DRL... The hard way.

[Green1]

As the general consensus appears to be that I do not know what I'm talking about, and cause more harm than good, I am removing this post so that others are not tricked in to following my ill-advised instructions.

[Schwa]

I noticed my new headlight pods have an extra, unused bulb socket in the high beams, and I was thinking about wiring mine up similarly to your own setup with the e-brake disable...

I'm also very interested in replacing as many filament bulbs with LEDs as I can, where are you getting them?

Good work!

[Green1]

The ones I'm using are from Partsource, however I have also seen them at Canadian Tire and princess auto.
it should be noted that if you change the turn signal bulbs you will need either a drop resistor across the bulb, or you'll have to replace the turn signal relay with an electronic flasher unit.

[Green1]

After installing this system an unexpected side-effect has arisen, the brake sensor wire is also activated if you have low brake fluid, meaning that if your brake fluid is low the DRLs also shut off... to solve this problem I recommend putting a diode in the original brake sensor wire so that the signal from the brake fluid sensor doesn't travel back along that wire and to the DRL relay. (or simply make sure your brake fluid is topped up!)

[loki]

After installing this system an unexpected side-effect has arisen, the brake sensor wire is also activated if you have low brake fluid, meaning that if your brake fluid is low the DRLs also shut off... to solve this problem I recommend putting a diode in the original brake sensor wire so that the signal from the brake fluid sensor doesn't travel back along that wire and to the DRL relay. (or simply make sure your brake fluid is topped up!)

Let's say I wanted to do this mod but with out the e-brake part, is this the way it should look?

[Erebus]

Yes, that looks right. I wired mine slightly different from Green1's, but same idea. One thing I added was to put a small LED light on the dash that comes on with the DRLs, so that I have a clear indication that they are on. Hopefully enough of a warning that I don't forget to turn the headlights on at night -- the dash light is almost annoyingly bright at night. But not so bright that if I'm driving in fog at night with only fog lights that I'm blinded by the DRL warning light.

[loki]

good, I hope that re-wiring it fixes the issue I'm having with overly dim low beams.

[Green1]

Yes, that looks right. I wired mine slightly different from Green1's, but same idea

ummm.. the diagram was from your vehicle not mine... remember, mine is completely messed up and complicated...

(they do exactly the same thing and behave identically, and in fact I designed the wiring for both of them, but I did it a completely different way each time....)

[EricN]

Let's say I wanted to do this mod but with out the e-brake part, is this the way it should look?

I assume you are using separate bulbs for the DRL? Otherwise I dont think a 5a fuse will cut it and if you are using the lowbeams, your truck will not shut off if your headlights are on. Also, if you turn your headlights on with no key in the ignition, the whole truck will be powered through your DRL relay.

[Green1]

As the general consensus appears to be that I do not know what I'm talking about, and cause more harm than good, I am removing this post so that others are not tricked in to following my ill-advised instructions.

[EricN]

If you read the original post.

DOH

[Schwa]

I just re-wired my DRLs so that they disable when the e-brake is on and the light comes from the high-beam compartment. 1 new wire went from relay output to the unused bulb socket on the headlight pod and then over to the other headlight, same place. I used just the top portion of the schematic, they stay on with the headlights for now, might add the other relay later.

[Bessie the Mud Slayer]

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but its a good one and I need a little advice. I'm having troubles finding the right bulb to use with this setup. I want it to fit in the extra socket on my headlight assembly. Just have no clue where to start figuring it out, aside from the socket type. Any thoughts?

[Green1]

that "extra socket" is for european "city lights" which aren't really bright enough to be DRL (you can barely tell they are on during the day) I think it's something like a 5 or 10 watt bulb. In my setup I swapped the front running lights for a dual filament bulb and used the bright filament for the DRL.

[loki]

that "extra socket" is for european "city lights" which aren't really bright enough to be DRL (you can barely tell they are on during the day) I think it's something like a 5 or 10 watt bulb. In my setup I swapped the front running lights for a dual filament bulb and used the bright filament for the DRL.

It might be worth looking for an LED bulb that will go into the city light spot and is bright enough.