Aftermarket DRLs on a diesel engined car

505604

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Fellow Frogger
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Junee, NSW
Hi, wise, electronically minded people!

I'm wanting to fit DRLs to my cars. I can easily mount the lights, but when I have talked to auto electricians, no less than 3 have shied away.

"It's too hard.", is the complaint.

All of them have said that the modules that can be purchased off eBay etc won't work properly with a diesel engine, and trying to wire up the lights to come on when the engine starts and then go off when the engine stops is too difficult and/or time-consuming. I couldn't afford their bill (without them telling me how much it would cost).

So, what's so difficult about it? Why wouldn't the ready-made modules work with a diesel engine?

Thanks in advance,
Andrew
 
What sort of car I don’t really get what they are avoiding you can just turn lights on always in the bsi
Unless they are avoiding PWM systems that pulse the lighting power when the engine is running to regulate voltage from 308 / c4 on

4008
Gone but not forgotten C5 x7 3008 206 GTI 180 306 XR SED 405 MI16 x2 xzara VTS 406 SV 206 XT Berlingo 2011 (best car ever) 306 HDI 307 XSE HDI touring
Fix it right the first time
 
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I am looking at doing similar, but have petrol engine.

Whats' wrong with KOLO (Key on, lights on)?

Simple relay turning on separate DRL's (presumably LEDs) with Ignition ON. I have heard that people have them turn OFF when headlights are turned on, which also doesn't sound too hard to arrange through the relay (or a separate relay), but why not leave them on?

I have read (unconfirmed) they need to be less than 1200 candela to avoid being foglights or driving lights. Proper DRL lights should comply, I see Hella, Narva and Philips do them.

May be other legal issues.

I had them in my ex-Telstra BA Falcon wagon, they were using the low beam headlights, with a special module integrated into the headlight system. I found my headlight globes didn't last too long, even with Long Life globes, and when the module failed, I disconnected it. I would now use separate LED DRLs in the Territory.

Cheers.
 
What sort of car I don’t really get what they are avoiding you can just turn lights on always in the bsi
Unless they are avoiding PWM systems that pulse the lighting power when the engine is running to regulate voltage from 308 / c4 on
I haven’t even started talking to any of them about the 307!

They’re complaining about the 406, and that’s got virtually no electronics by comparison.

What’s the PWM?

I did get some information once from an auto electrician who was working for a Peugeot dealer in England about the 307 and DRLs.

A very small number of 307s in the UK had "dim-dip" headlights, but following objections from the UK vehicle approval authority Peugeot had to drop that feature.

Subsequently they introduced a form of day running lights which were controlled by the cars electronic control unit and the rain sensor mounted near the rear view mirror. There are no physically different light units to achieve this, it is all done by programming the control unit.

But no dealer I’ve spoken to in Australia knows about this and neither do they want to find out about it and turn them on for me. They cite the rules about not using fog lights during normal weather driving as their reason.
 
but why not leave them on?
Not legal in NSW, unless they came from the factory like that!

Seriously, there are rules which are okay for cars from the factory, but if you have these things fitted aftermarket, they are illegal. Certain darkness of window tinting is just one of those things.
 
But no dealer I’ve spoken to in Australia knows about this and neither do they want to find out about it and turn them on for me. They cite the rules about not using fog lights during normal weather driving as their reason.


The question has being answered by dmccurtayne in post #2 , long term Psa sevice tech . Just hook them up to the BSI .
 
The question has being answered by dmccurtayne in post #2 , long term Psa sevice tech . Just hook them up to the BSI .
Oops.

I should not have been posting last night. I knew that I wasn’t fully awake. I had meant to ask Dave for more information about that when I quoted it. But I think that you have partly answered my question.

But I’m still not sure what the PWM is.
 
Pulse width modulation basically switches the power to a load to maintain a certain voltage an easy way to see if a car has this is the headlight will have battery voltage when engine not running then when the engine starts the voltage can drop to 12.5 odd volts . So on and off multiple times a second so what happens is if you attach a module / relay to control led /hid lights the relay can fail early or not turn on at all due to the uneven power supply.


4008
Gone but not forgotten C5 x7 3008 206 GTI 180 306 XR SED 405 MI16 x2 xzara VTS 406 SV 206 XT Berlingo 2011 (best car ever) 306 HDI 307 XSE HDI touring
Fix it right the first time
 
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Personally, I think Col's suggestion is the way to go.
Or just drive with your headlights on all the time. That's what I've been doing for my entire driving career. If visibility is the objective, then your headlights are better than DRLs. Especially when driving on highways out near Junee. Plus you will never end up driving around with no headlights on at night, as I see so many doing.

