I've got this sorted so I now have Hi brightness DRLs fitted on my Z - they come on if the ignitions is turned on and go off if the sidelights are on - as per MOt regulations

 

And for that matter they are off if the sidelights are on and the igntion is off

 

Also silly things don't happen - like ignition lights lit on dash when sidelights on and ignition off

 

components required - 1 Diode, 1 relay and some DLRs

 

If it's been posted here before please save me the effort otherwise I'll put it in the FAQ section

 

cheers

Rich

Post away Rich, may help for others who might fancy the idea :thumbup:

I've never been able to find the correct location for DRL's, get some pics up and show us where you've put them.

 

Your sidelights then Rich are just going to be the halos ;).

 

Only yesterday I did think about some sort of white light that will shine through/behind the SMIC vents, rather than have led/smd lights facing forward if you know what I mean :yes:.

I've now upgraded my design so the DRLs will de dimmed at night rather than off

 

Also my original simple design would not work off the test bench because when I finished upgrading I have LED rear side lights already and yes I will have halo front side lights (spotted my username on ebay is same as on here andy? :yes:) so I no longer have filament sidelights that the orignal design needed to work

 

Version two will work in any case

 

Pics soon

 

Rich

Nice one mate - can't wait for the pics!!

 

Richard:thumbup1:

Sounds good and also waiting for pic's:thumbup1:

I've now upgraded my design so the DRLs will de dimmed at night rather than off

 

Also my original simple design would not work off the test bench because when I finished upgrading I have LED rear side lights already and yes I will have halo front side lights (spotted my username on ebay is same as on here andy? :yes:)

 

Rich

 

I know on the Audis the DRLs do fade on that particular side when the indicator is on.

 

Not sure when dipped are put on whether the DRLs fade a tad or stay the same, could be that the headlights just seem to overwhelm any running lights :yes:.

Oh yeah forgot to mention my DRLs also include an indicator mode - flash from white to yellow.... well who needs seperate indicators?

 

Seriously guys - give me about a week to 10 days (may need two clear weekends) to get everything in place then all will be relvealed :yes: It may even ber worth the wait lol

 

PS totally different subject - probalbly should start a new thread... but can anyone tell me what sort of temparatures (max) are experienced on the underside of the bonnet say in warm weather (should we be so lucky) and when stuck in traffic. Also anyone know any decent adhesives that can take the temperature - carrying 'a very small load of weight' whatever it may be? :wink:

My Home brew DRLs running on the bench with prototype controller :biggrin:

 

Basically I have 7 x 3w LEDs each side

 

Well they said they are 3W when they were ordered but as they draw about 80mA each I reckon them to be 1 Watt each

 

Anyways it's no worries when you switch them all on together they light up like a supernova!! lol

 

The controller basically handles the following functions:

 

Ignition on = Running Lights full brightness

Sidelights on = Running Lights dimmed

Indicator on = Running light on selected side switches White to flashing orange

 

Now I prototyped the circuit (it's working) I need to build two controllers, one for nearside and offside

 

Cost of the controllers about £5 each

 

Cost of running light LEDs (waterproof, shatterproof) £14 each side

 

The LEDS are mounted on pieces of L section plastic (the stuff you usually us as trim for wall corners etc)

 

My car will have the Viper V1 Front Bumper and the DRLs built into the side scoops. The L sections give me a good 'bracket' to fix them to the scoops. As there are no fitments for side lights or indicators on this type of bumper this is why I need the built in indicator function. I am using halo sidelights built into the headlight units

 

However when I get the original nissan bumper off I will have a look at how the DRLs could be fitted to one of those

 

To Do:

Build the controllers

Add multiple orange indicator LEDs to each running light set

Get it all installed on the bumper

Got the first controller built

 

Just need a small enclosure to fit it - the ruler is in cm (so it's prett small, I left about 15mm of extra board to mount it in the enclosure. It appears that the voltage regulator will not need a heatsink but I will mount a small one anyway

 

When I built the controller I noted that the dim mode was not dimming as much as the prototype, and the off mode (for indicators on) was not quite going off on all LEDs - hence the extra resistor you can see soldered across the top of another one - this reduced he dim voltage setting by about a volt.

