Author Topic: DRL To be or not to be  (Read 32020 times)

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Offline ScottT

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #75 on: June 06, 2014, 03:38:34 PM »
Yup, I get about 4 months out of a set of $60 headlights if I leave them on all the time I am driving. PITA replacing them all the time.

Currently I'm running Narva Plus 120 in my 120, but only at night. I've replaced my parkers with LED Cree globes, can be seen during the day (if that's what you want, without "dazzling" the on coming traffic) and standout at night as the "blue" light of the parker differs from the headlight.

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Offline autoelecau

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #76 on: June 13, 2014, 10:56:34 AM »
The Lightforce Venom drivings lights have come out and these lights have a form of LED DRL built into them. We have them in the store, and it's only a matter of time before we get them online. Anyone's thoughts on these as DRLs? (Love the idea, hate the idea--all thoughts accepted)
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Offline feisty

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #77 on: April 25, 2015, 10:06:17 PM »
Philips X-treme Vision H4
Hiya d4d. What are they like? Thinking of ordering some as I am over Crappy headlights and the Narva ?+ whatevers aren't cutting the mustard.
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Offline evolution

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #78 on: April 26, 2015, 01:13:00 AM »
The amount of DRL's we sell and fit at work is crazy. And yes they must meet ADR.
What allot of people don't know is as with all lights there is a requirement on how they must be fitted.
They cannot be too close together, and they can't be more than a certain distance from the edge of the vehicle.

A pair of daytime running lights may be fitted to a motor vehicle;
A pair of daytime running lights fitted to a motor vehicle with 4 or more wheels must be fitted with the centre of each light: (a) at least 600mm from the centre of the other light; and (b) not over 510mm from the nearer side of the vehicle;
However, a pair of daytime running lights fitted to a motor vehicle under 1300mm wide may be fitted with the centre of each light not under 400mm from the centre of the other light;
When on, a daytime running light must: (a) show a white or yellow light visible from the front of the vehicle; and (b) not use over 25W; and
Daytime running lights must be wired so they are off when a headlight, other than a headlight being used as a flashing signal, is on.

In my mind, when done right DRL's will not make a negative impact on driving. As to how effective they are thats another story.
Driving country roads every day, I will say that they certainly make it easier to see oncoming traffic in bright sunlight as well as when there is heat haze.

But then again so do headlights........


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Offline GeoffA

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #79 on: April 26, 2015, 06:44:56 AM »
........
But then again so do headlights........

Yep  :cup:

Seems a lot of trouble and effort for a problem that's already solved......IMO....
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Offline D4D

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #80 on: April 26, 2015, 06:55:35 AM »
Hiya d4d. What are they like? Thinking of ordering some as I am over Crappy headlights and the Narva ?+ whatevers aren't cutting the mustard.

They are an improvement over the OE globes, I like them. Now they're fitted properly they have seemed to last well also.
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Offline Steffo1

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #81 on: April 26, 2015, 07:56:37 AM »
Yep  :cup:

Seems a lot of trouble and effort for a problem that's already solved......IMO....
My old '93 'tilley is a very bad colour as I've been informed of several times by friends & rellies so, I drive with my low beam on. Now on newer vehicles with auto off lights this is not much of a problem but, for me, it's a pain in the rectum when I forget to turn them off. I know I could wire them to the ignition but then I may as well do the full job & get DRLs. As mentioned earlier, there seems to be a fair bit of confusion in this thread differentiating between DRLs, Fog Lights & Driving Lights.
Living in a rural environment I've put Driving Lights (the lower round lights) on the wifes daily drive. They're LED, only work on Low & have an independent on/off. They have a good spread & a depth similar to Low. Not much chop in fog as they're a white light.
They're not DRL, Fog or Spot but Driving Lights.
Steve
« Last Edit: April 26, 2015, 07:59:58 AM by Steffo1 »
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Offline db

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #82 on: April 26, 2015, 10:39:56 AM »
Does anyone have any experience with combination indicator / DRL like these http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/400400120103?_mwBanner=1? Looking to replace the original ones on my ARB bar.
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Offline alnjan

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #83 on: April 26, 2015, 11:03:30 AM »
Yep  :cup:

Seems a lot of trouble and effort for a problem that's already solved......IMO....

