Has anyone converted to automatic daytime running lights?

[Hemi Joel]

Has anyone set up their headlights for automatic daytime running lights? How did you do it? Do you use a resistor for reduced voltage to extend bulb life?
Thanks, Joel

[John Kelso]

I just keep adding carbide and water to the generator

[TAKerry]

Just turn them on! Put a note on the dash to remind you turn them off.

[Frank DuVal]

Relay to headlamp low beams with coil power from ignition circuit. They would be full voltage unless you desired the low beams to be in series. That would be a lot of work   😱

[Terry Bond]

12 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

Just turn them on! Put a note on the dash to remind you turn them off.

But don't forget to turn them off.  Don't bother asking me how I know.

Terry

[joe_padavano]

When DRLs were first introduced, there were aftermarket kits available to convert your older car. Unfortunately I'm unable to find them with a Google search today.

[joe_padavano]

OK, found one. GM offered P/N 12370445 DRL conversion kit back in the 1990s. Long out of production, but there's at least one on ebay.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134537081597

[TAKerry]

3 hours ago, Terry Bond said:

But don't forget to turn them off.  Don't bother asking me how I know.

Terry

I saw an antique motorcycle that the fellow used as a daily rider. He had a big note clear taped to the gas tank that simply said "Lights Dummy!"

[Bryan G]

My wife's last car had them but the more recent purchase, a Dodge, didn't. She let me know how important this was to her (oh, boy, did she!) and advised she was happy if they just stayed on all the time with the ignition. The vehicle uses a CANBUS system which means the headlight switch doesn't work like older setups. It instead introduces a different resistance to the circuit based on switch position, and the computer detects that. I managed to rig up a relay connected to the cigar lighter (a handy source that is ignition switched) and wired in an appropriate resistor. I didn't write out a schematic so if I had to redo it I'd have to spend an hour figuring it out! Bottom line, it works. Under some circumstances the lights don't go off with the ignition, but the computer has a feature that automatically turns them off after 60 seconds to prevent battery run-down.

 

Oh...this vehicle could be had with auto-lights. At first I thought just the different switch would do it but that didn't work. I forgot you also need a sensor atop the dash, which didn't look like much fun to install. Then you have to find a sympathetic dealer to go in and change programming in the computer to let it know it has auto lights.

 

For an older vehicle, maybe something could be cobbled together from one of those auto-low beam setups that GM had back in the 50s?

[Akstraw]

Depends on the car.  My 2000 BMW has a central lighting computer (go figure).  It cost me $70 at the BMW dealer to have it programmed to enable DRL’s.

[rodneybeauchamp]

I set this one up with DRL using one of the spare globes inside the housing, replacing it with an LED with the same brightness as a turn signal or brake lamp. I think I fluked the wiring by hooking it up to the regulator (but not sure) but they used to turn on seconds after the car started and would turn off when it was turned off. 
 

I certainly felt safer driving it on our country roads as I think DRLs are extremely important. This one has been sold but my ‘new’ 1997 Riviera has them fitted as standard.

 

Well worth the effort in my view without detracting from the original looks.

Rodney 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

[TTR]

17 hours ago, TAKerry said:

Just turn them on! 

That’s what I’ve been doing for decades whenever driving cars without “DRL” feature.

 

 

[Hemi Joel]

18 hours ago, TAKerry said:

Just turn them on! Put a note on the dash to remind you turn them off.

The problem with that is getting my wife to ever turn them on. 

[Hemi Joel]

18 hours ago, joe_padavano said:

OK, found one. GM offered P/N 12370445 DRL conversion kit back in the 1990s. Long out of production, but there's at least one on ebay.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134537081597

 

Interesting. I wonder what's in the kit?

[TAKerry]

I never used drl's. My Canadian brother always had his lights on. I dont have that option on any of my current autos but occasionally will put the headlights or at least the running lights on during the day. I was sideswiped a couple of weeks ago on a small country road. Guy in a pickup crossed the line, we moved over at the last minute with mirrors colliding. Of course he did not stop. Ironically same thing happened on the same stretch of road within a few hundred yards several years ago. Again I was lucky in that I only lost the mirror. That time a girl came completely across the line and I could see she was on her cell phone. My personal feeling towards DRL's are that they give a false sense of safety to the driver that uses them. Hate to beat that dead horse but there are so many distracted idiot drivers I dont think oncoming lights during the daylight hours will make a whole lot of difference in those instances. My thought on the matter is that if an oncoming driver cant seen a 3 ton chunk of steel coming towards them than a couple of lights wont make a diff.