 

I guess the issue was caused by component tolerances (th resistors are olnly accurate to +- 5% so that' a possible 10% difference between my prototype and the one i built

 

When I build the second controller I will add small variable resisors so I can tweak it to give the same dim setting as this one.

Edited November 21, 201213 yr by dicky96

Time to try the lights and see what they do :biggrin:

 

I've temporarily held them in place with tape

 

You will see that the bottom one does not quite fit (bottom LED slightly obscured by the scoop edge)

 

Also the top and botom units dont sit at quite the same angle.

 

 

But they ain't too far off and don't half light up!!

 

Gonna have a word with the guy who is gonna be doing the prep work and respray after I get the body kit fitted - see if he can do a little work on the scoop with a file or whatever to get them to sit a little better

 

Anyway It's looking good

Nice, very nice.....gonna look stunning Rich, great work and great write ups :yes:.

I don't like DRL's personally, I think they look tacky like a christmas tree, BUT those look ace hidden away like that and they indicate! Good work sir!

Cheers guys for the positive comments :biggrin:

 

The DRLs are working quite well, next I gotta get them sitting in the scoops properly and at the correct angle. As the scoops are wider at the front than the back (where I temporarily mounted the LEDs) and the scoops are about an inch or so deep, it should be possible to cut and/or file the rear end of the scoop so the LEds fit better across the width of the sccop - by moving them forwards a bit I have a bit more width to play with, and I can also angle them in the correct direction shining directly forwards

 

Oher than that I need to add the high brightness yellow indicator LEDs - they are pretty small and will fit in the gaps between the running lights ans especially above/below the three LEDs in the top scoop I reckon I can get 6 to 10 yelow LEDs in each section

 

I'll also post up the circuit diagram and wiring istructions for the controllers (they are pretty simple - will do my best to explain how they work in leymans terms)

 

Then I guess this project is completed

 

Rich

Edited November 21, 201213 yr by dicky96

ill be intrested in the right up may even get the solering iron out top job looking good rich, nice work.

I've now upgraded my circuit design slightly

 

When your indicators are flashing the DRL on that side turns off and you get teh flashing amber indicators

 

When you turn your indicators off there is about a second delay then then DRLs fade up to full brightness (or half brightness if your side lights are on) taking about another half second or so to ramp up

 

This needed three extra components that's all

 

OK here are two videos - the first one shows what happened the first time I wired up all the LEDs and turned them on!

 

 

First Light: [video=youtube_share;QrooA1PfpgU]

This video shows the DRLs working fitted to the bumper. They are just temporarily fitted with tape right now - but my mate who is goona do the prep work and respray on the car had a look and says no problem shortening the scoops slightly to bring the lights a little more forward so they fit correctly (as the scoop is wider toards the front) and flush to the back of the scoop. Because my camera is auto-compensating for the light level changes you can't really see the dim mode working properly, unfortunately

 

DRLs in situ: [video=youtube_share;3Cn-L2ghA5s]

Wow I must say that looks awesome well done Dicky cant wait to see them fitted to the car:thumbup:

they look great, as gary said cant wait to see them fitted

I've completed the DRL controllers and built them into a couple of small plastic enclosures I got from maplins

 

One controller has a fixed DRL dim level and indicator delay, the other one has a couple of variable resistors (or 'pots' as they are often called) which I can adjust to match the dim level to that of the fixed DRL, and also set the time it takes so both DRLs strike at the same time when the indicators (or more imporatantly the hazard flashers) are turned off

 

I don't need to be able to adjust both, the settings are just so I can get both sets of DRLs to match each other

 

As I need to adjust one of the controllers in situ, I fitted the circuit board to the lid of the box so I can easily get to the variable resistors.

 

I should have these fitted on the car tomorrow so some more pics coming and as long as they all work as intended I'll upload the circuit diagram too.

