Daytime lights

[Terry Mustoe]

Anyone here have an idea where to draw power to make daytime running lights operational?

Terry

[r50us68]

I pulled from the washer bottle pump on an E3 Bavaria
I've heard that the horn is a good place as well.

[Mike W.]

Just flip the headlight switch up one notch if you want to turn on the running lights, they come on before the headlights which come on with the second notch.

[wkohler]

Just flip the headlight switch up one notch if you want to turn on the running lights, they come on before the headlights which come on with the second notch.

I think he is talking about DRLs in his headlamps - not the marker lights.

[Shawn D.]

Terry,

What lights are going to be the DRLs? Hopefully not any of the high beams!

If you're going to use the low beams, I wouldn't "draw power" from anywhere, but instead would use just about any switched power source to trigger the low beam headlight relay. That way, you wouldn't have to screw with any of the headlight wiring and the extra wiring can be low-gauge.

Make sure, though, that you can shut off the DRLs via a switch or use a switch and a relay with the ground for the coil going to the high beam circuit so you don't inadvertently leave on the lows when you turn on the high beams (thus burning up the headlight ground wire).

-Shawn

[Mike W.]

I think he is talking about DRLs in his headlamps - not the marker lights.

Running lights are running lights, night or day, they are running lights, not headlights. If he wants to look like one of the idiots driving a Saturn with the high beams on during the day, he can turn on his high beams, seems simple enough to me.

But the best-kept secret is GM is really a radical environmental organization. They've been trying to keep people off the roads for years with crappy cars, then crappy trucks. But now they've stepped it up a notch and trying to make other drivers miserable by turning on high beams automatically, or the new body pick up truck with headlights just above the beltline on most cars.

[Rich Euro M5]

Personally I don't know why anyone would want DRLs. I see them as devices pushed onto the public by so called safety groups. DRLs supposedly improve your visibility to oncoming traffic. I call BS on this because most drivers are completely oblivious to what's happening in the immediate vicinity around them. If we could get these same safety groups to keep Soccer Moms in SUVs, who is probably drinking a Latte, while using the cellphone, off the road. It would probably decrease the number of accidents by a far greater amount than the DRLs have.

But the best-kept secret is GM is really a radical environmental organization. They've been trying to keep people off the roads for years with crappy cars, then crappy trucks.

I know of another company with a two letter name starting in G that builds crappy stuff but has managed to dupe the general public via their marketing. I was employed by them and I won't buy any of their products. Not even their light bulbs.

Rich

[Terry Mustoe]

"wkohler" can interpret my broken lingo...if I don't want took like an "idiot" all I have to do is disconnect or remove the small bulb, but my friend has an M5 and I think his DLRs look very subtle and tasteful, as opposed to gaudy angel eyes.

[Rich Euro M5]

but my friend has an M5 and I think his DLRs look very subtle

What model M5 are you talking about? If it's an E28 M5 it did not have DRL's from the factory. If you're talking about a newer model such as the E39 M5, then his DRLs are actually his lowbeams which can be programmed to function as DRLs by the dealership based on the owners personal preferences.

Rich

[JayM]

Personally I don't know why anyone would want DRLs. I see them as devices pushed onto the public by so called safety groups. DRLs supposedly improve your visibility to oncoming traffic. I call BS on this because most drivers are completely oblivious to what's happening in the immediate vicinity around them.

As I'm one of those who pays attention to what he's doing on the road, I appreciate that DRLs have been forced on the doofi that occupy our playground. I've too often driven in conditions where turning on one's lights really does help with visibility, and the ability to avoid some commuter banging along at his usual speed, drinking his usual coffee and talking on the cell in rain or fog.

What I hate is the numpties who think fog lamps are "driving lights" and put them on in all conditions - they aren't the same as "driving lights" and they are annoyingly blinding at close range.

[Kyle in NO]

It turns out he's talking about CITY LIGHTS....