Have to agree. 
Cheers

Al and/or Jan

Offline Steffo1

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #84 on: April 29, 2015, 09:01:16 AM »
Does anyone have any experience with combination indicator / DRL like these http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/400400120103?_mwBanner=1? Looking to replace the original ones on my ARB bar.

DB
If you find any more info on these or similar, please let me know.
Cheers
Steve
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Offline Brij

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #85 on: April 29, 2015, 10:41:26 PM »
Does anyone have any experience with combination indicator / DRL like these http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/400400120103?_mwBanner=1? Looking to replace the original ones on my ARB bar.


Yep. I got some of Autolecau.

As usual exceptional service  :cup:

I was surprised. I haven't purchased any LED automotive stuff before (except for the odd low power clearance light for trucks) and was surprised by the weight and solid feel of the diecast body.

I purchased them because I needed to mount some indicators in a 2nd hand ARB bullbar (a job I had been meaning to do for the last 10 years) so I thought I would give these a go.

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Offline Homerj

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #86 on: April 30, 2015, 09:04:59 AM »
As mentioned earlier, there seems to be a fair bit of confusion in this thread differentiating between DRLs, Fog Lights & Driving Lights.
Living in a rural environment I've put Driving Lights (the lower round lights) on the wifes daily drive. They're LED, only work on Low & have an independent on/off. They have a good spread & a depth similar to Low. Not much chop in fog as they're a white light.
They're not DRL, Fog or Spot but Driving Lights.
Steve
[/quote]

Unfortunately you're adding to the confusion.  If you call them driving lights then they should be wired to only turn on when high beam is on.  As they are, I'd describe them as 'additional lights' for use in adverse conditions - rain/dust/smoke - not fog due to the colour (as you mentioned.
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Offline Steffo1

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #87 on: April 30, 2015, 12:49:03 PM »
As mentioned earlier, there seems to be a fair bit of confusion in this thread differentiating between DRLs, Fog Lights & Driving Lights.
Living in a rural environment I've put Driving Lights (the lower round lights) on the wifes daily drive. They're LED, only work on Low & have an independent on/off. They have a good spread & a depth similar to Low. Not much chop in fog as they're a white light.
They're not DRL, Fog or Spot but Driving Lights.
Steve


Unfortunately you're adding to the confusion.  If you call them driving lights then they should be wired to only turn on when high beam is on.  As they are, I'd describe them as 'additional lights' for use in adverse conditions - rain/dust/smoke - not fog due to the colour (as you mentioned.
Actually, their main purpose is to back up the low beam when switching from high beam with the light bar in use. Without them, going from high with the light bar on to standard low is a bit dodgy on the eyes for a while :D As stated, they're good for the same range as the normal low beam.
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Offline db

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #88 on: April 30, 2015, 01:21:31 PM »
DB
If you find any more info on these or similar, please let me know.
Cheers
Steve

I've ordered some, so I'll report back when I have installed them.
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Offline shanegtr

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #89 on: April 30, 2015, 01:26:44 PM »
Does anyone have any experience with combination indicator / DRL like these http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/400400120103?_mwBanner=1? Looking to replace the original ones on my ARB bar.

I installed some on my old 80 series landcruiser. When looking at the light output from the DRL square on, the light is nice and bright. However, if your slightly off to the side then the light output drops of - they are very directional. Hence mounted to the bulbar wing which angles back slightly I think they loose some of their effectiveness.

A bit over a month ago I was driving down to Albany and back. I keep a mental note of cars I seen with headlights on vs. some of the newer cars with factory fitted LED DRL. For me, the headlights on wins as you can see it from a greater distance compared to the LED lights. I was going to refit some LED DRL to my Disco, but after that trip I wont bother and will just use the headlights when on country roads

Offline Redback

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #90 on: April 30, 2015, 02:04:20 PM »
I dunno who invented these DRLs, because the lights on during the day was an intended campain to have people turn there headlights on during the day for the purpose of being seen, what people are doing now is turning fog lights into high wattage lights that are blinding to oncoming traffic, those lights in the bottom of the bumper are fog lights and are designed to face off to the side of the road to give more spread in low light and foggy conditions in conjunction with low beam in the headlights and contrary to the belief they need to be yellow, is not true, as long as they are not too bright, they can be any colour, google it if you don't believe me.