 

Rich

OK here is the circuit diagram for anyone interested in trying this at home :biggrin:

 

Components required (inc Maplin stock codes)

R1 - 390 ohm - Orange White Brown (or Orange White Black Black) M390R

R2 - 3.3k ohm - Orange Orange Red (or Orange Orange Black Brown) Maplin: M3K3

R3, R5 - 8.2k ohm - Grey Red Red (or Grey Red Black Brown) Maplin: M8K2

R4 - 1k ohm - Brown Black Red (or Brown Black Black Brown) Maplin: M1K0

 

VR1 - 10k Variable Preset Resistor. Maplin UH16S

VR2 - 2.5k Variable Preset Resistor. Maplin N51BR

 

C1 - 0.1uF Capacitor (16V or greater) Maplin N43CJ

C2, C3 - 220uF Capacitor (16V or greater) VH24V or DT64U

 

D1 - Diode 1N4007 Maplin QL79L

 

T1, T2 - BC547 Transistor Maplin: QQ14Q or BC549 Maplin QQ15R

 

IC1 - LM317T Variable voltage regulator Maplin: UF27E

 

 

A bit more about the components

I built this using various bits I had lying around and most of the components are not that critical.

 

However the values of the resistors are fairly important so use the ones I specified if possible. Resistors can be connected either way round

 

Capacitor C1 could be pretty much any capacitor from about 0.1uF to 1uF (and rated 16V or higher) and could probably be left out all together.

 

C3 could be any capacitor from about 10uF upwards (and rated 16V or higher) and again could probably be left out with no ill effects.

 

C2 value is fairly critical to the circuit design so use a 220uF one rated 16V or higher

 

C2 and C3 are 'electrolytic' capacitors - this means they will only work one way round. The curved plate on the circuit diagram is the negative one.

 

D1 could be pretty much any rectifier diode, eg 1N4001, 1N4002 etc. Diodes only work one way round. The end with the 'stripe' is usually the end that the arrow points to on the diode symbol seen on the circuit diagram

 

T1 and T2 could be pretty much any general purpose NPN transistor (for example BC107, BC108, BC549, 2N2222 or BC337 like I used). Transistors have three 'legs' called collector base and emitter (shown as e,b,c on the circuit diagram) and these must be connected correctly

 

The LM317T voltage regulator also has three legs called 'in' 'out' and 'adjust' and must be connected the right way round. These regulators are made by a number of different manufacturers so the pin numbers may not match the ones in my diagram - so just take a little care you get it fitted the correct way. You need a 1.5Amp regulator - that is the one with a T at the end, not for example LM317L which will not handle sufficient current for this circuit. The Maplin one (code UF27E) has the same pin numbers as the one I used.

 

The Variable Resistors VR1 and VR2 have three legs but we only need to connect to the middle leg and one of the end legs (either end it does not matter)

 

Total cost of the components from Maplin, who are by no means the cheapest is £5.96 for each controller. That excludes the cost of the strip board I used to build the controllers on (about £4 and I have plenty left over), and the small boxes I put them into (Maplin: LH20W £3.69 each).

 

Total should be around £20 for the two controllers - and you will probably be able to buy the parts needed much cheaper on ebay - I did!!

 

My DRLs are fitted 6 each side of the car and draw about 0.5 Amps per side. The LM317T handles this without a heatsink - if your DRLs draw much more than 1 amp per side the LM317T will get pretty warm so will need keeping cool by bolting a metal heatsink to it! If you have DRLs that draw a lot more power than 1amp ask me and I will give you an upgraded version of the circuit.

 

How it works

-----------------

 

Refer to the circuit diagram below:

 

The LM317T variable voltage regulator controls the voltage supplied to the DRLs. The higher the voltage the brighter they are. The voltage comes in on pin 3 (12volt supply) and comes out on pin 2 (variable voltage)

 

The Voltage supplied to the DRLs via pin 2 depends on the values of the two resistors R1 and R2. connected to pin 1.

 

The values of 390R/3k3 will supply 12Volts so the DRLs are on full brightness

 

If you were to reduce the value of R2 then the voltage feeding the DRLs would decrease and they would dim.

