DRL lights, rewiring light switch/lever?

[eresseraca]

I have DRL lights that I want to install. Question how hard would it be to rewire the headlight selector?

Mine has three modes:

1. Main beam that can momentairly flash full beam pushing or pulling the lever (cant remember)
2. Park lights only
3. Main beam with permanent full beam selectable

Over here regulations say that we need to have park light only as one option and obviously main beams with permanent full beam selectable is another mandatory mode.

But I would like to rewire that number 1, only main beam position to be my DRL leds along with park lights burning in the headlamp.

Anyone been poking around in this area and how hard would it be to make this happen?

[eresseraca]

Or to simplify it even more... just disconnect the main beam and connect DRL leds instead on the 0-position of the lever. Which would also be a legal way over here.

Where do I start to look, I suppose that I will find a relay somewhere that controls this?

[transitjack]

If you want to fit a pair of standard drl lights on your truck then you just need to buy a drl relay,look on ebay theres loads ,most come direct from china,ive fitted quite a few now
you connect to the battery terminals
one lead to the sidelight circuit
other wire to dlrs positive
with this fitted the drl lights come on automatically when engine started and turn off when engine shut down after about 15 seconds
they also comply with uk law by going dimmer when factory sidelights or headlights lights turned on
these will work great on a mk5 truck as there is no canbus to worry about
literally you will have it all fitted in an hour

[eresseraca]

Thanks Jack for the idea, I had a set of DRL on the shelf but the control box provided with them only had positive and negative wires... so I ordered a new relay and wireharness for a few bucks off ebay. As you say, should be a breeze to wire up with that one, not sure though if they'll be legal here in Finland as I might need to have the possibility to run side lights completely on their own as well... might be that dimmed DRL's won't cut it when it's time for MOT. We'll see

[CamperVanBeethoven]

Thanks Jack for the idea, I had a set of DRL on the shelf but the control box provided with them only had positive and negative wires... so I ordered a new relay and wireharness for a few bucks off ebay. As you say, should be a breeze to wire up with that one, not sure though if they'll be legal here in Finland as I might need to have the possibility to run side lights completely on their own as well... might be that dimmed DRL's won't cut it when it's time for MOT. We'll see

DO they not publish the "MOT" manual or the equivalent of the "Construction and Use Regulations" online in Finland? Might be worth googling ...

Age might exempt you from some requirements too. Well, exempt your van ...

[eresseraca]

Yes you can find it, but when one start reading various auto forums and what really seems to go through and not go through it seems to be very much up to the mood of the inspector that day Well, I'll go ahead with the relay harness I bought, would be a nice addition to be able to run the DRL on half power along with the regular lights

[eresseraca]

I ordered another DRL wiring harness from ebay, So now I have one with a wiring harness with a wire connected to low beams which turns them of when the low beams come one, still there's a separate positive for high beams so the come back on when I switch to high beams. I've also read about our regulations and still can't figure out how to get this to work. Help mee

Read some details on the rules and regulations, following needs to be accomplished to pass MOT up here:

1. DRL need to light up automatically when car is started.
2. DRL can be used with rear lights and park (side lights) activated.
3. Low/high beams need to be WITHOUT DRL
4. Park (side lights) need to available without DRL, despite point 2.

So I need one high/low beam option, one side light option and one DRL option. (and dimmed DRL equals park/side lights over here, so I can't run them dimmed with the low/high beams as I do in that case need to disable the park lights in the headlamps, which I don't want to do)

So the relay and wiring harnesses won't solve this for me. What I need, to get it working properly, is to get that "zero" position on the headlamp/light lever/switch (the one that won't leave the car beeping when removing the key from ignition) modified so that I have DRL and possibly park lights turning on when starting the car, if I move the lever one notch up and I'll run only park lights (side lights) and move it even further up I'll get the low/high beam position.

Any experts here on the relay stuff... or anyone who can't point me to the right schematics to rewire this?

[ricc]

seperate rocker switch on dash for the drl , fed from an ignition switched supply so that drl come on with engine. put two normally closed relays one after the other in between the switch and the drl, feed the relay coils ist from dip and 2nd from main beam so one relay opens to kill drl when either main or dip headlights are on.

[eresseraca]

Thanks ricc, that's one option but means I would still need to move the lever from "zero" position to park light position each time I start and move it back down each time I stop as otherwise the beeping will keep going and one of the the park lights will be left on (emergency mode I presume).

Would be much neater to get it directly connected to the "zero" position on the light switch/lever.

[CamperVanBeethoven]

Thanks ricc, that's one option but means I would still need to move the lever from "zero" position to park light position each time I start and move it back down each time I stop as otherwise the beeping will keep going and one of the the park lights will be left on (emergency mode I presume).

Would be much neater to get it directly connected to the "zero" position on the light switch/lever.

But of course, the '0' position being 'off' ... it's entirely possible there's nothing connected in the '0' position ...

Hmm.

However ... in THAT case, there would PROBABLY be at least one wire that's energised when either position I or II is selected. First thing I can think of would be: The signal going to the door switch.

You could tap a 'normally closed' relay into that for your 'position 0'. When it energises, your DRLs go off. Or stay on. Or whatever you want them to do

[eresseraca]

But headlights are on low beam/dipped along with the side/park lights in the 'zero' position. So on mine there's no position when the lights are off, aren't they wired this way in the UK?

- If the lever is it position 1 or 2 it beeps even without the key in the ignition, if I open the drivers door.
- If the lever is in zero position it's quiet... but when engine is running it beeps in all positions when I open the drivers door.

[CamperVanBeethoven]

But headlights are on low beam/dipped along with the side/park lights in the 'zero' position. So on mine there's no position when the lights are off, aren't they wired this way in the UK?

No

I think you may find there's nothing connected at position 0, and instead your position 0 lights come from a relay activated when the ignition goes on. Without sitting there with a wiring diagram and maybe a spare lever, and working out what's connected at positions 0, I and II, maybe I am wrong. Just seems odd to me that you'd have anything connected at position 0, that's all...

[eresseraca]

Okay Gotta dig deeper into this and investigate the wires and relays some more!

Would be nice if it's as your say, a separate relay triggered by ignition then I could hack that up best I want and have DRL+park/side light to come on and at the same time be able to leave position 1 and 2 alone and pass MOT without complaints

Thanks for the thoughts on this, this place is great for these kind of things! Appreciate it, cheers!