OSRAM LEDriving FOG DRL install

ajsellors

A2OC Donor
A while ago I bought a set of OSRAM LEDriving FOG slights for my A2. I chose these because I wanted a quality and approved Daylight Running Light (DRL).

http://www.osram.com/osram_com/news...-led/ledriving-fog---led-fog-lights/index.jsp

These replace existing round fog lights and have two sets of LED arrays, one with a broad dispersed beam for daylight use and a different set which provides a narrow horizontal strip of light to act as a fog light. Thus although the car’s original fog lights are replaced, the fog light function is still available and probably improved over the original.

With the install I wanted to make it look like it was OEM so the biggest issue is the mounting of the lights themselves. The OSRAM lights themselves have a 90mm diameter circular housing with an almost flat glass face. The mounting bracket provided with the “generic” package also assumes a flat front 4 hole mounting.

Inspired by this post, rather than fabricate a new mounting bracket and associated cowling to go round the light, I decided to re-purpose a set of A2 specific normal fog lights as brackets for the OSRAM units.

http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?26285-OSRAM-LED-Fog-amp-DRL-lights-install

As I would likely need to modify and possibly end up destroying the A2 flog lights I bought a set of cheap pattern replacement fog lights from eBay to work with. The parts used were as follows:

DSC04024.jpg

Placing the OSRAM light and A2 fog light side by side shows the degree to which the front face of the A2 light is angled. Placing the OSRAM light in the A2 flog light opening in the bumper on its own would either require the light to be recessed and the gap filled by a cowl or the light to protruding on the outer sides. Fitting the light on its own would not retain the OEM streamlined look of the car’s bumper.

The solution is to use the front part of the A2 fog light with the glass remaining to face the OSRAM light behind. The “new” light then fills the space in the bumper correctly and looks OEM.

By removing the rear reflector of the A2 fog lights, the OSRAM units actually side straight in. The OSRAM light’s exterior diameter exactly matches the A2 light’s interior diameter so no modification is required to enable this. This is slightly different from the post linked above whereby the A2 light required enlarging to allow the OSRAM light to fit. I suspect this is because I am using a non-OEM lights and the plastic is thinner than the original equipment A2 light – the thinner plastic makes for a larger internal diameter and so allows the light to fit without modification.

I did however make a slight modification to the A2 fog light, the removal of the interior flange. The A2 light has a flange near the glass on the inside which the reflector rubber seal would fit up against. This flange limits how far the OSRAM light can be inserted. As a test, I removed the flange from one light and measured the difference.

DSC04026.jpg

The light on the left has the flange removed and the one on the right, retained. The pencil line shown on the OSRAM light on the right indicates how far extra the light could be inserted if the flange was not present. Removing the flange has two benefits. Firstly it increases the sideways visibility of the OSRAM light and secondly it enables the existing mounting bolt holes on the OSRAM light to line up with the reflector pivot holes on the A2 light as can be seen by the light on the left.

To check the mounting and visibility differences of the two methods (with and without flange) I fitted the lights to an A2 with the DRLs wired as a bench test to check for position and visibility.

This picture shows the OSRAM light on the left fitted with the flange and for comparison the original A2 fog light on the right of the picture.

DSC04028.jpg

The difference between with and without flange is marginal from the side view. As I had already modified one light to remove the flange I decided to remove the one on the other as I would aid mounting as I could bolt the light together without modification.

The other problem which this test highlighted however is the vertical position. The A2 fog lights are designed to shine downwards onto the road and not upwards to eye level. The OSRAM lights however have part of the DRL light pattern across the top of the light and the standard positioning of the A2 fog lights causes this to be partly obscured. The picture above which was taken from low down near the ground, shows how close the upper part of the light pattern is with the bumper cowling.

To resolve this and also improve the sideways visibility I chose to modify the A2 fog light fixing such that the light is mounted lower than it would be normally and closer to the centre of the car. The A2 light is fixed by two screws through tabs on the inner side and a peg that fits into a hole in the bumper on the outer side. To move the light position I attached a new longer peg on top of the existing one, following the angle of the front glass. The peg was made of an 8mm diameter, 25mm long plastic rod. The new peg was fixed onto the existing one with a small amount of hot glue and then further secured by two small zip ties. Additional hot glue was added to prevent the zip ties slipping off. On the mounting lugs, the outward surface was made flat by filling the recess with glue such that the new screw head position can overhang the edge.

