Electrical: Correct Fog Light Switch

[STUNT KARZ]

Hello All, Since I'm a newbie on the site I need to ask a lot of questions until my manuals arrive.


What is the correct switch for the fog lights on a 55 Champion? Anyone have a pic? Thanks!

[Tom Bredehoft]

My President State has a round black knob, just like the other knobs on the dash board. The switch is an in-out switch hidden behind the dash. Your car appears to be a sedan, but I know there are/were several (two or three) different dashes for the '55s.

[STUNT KARZ]

My President State has a round black knob, just like the other knobs on the dash board. The switch is an in-out switch hidden behind the dash. Your car appears to be a sedan, but I know there are/were several (two or three) different dashes for the '55s.

Thanks Tom, Here's a pic of the dash area. As you can see there is a chrome plug over the hole, Guess the fog lights weren't factory installed (maybe dealer? ) If I can't find a nice NOS switch then I might go with some very cool vintage LIGHTED 6 volt push-pull switches I found. Got a green, a red and a yellow. Would be ideal for the Fog Lights.

[jclary]

Being that the car is a Champion (even a higher end trim version) it is highly unlikely those fog lights came on the car from the factory. Back in the day, the motto for engineering was "keep the weight down," even for the V8 powered vehicles. Although economy minded mechanically savvy customers may have liked the looks and function of "extra" stuff, most probably would have not sacrificed the marginal performance of that six cylinder by adding a bunch of bling.

If the original purchaser had had a family like mine in 1955...a dad weighing close to 300 pounds, his beautiful wife, and six kids would have fairly well maxed out that engine getting out of the drive way!

[PlainBrownR2]

The '55 Champion's 185 was not like the 170, although we had one in a 2R5 that was used to haul a ton and a half of coal with. My Dad had one in his Champion as a high school car. The 185 we had in the Champion was also thought as being stodgy, until a challenge from one of the local kids who had a habit for incessantly mouthing off about the V8 in his Chevy, challenged my Dad's Champion to a drag race in one of the gravel pits. After the increased torque from the Champion's stroked 185 blew this kid's 283 out of the water, he never challenged our little Champion again.

[STUNT KARZ]

Cool story PBR2

I think your right JC. With the factory looking plug in the hole I doubt the factory or even the dealer put the fogs on it. Guess I'll know for sure when the Production sheet arrives. There is an as yet unidentifed push pull switch on the frame of the heater handle located just to the upper left of the driver's knee. I followed the wires and both go thru the firewall, one goes UP inside the steering column. the other gets lost in a bundle of wires I have not yet tracked down. Here's a pic.

[altair]

Hello All, Since I'm a newbie on the site I need to ask a lot of questions until my manuals arrive.


What is the correct switch for the fog lights on a 55 Champion? Anyone have a pic? Thanks!

I have a 54 and the fog light switch is built in to the head light switch. There is a spare female bullet connection on the head light switch that is for the fog lights. When the head light switch is in the up position the head lights are on and when it is in the down position the head lights go off and the fog light/s come on. The head lights and fog lights are not suppose to be on at the same time. The fog lights are required to be focused the same as the head lights Dave

[STUNT KARZ]

Thanks Dave, When you say "spare" how many terminals and wires are on your switch?

[Corley]

If the original purchaser had had a family like mine in 1955...a dad weighing close to 300 pounds, his beautiful wife, and six kids would have fairly well maxed out that engine getting out of the drive way!

You were not trying to imply that ALL the kids were beautiful, were you, 'cause I think one of them, well, , ,

[jclary]

You were not trying to imply that ALL the kids were beautiful, were you, 'cause I think one of them, well, , ,

Well...the comma in my post was certainly insufficient to convey reality. However, if you had seen my mom and sisters...the description was woefully inadequate. With me being the youngest son, my older brothers beat me to the looks and stature genes. However, I like to think that in their haste to grab those genetic assets, they overlooked enough of the "smart" genes for me to scrounge a sufficient amount to "get by."

There were six of us with only 8 years from the oldest to youngest.

I thought I had lots of friends until my sisters got married.

[altair]

fog lights

Thanks Dave, When you say "spare" how many terminals and wires are on your switch?

