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2010 Prius OEM-quality Fog Light Kit Now Available!

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by Danny, May 10, 2010.

  1. DumbMike

    DumbMike Active Member

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    I thought there were 2 issues on installing the fog lights, but it's been a while since I did it, and my memory is fading:

    1. There's an instruction about making a connection to the brown wire just under the driver's side dash. It's the light brown/tan colored wire, not the dark brown wire.

    2. They give you some gizmo to make a connection with a wire for the fog lights to a wire already on the car (hopefully somebody can give a clearer idea of what I'm talking about). I couldn't get this gizmo to work (others have said they had no problem). So I bought some T-Tabs from Radio Shack to make this connection. They call it something very generic, like wire connectors (or something like that). Somebody made a post about some better connectors, but I don't remember the name (sorry).

    The only other thing is to make sure you allocate enough time to finish. I recall it took me a total of 4 hours, which included a trip to Radio Shack. You can still drive the car without finishing, but you really don't want to be driving around with your interior apart. I had to do that because I had to drive to Radio Shack to buy those T-Tabs.

    Best of luck. And if you have problems installing the lights, just post your problem here. That's what I did.

    But before you start the installation, I'd read through this entire thread. Yes, the entire thread. You will see issues others ran into.

    Mike
     
  2. Silver NY P3

    Silver NY P3 Junior Member

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    I got an email mine were shipped out Friday and I ordered last Tuesday.
     
  3. zero610

    zero610 Junior Member

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    I'm pretty sure the above information is wrong. Unless I'm interpreting it differently, you need to tap the darker brown colored wire. I just did my install last night, tapped the lighter/tan wire and nothing. Spent an hour troubleshooting and finally tried the other brown wire and BAM it worked just fine. Also, if you look at the color install instructions, you can see they use the darker brown color wire as well. Just a heads up.

    Good luck on the install. My install was around the 4 hour mark, like others reported.
     
  4. zero610

    zero610 Junior Member

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    Also, just to confirm, there is no way to get the actual fog light lenses flush with the plastic surround, correct? Mine have about a 1-2 cm gap. I'm probably the only one who will notice but I just wanted to make sure that was normal and there is no way to fix. Thanks.
     
  5. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    I used the dark brown colored wire on mine, per the instructions, and it works fine with the headlights.
     
  6. DumbMike

    DumbMike Active Member

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    Either my recollection is wrong or they change this. I'll have to go back through this thread because I could swear it was the tan colored wire that was the right one. But in either case, the instructions said to connect to the brown wire and there were the light brown and the dark brown wire, and I didn't know which one was correct. As others have said, they connected to the light brown one and got nothing, so this confusion still exists, apparently. Sorry (in advance) if I was wrong as to which was is the proper color.

    Mike
     
  7. DumbMike

    DumbMike Active Member

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    I went back through the thread and (a) was told by another person that it was the light brown wire and (b) I confirmed it was the light brown wire. So, I don't know what to say. Maybe both wires work?

    Also, Radio Shack calls the T-Tabs a "Quick Splice Connector," in case you go there to purchase these gizmos. But somewhere on this message board somebody posted a better connector (sorry, but I just don't remember where it was posted). Anybody know were to get these better connectors?

    Mike
     
  8. n2imagination

    n2imagination New Member

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    On the birthday list coming up. They look really clean.
     
  9. kc5tvd

    kc5tvd New Member

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    Just finished my install, thanks to all who posted information on how they installed theirs. Was a big help.

    I painted the plastic inserts with black Rust-Oleum Plastic spray paint, and Rust-Oleum Gloss Clear. I was really happy with the way the paint came out.

    Install went well, no unexpected problems. I also used the brown wire under the dash, no issues.
     

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  10. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    The black-on-black really looks nice. Good job !
     
  11. Silver NY P3

    Silver NY P3 Junior Member

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    Did my install yesterday. Took about 4 hours including installing HID's in the fogs. Spent about an hour between troubleshooting where the fail was and having the having the connection plug from pulling the wire through the firewall come off. The red tap that came with it was a little too big and didn't penetrate through the wire insulation to make contact with wire inside. I used the light brown wire but you can prob use any wire that supplies power. I also added another screw to secure the fog light to the plastic housing. The black screw is where it's drilled for the factory screw to go. The silver screw I added for more support cause the fog light moved around too much with just the 1 factory screw.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  12. kc5tvd

    kc5tvd New Member

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    The two tabs on the light go into the two slots in the plastic housing. My lights didn't move at all with just one screw.
     

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  13. Silver NY P3

    Silver NY P3 Junior Member

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    Oh I guess I installed mine wrong. I guess I'll be under the P3 tomorrow. LOL
     
  14. kc5tvd

    kc5tvd New Member

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    It happens, at least it should be a easy fix, the hard part is already done.:)

    I think my lights are aimed a little higher that i want them, i searched and found a post with a picture that showed a vertical adjustment screw on the light itself. The light in the picture was not the same as the light in my OEM-Quality kit, almost but not the same. I wish i would have looked into this before i installed so i would know how and if they can be adjusted. I guess i will be under the car again soon also.

    I will do more searching, but if anyone knows how they can be adjusted i would like the info, Thanks.
     
  15. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    That silver screw/cog as shown above is the adjustment. The other ones just have that additional plastic cover of the adjuster. Follow the fog light link in my signature for adjustment details.
     
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  16. kc5tvd

    kc5tvd New Member

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    I was hoping that would be it, thanks for the quick reply, and info.
     
  17. Puddlejumper

    Puddlejumper Junior Member

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    I installed the kit today and I am very pleased. :rockon:

    It took about 2 hours, reading through this and a couple other fog light threads probably helped me do it fairly quickly. I did run into one difference with my 2011, the 12v source in the fuse box. The picture in the instructions shows the 12v source to be directly above the large white wire, in my fuse block that spot was taken with a 30a fuse. There were 2 other open prongs, and after searching here with no luck, I figured what the hell. So I plugged into an open prong on the upper left of the fuse block. It worked perfectly.

    I also changed one other thing. Instead of going to the brown wire in the harness, I extended the wire and ran it to the red wire of my radio harness (switched 12v). This is the wire that allows your radio to only play when the ignition is in the "Ready" or "ACC" mode. This allowed me to use the fog lights as DRLs, and eliminates me leaving the headlights on all the time and having a dimmed display during the day. Makes a world of difference. They also go off as soon as I turn off the ignition, so no 60 second delay on the lights anymore. The fogs work independent of the headlights, so they do not go off when the high beams are switched on.

    Overall I am very pleased with the kit, thanks for making it available.

    Dave
     
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  18. Silver NY P3

    Silver NY P3 Junior Member

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    Yeah the silver screw. There's even a cut out in the plastic guard under he car for you to reach the adjuster screw. Just on the bottom side there's a groove that the philips screw driver slides into and it turns the silver adjuster screw like a gear to adjust. Cool design!!!

    Great idea!!!!
     
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  19. DrScooter

    DrScooter Junior Member

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    Not any too handy myself, took my car down to the local station. I will say this two of the employees were commenting on what a well made, easy to install kit this is. Does light up a much wider field of vision and cuts down on the very sharp cut-off of the low beams. Only used it a little bit but it did seem to help in picking up little furry friends at longer and wider distances, which for me makes them worth it. :cool:
     
  20. nickfromny

    nickfromny Member since 2007

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    What bulb is in these? Going HID and need to order.
    Thx.