Why don’t you just wire them to a switch inside, and only turn them on when needed? Completely avoid the OEM wiring.

 

Our laws here in New Zealand do not allow this. Auxiliary driving lights must only be operable when high beam is selected. When the headlights are on low beam, auxiliary driving lights must not be able to be turned on*.
So in practice, a separate switch can only be used to keep the aux lights off when high beam is engaged. A separate switch must not provide power to aux lighting at any other time.

If aux lights are not correctly wired, the vehicle will fail the annual WOF (roadworthy) inspection. Unfortunately we can't just disconnect them for the WOF inspection as they have thought of that - if aux lights are installed, they must work. Yea you could just remove them entirely once a year for the inspection, but that's a pain in the ass, and if you get caught with them operating incorrectly, Police can order the vehicle off the road and fine you. It's then very expensive to get the non-operation order lifted.

*Auxiliary fog lamps are the opposite - they must only work when the headlights are either off or on low beam, and must not work on high beam.

Avoiding integration with OEM wiring in New Zealand is not an option unfortunately.

 

Off topic, but what is the actual purpose of this law? Seems pointless and definitely makes the things complicated…

 

I assume it's all about making roads "safer" by ensuring that any additional auxiliary lighting added to a vehicle does not unintentionally blind oncoming drivers. By restricting driving spot/flood lamps to operate only on high beam (which should only be used when there are no oncoming vehicles anyway), this blinding situation is more or less prevented altogether.

 

What an odd country. Then I would wire them up independent of the vehicles wiring, except use the highbeam trigger from the dimmer switch to activate terminal 86 on a relay. That way your aux lights will only work when the high beams are on.

 

The Stedi D3S link you provided doesn't work for me so I can't comment on them.
For the headlight bulbs I always recommend the Philips Ultinon 6000K. Better temperature color and bright enough to light up the roadway/road signs further down the road.
You could also upgrade the foglight bulb to LED. I installed the Auxito 9006/HB4 LED 6500K in mine.
They light up the sides of the road nice so you can see signs/eyes better than with just regular bulbs or just the headlights.
I don't have a "Down the Road" picture but the pic below shows what the color looks like.

 

Are those fog lights CANBUS compatible? The last ones I got were STEDI ones and drained the battery because I needed a very bulky CANBUS harness for them to work

 

For my 2014, I fitted a Stedi number plate bar and a small Stedi combo spread/distance LED bar. Now, it's not the greatest (and most expensive bar) out there. And it has minimal impact on airflow because of its size - another consideration when towing in the Aussie summer... What it does do is add more DISTANCE compared to the Bi-Xenons alone - especially when you're out bush.

I hooked into the 12V that operates the shutter in the lights for the high beam - I chose the passenger side - to power up the relay for the LED bar and hooked up a switch in the cabin near the light switch. (second switch powers up the UHF radio). I used a relay with a reversing diode to limit any back EMF when the high beam is turned off (Narva 68048). It's mounted on the frame and clears the bonnet by about 10mm.

Tapping into the 12V high beam voltage wire near the back of the lights, I bared the insulation enough to be able to solder the wire that runs the 12V to the relay coil to switch it on when the dash switch is on. Plenty of heat shrink and insulation tape, and then some flex cable trunking and cables ties to hold it altogether (with the in-line fuses exposed in case you need to get to them). It is pretty busy in that corner under the bonnet with the VSR and C/B for the feed to the caravan also coming off the 12V peg in that corner. But it's tidy and I've had no issues for years.

Some pictures below.

Egnore my spellung on tha skech. Spellung dusnt mattar.

I hope that helps.

Cheers

Andrew

 

For my 2014, I fitted a Stedi number plate bar and a small Stedi combo spread/distance LED bar. Now, it's not the greatest (and most expensive bar) out there. And it has minimal impact on airflow because of its size - another consideration when towing in the Aussie summer... What it does do is add more DISTANCE compared to the Bi-Xenons alone - especially when you're out bush.

I hooked into the 12V that operates the shutter in the lights for the high beam - I chose the passenger side - to power up the relay for the LED bar and hooked up a switch in the cabin near the light switch. (second switch powers up the UHF radio). I used a relay with a reversing diode to limit any back EMF when the high beam is turned off (Narva 68048). It's mounted on the frame and clears the bonnet by about 10mm.

Tapping into the 12V high beam voltage wire near the back of the lights, I bared the insulation enough to be able to solder the wire that runs the 12V to the relay coil to switch it on when the dash switch is on. Plenty of heat shrink and insulation tape, and then some flex cable trunking and cables ties to hold it altogether (with the in-line fuses exposed in case you need to get to them). It is pretty busy in that corner under the bonnet with the VSR and C/B for the feed to the caravan also coming off the 12V peg in that corner. But it's tidy and I've had no issues for years.

Hey mate, thanks for your explanation and photos - that is all super helpful and is exactly the info I was after.

I did initially look at the Stedi number plate bar, but could not work out how it might attach to my Treg without undue vibration, however I see from your photos that you have the exact same factory number plate support as me, so you obviously worked out some way of doing it (bolts & washers?). I just felt there wasn't enough support in the front bumper for a few kilos of lights. My number plate is only held on with self tapping screws through the plastic... hence my thoughts about the bar I linked to in my original post which would provide a very sturdy mounting point while also looking pretty sweet. However I am unsure of the legality of that bar - technically I suspect it needs a sticker stating it complies with ADR frontal impact standards which it almost certainly doesn't have - I'd probably have to remove it at roadworthy time but with only two bolts and a couple of plugs it would be a quick job at least. What I like about that bar is that it positions the lights pretty much in the middle of the bumper so that they have near zero effect on airflow on the upper and lower grilles. I would have to disable the front parking sensors however mine are faulty and drive me nuts anyway!

In terms of wiring it sounds like I just need to locate the correct wire for the high beam shutter and then I should be well on the way. You did a bloody tidy job there - your wiring and switch installation work is pretty schmick!

 

Glad it helped! And thank you...

The bar you referenced looks good but it's a lot of coin! Especially to get it shipped over here. It would still have minimal effect on airflow unlike the big light bars mounted up front can do.

I stuck with the self-tapping screws to hold the mounting bracket in place (and the bracket is nice and light as well) but I have used some meaty self-tappers, and the screw heads sit behind the number plate surrounds so in theory, unless they have enough grunt to wind out against the inside of the number plate surround, they will never come out unless I want them to! (I pushed the surround out of the way when screwing them in and then slipped the surround back over the top when they were in). I think I have put one extra one in the middle as well (same deal - under the plate surround). It does vibrate around a little bit and the vibration is more noticeable close to the light bar where the light is the most intense, but in all honesty when I have used them out bush, it's not an issue that worries me.

Good luck! Your research leads me to believe it will be a nice job when you're done.

Cheers

A