Our car has front and rear foglights and can only be turned on when the lights are on, the rears are a slightly brighter and different shade of red to the tail lights, the front fogs are a white light, slightly duller than the headlights and face off to the side of the road

Now factory DRLs are designed to come on when you start the car and go off when you turn your headlights on and not designed to be brighter than the headlights.

Save your money and just turn your headlights on, buy more beer, or if you have too cause you think the're coooool ??? don't turn them on at night with your headlights, think of oncoming traffic.

Baz.
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Offline alnjan

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #91 on: April 30, 2015, 04:21:12 PM »
Actually, their main purpose is to back up the low beam when switching from high beam with the light bar in use. Without them, going from high with the light bar on to standard low is a bit dodgy on the eyes for a while :D As stated, they're good for the same range as the normal low beam.

Just slightly illegal.  Only allowed one pair of low beam lights.   Any extra lights running on low beam is illegal.  Also, any lights below the centre of low beam headlights must be fog lights only, any lights above the centre of low beam headlights are driving lights only
Cheers

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Offline db

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #92 on: June 21, 2015, 10:17:30 PM »
I've ordered some, so I'll report back when I have installed them.
So, if anyone is still interested, I've finally got these fitted and working. First up, despite the claims on the websites, and me measuring them up, they don't fit up in place of the standard ARB indicators/parkers without a fair bit of modifying. If you are buying, look carefully, I bought from autoelecAU for a start, and didn't realise it was just for one light. I bought the other for 20% less for 2 elsewhere (so now have a spare).

Wiring - they don't switch between DRL and parkers automatically, so I got them working with 2 relays, one ignition triggered, and then one light triggered to switch off the DRL. Never really used relays properly before, so a fun learning curve.

At the end of the day I'm happy with the way they look and work, but quite a bit of mucking around to get there.
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Offline Barry G

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #93 on: June 21, 2015, 10:35:54 PM »
So, if anyone is still interested, I've finally got these fitted and working. First up, despite the claims on the websites, and me measuring them up, they don't fit up in place of the standard ARB indicators/parkers without a fair bit of modifying. If you are buying, look carefully, I bought from autoelecAU for a start, and didn't realise it was just for one light. I bought the other for 20% less for 2 elsewhere (so now have a spare).

Wiring - they don't switch between DRL and parkers automatically, so I got them working with 2 relays, one ignition triggered, and then one light triggered to switch off the DRL. Never really used relays properly before, so a fun learning curve.

At the end of the day I'm happy with the way they look and work, but quite a bit of mucking around to get there.
Had missed your posts in this thread. I have a pair of them in my light bar and they fit well.
I would REALLY appreciate if you could post up a drawing of your wiring diagram.   :cheers:
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Offline db

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #94 on: June 22, 2015, 08:29:21 AM »
Had missed your posts in this thread. I have a pair of them in my light bar and they fit well.
I would REALLY appreciate if you could post up a drawing of your wiring diagram.   :cheers:
Will do in the next few days
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Offline db

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #95 on: June 26, 2015, 01:39:30 PM »
Here is my crappy wiring diagram, hope it helps.
Relay 1 closes when ignition is on, turns on DRL. Relay 2 is normally closed, so circuit is complete. When lights are turned on, Relay 2 opens the switch, breaking the circuit, so DRL turns off. Parkers in lights then come on.

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Offline Bird

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #96 on: June 26, 2015, 02:24:12 PM »
Quote from: Redback
Save your money and just turn your headlights on, buy more beer, or if you have too cause you think the're coooool ??? don't turn them on at night with your headlights, think of oncoming traffic
:cup: :cup: :cup: :cup:
Baz brings the logic to the discussion
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Offline Barry G

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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #97 on: June 29, 2015, 12:06:13 AM »
My indicators in the bull bar needed replacing, and I decided to go LED.  These combined indicator /parking/DRL units seemed to cover all bases, so I thought I'd give them a go.
Properly wired up they shouldn't cause any ill effects for other road users.
Also, running headlights on all the time would reduce the effective service life of the globe.  In my experience the damn things blow all too regularly anyway.
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Re: DRL To be or not to be
« Reply #98 on: June 29, 2015, 09:19:26 PM »
Also, running headlights on all the time would reduce the effective service life of the globe.

I have done over 100k km and only blown 1 globe. I have my lights on all the time!
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Offline Bird

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