Aftermarket DRLs on a diesel engined car

In the ACT?

Different rules to NSW, I think.
Victoria.

DRLs are about the usage - bright white non dipped light for daytime use only. Dimmed or off when main headlights are on.

VW use the high beam assemblies for DRL use (voltage dropped) and Subaru use the fog lights. The light unit itself is not the issue, its how its used.
 
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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.
Window tints do not have different rules for OEM vs aftermarket.
 
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
Headlights are not better than DRLs for daylight visibility. It’s that sharp white bright light you get from LEDs that catch your attention in ways a softer halogen won’t.
 
Window tints do not have different rules for OEM vs aftermarket.
Window tints in NSW absolutely DO have different rules for OEM vs aftermarket.

Some of the cars coming out of Europe - Germany, in particular - have ‘tinting’ that is a lot darker than what is allowable on an aftermarket tinted window. I have asked a number of people, both window tinters and inspection testers, about what I see as a discrepancy. Without exception, they have told me that when a vehicle comes from the factory with tinted glass, it is allowed to be much darker than what they’re allowed to put on any window in NSW.

I think, but I don’t know, that Victorian regulations allow for darker aftermarket tinting than does NSW.

Cheers,
Andrew
 
Window tints in NSW absolutely DO have different rules for OEM vs aftermarket.

Some of the cars coming out of Europe - Germany, in particular - have ‘tinting’ that is a lot darker than what is allowable on an aftermarket tinted window. I have asked a number of people, both window tinters and inspection testers, about what I see as a discrepancy. Without exception, they have told me that when a vehicle comes from the factory with tinted glass, it is allowed to be much darker than what they’re allowed to put on any window in NSW.

I think, but I don’t know, that Victorian regulations allow for darker aftermarket tinting than does NSW.

Cheers,
Andrew
You sure you’re not thinking of the darker factory tints combining with after market tints to make it too dark?

I had to remove the tiny the NSW dealer had put on the Alfa to get an ACT roadworthy… Which was fine because tinted windows are annoying and dumb…
 
You sure you’re not thinking of the darker factory tints combining with after market tints to make it too dark?

I had to remove the tiny the NSW dealer had put on the Alfa to get an ACT roadworthy… Which was fine because tinted windows are annoying and dumb…
Definitely not thinking of that.
It’s straight up factory ‘tinting’ on a few people’s cars that I know, as well as some others that I’ve seen up close.
I keep putting the word tinting in quotes because I have heard some owners describing the glass as ‘darkened’, not ‘tinted’!

Was the tinting on the Alfa that you had to remove on top of factory tinting or plain glass?

Cheers,
Andrew
 
Definitely not thinking of that.
It’s straight up factory ‘tinting’ on a few people’s cars that I know, as well as some others that I’ve seen up close.
I keep putting the word tinting in quotes because I have heard some owners describing the glass as ‘darkened’, not ‘tinted’!

Was the tinting on the Alfa that you had to remove on top of factory tinting or plain glass?

Cheers,
Andrew
Mine was a combination of factory tinting and aftermarket film. All cars have some degree of tinting, the muppets that did the aftermarket tint didn’t account for the relatively dark factory tint on the Alfa and the combined effect was illegal.

I was wanting to strip it anyway - I bought it new, but the dealer had it tinted before sale for some reason. Was annoyed to find it tinted when I went to collect it…
 
Mine was a combination of factory tinting and aftermarket film. All cars have some degree of tinting, the muppets that did the aftermarket tint didn’t account for the relatively dark factory tint on the Alfa and the combined effect was illegal.

I was wanting to strip it anyway - I bought it new, but the dealer had it tinted before sale for some reason. Was annoyed to find it tinted when I went to collect it…
Did you strip it off yourself or get someone to do it for you?

I began stripping my 307’s tint. Some of the windows had gone … I don’t know how to describe it. When you looked through some of the windows, especially the driver’s door window!, everything was out of focus. I honestly don’t know how the previous owners were able to drive it like that.

Anyway, stripping was going well until I got to the back window - the heater strips. It was extremely difficult to remove the tinting without damaging the heating strips.
 
I paid to have just the front door windows done as I was in a hurry and couldnt find my steamer and didnt have the time to learn as id not done it before. Ive left the back doors and rear hatch tinted as they,re not a safety problem so much and the roadworthy only required it to be removed from the front doors.

I may get around to doing the rest myself at some point...

Annoyingly they left some glue in the window track and it busted the drivers window motor - Alfa are replacing that under warranty though
 
Headlights are not better than DRLs for daylight visibility. It’s that sharp white bright light you get from LEDs that catch your attention in ways a softer halogen won’t.
Interesting claim, but one based on no evidence.
Not least because DRLs predate LED lights, and many headlights are now LEDs.
But even aside from that, I think the idea that LED DRLs are more eye catching than headlights, is dubious, to say the least.
 
