2013 Subaru WRX Hatch, Satin Pearl White
Cobb Tuning SF Intake + SF Intake Box Black Stage 1+ OTS
Whitelines Anti-Sway Bars, Kartboys Endlinks, Back to black bushings.
Roof Rack,Bike Rack, Cobb Knob
91 Octane Shell fuel
PHOTOS OF INSTALL ON THE BOTTOM
Disclaimer : Aftermarket Lighting is almost NEVER DOT approved and should not be used on public roads. Incorrectly aimed lamps or very bright lamps can cause road hazards for other drivers and the safety of others should be considered when installing.
So I have been spending a bit of time driving on unlit, unmaintained road recently with a few buddies. Noting stupid just taking the cars out to the middle of nowhere to hang out. Recently one of my buddies decided to replace His fog lamps with Rigid quad LED units. We built a custom bracket for his ranger and had them wired and running in an evening. They are insanely bright and as a supplement for his headlamps in the middle of nowhere they are king.
Side note; I am a Huge fan of flashlights, I have some very expensive lights and some very cheap ones, LEDs, Arc lamps and halogens. I daily carry brands like Surefire, G&P, Streamlight and Quantum DD. I love bright lights so I decided I need to add some bright LED lights to my GR WRX.
So I started looking for LED lights of my own.I settled on a bar instead of 2 fog lamps. I found one pretty cheap on ebay (chinese LED) which I am ok with. I have had very good luck with chinese made LED flashlights like G&P in the past and with a removable lens on front and isolated LED boards I feel pretty confident in my own understanding of LEDs and so long as the pictured light is what i get in the mail I will be throughly happy with the purchase. I ordered it a few days ago and started the wiring process today.
So I don’t currently have fog lamps installed, That actually makes this process easier because I will be tapping into the fog lamp tail of the wiring harness near the front corner of the car. Because I do not have OEM fog lamps I do not have the control tree for the fog lamp or the factory relay. Thats Ok I plan on running my own relay closer to the light bar and I will be using the relay harness to trigger the relay near the light bar.
Starting in the cabin, I looked up the install directions for the fog lamp and found that the relay for the fog lamps sits to the right of the 3 installed relays, I found a replacement relay and grabbed the data sheet online to learn that the pinouts for the Subaru fog light relay are (from left to right) 12V+, Accessory, Ground and Trigger. I will be using only the 2 leftmost connections to connect the 12V+ to the accessory through a toggle switch effectively powering the fog lamp tail on the harness. I built a quick harness with 2 male spade connectors on the end and inserted them into the left 2 connectors for the Fog lamp relay harness (bypassing the relay and directly connecting the output pin to 12V+ when the switch is toggled) I removed the OEM heated seats switch plates and cut a rectangle in one of them large enough to fit a LED lit Blue toggle switch. Its a pretty low profle switch so I am not worried at all about my elbow getting below the edge of the armrest and accidentially toggling the LED. I ran the 3 wires for the toggle switch through the center console and used the 12V+ accessory line, Output(to fog lamp 12V+)and Ground to the relay via spade connectors.
Moving on to the front of the car I installed a 12V 40A relay in the driver side fog lamp well. I ran the ground to the battery, 12V+ ( fused at 20A ) to the 12V+ on the battery, trigger to the fog lamp positive connector ( which is now simply a 12V+ line running from the accessory power in the cabin through a toggle switch and out to the front of the car ) and accessory output to a spade connector for the new LED light bar. That configuration allowed me to assemble the system using only the factory wiring( without having to punch through the firewall ) It also keeps the appearance of wires in the engine bay to a minimum. Only the hot and ground line is visible under the hood and I am thinking about wrapping it with corrugated plastic tubing to hide the new wire.
With the system wired I am ready to install the light-bar as soon as it arrives, I am expecting it on Tuesday the 12th. I plan on mounting the LED Light bar under the front license plate as far forward as I can. I will be using the radiator mounting tabs as my bracket and I plan on removing the Black plastic riser on the bottom of the bumper to allow the full potential of the lights to shine through. As soon as it gets in I will complete the Install write up and add a few additional photos showing the final results
LED LIGHT BAR SWITCH LOCATION
SWITCH INSTALLED IN OEM HEATED SEATS PANEL
SPADE CONNECTORS IN OEM FOG LAMP RELAY HOLDER
POWER LINES RUN FROM BATTERY TO RELAY IN FRONT RIGHT FOG LAMP BAY
RELAY WIRED TO POSATIVE LINE FROM FOG LAMP TAIL
Cobb Tuning SF Intake + SF Intake Box Black Stage 1+ OTS
Whitelines Anti-Sway Bars, Kartboys Endlinks, Back to black bushings.
