[QUOTE=cam99;3494459...I wanted to point out that depending on the wire tap you buy you may have to break or drill out a little plastic tabs on one side of the tap. Otherwise you may crimp one of the wires and with fatigue may even cut into that wire.[/QUOTE]

My connector, bought at NAPA Autoparts, had the same plastic barrier mold across one channel. I opened the two connector halves as wide as the plastic hinge allows. Then I cleanly sliced off the barrier with a sharp X-ACTO blade. I first tried drilling, but that leaves sharp burrs which may sever the wire jacket when closing the connector.

 

Unless you do 6 more taps a club meet or use the taps for something else your hack still cost you $2.27.

 

Just wanted to drop a quick line to thank utkinpol for this great hack. A couple of weeks after doing it, I couldn't be happier. Funny how little things like this can deliver a great chunk of satisfaction!

 

One of the easier mods I've done, thanks "Utkinpol". I wasnt sure which lights would light up ("down under" - there are different ways to describe fog lights, driving lights, parking lights / dawn lights, etc) so I included a photo). I was actually hoping for the "dawn light" (the LED strip) to light up as DRL which would be similar to OEM and other Euro cars. No matter, these come on by themselves in the first >< light position anyway. Very happy with the results, thanks Utkinpol!

 

I just did the hack...works as advertised so far.
I disabled the DRL so the headlights don't come on.
I used 18-20 gauge connectors from R'Shack (cost $2.07) :-)

Thank you utkinpol!

 

I am in the UK. We don't call them 'Tap Connectors' over here. I have always called them 'Scotchloks' a proprietary name. They are usually used to electrically connect a (tap) wire end to a through (run) wire.

So not to confuse things, can someone just confirm that the hack is basically just connecting the A2 wire to the A5 wire i.e. linking them together? Thanks.

 

I just found my battery stone cold dead. I think it may have been related to this hack.

 

Read the entire thread.... It will help answer your question

 

What makes you suspect your dead battery is the result of the hack?

 

I did! All 8 pages. Is it too much to expect someone to just answer 'yes' to my question? How long would it take you, assuming you know the answer?

 

who knows - i just came back from a business trip and checked voltage diffs on wires while light switch is connected - it did show with switch in 'off' position 0.9v diff between wires and about of 210mA current, so, it adds up a bit of drain for sure. properly charged new battery should not notice that, old partially depleted one may suffer.

with switch in 'home' position drain current was higher. so, who knows.
i like to play with my car, so, i do a lot of stuff what i would not recommend to others, this hack was in my opinion kinda safe enough thing to do, but, you know, as any hack it does not guarantee anything.

if one is crafty you can simply swap wires in the connector itself making 'home' position de-facto fog lights switch, but this way you will loose original fog lights functionality. i guess it depends of what you prefer.

 

Battery is relatively new, just about a year old. I had no starting issues all week since its my daily driver.

I used it Friday and no problems with starting, car sat for the weekend with Headlight switch in the Off position. Car was stone cold dead this morning. I did the hack on 3/23 and now for the first time ever my battery is dead.

I plan on charging the battery and leaving the hack on for one more week to see if I get a dead battery again, maybe leave it in the Home position.

 

'home' should do more drain than 'off' as in 'home' you connect signal wires to a ground.
in 'off' position you with no hack have a slight drain of fogs signal 11v into ground via some resistors in the light switch.
with a hack you (imho) wil double original default drain current as with switch disconnected from a connector both signal wires A2 and A5 show same exact voltage. with light switch on those wires show 0.9V diff.

 

Thanks, I reread your post subsequent to my post, so my next plan is to remove the hack and see if I get a dead battery again.

 

a proper 'safe' hack wold be to solder or tap a diod there between wires preventing any current from 'home' into 'fog' wire. but it would be more complicated thing to do than just a wire tap - you need to cut wire tap insert in half and use a diod with wires there in a same slot. but i will unlikely have time to try it any time soon and i do not have any spare diods in the garage now, so, it will have to wait.