[TTR]

31 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

I never used drl's. My Canadian brother always had his lights on. I dont have that option on any of my current autos but occasionally will put the headlights or at least the running lights on during the day. I was sideswiped a couple of weeks ago on a small country road. Guy in a pickup crossed the line, we moved over at the last minute with mirrors colliding. Of course he did not stop. Ironically same thing happened on the same stretch of road within a few hundred yards several years ago. Again I was lucky in that I only lost the mirror. That time a girl came completely across the line and I could see she was on her cell phone. My personal feeling towards DRL's are that they give a false sense of safety to the driver that uses them. Hate to beat that dead horse but there are so many distracted idiot drivers I dont think oncoming lights during the daylight hours will make a whole lot of difference in those instances. My thought on the matter is that if an oncoming driver cant seen a 3 ton chunk of steel coming towards them than a couple of lights wont make a diff.

My thought on the matter is that having lights on, even during daylight hours, will add an extra layer of security by making any vehicle more visible to others (idiots or not), hence helping to prevent any potential accident/collision and I believed it before any legislation mandated it.

[TTR]

1 hour ago, Hemi Joel said:

The problem with that is getting my wife to ever turn them on. 

Aah, the old "blame spouse" defense ! 🙄😉

[JACK M]

Last Thursday it rained, I was driving a country road for about 20 miles and found it difficult to see some of the oncoming cars as they simply blended into the mist. Especially white or gray cars. My old hoopty had to be turned up a bit to keep the wipers and the headlights on at the same time.

When I got to the town I was going to I had to go to the parking lights to keep the ammeter happy. I was glad I had good blades that day.

[Pfeil]

22 hours ago, TAKerry said:

Just turn them on! Put a note on the dash to remind you turn them off.

I have a wife.

 

Seriously, the only time the lights are on in the daytime is if it's raining, per the law.

[joe_padavano]

3 hours ago, TTR said:

My thought on the matter is that having lights on, even during daylight hours, will add an extra layer of security by making any vehicle more visible to others (idiots or not), hence helping to prevent any potential accident/collision and I believed it before any legislation mandated it.

One vehicle with lights on stands out. When every vehicle has lights on, your brain tunes it out. Ever driven a car with those annoying traffic indicator lights in the side mirrors? Drive on a traffic packed freeway and it takes less than five minutes for your brain to start ignoring them.

[TAKerry]

When the headlights started going led, it took me a bit to figure out that they did not have a short, but that the headlight turns off when the blinker comes on ( I know, Im a bit slow!)

[joe_padavano]

7 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

When the headlights started going led, it took me a bit to figure out that they did not have a short, but that the headlight turns off when the blinker comes on ( I know, Im a bit slow!)

Yeah, I don't quite understand that (other than the brightness of the headlight makes it possible to miss the turn signal). It sure seems like yet another complexity and possible failure mode.

[Century Eight]

In my state the law says if your wipers are on you must turn on your lights

[TAKerry]

15 minutes ago, Century Eight said:

In my state the law says if your wipers are on you must turn on your lights

Same in MD, one of my pet peeves is seeing cars with wipers running and no lights.

[Matt Harwood]

What kind of car is it, Joel? I recently installed some sealed-beam housings in my 1935 Lincoln that have what the British call a "pilot light" which is just a second, small bulb inside that acts as a parking light (which is how the factory Lincoln headlights were configured, but someone switched mine to sealed beams decades ago). I used some small LEDs in that spot with a yellow-white color range. You could easily wire a relay to the ignition which turns on these pilot lamps and turns them off when you turn off the ignition. As LEDs they won't draw much power, either, and should last forever.

 

 

 

[Bhigdog]

I have a newer car. I have no idea how to turn the lights on, or off, for that matter. controlling the lights is just one more function that the car takes on for itself. It obviously knows what's best....................Bob

[TTR]

1 hour ago, joe_padavano said:

One vehicle with lights on stands out. When every vehicle has lights on, your brain tunes it out. Ever driven a car with those annoying traffic indicator lights in the side mirrors? Drive on a traffic packed freeway and it takes less than five minutes for your brain to start ignoring them.

I tend to think anyone who’s “brain tunes out” (which I take meaning “not paying attention”) while driving, be it due to lights being on or off in other vehicles or fiddling with ones own smartphone, etc, shouldn’t be driving in the first place.

 

 

[TTR]

39 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

…, and should last forever.

Now there’s an often heard/read, but likely impossible claim to prove. 😉

[joe_padavano]

17 minutes ago, TTR said:

I tend to think anyone who’s “brain tunes out” (which I take meaning “not paying attention”) while driving, be it due to lights being on or off in other vehicles or fiddling with ones own smartphone, etc, shouldn’t be driving in the first place.