Roof Rack,Bike Rack, Cobb Knob
91 Octane Shell fuel
PHOTOS OF INSTALL ON THE BOTTOM
Disclaimer : Aftermarket Lighting is almost NEVER DOT approved and should not be used on public roads. Incorrectly aimed lamps or very bright lamps can cause road hazards for other drivers and the safety of others should be considered when installing.
So I have been spending a bit of time driving on unlit, unmaintained road recently with a few buddies. Noting stupid just taking the cars out to the middle of nowhere to hang out. Recently one of my buddies decided to replace His fog lamps with Rigid quad LED units. We built a custom bracket for his ranger and had them wired and running in an evening. They are insanely bright and as a supplement for his headlamps in the middle of nowhere they are king.
Side note; I am a Huge fan of flashlights, I have some very expensive lights and some very cheap ones, LEDs, Arc lamps and halogens. I daily carry brands like Surefire, G&P, Streamlight and Quantum DD. I love bright lights so I decided I need to add some bright LED lights to my GR WRX.
So I started looking for LED lights of my own.I settled on a bar instead of 2 fog lamps. I found one pretty cheap on ebay (chinese LED) which I am ok with. I have had very good luck with chinese made LED flashlights like G&P in the past and with a removable lens on front and isolated LED boards I feel pretty confident in my own understanding of LEDs and so long as the pictured light is what i get in the mail I will be throughly happy with the purchase. I ordered it a few days ago and started the wiring process today.
So I don’t currently have fog lamps installed, That actually makes this process easier because I will be tapping into the fog lamp tail of the wiring harness near the front corner of the car. Because I do not have OEM fog lamps I do not have the control tree for the fog lamp or the factory relay. Thats Ok I plan on running my own relay closer to the light bar and I will be using the relay harness to trigger the relay near the light bar.
Starting in the cabin, I looked up the install directions for the fog lamp and found that the relay for the fog lamps sits to the right of the 3 installed relays, I found a replacement relay and grabbed the data sheet online to learn that the pinouts for the Subaru fog light relay are (from left to right) 12V+, Accessory, Ground and Trigger. I will be using only the 2 leftmost connections to connect the 12V+ to the accessory through a toggle switch effectively powering the fog lamp tail on the harness. I built a quick harness with 2 male spade connectors on the end and inserted them into the left 2 connectors for the Fog lamp relay harness (bypassing the relay and directly connecting the output pin to 12V+ when the switch is toggled) I removed the OEM heated seats switch plates and cut a rectangle in one of them large enough to fit a LED lit Blue toggle switch. Its a pretty low profle switch so I am not worried at all about my elbow getting below the edge of the armrest and accidentially toggling the LED. I ran the 3 wires for the toggle switch through the center console and used the 12V+ accessory line, Output(to fog lamp 12V+)and Ground to the relay via spade connectors.
Moving on to the front of the car I installed a 12V 40A relay in the driver side fog lamp well. I ran the ground to the battery, 12V+ ( fused at 20A ) to the 12V+ on the battery, trigger to the fog lamp positive connector ( which is now simply a 12V+ line running from the accessory power in the cabin through a toggle switch and out to the front of the car ) and accessory output to a spade connector for the new LED light bar. That configuration allowed me to assemble the system using only the factory wiring( without having to punch through the firewall ) It also keeps the appearance of wires in the engine bay to a minimum. Only the hot and ground line is visible under the hood and I am thinking about wrapping it with corrugated plastic tubing to hide the new wire.
With the system wired I am ready to install the light-bar as soon as it arrives, I am expecting it on Tuesday the 12th. I plan on mounting the LED Light bar under the front license plate as far forward as I can. I will be using the radiator mounting tabs as my bracket and I plan on removing the Black plastic riser on the bottom of the bumper to allow the full potential of the lights to shine through. As soon as it gets in I will complete the Install write up and add a few additional photos showing the final results
LED LIGHT BAR SWITCH LOCATION
SWITCH INSTALLED IN OEM HEATED SEATS PANEL
SPADE CONNECTORS IN OEM FOG LAMP RELAY HOLDER
POWER LINES RUN FROM BATTERY TO RELAY IN FRONT RIGHT FOG LAMP BAY
RELAY WIRED TO POSATIVE LINE FROM FOG LAMP TAIL