The modified A2 fog lights assembled with the OSRAM units. New 10mm M4 bolts and washers were used to secure the lights together as the original bolts on the OSRAM lights were too short.

DSC04098.jpg

The OSRAM lights are driven by a control unit. Each light is connected to the control unit by 4 wires, two for each of the separate lighting elements. These are connected to the control unit via supplied in-line waterproof connectors. The length of these cables means that the control unit must be fitted side the engine bay. Although all relevant feeds could be obtained from wiring inside the engine bay, as I wanted a control switch inside the cabin and wanted a neater, more OEM looking installation, I chose to fit the control unit inside the car and make all connections to interior wiring. The lights would therefore need to be connected using a new loom between the bumper mounting points and car interior. The routing and fitting of this loom would be identical to that when retrofitting standard fog lights to an A2, except that this loom would contain 4 independent wires from each light.

A new loom was made containing 8 wires from inside the car to the bottom of the front panel under the radiator where it diverges, 4 wires either side to each of the lights.

DSC04046.jpg

The loom was routed from the passenger side A pillar, through the grommet behind the coolant expansion tank, across the side of the engine bay to the front and then down the left (nearside) of the radiator. This route follows existing wiring. Once at the bottom of the radiator, one offshoot goes under the radiator, following the existing fog light wiring and to the fog light position on the right side of the car.

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The left side fog light is slightly trickier as the normal fog light routing is inaccessible with the bumper in place. With a thinner (e.g. 2 cable) loom it would be possible to squeeze through the hole in the panel used for the washer bottle connection but with 4 cables I decided that this would be too tight. To route the cable I very carefully drilled a hole from the front of the car, through the panel, backwards towards the radiator. Its very important to stop drilling when just through the panel and not continue into the side of the radiator!

DSC04047.jpg

This hole can then be used to route the new loom.

DSC04049.jpg DSC04048.jpg

To enable the new loom to be used, the existing wiring on the OSRAM lights was cut and new waterproof 4pin connectors attached close to the lights. The other half of the new connectors were attached to the end of the new loom and the original fog light connectors sealed up to prevent water ingress and corrosion.

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A small section of the supplied wiring that was cut off the OSRAM lights was joined to the other end of the new loom inside the car to enable this to plug into the controller.

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I also cut the supplied cables shorter on the controller and fitted a 4pin and 2pin connector. This allows me to plug in a new loom for the car interior. All earth connections were attached to a ring connector to be bolted to the chassis earth point.

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The control unit was mounted to the underside of the dashboard support tube, to the left of the heating blower fan above the glove box. It was attached in place by strips of double sided foam backing and zip-ties at each end.

DSC04108.jpg

Once fitted in place, a new loom was constructed for the interior. A feed from the controller goes to the adjacent A pillar connector to provide the fog light supply from the light switch. All other cables being routed to the centre console together with another feed from the A pillar connector to provide a side light supply from the light switch. This loom is routed with existing cabling over the blower fan.

DSC04084.jpg DSC04085.jpg

The control unit requires an ignition switched feed to turn on the DRL lights and also a connection to the left and right turn signals. These three connections were made to the flasher relay wiring in the centre console.

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To provide power, the positive supply cable was run downwards under the centre console and into the compartment in the passenger foot well. This followed the route of the two thick red cables shown in the picture.

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The controller requires a permanent power supply so that the lights can be lit at any time. All power for the lights is taken from the one feed, no matter what mode or purpose they are lit. All other connections to the controller are purely for signalling (e.g. fog light feed) and no drive current is taken from these connections. The OSRAM package contains a single blade fuse holder which fits into the clips on the relay carrier, seen in front of the larger existing red fuse holder. This is connected to the adjacent main power terminal bolt with a ring connector.
 
As I want to have a switch to turn the DRL on and off and change operation mode, the remaining 4 wires at the centre console are routed to a 4 pin connector. The switch used is a double pole, double throw rocker switch with centre off position.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261786607109?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

In the centre position, the DRLs are permanently off.

In position I, the ignition switched feed is connected to the LED controller. This causes the DRLs to light up when the ignition is on.

In position II, both the ignition switched feed and the side light feed are connected to the LED controller. This causes the DRLs to light up when the ignition is on but then turn off if the side lights or head lights are switched on.

