Daytime Running Light mod

[Dunerunner]

Originally Posted by RVGRINGO

If you want your lights on in the daytime, give it some serious thought and you might find a solution. You can also turn them off with the same switch; amazing!
Oh well, none of you remember 'crank to start' do you?

My '59 land Rover Pickup has a hand crank, strictly for emergency use; but I have had to use it!!

For now, my DRL will utilize the ON/OFF protocol.

[stereoman03]

omega car alarms makes the drl, should be about $25.00 at any stereo store, as for the wiring on the smart drop fues box and turn it over the headlight wire colors are Left- gray/yellow right-gray/purple you can grab constant and switched behind the box also, took us 10 min to install on my smart,this only turns headlights on, make sure at night to turn headlight switch on so ill and tail lights come on ,

[getsmartusa]

Thanks for the definitive proof that this works on a smart car. Also, thanks for the tips on installing the Kit. Now it should only take a few minutes...

- David -

[exipnaki]

Originally Posted by rawlus®

if you have the hockey puck, just put a dot of black tape over the eye sensor and leave the lights set to auto.

I thought the hockey puck was the rain sensor.....

[smartokie]

Webelectric has a nice product, easy to install, about $39, that turns the front round yellow turn signals into daylight running lights. They are probably brighter than a dimmed down low beam and more stylish.

[SmartDigger]

I have a web electric unit and it works great. It is on my 05 Pontiac Vibe. I first had it hooked up to the blinker lights but the heat from the headlights made the lenz bubble. I would add it had DRL already so the dim lights and the blinker light were both on at the same time in the same lenz assembly. I hooked it up to the fog lights and it works great with them. I plan on doing the same with the Smart when I get it. Unless, the blinker light is better constructed and looks like the extra heat would not be an issue.

[getsmartusa]

As I promised, this past Friday I installed the DRL mod in two smart Cabrio's which have the auto headlight's installed. I installed the unit sold by AEA. It work's great...now I never have to use the headlight switch.

Here"s the link: Automotive Electronic Accessories - Quality Accessories for Your Car

The unit is from " The Lite-Minder Company ". Lite-Minder Web Page, sold by AEA

The installation is technically very easy, but physically a bit challenging working in the small space under the dash on the drivers side.

The unit has four wire's:

Green - provides the +12v to power the headlights (for DRL's)
brown - goes to ground
Red - Constant 12V
Blue - Switched 12V (it's this wire that turns on the DRL's).

Some notes particular to the fortwo...

The headlights are powered buy seperate circuits, so you need to connect the green wire to both low beam headlight circuits.

Since the fortwo has no accessory position for the key I installed an on/off switch ( a few dollars from the local auto parts store) in line with the blue wire. That way if I am tinkering with the car, washing it, etc, and want to have the radio on, I can turn the DRL switch I installed off and the headlights will not be on while running the radio without the car started.

As recommended by the instructions, I connected the blue wire to the switched 12V that powers the radio since it cuts off the radio (and now the DRL's) while actually cranking the engine.

I just leave the headlight switch in auto and during normal daylight just the low beam headlights are on (reduced intensity, see next paragraph). When dusk arrives the headlights change to full bright and the rest of the lights (tail,parking, instrument, etc.) come on.

I forgot to mention the kit also provides a power reducer (essentially a big power resistor) that limits the power/intensity of the headlights in DRL mode. I installed this feature. You simply put the resistor in series with the red wire (constant 12V).

The resistor has it's own heatsink, and the instructions say to mount flat to a metal surface (for heat transfer). I mounted it to the frame under the dash on the drivers side (right next to the fuse box). It does get hot, so I highly recommend you do not just let it dangle.

I hope this isn't confusing, but rest assured the directions provided with the unit are good.

BEST of ALL I get the USAA discount for having DRL's...yea...

- David -

[mocmylov]

do you think it's possible to hook the kit up to the high beams instead of the low beams? Since I never use the high beams on socal, might as well find a use for them.

[birddog]

I installed the AEA module and it works perfectly. It is a quick and easy job by dropping the fuse box and all the wiring is in back.

[bjordan]

Come on, guys. It is becoming increasingly evident that the rise in cyclist collisions and deaths on our roads is associated with the use of automobile daytime running lights (DRLs). Austria banned them after a two-year experiment showed an overall 17% increase in fatalities. Bicycle and motorcycle casualties increased by 43% and 46%, respectively. Since the ban, fatalities have decreased 5% overall and 25% for motorcyclists.
France bans the use of DRLs. Great Britain rejected proposals to mandate DRLs, citing the lack of evidence of their benefit and the effects on pedestrians and cyclists. Every research study reporting the benefit of DRLs has been demonstratively discredited.
Motorcyclists have traditionally relied on their lights in daytime to make them conspicuous. Now that advantage is dramatically diminished by the sea of light and glare from DRL-equipped cars and trucks. Fully 70% of all motorcycle collisions are caused by motorists’ failure to yield. They did not "see" the cyclist.
As a member of the cyclist community, I’m asking all of you to consider keeping your lights off in daylight. There are entire web sites devoted to disabling DRLs (www.lightsout.org ). And you really want to enable them?

(As for the USAA insurance discount, my recollection is that it's $2.50. When I asked in writing for support for the discount, I got no response.)