LEDs turned on whenever car is

[DocUnissis]

I'd like to put in some LED strips near my headlights, but I'd prefer that they were just on whenever the car was.

I could accomplish this with the use of a relay tied into the cigarette lighter circuit and activated by the DRL circuit (similar to the independant fog light mod).

Does anyone know if there's an easier way to do this?


I apologize if this has been covered in a different thread, I was unlucky with my searches.

[FlawedLegacy]

I'm not very good with wiring, but couldn't you hook it into the DRL's?

[cabur]

Originally Posted by FlawedLegacy

I'm not very good with wiring, but couldn't you hook it into the DRL's?

DRL have low voltage and will be off when low beam comes on as in night driving. Tapping off cigarette lighter or radio is OK. There are already threads on this.

[Shft99]

Yeah, your best bet would be the cig lighter wire. No relay required if you tap from there though. You will also need to run it through the firewall.

[DocUnissis]

The following circuit is for people who want to replace their DRL's with anything else (provided it runs on 12VDC).

If you use the cigarette lighter as a positive voltage source, you don't need the fuse, but I will be putting it in for troubleshooting.

The only thing i'm usure about, is whether the resistance on the plug side of the DRL wire will make the switch usless.

If this is the case, use a rocker switch wired up to the plug side of the DRL cable and the other side to pin 85 on the relay to make sure the cable side of the DRL cable is only ever connected to one of them.

EDIT: does anyone know a good way of fishing wire through the firewall? I may have to tap into the cigarette lighter circuit just after the fuse box if it's going to be hard/impossible

[flamedrgn]

if you tap the drl's you need to run a relay (i learned my lesson when i popped my high/fog fuses). BUT it turns off when nighttime. The best bet is cig lighter or if you're feeling alittle bold you can tap the fuses (not recommended because you may fry something)

[nate89]

Originally Posted by DocUnissis

The following circuit is for people who want to replace their DRL's with anything else (provided it runs on 12VDC).

If you use the cigarette lighter as a positive voltage source, you don't need the fuse, but I will be putting it in for troubleshooting.

The only thing i'm usure about, is whether the resistance on the plug side of the DRL wire will make the switch usless.

If this is the case, use a rocker switch wired up to the plug side of the DRL cable and the other side to pin 85 on the relay to make sure the cable side of the DRL cable is only ever connected to one of them.

EDIT: does anyone know a good way of fishing wire through the firewall? I may have to tap into the cigarette lighter circuit just after the fuse box if it's going to be hard/impossible

That looks good

The easiest way I've found to get wires through the firewall is to poke some needle-nose pliers through a rubber grommet (with the plier end on the side the wire is) open the pliers, insert the wire, and pull back through. I can be done with one person (if you're stretch armstrong lol), but it's much easier with two.

[flamedrgn]

wait why dont you just tap the highbeams aka drls and relay using poer straight from the battery? it would be easier than getting power from the cig lighter.

[cabur]

Originally Posted by flamedrgn

wait why dont you just tap the highbeams aka drls and relay using poer straight from the battery? it would be easier than getting power from the cig lighter.

And when the low beam is on at night power is off on the DRL, relay does not activate, no LEDs.

[flamedrgn]

Originally Posted by cabur

And when the low beam is on at night power is off on the DRL, relay does not activate, no LEDs.

but from his diagram i see hes trying to use the DRLs as a relay signal already and just using the cig lighter as a 12v power.

scratch that, nevermind i looked over again.

[DocUnissis]

I was thinking about this last night, and the only reason to use a relay would be if you wanted to do the relay mod for the independent fog lights as well. If you don't want that, then you could simply tap into the cigarette lighter circuit (either at the fuse box or behind the radio) for the positive voltage, and just ground the negative to the frame and cut the cable for the DRL lights.

This is getting into the territory of automotive wiring (I'm a Robotics Engineer, but unfamiliar with cars), and I'm not sure if this would work. Can anyone give me a thumbs up/down on this?

I'm going to be looking into relays later today, I'll post a circuit for people who want to replace their DRLs as well as have independent fog lights which turn off with the car.

[flamedrgn]

thats a good idea but i think running a relay from the cig lighter and using the battery as a 12v source is a better idea. incase you ever want to use the cig lighter to charge something, it wont overdrawn power from the circuit.