DayTime Running Lights (DRLs) for US imported Cars

[warrenw]

How to:
I have many requests and questions about how to wire the front marker (park) lamps for DRLs. (for imported US cars)
so.
in order to help others out here is a quick write up...
my pictures are not great as the macro on my camera isn't working.

Some attempts to wire the DRLs using the front marker lamps turn on all the other park lamps, rear, side, marker lamps. As well dim the clock, radio, and heating controls making it impossible to see during in the day light.
This is a poor solution as you end up driving with your park lamps on 100% of the time. As well you may notice your AC fans are running all the time.

The fix is to power the park lamps as per factory wiring and still have the only the front markers on. (and have one not effect the other)
The compent to solve this is qty. 4 recifying diodes. Two for each lamp. These diodes will isolate the park lamp cct from the DRL cct.


rough schematic: red for what to add to your car's wiring.

To start with, fuse #3 under the dash on the drivers side is built for the DRL cct. Not used on US cars. (there still may be a fuse in the slot)
This fuse #3 has +12 V only when the key is in the on position. I used a spade lug to connect where the fuse was and connected a fuse holder with a 5 - 7.5 amp fuse and lead the wire through the firewall into the front of the car. (see picture) I pushed the wire through an existing gromit using a sharp solid wire.

When routing the wire to the park lamps, be careful to ensure that the wire does not interfear with the pop up head lamps. It is easy to get the wire caught up in the head lamp mechanisim.


connecting the diodes for each lamp. (note the white stripe ->towards the lamp)

View attachment 61172
connection to fuse box

View attachment 61173
wire through fire wall


wire from one marker lamp to another


where to put the diodes (sorry they are covered with tape.


From this fused wire, you need to power your front marker lamps through a pair of Diodes. ( one for each lamp) These diodes need to be installed with the stripe towards the lamps (very important!)
As well you need to install a second pair of diodes in the park lamp cct. at each lamp.

You will notice there are three wires to each lamp. two red (+itive) and 1 black (grnd). cut the two red at each lamp, strip them and twist together. They do not need to be isolated. connect the two diodes at each lamp in a y connection. The common point (diode stripe side) towards the lamp. Solder and insulate with heat shrink and tape. Connect the other end of the park lamp cct to one diode, and your new wire form fuse #3 to the other diodev.

I have included a very rough schematic of the wiring; a picture of the diodes for each lamp, a factory dash fuse box diagram to show the detail on how to.
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=60966&d=1251764394

result!

Not sure if I have explained this well or not. Let me know if you need me to clairify anything.

 

[Roger59]

Warren,
Thanks posting, these is great. Would it be possible to work around cutting the two red wires?

 

[ffffanman]

Warren, my car is ready to do...call me!
Trev
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1218039#post1218039

 

[warrenw]

Warren,
Thanks posting, these is great. Would it be possible to work around cutting the two red wires?

Sorry Roger,
inserting the diodes at the park lamp requires the wires to be cut. I do solder the conneciton, heat shrink and tape the diode. You will never see the modification once done. Putting it back later is the reverse process if wanted.

 

[Roger59]

Sorry Roger,
inserting the diodes at the park lamp requires the wires to be cut. I do solder the conneciton, heat shrink and tape the diode. You will never see the modification once done. Putting it back later is the reverse process if wanted.

Thanks for the update Warren.

 

[ffffanman]

Mine should be a piece of cake since I already have my power up front from my Canadian driving lights that I took out on Saturday.
Looks better now.
Trev

 

[slamstrom]

Warren,
Thanks for the write-up. I am not converting my parking lamps to DRL, but your write-up answered something that I was trying to figure out.

 

[vancouver]

Hi Warrren,
I have not removed the lens but I can see from your pictures there is a lamp assembly for a marker light next to the signal light. I was wondering how bright the oem bulb is? Did you use the existing bulb or upgrade to something else? thx, John

Also, is there a reason mine do not seem to be active? Is that normal for cdn vehicles? curious??

 

[95EagleAWD]

Does it send the dash into night mode, or did you get around that?

 

[warrenw]

Does it send the dash into night mode, or did you get around that?

My mod does not put the dash into night mode.

 

[warrenw]

Hi Warrren,
I have not removed the lens but I can see from your pictures there is a lamp assembly for a marker light next to the signal light. I was wondering how bright the oem bulb is? Did you use the existing bulb or upgrade to something else? thx, John

Also, is there a reason mine do not seem to be active? Is that normal for cdn vehicles? curious??

OEM bulb is a 4 Watt. I replaced the bulb with a 10Watt Xenon. Bought them here:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/Wedge-Base-Xenon-12-Volt-Light-Bulbs/5972/
Your park lamps should be active with the headlamps and with the switch in park mode. I would bet your bulbs are just burned out.

 

[ffffanman]

Yes, the diodes stop the power from running up the other side....thats what a diodes job is! A One Way Valve!
T

 

[vancouver]

OEM bulb is a 4 Watt. I replaced the bulb with a 10Watt Xenon. Bought them here:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/Wedge-Base-Xenon-12-Volt-Light-Bulbs/5972/
Your park lamps should be active with the headlamps and with the switch in park mode. I would bet your bulbs are just burned out.

