DRL Replacement Lights, Need Wiring Help!

[heyou]

After some thought, it would be nearly impossible to mount the Turbo S turn signals on my car without doing a front end swap. I've discarded that idea and have come up with something far more simple.

Buy a pair of these:

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...number=505110C

And mount them here:


These lights are 1.75" tall and 3.75" long, so they should fit between the middle bar in the grill and the bottom. The bracket they come with can srew into the bottom of the plastic plate behind the grill. Would have them in this position block too much air from entering the radiator?

Mounting these lights would be pretty easy, pull off the lower grill and but a couple bolts into the plastic there. What I need help with is wiring these up to act as my DRLs. Whenever my parking brake is off, I want to have these lights and my turn signals to come on. Can anyone help?

[paultakeda]

You know that disable DRL trick? Instead of disabling, find the wire that corresponds with the TFL pin and splice in the wire to your new lights.

[heyou]

I hope it's really that simple! I pulled the sitch out and found the wire, it disappears into the dash somewhere. Am I going to have to remove the dash or find where this clmup of wires enters the engine bay.

[paultakeda]

My one concern is since the DRL uses the low beams at reduced intensity that your new lights might be correspondingly dim if tapping into the TFL wire.

[GatorBeetle]

If you are talking about splicing into the wire at the switch, I believe you will only be getting the feed that would be going to a relay, not to the lights themselves. You would need to splice into the wire which supplies the power at the headlight for the DRL to make that work.

At that point it should be fine brightness wise, as long as you are running the same wattage bulb as the headlights, which is 55W.

[heyou]

So I need to find the DRL wire in the engine bay somewhere. Good thing I bought that Bently manual!

[GatorBeetle]

Don't know what your original issue with the DRL's is, but yeah, you should be able to find it at the back of the headlight, just need to ID which one it is. I would also make sure you have good size wire, not all of the fog light kits come with wire I would run from a headlight bulb!!

[paultakeda]

Originally Posted by GatorBeetle

If you are talking about splicing into the wire at the switch, I believe you will only be getting the feed that would be going to a relay, not to the lights themselves. You would need to splice into the wire which supplies the power at the headlight for the DRL to make that work.

At that point it should be fine brightness wise, as long as you are running the same wattage bulb as the headlights, which is 55W.

That makes sense. I've tapped into the harness for the lightswitch and dimmer for the rear fog light and my boost gauge, so I had thought those wires were a direct feed and the relay is the switch itself.

[GatorBeetle]

You could be right too...I do know that in later NB's you have to do a relay "fix" to disable the DRL's, so maybe the earlier cars do work that way...but the switch hasn't changed...I dunno, I just thought there was a relay external from the switch for the DRL's.

The Bentley would be the place to check for that info, and mine is not available to me right now.

[paultakeda]

The relay thing was for 1998 and recent models, right? A 2001 just needs the TFL pin taped over to break the circuit.

So try a test first. Pop out the lightswitch and tap into the TFL wire and run it to the light (just have it sit on the dash or something), just make sure you run a ground wire from the light as well. Then switch on the car and see if the light comes on. If it doesn't then you may have to go the headlight as GatorBeetle wrote. It it does, then you're set.

[GatorBeetle]

Good idea on the test. I have a link to the old BugMod articles on the subject, but it is at work, or I could look it up. My '99, I simply had to disable the TFL pin. If I could get to that link, but I am NOT going back to work until I absolutely have to!!

[heyou]

If I tap the TFL wouldn't thate require splicing a new wire fromt he switch, then feeding it through the firewall and into the engine bay? I'll pickup the lights tomorrow, I want these to be amber so i'll need some film or amber bulbs.

[GatorBeetle]

Yeah, you would need to run the wire to wherever you mount the lights. Seems to me it would be easier to run from the headlight.

[heyou]

Bought they lights, they're slightly different than the ones a first posted, and come with halogen bulbs. I don't want them to be that bright, so I'm looking for amber bulbs now. They're 55w, and I need something of a lower wattage.

[GatorBeetle]

I wouldn't use a lower wattage buld off the DRL line, which is designed for a 55W bulb, but maybe I play it too safe...

[heyou]

I worried about these lights being too bright, I mean they're 12v Halogens! I'm going to return these and find something lower in power, I also can't find amber halogen bulbs. Or could I retrofit these with some other kind of bulb?

[GatorBeetle]

You probably could if you could find the right kind bulb socket...one wiich will fit the light housing. I know I found some which fit the Turbo S turn signals at the local parts store.

I know I've never seen amber Halogens.

[heyou]

Change of tac: I'm going to paint the lenses amber, or use lighting gel. Also, had some help from my dad and a voltmeter today, and found out it would be almost impossible to have these lights take over as my DRLs, UNLESS:

1. Wire up a switch to the new lights.
2. Disable the DRLs

We're going to find a power source that gets cut off when the ignition is off so I don't accidentally leave them on. Instead of using the ugly switch that came with the lights, I've got a blank switch under my center console. I'm going to track down a part number for a new switch from VW, so my dash looks stock.
This way, I can leave the switch on, and I'll just have to remember to turn it off at night.

Also, I got the exact lights I posted above now, which are 33w 12V halogens, not 55w.

[paultakeda]

Now THAT is a change of tack.

[TeddyTiger]

I think from my experience, is the TFL pin supplies power to a relay that is energized when you release the parking brake (you can hear it clicking under the dash, though since I've disabled the DRL's I don't hear it anymore), so I figure that TFL pin isn't directly hooked to the lights, and you may end up damaging your wiring if you try to run your aux DRL's off that pin. I think all it does is either supply power to the DRL relay or it's hooked to the coil side of the DRL relay, you may want to find a wiring diagram, and possibly tap the TFL pin on the swith into an aux relay for your lights.