going to be installing halo/fog lamps to my 2002 Firebird. I want the Halos on when the car is running. what is a good under hood fuse to tap into for this (12v ignition source)?
2002 firebird V6

thank you in advance

 

Tap into the running lights circuit for the Halos, and the fog lamps should be on it's own relay circuit, grounded to the high beam positive side so when the HB's are on the fog lights turn off.

 

Only if you want your halos to flash with the turn signals. The DRL module sends power to the front lamps on the blue wire and shares that circuit with the turn signals.

 

do you have a better recommendation WhiteBird00? open to all ideas

 

The flashers/turn signals are on a different circuit. Parking lights/ flashers are a dual circuit system. There will be 3 wires, one of which is ground. All cars are different in the color of wires they use, but they are all dual circuit systems.

 

Not exactly... very few vehicles use the front turn signals as DRLs. Mostly those are GM products like pre-2010 f-bodies and Corvettes along with a number of Toyota products (mostly pickup trucks). Those are the ones which have dual circuits for DRLs (they all have dual filament bulbs - bright and dim). Other older vehicles commonly used the headlights (often high beams running at reduced power) or fog lights as their DRLs, while more current vehicles have been following the trend of having dedicated LED DRLs in a variety of shapes.

F-body DRLs share the front lamps with the turn signals and the parking/running lamps. Yes, there are three wires at each socket - black for ground, brown for running/parking lights (dim bulb filament), and blue for DRLs and turn signals (bright bulb filament). The bright bulb circuit is controlled by the DRL module mounted to the defroster duct behind the stereo head unit. When the ignition is on and the parking brake is disengaged, the module provides constant power to the front lamps to act as DRLs. When turn signals are used, the DRL module internal relay flips to pass the flashing turn signal power from the T/S switch to the corresponding front lamp making the bright filament of the bulb blink. When the turn signal is cancelled, the DRL module internal relay returns to the rest position, going back to providing constant power to the bulb's bright filament for DRL use. This applies to the hazard flashers as well, except that the module's relays for both front lamps trip at the same time.

So, from the perspective of the front lamp bulb socket, the blue wire will have either constant DRL power (which is what you want for halos) or flashing power when the turn signals or hazard flashers are in use (which is not what you want for the halos - or maybe you do... it could be an interesting visual to have the halos act as additional turn signals).

 

There are several ignition controlled circuits under the hood, but the one I would recommend tapping is the A/C-Cruise circuit at the fuse in Junction Box #2 under the hood (the one with the Starter relay). The reason I recommend that particular circuit is that if something goes wrong and the fuse blows, you won't be left stranded somewhere - you won't have cruise control or air conditioning, but at least you'll be able to drive the car somewhere to fix the problem. It's a 15A circuit so you would be limited in how much you can tap from it, but halos should not be a significant draw and you can always use it to control a relay for higher power applications.

You can get those Add-A-Circuit fuse taps from any auto parts store (or even Walmart) or Amazon for just a few dollars.