 

The transistors T1 and T2 act like electronic switches (or relays). When there is no voltage on the base connection they are switched off and have no effect on the LM317T voltage regulator.

 

Now imagine you turn on the sidelights. This will put a 12V supply, via resistor R3, onto the base of Transistor T1. This causes T1 to turn on. R3 is there to limit the current supplied to T1 to a safe amount.

 

When transistor T1 is turned on, it's just like turning on a relay connected between the 'c' and 'e' connections of the transistor. This connects VR1 across R3 and so reduces the resistance value. This causes the voltage supplied by the LM317T to reduce and the DRLs to dim. You can adjust the variable resistor VR1 to set the dimmed brightness level

 

When you turn off your sidelights, transistor T1 turns back off and the DRLs go back to full brightness. Remember I said T1 is acting like an relay? That is perfectly true - and you could replace the transistor with a relay with the coil powered from your sidelights, and the contacts connecting VR1 across R2 and it would work just the same! But a transistor is a few pence, a relay is...... rather more and goes 'click'

 

 

 

OK so that's how the dim function works.

 

Now imagine you turn on your indicators. Ignoring the components C2, R6 and VR2 for the moment you see that everytime the indicator flashes on, you will supply 12V via the diode D1 and resistor R5 to the base of the transistor T2. This turns the transistor on and effectively connects the 1k resistor R4 across R2. This causes the combined resistance (R4/R2) to drop so much that the output voltage from the LM317 falls to about 3V. This is not enough voltage for the DRLs to light up, so they go out.

 

Now when the indicators flash off, the transistor T2 would turn off again, which would cause the DRLs to come back on. We would have the DRLs/Indicators flashing alternately Yellow/White/Yellow/White... which is not quite what we want.

 

This is where D1, C2, VR2 and R6 come in to play.

 

Capacitors used in this way act like little rechargeable batteries. When your indicator flashes on, the 12V supply flows through diode D1 and almost instantly charges C2 to full capacity. Yes the 12V from the indicators is also powering the base of T2, thus turning the transistor on and the DRLs off.

 

Now consider what happens when the indicators flash off. There is no more 12V supply coming from the indicator, so the capacitor C2 starts to discharge. It can't discharge back via the diode D1 and your indicator bulbs, as the diode only allows electric current to flow one way (the direction of the arrow on the symbol)

 

So the capacitor C2 discharges mostly via VR2 and R6 instead (and also via R5 and the base connection of transistor T2 keeping the transistor turned on).

 

VR2 sets the discharge rate. The lower you set the resistance of VR2 the faster C2 discharges.

 

If we set VR2 such that it takes more about a second for C2 to discharge and T2 to turn off (and the DRLs to come back on) then before the capacitor C2 can fully discharge, the indicators flash back on instantly charging it back up again. C2 can never fully discharge because everytime it gets down to about half charge the indicators flash back on and charge it up again. This keeps transistor T2 turned on and the DRLs turned off. Only when the indicators stop flashing can C2 finally discharge, T2 turns off and the DRLs come back on.

 

Adjust VR2 so that the DRLs stay off while the indicators are flashing, and take about a second to come back on afterwards

 

R6 is there to stop you setting the resistance of VR2 too low. If R6 was not there and you turned VR2 all the way over to one end then the value of VR2 would be around zero ohms so you would create a short circuit between the indicator supply and chassis, via D1.

 

Something would have to give, most likely D1 would explode in a slightly spectacular manner or VR2 would simply fry and burn! Because R6 is there this can't happen - the total resistance of VR2+R6 can only be adjusted between 1k and 3.5k

 

C1 and C3 don't do anything particularly interesting, they are there to filter out voltage spikes and surges which could otherwise cause the LM317T to become unstable and the brightness of the DRLs to fluctuate. In most cases they are pretty much redudant and everything would still function normally even if you removed them

 

So that's how it works, I hope my explanation is clear enough for anyone with only a basic knowledge of electronics to be able to understand my design.

 

 

Rich

Edited December 13, 201213 yr by dicky96