Drl

depronman

A2OC Donor
I spent most of the day fitting some LED DRL, worst job was getting the cable from the light switch to the front of the car (what a pig of a job)

By using the correct pin on the light switch the DRL come on when the ignition is on, but go out id either side lights/dip or main beam is turned on (so worth the job of routing the wire through from the cabin into the engine bay)
My car does not have spot lights, so the spot light blanking plates were the obvious location for the LED strips, two per side.
In the dark (though will never be used in the dark) they are VERY bright, in the daylight they are just very bright. They are rated at 6 watts each, fully waterproof and look to be well made.
The LED's are made up on a thin aluminium backing plate, then the LED's then the owl strip is cover in crystal clear silicon, and there is a natty thin aluminium black anodised from with four legs that are meant to clip around the light strip. These clips once straightened out made perfect tabs to attached to the spot light blank covers.
I hot glued the LED strip to the spot light cover, having first drilled a 3mm hole for the cable to pass through, then marked the 4 tab locations and chain drilled a couple of .7mm holed for the tabs. Once assembled a little hot glue from the back into the tab slot fixed the frames perfectly.
The wiring is attached with a little more hot glue to the rear of the spot light cover.

I will add an extra photo tomorrow of the DRL in the daylight, but attached below are the DRL's in the night and the 55watt HID's

Just need to find a suitable white light LED for the side lights and some main beam halogens to match the 6000K HID's (I can't believe how yellow the main beam is in comparison to the HID's)

I got the DRL from Bangood for £2.20 a pair delivered, but they did take a month to arrive :)

IMG_0822.jpgIMG_0820.jpgIMG_0821.jpg
First picture is HID's and Main Beam (the camera does not make out the difference in colour of the HID's to the main beam)
The Second photo is of the DRL in the dark
The third is of the HID's on there own
All photos taken from hip level (3 foot or so) at about 20 feet in front of the car
 
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I bought the DRL from Newfrog, took about 3 weeks to arrive. They where on special offer when I bought them £0.99 per pack of two, they now appear to have gone back to £2.99 per pack of two.

2Pcs Waterproof 12V LED COB Car Auto DRL Driving Daytime Running Lamp Fog Light
Item Number 112123

The feed for the DRL's is from a pin on the back of the rotary light switch, it is the fourth pin in from one end on the bottom row of pins (un used pin). If you check with a volt metre the pin will provide 12 volts when the ignition is ON and no lights are on, as soon as side lights / head light are turned on then the DRL pin goes to 0 volts.
It is a pig of a job getting the cable from the light switch to the front near side of the front bumper, removing the glove box makes it doable (just)
I picked up an earth from behind the spot light grill, large bolt which holds the front end onto the A2. I then linked the left and right DRL together with a cable across the front of the bumper under the lower grill.

One thing that I am still considering is making the appropriate side DRL light up when the indicator is flashing, just need to work out the electronics to make it work
 
My spouse's '12 plate Seat Mii (same as VW Up! and Skoda Citigo) came fitted with DRL as standard. The same bulb is used for both DRL and sidelamp: in DRL mode the build shines much brighter than when in sidelamp mode.

I wonder has anyone tried this route with the A2?

Andrew

PS On these cars it is common to see one of the DRL/sidelamp bulbs having failed. After three failed bulbs I switched ours to use LEDs from HID s Direct (R580 W21/5W Canbus 27* SMD 5050 LED Bulbs White). We haven't had a MoT since the switch.
 
The "No" is because the Up sidelight in DRL mode is 21W, while the A2 sidelight's maximum power is 3W, or you will burn the headlamp. You cannot fit a LED powerful enough for anyone to notice it during the day.
If you do want to avoid fitting separate DRLs, another approach sometimes used is using either the main or dipped beam while dimming it. My Passat has a built-in ability to dim the main beam enough to extend the bulb life, on cars that do not have this ability you can buy dimmers (but this means messing with the main lighting circuit with its much higher amperages).
 
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