Is there a way to replace the side mirror lights that are used for turn signals and/or turn them into running lights? Mine seem to be a yellowish amber and it is driving me nuts. They don't even match the factory amber signals. I just want to put in amber lights (preferably LEDs) so they match the other lights on the car. I have done some searching but haven't found much on this topic. Any help?

 

It's been covered a few times. Huge amount of work for pretty much no results. You have to take apart the entire mirror to replace it, even that would cause issues as there are so many little components and what not that no one sees the point of doing it. I wanted to make my white but after seeing how much work is involved I'm gladly keeping it OEM haha.

 

The mirror turn signals are already amber LEDs stock.

I considered turn signal DRLs for the advantages over high beam DRLs: less glare, less current, cheaper bulbs to replace, etc. But the simplest module I could come up with (so far) that is legal would require 5 relays. You'd need a few more circuit breaker inputs than the high beam DRL version. One reason the relay count is so much higher than the high beam version is because turn signals work independently (left vs right) unlike the high beams that always work together, so you'd have to implement separate DRL circuit breakers for each side. You wouldn't want the left ones to break so the right ones could blink, and vice versa. This means that for turn signal DRLs, you would need to double the high beam DRL module's form (one for each side).

You would also need the hazard lights to break the DRL circuit or they wouldn't blink as hazard lights, but the hazard light switch output is a +, unlike the other relevant circuit breakers (passing lights, low beam) whose switches output grounds. So this adds another relay to the design. There could be a simpler design that I don't know of (I'm not an electronics expert), but one that takes after the high beam DRL module would require 5 relays (instead of 2 like the high beam one).

Also, since the mirror LEDs were not designed to blink, the constant-on could burn them out. They might not have been designed for constant-on. The heat could damage them. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't risk it. I wouldn't want to buy replacement parts for this if they burned out.

If anything, you could implement turn signal DRLs with the front incand turn signal bulbs (in the headlight assemblies), but the relay count would be the same. Again, if somebody knows of a design that requires less relays, then please let me know.

 

edit: its too late to edit, but I made a major typo. Its the 3rd full paragraph down. I meant to say "since the mirror LEDs were designed to blink..." Take the 'not' out of there. And sorry for the double post, but its kind of important to fix that one.

 

Sounds rather intricate for my amateur status. I'll probably just leave it alone...at lease for now. Maybe I'll try and find a junked mirror to mess with. Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

 

If anyone is still interested, here is a front turn signal DRL solution that requires no relays at all, but the only drawback is that you miss out on all the fun of building it and designing the logical function yourself. I've never used it, so I can't say how it will work specifically on our cars, but I might grab myself one soon here and try it out:
http://dastern.torque.net/Mods/DRL/DRL1.html

Posts nos. 28-31 of the below link are relevant to turn signal DRLs. The whole thread talks about using relays in general, but brushes on DRL modifications a whole lot:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=265283

 

too much work for my liking!