The switch allows me to choose if I want the DRLs on all the time (with the engine) or only on when the car’s main lights are off. Position I is similar to other car models which have bumper mounted DRLs including those with combined round DRL and fog lights such as the Mini Clubman.

The complete wiring schematic is as follows:

OSRAM DRL Schematic.png

The A pillar connector pin assignment is for my 2001 1.4 petrol. Other models and years are likely to have a different pin assignment, although the wiring colours should be similar. It is best to double check the operation of each existing wire before making the connection.

I mounted the rocker DRL function switch in a spare blanking plate which would allow it to be fitted in front of the “ASR” button near the gear stick. As I marked the paint when cutting the hole for the switch, I decided to re-paint it. Unfortunately the existing “soft touch” paint and my acrylic black spray paint didn’t go well together. The new paint caused the “soft touch” paint to bubble up and come away from the plastic!

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The “soft touch” paint had to be wiped off and the plastic re-painted.

A short run from the switch goes to the other half of a 4 pin connector to allow it to be plugged into the rest of the DRL wiring.

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Once in position, the DRL function switch looks like this:

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The lights are mounted by fitting the peg into the outer hole in the bumper and then marking and drilling new screw holes on the inner lugs. As can be seen, the light is lower and now almost touches the bottom of the opening in the bumper. It is also further towards the centre of the car with the end of the old peg now touching the surface of the bumper side mounting.

DSC04114.jpg

On first fitment, the lights have the side coupling bolts loosened. With the fog lights illuminated, the OSRAM units are adjusted up or down to ensure that the beam on both sides is positioned correctly. A small degree of up and down movement is possible, pivoted by the side bolts, which is enough to line up the beams. Once correctly positioned, the lights are removed from the car, the bolts tightened and the interface between the front and rear sections sealed.

Once sealed, the lights can be re-mounted on the car and the covers fitted.

DSC04115.jpg
 
The end result with the DRLs switched on looks like this.

A2 OSRAM DRL.jpg

This shows the shape of the LED lighting elements which make up the unidirectional part of the light. The fog light elements are those seen unlit in a horizontal line in the centre of the lights.

Note that the DRLs are bright and if photographed normally would just result in a blur in the picture. I have deliberately underexposed the lights in this picture so that the shape can clearly be seen. They look much brighter in real life and are comparable with the OEM fitment on new car models.
 
Cornering assist, indicator connections and the brown wire:

The instruction supplied with my OSRAM lights describe a “cornering assist” function where the fog light on one side is illuminated when the indicators on that side are flashing. This is why the controller is connected to the positive feed to the indicators. On my installation this does not happen. Co-incidentally, the cornering assist function in the instructions is labeled with an asterisk mark which isn’t explained. What does however happen is that the lights on both sides are illuminated when both indicators side flash together. The lights effectively flash with the hazard indicators and also when arming the alarm with the remote key.

When looking at the product page on OSRAM’s web site when writing this guide I noticed that there is a different version of the installation guide available. This version indicates that the brown wire on the controller which my instructions show as only connecting to the ground can optionally be connected to the positive supply instead. This wire is in effect an operation mode select. The newer instructions indicate that connecting the brown wire to positive enables the cornering assist function and also a DRL dimming function when the car’s main lights are turned on. In my installation the DRLs turn off completely rather than dim when the white wire signal is supplied.

I purposely separated the two indicator feeds to a 2 pin connector on their own so I could disconnect them if I didn’t want the indicators controlling the operation of the DRLs. I will later try the brown wire out to see if it activates the cornering assist on my version of the controller and may in the end disconnect the indicator 2 pin connector. The latest instructions say that the dimming and cornering assist functions are not approved European wide and should only be enabled as per local regulations.
 
Brilliant write up as always. If I've jumped the gun and there's more posts I will move this but felt compelled to write how impressed I always am with your detailed 'how to's'
 
Brilliant write up as always. If I've jumped the gun and there's more posts I will move this but felt compelled to write how impressed I always am with your detailed 'how to's'

Hi,

no more posts for now. I will update the thread when I have experimented with the brown mode wire.

regards

Andrew
 
Fantastic write up. After seeing your car at ADI I am very tempted to add this as it looks very good. I also like the addition of corner assist. Cheers Mike.
 
