slowismooth

I just got my rx8 and I've been upgrading the lights on her, but I ran into a small issue today (more of an annoyance than anything). It was a royal pain in the a**, but I just finished replacing the H9 high beam bulbs with LEDs - these to be specific: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Despite the hassle, the bulbs are a huge upgrade over the stock high beams, but now the high beam indicator on the dash comes on whenever the fog lights are on. When I turn the fogs off and just the low beams are on, the high beam indicator goes away. If the low beams and fogs are on and I flick the high beams on, or pull the stalk towards me, the high beam indicator stays on and just gets brighter.

Any ideas?

Robert Hosier

It's funny you started this thread my light won't ever go off lol. I just deal with it

slowismooth

So it appears that for some reason, the high beams are drawing a low current when the fogs are on... the LEDs are very faintly flickering but stop when I switch the fogs off. Still at a loss when it comes to fixing it though

Stubbs

iTrader: (1)

I ran into the same issue when I put LED in the high beams.
I did some testing and with the high beams off and the fog light switch on I'm getting ~10v at the highbeam socket with no bulbs, ~6V with one led installed, and ~.1V with one halogen installed.
Somehow power is back feeding to the headlight through the fog light relay coil. Since 12v is supplied to the fog light relay coil from the headlight relay I suspect that's where the backfeed is happening.
So I removed the feed from the headlight relay and ran switched 12v to the fog light relay coil and I no longer have interference between the fogs and the high beams.

slowismooth

Oh man. This is on the edge of my comfort zone as I hardly ever work with wiring... but I'd like to give it a shot because I want to keep those beautiful LEDs. So, what you're saying is that I've got to locate and cut the wires to the fogs, and then run a separate wire to the fogs, yes?

Would doing this fog light rewire accomplish the same thing? https://www.rx8club.com/series-ii-di...ion%5D-211242/

(I have a Series I but from what I've read the process is the same.)

Stubbs

iTrader: (1)

Yes, the fog light re-wire essentially what I did I, but used a different method since my harness is pretty heavily modified.

slowismooth

Just wanted to post a quick update here - I did the fog light rewire today (Omicron's method) which involved cutting the wire to the fog relay and splicing it into the accessory wire. Not only did it solve my problem, but now I have full control over my fogs. Yay!

Thanks for the help, Stubbs

wannawankel

I wonder if the system is looking for a specific range of resistance in the lamp circuit and if not then the assumption by the ECU is that the light is burnt out and the high beam indicator light stays on to notify you. Volvo's have the feature on their car to let you know of the lamp failure for safety reasons.

Nothing is mentioned in the S2 owners manual. do you get a DTC or OBD II code?

slowismooth

I don't have an OBD or CAN scanner, so I don't know if it was throwing any codes, but I doubt it. The high beam light would only come on when the fogs were on - but that's because the high beams were actually on as well (albeit receiving a very low current), hence triggering the light on the dash. I know because I went up front to check and the LEDs were flickering, i.e. receiving very low voltage. OTOH, I'm hardly a master mechanic, sooo...

Stubbs

iTrader: (1)

Definitely not ECU related since I have the ECU and related wiring removed on mine and had the same problem.

shinn

​​​​​​​Hey slowismooth! I ran into the same problem as you had before. After reading your solution carefully, I still have no idea how to fix this problem perfectly...Do you have any pictures from the fixing process? Or more specific details? Thanks!

shinn

Hey, man! Can you tell me what exactly did you do to solve this problem? Any pictures??

UnknownJinX

Don't think they are around here anymore.

What issues are you having?

shinn

That`s too bad...

I have the exactly the same problem as slowismooth had after using the LED high beam

UnknownJinX

As they have mentioned, the solution is to rewire the fog lights. Here is a DIY of it:

https://www.gerhardstein.net/rx8/fog...foglights.html

The problem stems from the fact that from the factory, the fog lights share the circuit with low and high beams. When you turn on fogs, some current will also go into the high beams. Not a problem with halogen bulbs because they have very high resistance, but it's a problem with LEDs as the resistance is a lot lower and they illuminate from the the low current.

slowismooth

Still around, just slow to respond haha. JinX is correct - you do have to rewire the lights. I used Omicron's method in this thread: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-...e-11737/page2/

This taps into the accessory circuit using the red and white wire. It looks like the method JinX linked to uses the parking light circuit. I assume either works just fine. I haven't had any issues.

Happy modding!

shinn

Man, that`s what I need! Detailed instruction and pictures! Thank you so much!

shinn

Thank god you still there! And also thanks for providing the thread! Hopefully, I can start fixing this issue before the spring. ;D