My switch has 6 terminals 4 are used, BATTERY, HEADLIGHTS, FRONT PARKS and power supply to the instrument lights. The 2 remaining are spares, one is switched and one is hot either way. The manual identifies the switched terminal as "F" I presume for fog. The wireing diagram in the manual uses the switched terminal to actuate a relay with a 30 amp fused power supply for the relay. The supply is from the ammeter however it can come from anywhere even off the starter or battery, I wired mine off the ammeter because that is the way the manual is indicated. With the headlight switch in the on position (down) the headlights are ON plus front parks, tail and licence and dash, in the "up" position the headlights are off and the front parks, tail and licence and dash are on. With the switch in the "up" position the "F" terminal is hot which is wired to a relay the same as the horns and from the relay to the fog light/s. The fog lights are wired through a relay because with the headlights and fog lights through the same switch would be too much for the switch, hence the relay. Some motor vehicle regulations require that headlights and fog lights be wired separately so that they cannot be both on at the same time. Fog lights are required to be focused the same as headlights but not both on at the same time.
The other vacant hot terminal (non switched) could be for any lighting accessory. I wired a single fog light but I am still looking for a matching pair. You don't have to be that particular I wired mine that way because I wanted it the original way. Because fog lights draw high amperage they are protected with an independent 30 amp fuse, they are not wired through the circuit breaker assembly. I hope this helps Dave. ps I am coming from a 54 Champion 4 door sedan.

[Johnnywiffer]

Here is the schematic for the '53-'54 fog lights. My thinking is, the hook up for the '55 would probably be nearly the same.

On my '54 switch, the fuse is on the back of the switch. And it only goes down to turn on the fog lights.

I found nothing in the shop manual about only using one or the other but not both at the same time.

John

[altair]

Here is the schematic for the '53-'54 fog lights. My thinking is, the hook up for the '55 would probably be nearly the same.

On my '54 switch, the fuse is on the back of the switch. And it only goes down to turn on the fog lights.

I found nothing in the shop manual about only using one or the other but not both at the same time.

John[ATTACH=CONFIG]26666[/ATTACH]

Maby there are some slight differences, the switch on my 54 has no fuse as all the power supply is through a circuit breaker. If you look at the wireing diagram for the car the headlight switch has a spare terminal marked "F", that terminal is only energized when the main headlight switch is off. It wouldn't be reasonable to have the fogs on all the time. The fog light wireing diagram is through a relay energized from the headlight switch and the power supply for the lights is from the ammeter terminal and through a 30 amp fuse. The design of the headlight switch would not allow the two high load lights to be on at the same time.
As I said previously some motor vehicle regulations prohibit both headlights and fog lights to be on at the same time. I have driven in thick peasoup fog and the headlights are useless it turns your forward vision in to a complete white-out. The fog lights are set much lower and don't create the white-out conditions. Thanke for the input Dave

[Tom Bredehoft]

Stunt Karz: Your picture of your dash, with the chrome plug, is identical to my '55 president's dash, except my top hole has a Fog light switch in it. They were standard on the President. You ought to be able to find a push/pull switch to put in there for your fog lights. You might even be able to find an original switch complete with black/white knob. Mine is stil there but I wired it to the Electric Fuel Pump.

[jclary]

It is a bit comical how we can sometimes get hung up on a topic and talk it to death. The main thing is to choose a method of installation you are comfortable with and have fun making it work. Truth is, with an accessory more likely to have been either dealer or customer installed, rather than factory..."back in the day"...variations of install probably existed then.

Main thing to remember is safety. 1955 was a transitional year for wiring. I have a 1955 President coupe that has a combination of the more modern plastic wire insulation and the old cloth type on things like headlight pigtails, and instrument behind the dash wiring. I would recommend eliminating any, if not all, the cloth insulated wiring that shows signs of deterioration. Regardless of which type you have, it is important to protect the circuits with appropriate wire size and fuse protection.

For fog lights, the safest way would be to run the main light power through a relay-switch, and use a simple toggle switch for the "on-off" function to power the relay. If you want to make it a bit more complicated, you can source your toggle switch power from the "dim" terminal on your dimmer switch. That way...the fog lights will only be on when your main headlights are on low beam. That is the way I have set up the fog lights on installations I have done myself.

An exception, is the fog lights on my '48 coupe. On this car, I have a set of factory fog lights. However, I installed them using a ceramic insulated rheostat switch that can handle the current without a relay. This way...I can dial up and down the brightness of my amber fog lights. Not for any specific purpose...just because I like to play with things.