Very nice Write Up. I hope you will be as pleased with your DRL lights as I am with mine! :eek:

Yes thanks. It was a lot of work to integrate the wiring as I had done but I will be fitting them to my other A2 as well!

regards

Andrew
 
From what I recall, these Osram units were rather pricey? I wonder if you could let us know the cost, please?

David
 
So these are the same ? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OSRAM-LED...194934?hash=item5678ff74b6:g:-gIAAOSwqu9VApXV It must be the strong £; Euro rate, at the moment! Again, I'm tempted ....

David

Hi David,

looks right and a good price. I like the German - English literal translation "Bend Adaptive"!

What looks like the same product from the same eBay shop, but listed in German comes out at EUR 219 or £157.40 according to the automatic conversion which is cheaper than the English listing:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OSRAM-LED...in1-Dimmbar-/371067170723?hash=item566553afa3

regards

Andrew
 
Last night I modified the wiring to insert a switch to test out the different operation modes via the brown wire feed on the LED controller.
The switch allows the brown wire mode feed to be connected to either the negative earth as it was previously hard wired or to the positive power feed.
With the modification, the schematic is now currently like this:

OSRAM DRL Schematic MOD.png

Note that the schematic represents the current state in my car with the test modification, not how it would have been if that was the original intention!

The affect of the mode feed is as follows:

Brown to negative earth:

DRL illuminate at full brightness when blue feed is positive (ignition switch)
DRL are off when white feed is positive (side lights), even if blue feed (ignition switch) is also positive.
Fog lights illuminate when yellow feed is positive (fog lights)
Fog lights illuminate when both grey and green feeds are positive at the same time (left and right indicators)

Brown to positive supply:

DRL illuminate at full brightness when blue feed is positive (ignition switch)
DRL illuminate at reduced brightness when white feed is positive (side lights) and blue feed (ignition switch) is also positive (*)
Fog lights illuminate when yellow feed is positive (fog lights)
Fog lights illuminate when both grey and green feeds are positive at the same time (left and right indicators)
Left fog light illuminates continuously when grey feed is triggered by left indicator flash and the white feed (side lights) is positive, right fog light is off (**)
Right fog light illuminates continuously when green feed is triggered by right indicator flash and the white feed (side lights) is positive, left fog light is off (**)

(*)
With the brown wire to positive, the DRLs effectively are illuminated at a dimmed reduced brightness when the car's main lights are on (e.g. at night) rather than being off completely when the brown is connected to the earth.

(**)
The illumination of the DRL and fog light elements are always mutually exclusive. Thus, when a single fog light is illuminated for the cornering assist, both DRLs are turned off.
Also, the cornering assist only operates at night, i.e. when the car's main lights are on.

Conclusions:

I added the function switch in the original design for the installation as I wanted to have the option of running the DRLs during the night when the car's main lights are on.
Now that I have seen it in actual usage I think that the normal "full brightness" mode is too bright for night time use.
In this car I have left the mode test switch in the positive supply position and will use the dimmed night time mode.
I will be fitting the same DRLs to my other A2 and when I do that I will wire the function switch to provide a dimmed at night and off at night mode.
I will leave this car as it is for the time being but will retrofit that wiring when I next need to do any work around the centre console. At the moment with the brown mode wire on positive the current function switch positions provide bright at night and dim at night alternatives but the bright at night position isn't something that will be used and so is effectively redundant.

regards

Andrew
 
LED fog light update.

The lights have now been off my car twice to resolve two issues.

The first was that the space inside the A2 fog light between the front glass and front of the OSRAM glass started filling up with water. Although the weather was wet, it wasn’t excessive and this had never happened with the original OEM fog lights. The water on one had got to 1/4 of the way up!

I took the new lights off the car to investigate if there was a leak in the housing. I had done good job in sealing between the OSRAM light and the A2 housing so I thought there might be a leak on the seal for the front glass. I dismantled both units and submerged the A2 housings front glass side down in water. There was no leak.
Then I realised that the water must be getting in through the air vent. The design of the light housings is almost identical to the OEM units, which didn’t fill with water, but I have mounted them in a slightly different position. What doesn’t help the situation is that as the lower trailing edge of my front bumper is damaged, it doesn’t completely close the gap at each end behind the fog lights. Water can on occasion splash the rear of the fog lights and in the case of the new fittings, enter through the air vent hole.

