$2 DRL solution for fog lights
#31
if i would not have to drive in the big dig tunnels often enough i would not care. i had situations when people clearly did not see me passing them. DRL should help a bit.
BTW i discovered an another interesting trick about HOME light setting. damn thing is indeed coupled with a light sensor. if it is during daylight - car does not light up fogs when light switch is on 'home' and you open the door but when it is dark - it does it.
so engineers implemented working sun sensor just fine and there should be a proper pin on the ECU with this signal as well. all what is left to do is a relay driven by that signal coupled to switchable power and a wire on pin A1 - low beam on a light switch and you will get your beams working in the tunnels and at night.
only downside is - there is no much space there behind a light switch and wires are tiny. for me those fogs will do now, it is imho more than enough.
BTW i discovered an another interesting trick about HOME light setting. damn thing is indeed coupled with a light sensor. if it is during daylight - car does not light up fogs when light switch is on 'home' and you open the door but when it is dark - it does it.
so engineers implemented working sun sensor just fine and there should be a proper pin on the ECU with this signal as well. all what is left to do is a relay driven by that signal coupled to switchable power and a wire on pin A1 - low beam on a light switch and you will get your beams working in the tunnels and at night.
only downside is - there is no much space there behind a light switch and wires are tiny. for me those fogs will do now, it is imho more than enough.
Last edited by utkinpol; 03-07-2012 at 12:36 PM.
#32
if i would not have to drive in the big dig tunnels often enough i would not care. i had situation when people clearly did not see me passing them. DRL should help a bit.
BTW i discovered an another interesting trick about HOME light setting. damn thing is indeed coupled with light sensor. if it is during daylight - car does not light up fogs when light switch is on 'home' and you open the door but when it is dark - it does it.
so engineers implemented working sun sensor just fine and there should be a proper pin on the ECU with this signal as well. all what is left to do is a relay driven by that signal coupled switchable power and a wire on pin A1 - low beam on a light switch and you will get your beams working in the tunnels and at night.
only downside is - there is no much space there behind a light switch and wires are tiny. for me those fogs will do now, it is imho more than enough.
BTW i discovered an another interesting trick about HOME light setting. damn thing is indeed coupled with light sensor. if it is during daylight - car does not light up fogs when light switch is on 'home' and you open the door but when it is dark - it does it.
so engineers implemented working sun sensor just fine and there should be a proper pin on the ECU with this signal as well. all what is left to do is a relay driven by that signal coupled switchable power and a wire on pin A1 - low beam on a light switch and you will get your beams working in the tunnels and at night.
only downside is - there is no much space there behind a light switch and wires are tiny. for me those fogs will do now, it is imho more than enough.
Isn't the sensor also for the gauge lighting? At dusk, the instrument cluster lights up as well so I am assuming these are running off of the same wire.
#34
but it may be that light sensor supplies only analog signal into ECU and there is no logical '1' or '0' signal coming out as fogs are controlled by ECU directly. not sure. most likely signal to use will be the one you spoke about - that controls cluster light or something else may be.
#35
any aftermarket wire you drop on your battery directly is a fire hazard, i would not do anything aftermarket there at all except of may be a master battery kill switch.
#36
The wire tap could easily be removed so this is just as reversible as the Dectane module.
#40
I made the "utkinpol DRL hack" today at lunchtime. I had to make 2 minor adjustments.
First one was I had to unplug the light switch from the wires in order to get enough room to work in the 18-22 gauge tap splice. My wires did not extend as far out as utkinpol did and I had more tape covering the group of wires.
Second change was the tap cost $2.13 (1.99 + .14 tax).
On the way home from the office this afternoon I passed 3 speed traps. One was set up by FHP & 2 were set up by the City police. Thanks to the V-1 I was well under the speed limit & they did nothing about daytime driving w/ the fog lights on.
Thanks again utkinpol.
First one was I had to unplug the light switch from the wires in order to get enough room to work in the 18-22 gauge tap splice. My wires did not extend as far out as utkinpol did and I had more tape covering the group of wires.
Second change was the tap cost $2.13 (1.99 + .14 tax).
On the way home from the office this afternoon I passed 3 speed traps. One was set up by FHP & 2 were set up by the City police. Thanks to the V-1 I was well under the speed limit & they did nothing about daytime driving w/ the fog lights on.
Thanks again utkinpol.
#42
Just picked up my car at FD Motorsports and he did the "hack" on my DRL's!!
Way cool. Now I can leave my headlights off and just run the driving lights, ROTtech LED's, during the day and then turn on the headlights when needed.
Thanks for the effort and the post!! Also got my Fister Exhaust done with Black Tips!! Awesome!!
Way cool. Now I can leave my headlights off and just run the driving lights, ROTtech LED's, during the day and then turn on the headlights when needed.
Thanks for the effort and the post!! Also got my Fister Exhaust done with Black Tips!! Awesome!!
#45
just to be on a safe side - monitor battery voltage, folks, after you do this, to avoid surprises.
i drive car almost every day and so far in 5 days there are no signs of discharge, but, who knows. i was not able to measure any current between those pins when ignition was off but, who knows.
i drive car almost every day and so far in 5 days there are no signs of discharge, but, who knows. i was not able to measure any current between those pins when ignition was off but, who knows.