Hellas come on with DRLs

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 1:02 am

Not all the time, but sometimes when I start the car, they hellas turn on and stay on. If I turn the low beams on and back off, they turn off again.

Do you think putting a resistor in the relay switch 12V wire (that goes to the high beams) would help this?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:11 am

It might, sorta, most of the time, kinda, but it's not the right way to do it.

What you should do is find the DRL relay behind the dash far on the passenger side. It has a funny-shaped connector with 5 wires.

Splice into its red-with-black-stripe and black-with-red-stripe wires, and wire them to terminals 85 and 86 (respectively) of an SPDT relay.

Then cut one of the essential wires of your driving light circuit, preferably on the low-current side.

Wire one side of the cut wire to terminal 30 of the relay, and the other to terminal 87a of the relay.

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:19 am

What will this do, cut the driving lights while the DRLs are on?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 5:59 am

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 9:11 pm

If I pull the relay, will it disable the DRLs?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 9:30 pm

It will, but it will also disable your high beams.

If you want to disable the DRLs, I think you should disconnect either the DRL resistor or the DRL control unit.

I believe the resistor is mounted on the passenger-side strut tower, behind the bracket holding the pressure sensing equipment and the wastegate control solenoid. The 4EAT dropping resistor is there too; the DRL one has a black wire and a blue-with-red-stripe wire, whereas the 4EAT one has a green wire and a black-with-yellow-stripe wire.

If you disconnect this it's probably advisable to somehow protect the exposed connectors from the elements, especially if you might ever want to restore DRLs.

I don't know where the DRL control unit is. I can look it up later if you like.

You could also try cutting the red-with-blue-stripe wire or the blue-with-red-stripe wire at the relay.

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 9:46 pm

I pulled the connector off the resistor, now the hellas come on all the time, and the DRLs dont.

I dont understand how thats possible, since the hella relay is controlled by a vampire tap into the high beam wire about 3 inches away from where it enters the assembly

How can the relay be triggered when the lights arent coming on???

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:43 pm

What is the other side the Hella relay coil tapped into? Now current is flowing through the high beam filament and powering the relay coil. Before the presence of the DRL resistor kept that current very low.

Vampire taps?!

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:20 pm

The coil goes from the highs to the chassis.

but the high beams dont come on unless I put them on manually

the hellas are on constantly except when the low beams are on

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:33 pm

Wow, I don't understand how that ever worked -- our headlights are switched-ground. The other side of the coil should be connected to ignition-switched +12v, not to the chassis.

Did you actually splice into the low beam wire maybe?

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:35 pm

so how should I have it set up?

Im redoing the wiring today anyway, might as well do it right.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 9:02 pm

Like I said there -- one side into the high beam wire and the other side into an ignition-switched +12v source.

If you're splicing wires behind the bulb, you could just put the coil in parallel with the high beam filament -- one side on the common wire and the other on the high beam wire.

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 9:10 pm

colours?

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:16 am

Nevermind I got it.

I had tapped into the low beams.

So hey
Question.

Why do i have to use an ignition switched 12V? the lights come on only when they should when its feeding direct from the battery

The reason I ask is that Im trying to reduce engine bay wiring mess, Id rather not have yet another lead if I dont have to.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:51 pm

Well, you could keep the wiring very short and neat by using the headlight common wire as an ignition-switched +12v source.

Direct from the battery works correctly? Interesting. I didn't think it would, but maybe I need to look more closely at the wiring diagrams. Where are you getting +12v for the lights themselves? In any case, as long as the relays themselves also only activate when the car is running, then it should be fine.

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Tue May 02, 2006 7:43 pm

I get the headlight power from the battery also

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue May 02, 2006 8:21 pm

Oh, you have upgraded the lighting harness? Good! In that case you'd use the car's original headlight common wire.

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Hellas come on with DRLs

Hellas come on with DRLs