 

 

Sorry, but that isn't correct. When the little light in the side mirror cries "wolf" every three seconds, your brain quickly starts to ignore it. That is a completely different phenomena than being distracted by a cell phone, and frankly I don't understand how you think the two are related. Heck, the warning gizmos in new cars are as much of a distraction as looking at your cell phone, at least the first time you get into an unfamiliar rental car late at night after a long flight. If I can't drive safely without the electronic nanny crap, I shouldn't be driving.

[Hemi Joel]

3 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

What kind of car is it, Joel? 

 

 

 Matt, I have a few cars I'd like to do this too. My wife's 61 Corvette, my 67 Olds 442, and my 93 Dodge D350. All of these cars get driven enough that safety is a concern.

 

On cars that get driven a lot, I install headlight relays so that the bulbs get full alternator voltage. The lights are much brighter, but the bulbs don't last as long. On my 93 Dodge, it was getting 9.5 V to the bulbs. Now with the relays he gets 13.5 V plus. When the bulbs were running at 9.5 V, they lasted forever.

But I don't think I need that much brightness during the daytime so I would like to use a resistor to save on bulbs. It seems about once a year or more on an out-of-town road trip, I'm changing a bulb in some dark parking lot somewhere.

I'm firmly convinced that driving with the headlights on during the day makes the car more visible. When people cause a crash by pulling out into traffic that has the right away, they almost always say I didn't see them coming. Of course daytime running lights can't prevent every crash from every possible cause, and we still need to drive very defensively and be super alert. But if headlights on prevent one crash, one ambulance ride, one trip to the morgue, etc. it is well worth it to me.

[Hemi Joel]

On 9/4/2023 at 2:31 PM, joe_padavano said:

OK, found one. GM offered P/N 12370445 DRL conversion kit back in the 1990s. Long out of production, but there's at least one on ebay.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134537081597

 

I looked that up. It looks like it's a module designed to plug-in to specific vehicles. I don't think that would apply in my case. But I do remember the universal aftermarket kits you could get. Looks like those must not be available anymore.

 

 

So I suppose what I will do is run a new circuit. Battery +  to fuse to relay contacts to resistor to low beam headlight bulbs. And ignition hot to override switch, to relay coil to ground.  do any of the electrical gurus here see an issue with that plan? Do I need a diode in the relay, or just a regular relay?

 

Thanks, Joel

[joe_padavano]

1 hour ago, Hemi Joel said:

 

I looked that up. It looks like it's a module designed to plug-in to specific vehicles. I don't think that would apply in my case. But I do remember the universal aftermarket kits you could get. Looks like those must not be available anymore.

The module is claimed to fit the 1980s GM B-body cars. These have four incandescent bulbs (separate high and low beam bulbs). Any car with similar incandescent bulbs should be able to use this module. Yeah, you might have to change the plugs. That's pretty easy.

[Marty Roth]

On 9/4/2023 at 8:22 AM, Hemi Joel said:

Has anyone set up their headlights for automatic daytime running lights? How did you do it? Do you use a resistor for reduced voltage to extend bulb life?
Thanks, Joel

@Hemi Joel

 

I did mine the easy way-

When the headlight switch is set on Automatic headlight on for darkness,

there is a device on your dash which recognizes sunlight, or the absence of it -

I covered mine with a solid dark object,

 ... a hat, 

 ... a patch,

 ... anything  non-reflective 

that way, the headlights come on when the key is "ON" and the car is running

Edited September 5, 2023 by Marty Roth (see edit history)

[Pfeil]

5 hours ago, Century Eight said:

In my state the law says if your wipers are on you must turn on your lights

I think what it means is if the wipers are on it must be raining and if it's raining you must turn on your lights.

Government is so clever. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[Century Eight]

Pfeil - Would you be suggesting “government intelligence”?

[8E45E]

On 9/4/2023 at 8:42 PM, Akstraw said:

Depends on the car.  My 2000 BMW has a central lighting computer (go figure).  It cost me $70 at the BMW dealer to have it programmed to enable DRL’s.

If you have access to a decent OBDII scanner that allows resets, you could have set them up to be on full time for free!

 

Craig

[8E45E]

On 9/5/2023 at 7:59 AM, TAKerry said:

My Canadian brother always had his lights on. 

DRL's have been mandatory on new cars sold in Canada since the 1990 model year.

 

Somewhat humorous, is a 'running light' was a popular accessory in the 1960's, and Dodge made a big deal about their 'Superlight' running light in 1969.   My dad's 1964 Plymouth station wagon had one.

 

Craig