I'll try and make this short. Currently I'm using a vibration harness to run two 9-light LEDs for DRLs (both iJDMTOY products) straight to the battery as how the installation was described. When it detects vibrations it powers the LEDs. Simple circuit can be seen near the bottom of this page if reference is needed:
http://store.ijdmtoy.com/Auto-LED-Da...h-p/aa1070.htm

I want to remove the harness and wire an in-line fuse to each LED (or one and wire them in parallel) to the battery, and then to a switch for operation (sick of the harness). On to my questions:

1) Would I need to run a load resistor before the in-line fuse from the battery to prevent blowing the fuse if they draw too much current? I know they are powered by < 10 W.

2) Should I run two separate in-line fuses or one? What are the advantages/disadvantages? I know how the fuses work, I just don't know how many amps these LEDs draw and I don't own a DMM.

3) Any tips/recommendations from you members that have wired components this way? Sorry if this is so trivial to some of you guys, I am a total noob with electrical work lol. I've searched but I'm still confused.

Brad

 

I'm working on something like this right now actually. I don't think an in-line fuse or a load resistor is necessary, I noticed in your signature it says you have an '05 the same year as mine.

Roger555's guide to taking control of the fog lights will work, I'm currently in progress of making them work more as DRLs though since I have an '05 with 07-08 headlights in it.

I did a little testing on my car last night and found that I was not overdriving the LEDs by any significant amount like I thought I might be. The LEDs are being direct driven in my car. I'm using the VLED 9005 5k 10 LED variant of LEDs though. If yours can run off of 14V then you should be ok.

Here's where my numbers came out to be last night while I was testing, I measured the amperage through the stock fog relay (it was removed). I measured both with the car running (14V) and with it not running (12V). Also any current through the relay coil was isolated, because I didn't take this measurement at the fuse, instead I pulled the relay and closed the circuit through my DMM.


1.15A @ 14V w No Load Resistor: 12 Ohms total; 575mA each; 8.05W each

1.25A @ 12V w No Load Resistor: 9.6 Ohms total; 625mA each; 7.5W each

My LEDs are rated at 9-14.5V, 530mA, 7.6W so I think my measurement and calculations are within the tolerances of the LEDs. They are being over-driven a bit but that might just be the way these LEDs came out from when they were made.

With the way it's wired in this schematic diagram there is already a fuse in the circuit as well, in the OEM fuse panel. Which negates the need for an in-line fuse, the fuse is a lot larger than necessary though since it will not see as much amperage as the OEM bulbs pulled.

I'm still in progress of testing out other features, right now I'm just trying to get control of the indicator on the gauge, but I won't be able to test it further until I have all my parts in and go about installing my relays.

I bought the Morimoto HD 9005 relay harness to do this, I also picked up a HD load resistor but I'm not going to need it after confirming with my measurements and calculations last night.

The 9005 relay harness has the 9005 connectors I need to put onto my harness for my bulbs, the 9006 connectors are too tight. The '04-'06 using 9006 bulbs where-as the 07-08 uses the 9005. The harness also has OEM looking relay sockets, nice weather proof seals and 2 relays. They're both 4-pin relays though, I had to order some 5 pin relays and I'm going to replace one of the morimoto relays with the 5 pin relay and then wire them up since I need the normally closed pin on the relay.

Here's a schematic on how you can do it this way or you could do it with a single relay and follow Roger555's guide. I'm using two so that my DRLs will never be on at the same time as my headlight.

I pulled down the other schematics I posted lol, this is still being revised and may be changed again later if I can take control of the indicator but here's where its at now.

 

Your schematic actually makes a lot of sense. I ended up using an in-line with a 2A fuse (though I feel that I could jump down to a 1A). I reused the harness, partly because I didn't have the time to figure out how to get through the firewall for a switch. I will be attempting this next weekend hopefully.

I really like your idea; though that's more complex than what I am going for. I thought normally DRLs operated until the high beams are engaged. Are you just doing it that way for personal preference? Either way I'm interested to see your results. You've definitely put a lot of thought into this.

Thanks for the numbers; that definitely gives me a better understanding of the power through a circuit like that since I am using similar LEDs. Brings me back to circuits class lol.

 

Ah didn't know that I thought they shouldn't be on with the headlights not just the high beams. They're really bright which is why I was going to force them off anytime the hids are on.

Could do it the other way by tapping into pin 8 as well lol they're all switched grounds which makes this easy.

 

I can see other drivers being thankful for that if they're insanely bright! Mine aren't too bad, but I still want to install a switch in the dash for manual control. I'll be following your progress!