I purchased some big bumper indicators which have additional side light holders in them, which i would like to use as drl's. Making them come on with the ignition and go off with the sidelights is fairly straightforward, however as they are in the same reflector housing as the indicator bulbs they will need to turn off when the indicators are on. This would involve having a relay for each side, but they need to stay off all the time the indicators are on, not flash alternately with the indicator. As the flasher relay is before the indicator switch there is no wire that stays live or earth when the indicators are on. Is there a way of using a capacitor or timer to make this work . It has Ce1 electrics if that helps.
Have you ever done anything with Arduino electronics? Do you mind me asking, what indicators are they? I'd love to try something similar.
Hi again Tristan, not tried arduino or raspberry pi but it is an area i would like to look into. I think i ordered the indicators from Werk 34, but i think classic vw also sells them. They are big bumper indicators in crystal clear or crystal smoked with built in parking lights. Im sure there must be a clever way of using a capacitor as a time delay, so i could use the indicator wiring to trigger a 5 pin switching relay so when the indicator was on the drl bulb would be not on and vice versa, but to smooth out the live pulses for long enough to keep the drl bulb off for all the time the indicator was on. Obviously this would have to be duplicated for each side to maintain the two circuits. I would use another 5 pin relay to turn them on with the ignition and off with the sidelights. Im sure the parking light function with the indicator stalk could be used somehow but cant see on the Haynes manual wiring diagram how its wired. More head scratching.
https://www.werk34.de/de/klarglasblinker-schwarz-golf-ii-mit-standlichtfunktion-905.191.002ks.html These ones.
is this some new requirement? as UIS spec DRLs are just a dual filament bulb in the front indicators fed off the front sidelight power which is no issue on imports so far as I know?
I suppose it's basic common sense, the flashing indicator would be much more obvious if the orange drl isn't on.
for the dual filament bulb the drl filament is dimmer than the indicator filament so no worries there, but if you've got a mega bright drl then that would be an issue for sure
If it works it would save a lot of fannying about with relays. Will be using some bright 501 led bulbs as the drls which would make the indicators hard to see. To be honest im really just trying to find a use for the bulbs in the indicators, as it already has sidelights in the headlights obvs. Will try to summon the required £12 and run some tests. Will report back the findings.
Please do be interested to see how this works, I'd be looking to copy as would my hacked DRL's function better :-)
Found some interesting 12v timer relays on Amazon which have normally on and normally off outputs which could be just the ticket, so using the time delay set to just over the time for one flash of the indicators it should turn the drls off on the first flash then subsequent flashes will restart the timer until the indicator goes off, then the drl will switch back on. In theory. The normally on or off outputs will allow it to be configured to work as a 5 pin relay so which ever way round it needs to be should be achievable, and they are less than £6 so not too bad if it all goes tits up. Will get some ordered and have play.
Planning on using the wiring for the headlight leveling motors which were never fitted on my car, but the wiring was in the loom. Has a 3 pin plug by the headlights and if the wire colours match up comes out under the fusebox as a 2 pin plug . This will be a convenient way to get the feed and earth to the drls, whist keeping the relays by the fusebox.
Helios, what were the relays you found? I need to get my Focus' heated screen working again and as my car is slightly brain damaged a momentary on timer relay would be a useful bodge. I've not found anything useful at that low a price. TIA Edit: I may have solved my problem with this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-5V-12...ff:m:mgszbGgYF3qFU8lNwFP8pjg&var=532862455971 My Google fu seems better today Hijack over...
Hi Nick, cant seem to copy a link but if you search 12v timer relay on Amazon the ones i am looking at are sold singly for 5.99. Being 12v makes it easier to fit into the car electrics, the ones you are looking at on ebay are 5v controlled i think. I have ordered them so will try them out on tuesday when i get back to where i keep the golf stashed
To all who have scratched their heads on my behalf, I thank you, but I have now achieved what I set out to do. Using the timer relay works perfectly, no thanks to the wiring diagram on Amazon which is completely wrong. They can be configured as +12v triggered or earth triggered also which is useful.
For anyone wondering; If you want you can take an OR gate with your input on one side, take the out and split it, wire a capacitor back into the other input on the OR gate and also a resistor to ground after the capacitor. The capacitor size depends on how much extension you need on the downtime of the relay, for example 1nF and a 20k resistor would be 20 micro seconds extension
