and hids. They are bright but not that bright. Nobody has flashed me at all. I woulda went the subaru stock foglight setup but these ones are better I think. Way brighter than the stock ones are. And I think they look cooler. I would however like to get them wired up so they turn off when the ignition is off but I'm not sure how to do it. I haven't looked into it that much tho truthfully. I've left them on for an hour plus and it didn't drain my battery. Which is weird. I think it's cause I have a 3 farad power cap on my stereo system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 ... Honestly I don't see what the big deal is about projectors and hids ... The Projector is intended to Avoid Blinding the incoming Traffic. However some older imprezas, came from factory with H.I.D.'s on standard reflexive Lamps. Kind Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirtokesalot Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 Yeah i want a set of projector lens but they are extremely hard to find for this car. I did find a company that fabricates them tho. Honestly I don't see what the big deal is about projectors and hids. They are bright but not that bright. Nobody has flashed me at all. I woulda went the subaru stock foglight setup but these ones are better I think. Way brighter than the stock ones are. And I think they look cooler. I would however like to get them wired up so they turn off when the ignition is off but I'm not sure how to do it. I haven't looked into it that much tho truthfully. I've left them on for an hour plus and it didn't drain my battery. Which is weird. I think it's cause I have a 3 farad power cap on my stereo system. ebay jdm subaru legacy projector apparently japan had projectors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholi2789 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 The Projector is intended to Avoid Blinding the incoming Traffic. However some older imprezas, came from factory with H.I.D.'s on standard reflexive Lamps. Kind Regards. Thank you. Yes I know what projector lens are for. But everyone calls people with HID kits that DON'T have projector lens assholes, but like I said, I have yet to have one person flash me because my lights are too bright, or be pulled over once. Maybe it's because I chose 6000K HIDs and the light blue color is easier on the eyes than the whiter ones. Either way I would love to have projector lens, I'm still looking around to find some for my car that aren't an arm and a leg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 (edited) But everyone calls people with HID kits that DON'T have projector lens assholes,That's because most reflector type headlamps are not designed for HID light output. Headlamp reflectors are designed to optimize output from only a specific bulb, and the filament in the bulb has to be in a very specific place relative to the reflector for the beam pattern to be reflected properly. HID bulbs work differently, and the area of the bulb that produces light is about 3 times the size of a halogen bulb. It's also in a different position relative to the reflector, which means the light output from the reflector is altered, and will be scattered in every direction. Think about it like an old mag-light where you can twist the lens to adjust the light pattern. You turn it one way and the pattern is nice and focused, turn it the other and the pattern scatters out wide. The only thing that happens when you twist the end is the bulb moves in/out in relation to the reflector, and even a small difference in position has a noticeable affect on the light pattern. There's no way to aim that, because the HID bulb isn't correct for the reflector. Instead of just being brighter, now the pattern is scattered in every direction it's not supposed to be, and drivers going the other way can't see codswalloping spoob other than your bright rump roast illegal blue "HIDs yo"! Edited March 1, 2015 by Fairtax4me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholi2789 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 (edited) That's because most reflector type headlamps are not designed for HID light output. Headlamp reflectors are designed to optimize output from only a specific bulb, and the filament in the bulb has to be in a very specific place relative to the reflector for the beam pattern to be reflected properly. HID bulbs work differently, and the area of the bulb that produces light is about 3 times the size of a halogen bulb. It's also in a different position relative to the reflector, which means the light output from the reflector is altered, and will be scattered in every direction. Think about it like an old mag-light where you can twist the lens to adjust the light pattern. You turn it one way and the pattern is nice and focused, turn it the other and the pattern scatters out wide. The only thing that happens when you twist the end is the bulb moves in/out in relation to the reflector, and even a small difference in position has a noticeable affect on the light pattern. There's no way to aim that, because the HID bulb isn't correct for the reflector. Instead of just being brighter, now the pattern is scattered in every direction it's not supposed to be, and drivers going the other way can't see codswalloping spoob other than your bright rump roast illegal blue "HIDs yo"! Thank you for the explanation. Lol I understand how projectors and HIDs work. I was just saying that considering not one person has flashed me their high beams since had them installed, it stands to reason that they aren't that obnoxiously bright.I did take a considerable amount of time adjusting my headlights after installing them tho. They produce a nice oval shaped beam. I shined them on the wall of a building about 40 feet away. The light pattern is nice and round. I adjusted them down a bit too so they aren't shining up in people's faces. Next time I get a chance I'll snap a picture of the light pattern on a wall, and post it. It's very clean and round.I would also like to say that I checked the laws before buying them and they aren't illegal here. Anything over 6000k is illegal though. Edited March 1, 2015 by nicholi2789 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirtokesalot Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUBARU-LEGACY-BG-BD-PROJECTOR-HEADLIGHTS-JDM-HEAD-LIGHTS-/151606201240?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item234c6f0b98&vxp=mtr like said they can be got on ebay there just pricey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholi2789 Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Yeah i actually started looking around in eBay the last couple nights and found another set of supposed JDM projectors for 140$. I fully plan on getting them just waiting to finish up my exhaust and have the money for those. Besides being 100X more efficient they looking freaking badass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirtokesalot Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 can the factory headlight housings handle 100 watt low and 140 watt high? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dj7291993 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 can the factory headlight housings handle 100 watt low and 140 watt high? I don't think they'd handle it for long. That's a pretty big step up. 140 is over 2 1/2 times as much power as the stock. Even if the housings can take it, I doubt the wiring and socket would like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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