Andy
 
Personally, I think Col's suggestion is the way to go.
Or just drive with your headlights on all the time. That's what I've been doing for my entire driving career. If visibility is the objective, then your headlights are better than DRLs. Especially when driving on highways out near Junee. Plus you will never end up driving around with no headlights on at night, as I see so many doing.

Andy
Thanks for your thoughts, Andy.

I don’t know what to think about your suggestion about driving all the time with low beam headlights. Did you (or did anyone) read the Hella link about the comparison between low beam lights and DRLs?

They make the case against low beam lights quoting increased fuel consumption figures. Yes, I was surprised, not that it would cause an increase, but the amount of that increase.

What is it about the Junee area that you think will be a better fit for headlights rather than DRLs?

Andrew
 
I added switchback turn signal DRLs to my i30, replacing the original incandescent amber turn signal globes, something like these: Switchback DRLs
Since I don't like my Diesel engine cranking into the DRLs, I added a timer relay that turns them on 5 seconds after ignition goes on. At first I wired then to go white only when the parkers are off but now I've simplified the circuit and have them on all the time.

If anyone is interested in the details, let me know.
 
I use one of these voltage sensing relays - it just comes on when the voltage comes up when the alternator is running and goes back off when it senses it going back to down to battery voltage. I don’t see why a diesel alternator would be any different!
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/324574594825

Does your car have fog lights? If so, repurpose them - it’s not as if we get much fog in Australia… In 30 years of driving I’ve needed fog lights twice.

This eBay relay doesn’t carry much current, so I used it to switch a relay to power the fog lights, with a second relay connected to the side lights that cuts the feed when headlights are switched on. Then I used some LED globes in the fog lights to give that sharp white light that’s so effective for DRLs.

That was in the Megane at least - for mums Hyundai i30 and my FIL early Mazda 3 there is an easily accessible relay box with a relay for their fog lights - I pulled that relay and installed my two relays in the box using an ignition on feed I found in the fuse box.

This keeps it all looking nicely OEM on the front without ugly aftermarket DRL being fitted and finally provides a use for fog lights that were otherwise dead weight :)
 
I added switchback turn signal DRLs to my i30, replacing the original incandescent amber turn signal globes, something like these: Switchback DRLs
Since I don't like my Diesel engine cranking into the DRLs, I added a timer relay that turns them on 5 seconds after ignition goes on. At first I wired then to go white only when the parkers are off but now I've simplified the circuit and have them on all the time.

If anyone is interested in the details, let me know.
Legally DRLs must dim or extinguish when main lights are on. Although those little globes might be dim enough to not practically matter…

Do it properly though and wire into the side lights feed to kill/dim them.
 
Does your car have fog lights? If so, repurpose them - it’s not as if we get much fog in Australia… In 30 years of driving I’ve needed fog lights twice.
I hope you mean repurpose the foglight switch, and not the foglights themselves.

The reflector and lenses on foglights are not suitable for use in anything other than foggy conditions. They are at best anti-social and at worst downright offensive and dangerous.

It's also illegal to use foglights in unsuitable conditions, even if you call them DRLs.
 
I hope you mean repurpose the foglight switch, and not the foglights themselves.

The reflector and lenses on foglights are not suitable for use in anything other than foggy conditions. They are at best anti-social and at worst downright offensive and dangerous.

It's also illegal to use foglights in unsuitable conditions, even if you call them DRLs.
You know what I meant. Using LED globes messes with the optics of a halogen reflector so they are actually quite useful for being visible in daylight.

Obviously using a fog light at night is for fuckwits, but as a DRL that wired correctly to go off when it’s dark enough for the main lights to come on they're quite good.

Cars passed a roadworthy inspection like this btw after I explained to the tester what id done.
 
I should also note that Subaru use fog lights as DRLs from the factory.
 
I hope you mean repurpose the foglight switch, and not the foglights themselves.

The reflector and lenses on foglights are not suitable for use in anything other than foggy conditions. They are at best anti-social and at worst downright offensive and dangerous.

It's also illegal to use foglights in unsuitable conditions, even if you call them DRLs.
Scotty, I don't know if you read all of this thread or not.

Early in the thread, I mentioned the "dim-dip" headlights on a limited run of 307s in the U.K.. The U.K. authorities complained and Peugeot converted the "dim-dip" to DRLs.
The 'feature' was also fitted to all of the restyling 307s in Australia, except that by the time that they landed in Australia, this 'feature' had been switched off. But, as dmcurtayne pointed out, it can still be enabled in the BSI. But dealers I've spoken to in NSW either don't know about it or refuse to do it, citing the legalities you mentioned.
 
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