[Terry Mustoe]

Thankjs, Kyle...but WTF are daytime lights?

No one here has explained...they just keep saying, "Not the same..."

Shawn came close when he spoke of wattage...

[Kyle in NO]

DRLs are those that you see in newer cars. They are either the regular low beams running on reduced voltage, or seperate bulbs that are lower wattage. They just stay on all the time and look stupid. Why can't people see cars in broad daylight?

The city lights are the European equivalent to U.S. "parking lights" as true Euro cars have no parking light circuit, only city lights.

[JayM]

DRLs are those that you see in newer cars. They are either the regular low beams running on reduced voltage, or seperate bulbs that are lower wattage. They just stay on all the time and look stupid. Why can't people see cars in broad daylight?

Well, "broad daylight" has many factors. It may not be as big a deal in balmy NO, but winter up North can get pretty grey - grey skies, grey buildings, grey roads and all of the cars become grey from the salt. In certain conditions it can be hard to see a car, especially outside the city.

Personally, when I drive on the highway I have my headlights on (low-beam) 'cause that makes it easier for the blockheads to see me if they are paying attention.

[Terry Mustoe]

Given, Kyle was talking about drivers in the context of NO.

[option00002]

IMHO
Day-time running lamps are near any pair of bulbs that run without any supplements such as tail, parking, or license plate lights and endeavor to increase ones frontal visibility. Christ...why get so worked up over it. And the fog light over users...give me a break.

I had DRL's on a couple Volvo's (standard since '93) and am convinced that they heighten awareness. Not so much on the highway but at congested intersections where one fights their way across.

If I am not mistaken the OP only asked where to draw the power from. Not where you plant your flag.

[BRRV]

If I haven't read this right, I apologize. Otherwise, assuming that we are talking about the 10W city bulb in the euro (7") bulbs, the word I have in my files, written by Ed MacVaugh and Rob Anderson, from the old M535i-List, was that the city light would be lit whenever the parking lights would be lit. Power would come from the wiring for the parking lamps.

I don't know of any way to get the city lights to function alone, without the parking lights, unless you build in a whole separate circuit, and I probably wouldn't set them up that way.

FWIW:I use my parking lights, set up with the city lights, all the time; the only downside is that there's no reminder when you shut the car off that you've left your parking lights on. A chime or something reminding me would be nice, I just haven't figured out how to do that.

[twn75]

Running lights are running lights, night or day, they are running lights, not headlights. If he wants to look like one of the idiots driving a Saturn with the high beams on during the day, he can turn on his high beams, seems simple enough to me.

We have these up north, and In my humble opinion they're just a bureaucratic fix all solution that has convinced everyone will increace visibility. At noon on a sunny day in vancouver, in the summer, they're useless to everyone. On a balmy, foggy day in december their not enough to do anything. They also give the local morons the impression thier "automatic headlights" are on but really its just their low voltage lowbeams. come midnight when the GM P.O.S is travelling at 15km under the speed limit, there is nothing illuminated on the back of the vehicle just some feeble "I think I exist?" lights in the front. If people learned how to use their lights, there wouldn't be an issue like this

P.S. No one wants to look like they drive a saturn, let alone with high beams on during the day

[Shawn D.]

If I haven't read this right, I apologize. Otherwise, assuming that we are talking about the 10W city bulb in the euro (7") bulbs...

Yes, the lights in question are the city lights. I know this from going back-and-forth with Terry over this a few nights ago.

FWIW:I use my parking lights, set up with the city lights, all the time; the only downside is that there's no reminder when you shut the car off that you've left your parking lights on. A chime or something reminding me would be nice, I just haven't figured out how to do that.

Take a look back at your car and you can see 'em on.

[BRRV]

I mispoke earlier: these are actually 4W bulbs, as listed by BMW in the euro M5 and M535i. Susquehanna Motorsports sells 'em as an HL78223.