The air vent inside the light is at the very top, just behind the glass. A channel runs along the rear of the rim and exists at a hole, half way down. This obviously isn’t enough the stop water entering into the light unit behind the glass and once in there, unless the car goes upside-down, it will stay there.
To prevent water getting in, but still allow the space to be ventilated and adapt for air pressure changes, I opened up the rectangular air vent entrance with a drill and fitted a pipe to the vent which ends below the light. This makes it much harder for water to enter the space, and the lights have been dry since.

DSC04212.jpg

The second time the lights had to come off was due to my lawn mower. Whilst mowing my front lawn, the blade of the mower hid a large stone that had ended up in the grass and fired it at the car at high speed. The stone hit the fog light, but at the time, I couldn’t see and damage. The next day however, the glass was cracked. The thickness of the aftermarket fog light glass is less than the OEM unit, an OEM light may have survived, or perhaps not. The upside however was that it was only the aftermarket A2 fog light glass that was cracked and not the OSRAM glass itself. A new aftermarket fog light is much cheaper than a new OSRAM LED!

DSC04971.jpg

A new fog light was bought and adapted in the same way as the mk2 design with the vent hose. To hopefully protect from further breakages, I have covered the glass with 3M stone protection film, the kind used to protect car paintwork. It’s a bit tricky to get the film to conform due to the domed shape and rim, but with patience and a hair dryer, its possible to get a crease and bubble free covering. After fitting, the glass is still quite clear, perhaps not as clear as without the film, but a lot clearer than the glass in my original 16 year old OEM fog lights. There is a slight shimmer as you move when looking at the lights but they still look good with the protectors. Time will tell if this protects the glass well enough.

DSC04969.jpg

regards

Andrew
 
The control unit was mounted to the underside of the dashboard support tube, to the left of the heating blower fan above the glove box. It was attached in place by strips of double sided foam backing and zip-ties at each end.

View attachment 21544

Once fitted in place, a new loom was constructed for the interior. A feed from the controller goes to the adjacent A pillar connector to provide the fog light supply from the light switch. All other cables being routed to the centre console together with another feed from the A pillar connector to provide a side light supply from the light switch. This loom is routed with existing cabling over the blower fan.

View attachment 21545 View attachment 21546

The control unit requires an ignition switched feed to turn on the DRL lights and also a connection to the left and right turn signals. These three connections were made to the flasher relay wiring in the centre console.

View attachment 21547

To provide power, the positive supply cable was run downwards under the centre console and into the compartment in the passenger foot well. This followed the route of the two thick red cables shown in the picture.

View attachment 21548

The controller requires a permanent power supply so that the lights can be lit at any time. All power for the lights is taken from the one feed, no matter what mode or purpose they are lit. All other connections to the controller are purely for signalling (e.g. fog light feed) and no drive current is taken from these connections. The OSRAM package contains a single blade fuse holder which fits into the clips on the relay carrier, seen in front of the larger existing red fuse holder. This is connected to the adjacent main power terminal bolt with a ring connector.


Very nice write up.
It would be interesting to see if this can be incorporated with the auto light switch with coming home feature,
the one that Steve B kindly provided.

Regards,
Boris
 
Very nice write up.
It would be interesting to see if this can be incorporated with the auto light switch with coming home feature,
the one that Steve B kindly provided.

Regards,
Boris

Hi,

in theory it should work, and work well. They have a permanent power feed and so can be turned on at any time and the fog light turn on signal comes from the standard switch position. The fog LEDs also provide a very bright flat light beam which illuminates the ground well.

I say in theory because the fog light switch connection doesn't actually provide power to the lights themselves, the controller uses it to sense the switch closure and it turns on the lights. If the auto light unit uses a relay to turn the lights on then there will be no problems, if it uses electronic means instead, it will depend on how both the LED driver and the auto lights electronics are designed. Only trying it out will tell for sure.

Regards

Andrew
 
The lights look great!
I have been thinking about installing the same lights on my audi, which does not have fog lights as standard. How much does an aftermarket fog light cost, do you have a link? I need to figure out if its better to buy a fog light assembly and modify it like you did, or make something from the ground up. it depends on the price of the fog light. I have already bought the fog light grills, and im going to order the osram light soon.
 
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