Much of the appreciation that LEDs are inadequate stems from poorly matched retrofits. Reflectors are designed for the incandescent filament to sit at the focal point and to radiate isotropically, resulting in the desired projection pattern. Sadly, so many aftermarket solutions are neither at the focal point nor isotropic. If they are, there is no reason to suspect they are inferior in any way.
 
Agreed. It often comes down to focus. Think of the fairly weak lamps used in lighthouses that are projected many miles by the fresnel lens in front of them.
 
Much of the appreciation that LEDs are inadequate stems from poorly matched retrofits. Reflectors are designed for the incandescent filament to sit at the focal point and to radiate isotropically, resulting in the desired projection pattern. Sadly, so many aftermarket solutions are neither at the focal point nor isotropic. If they are, there is no reason to suspect they are inferior in any way.
Who is saying that LEDs (headlights? DRLs?) are inadequate?

I can understand the rest of your post, but I don’t necessarily agree with you. But I don’t know who is saying anything about LED lights on cara are inadequate.

I based my disagreement with you on the experience of a friend of mine. He’s had a lot of driving (and flying) experience. He’s a farmer and he still drives his semi trailer most weeks. His new VW Passat (2018) came from the factory with LED headlights and DRLs as well as other lights. He keeps telling me that he loves the Passat - except for the stupid LED headlights. He loves this feature, that feature, every feature - except for those LED headlights. He had an earlier model Passat before this one and it came with ‘standard’ halogen headlights. “They were much better than these silly things.“ They are his words. The beam pattern and cutoff style are the biggest complaints from him.

I have heard other complaints from people who have LED headlights, but I haven’t heard from them what their specific complaints are. But yes, to be fair, I have also heard from some people that they like their LED headlights.

Cheers,
Andrew
 
Who is saying that LEDs (headlights? DRLs?) are inadequate?

I can understand the rest of your post, but I don’t necessarily agree with you. But I don’t know who is saying anything about LED lights on cara are inadequate.

I based my disagreement with you on the experience of a friend of mine. He’s had a lot of driving (and flying) experience. He’s a farmer and he still drives his semi trailer most weeks. His new VW Passat (2018) came from the factory with LED headlights and DRLs as well as other lights. He keeps telling me that he loves the Passat - except for the stupid LED headlights. He loves this feature, that feature, every feature - except for those LED headlights. He had an earlier model Passat before this one and it came with ‘standard’ halogen headlights. “They were much better than these silly things.“ They are his words. The beam pattern and cutoff style are the biggest complaints from him.

I have heard other complaints from people who have LED headlights, but I haven’t heard from them what their specific complaints are. But yes, to be fair, I have also heard from some people that they like their LED headlights.

Cheers,
Andrew

I don't see your posts disagreeing with me in particular anywhere in this thread, Andrew.

From what you've said now, it still seems a very subjective appraisal. From my experience, it's generally from the changed colour temperature and (again) altered pattern to which people seem to object.
 
Agreed. It often comes down to focus. Think of the fairly weak lamps used in lighthouses that are projected many miles by the fresnel lens in front of them.
Agreed with what?

(You do this a few times, seasink. I’m sure that I’m not the only person who gets confused or is uncertain about what you’re saying. Please specify what you’re agreeing with or disagreeing with, or whatever else.

It’s probably pretty clear today what you’re agreeing with, but there are many times that I have no idea. Please. Just a simple request.)
 
I don't see your posts disagreeing with me in particular anywhere in this thread, Andrew.

From what you've said now, it still seems a very subjective appraisal. From my experience, it's generally from the changed colour temperature and (again) altered pattern to which people seem to object.
Yes, I agree with that assessment.

But when your post began with LEDs are inadequate, I was wondering who was saying that on here. That was the assumption that I took from your statement. I might have been wrong, and in that case, I apologise.

By the way, I’m interested in what you did for delaying the DRLs coming on until whenever it is after your engine has started.

Cheers,
Andrew
 
Yes, I agree with that assessment.

But when your post began with LEDs are inadequate, I was wondering who was saying that on here. That was the assumption that I took from your statement. I might have been wrong, and in that case, I apologise.

By the way, I’m interested in what you did for delaying the DRLs coming on until whenever it is after your engine has started.

Cheers,
Andrew
A cheap solution using a timer relay out of eBay. In my i30, I tapped a fuse point in the egine bay that goes live with ignition and fed the voltage to the relay that then switches battery feed to the DRLs after an adjusted 0-10 seconds:
 
A cheap solution using a timer relay out of eBay. In my i30, I tapped a fuse point in the egine bay that goes live with ignition and fed the voltage to the relay that then switches battery feed to the DRLs after an adjusted 0-10 seconds:
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Why don’t you want the drl on when cranking? It would take two tenths of stuff all power.

The factory led DRLs on Alfa for example come on with the ignition before cranking commences…
 
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