You were right; they were burnt out :smile:

 

[Sir Stunna Lot]

could you provide more details on how/where you ran the wire from the fuse box through the fire wall?

 

[warrenw]

could you provide more details on how/where you ran the wire from the fuse box through the fire wall?

I used an existing gromit on the firewall near the clutch mech. I pushed the wire through that existing gromit using a sharp solid wire. Once the wire was in place I just put a dab of RTV silicone to seal from water leakage. In the picture below, you can see the red wire coming through the firewall.

 

[Sir Stunna Lot]

can i use these rectifier diodes that i picked up from the local Fry's?

 

[warrenw]

can i use these rectifier diodes that i picked up from the local Fry's?

Yes, should be just fine.

 

[MWR01]

I'm importing a 2002, with the fixed headlights, not pop-ups. Does anyone know if the Factory DRL module (available from CDN dealers) will simply plug into the US vehicle? In other words, is the US vehicle simply missing the module?

MWR

 

[warrenw]

I'm importing a 2002, with the fixed headlights, not pop-ups. Does anyone know if the Factory DRL module (available from CDN dealers) will simply plug into the US vehicle? In other words, is the US vehicle simply missing the module?

MWR

Leave a PM for silverback (Gregg) (Montreal)
I helped him wire the park lamps within the headlamps on a '04. I believe you are correct, the DRL module may do the trick by itself. (won't be cheap though) The module will lightup the high-beams in series (half bright) Fuse under the hood and module, behind the glovebox.

 

[MWR01]

[ I believe you are correct, the DRL module may do the trick by itself. (won't be cheap though) The module will lightup the high-beams in series (half bright) Fuse under the hood and module, behind the glovebox.[/QUOTE]

The DRL module is about $235 here on west coast, which isn't too bad, especially if it's "plug and play." So module plugs in behind glovie and fuse needs to be installed in fuse box? Great, thanks, I'm going to give it a whirl.

 

[Bram]

No, You would not be able to plug in the The DRL module on US NSX. The electrical connector is not present on US cars.

To get the lights to work you'll need to "tap" the headlights wiring.

Bram

I'm importing a 2002, with the fixed headlights, not pop-ups. Does anyone know if the Factory DRL module (available from CDN dealers) will simply plug into the US vehicle? In other words, is the US vehicle simply missing the module?

MWR

 

[MWR01]

"Tap"? Can you elaborate, please?

 

[Bram]

Sorry, What I mean by "Tap" ... is taking a 12 V feed off one of the 12 V supply in the fuse box, connecting to the low bean on the head light assembly.

In order to do this correctly, you need to make these connections thru a relay. I believe Warren have a good description and diagram for connecting a DRL. I would also suggest taking the car to a good Auto Electrical guy.

Hope this helps

Bram

 

[warrenw]

I would check for the DRL module wiring first. If it isn't there, then I would wire the park lamps as i did on the pre-2002 cars. Park lamps are contained inside the headlamp assembly. This should have very good DRL functionality.
I would not touch the low or high beams, except maybe using the same method at the head lamp relay control.
Silverback (Gregg) is working though this right now as well. He is in the Montreal area.

 

[MWR01]

I ended up taking a different approach to the DRL issue on my 2002 with fixed headlights. I used some Canadian Tire parts, so if that sounds like cheating to you, read no further! (And my humble apologies ...)

Essentially I created a separate circuit outside the wiring harness for the DRLs and, as Warren suggested, used the parking light spot in each headlamp assembly. First off, I bought one of the DRL Modules from Canadian Tire ($40). Then I picked up a couple of sockets to use instead of cutting into the existing factory parking light sockets, again at Canadian Tire (about $3.95 each, I think). These sockets work for wedge style bulbs, exactly like the existing parking lights.

I connected the power side of the DRL module as instructed: red wire to power (in this case the terminal the battery directly connects to in the fuse box under the hood), black to ground (just outside the fuse box) and then the trigger wire, which turns the DRL module on, to the un-fused side of the wiper motor terminal in the fuse box. The wiper motor circuit is active only when the key is in run mode.

Then instead of connecting the remaining wires into the existing wiring harness to turn on the low beams and the parking lights, I connected them as the positives of the Canadian Tire sockets. Each socket was then also connected to ground. (The remaining wire of the DRL module intended for the high beams I simply cut and taped off.) Now I had a separate wiring harness for the new DRL circuit. The sockets themselves were a very close match to the existing parking light housing, but three of the four tabs needed to be trimmed off to allow the sockets to fit and turn 90 degrees to lock tightly into the housing.

As a final touch, instead of using the factory wedge bulbs, I used wedge-style LED bulbs in cool white from SuperBrightLEDs.com (US$3.74 each). The end result was a completely reversible system that passed the inspection. I didn’t have to cut any wires or modify anything on the vehicle itself. Everything is removable in about 5 minutes. The final picture shows what it looks like sitting in my garage, which is probably a little more dramatic looking than it appears in daylight.

However, Super Bright LEDs warn against putting LEDs in headlamp assemblies because they claim the heat will shorten the LED bulb’s life, but so far, so good. I love the look so I’m going to keep them there and see how long they last.