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I'm sure somebody has done this already, but I changed my blinker bulbs to white/amber LED switchbacks. Seems like perfect location to give OEM type LED "strip" across the bottom of the headlight. Requires a bunch of wiring-relays/resistors etc. No DRL error, still have high beams. Auto turn on with engine start, auto turn off with engine off after @15sec delay.
I've literally been waiting months for VLEDS V3 to get back in stock, but got tired of waiting, so just went with some less powerful ebay lights ($25 vs $174...). Amber blinkers brightness is satisfactory, but the white DRL could be brighter, gets a little washed out in the sun. I am impressed with the color, it is more of a pure white 5000k temperature that I wanted (alot of cheap ebay less are too blue).
I also installed some VLEDS 10XB 5000k LED fog light bulbs, match factory low beam color perfectly and are plenty bright.
You son of a bitch! Nobody has done this. This was my dream! Ever since L'sTL introduced me to switchback LEDs, I knew this would be the perfect DRL solution for the RL, but my dreams were interrupted.
Good fucking work, son! I don't even give a shit if you don't share how you did it.
It's not a fancy implementation, more just brute force.
I initially researched a more elegant way of disabling DRL, and looking at the factory wiring diagrams, I believe you'd have to access/cut into the engine bay fuse box, the sealed side portion, which houses the main DRL switching control. I wasn't interested in that.
Here is a written description of what I did.
Disable factory DRL:
Wire in a relay that is triggered off the headlights to switch between a 10 ohm load resistor and high beam bulb. I used a 9005 socket and plug to plug directly in between bulb and factory connector. To get low beam trigger for relay, I tapped into low beam fuse in engine bay.
When you use the high beams during the day, the low beams actually come on too, so high beam switching will work day or night with this method.
1157 Switchback bulb:
The bulb itself is a "type 2" which means the white turns off when the amber blinker is on. This function is internal to the bulb, I used this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/261881129983?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
The factory socket is 1157 (dual element bulb), but the factory wiring is only for single element. I used new generic 1157 plug and socket (3 wires) to interface between factory connector and new bulb. The car already provides blinker power and a ground, so the 3rd wire is open to wire to power source for white drl. I also wired in 6 ohm resistor to prevent fast blink.
I bought an "auto drl control box" to turn on/off the white section of the switchbacks. This just connects to +/- on battery and the output would normally go to the 3rd wire on 1157s. I didn't fully trust the module by itself to power higher power leds that I originally was planning for, so I wired it to control a relay instead to provide LEDs direct power from the battery.
This module also as a wire to turn them off with low beams, so similar method, wired it to low beam fuse.
Hopefully that all makes sense...?
Here are the 4 harnesses I made with annotations
The RL is my wife's car, TSX is mine (you can see it in the video). With another baby on the way we might swap the TSX for an MDX, which would then be the wife's car and the RL is all mine!
Last edited by komplexZ; Jun 27, 2015 at 09:03 AM.
Any info on the wiring or feel like making me the same thing? I'll pay you for it...
Thanks! Not too interested in making more, but hopefully my post above answers most questions. I could probably throw together a wiring diagram if needed.
Thanks! Not too interested in making more, but hopefully my post above answers most questions. I could probably throw together a wiring diagram if needed.
That would be great. I don't mind making one if I knew the exact parts to get and had something showing exactly what to do.
I think our DRL are the worst part of our RLs. Everything is so nice and modern and then we get incandescent bulbs for DRLs instead of LEDs.
PM sent
Last edited by NathanJax; Jun 27, 2015 at 10:04 PM.
Just an FYI, the DRL error resistors don't need to be super low. I used 100 ohms in my DRL switch, and it didn't cause any errors. It's not a huge deal, but it can save you some extra electrical loading.
Just an FYI, the DRL error resistors don't need to be super low. I used 100 ohms in my DRL switch, and it didn't cause any errors. It's not a huge deal, but it can save you some extra electrical loading.
Good to know! Yea I already had 10 Ohm's laying around from a different project that changed course. They do get hotter then I expected, which I dont like too much, so just ordered some 100 ohm resistors...
Last edited by komplexZ; Jun 27, 2015 at 10:37 PM.
Thanks for posting this up. If you had a quick parts list that was needed that would be apprechiated. I was going to one day do something like this ! But you are the man
Thanks for posting this up. If you had a quick parts list that was needed that would be apprechiated. I was going to one day do something like this ! But you are the man
The switchback bulbs I bought came with the 6 Ohm 50W resistors, and I think it only added a few bucks, so depending on what bulbs you buy, they might come with resistors already and will save a little $ then ordering separate.
Looks like it's already the 3 parts wired together, for a total cost of a little less than buying separately. If I did this again, I'd probably give that harness a try. Looks like most are direct from china, shipping might be slow.
In the parts I used, the black wire was ground, red was amber light, blue was white light. I won't guarantee they will all follow that, so probably good to double check before wiring it all together.
The 9005 extension harness you just cut in half and wire in the relay/resistor in between.
You wont need 5 relays, I just used 3 total, but they need to be SPDT
I notice they did change the functional description. Mine was advertised as it will turn off with the headlights(which it does), now it says it half their brightness... which probably won't work well with my implimentation. I use the DRL module to power a relay to send direct power to the DRL, so if this module now the reduces the 12V or does some kind of PWM signal, the relay might stay on, might turn off, or might chatter, hard to know. The way I wired in the relay is optional, you can skip and and just use a DRL module to power the lights too.
For tapping into the low beam fuse, I just stuck a wire in the slot and pushed the fuse over it. If you want a cleaner way, these fuse taps might work: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221634007333
Just an FYI, the DRL error resistors don't need to be super low. I used 100 ohms in my DRL switch, and it didn't cause any errors. It's not a huge deal, but it can save you some extra electrical loading.
So if we are using 100 ohm resistors, what should be the wattage? Should it be greater than 50W/load resistor?
... nice work tho.
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