DRL with blinker - possible? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Previously I installed some DRL's into the front bumper and wired them in using a relay. They work (though one of the LED's in the passenger side is out) but they don't seem bright enough especially during the day. The ones I have have 8 LED's in each housing. I have been looking around at a replacment, and found these - which include two rows of white LEDs (20 total) plus a row of 10 Amber LEDs. In addition to being able to connect to the relay I already have to control the white LEDs, there is another wire (yellow) which gets connected to the blinker wire (positive I beleive) so that when the blinker is on the amber lights show and the white do not. I think it would look pretty good, but not sure if with the enclosed headlight fixture if it would be possiblle to wire in the additional wire to the blinker.

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The parts I ordered arrived last week and I was able to wire things in this past weekend. I had been doing some additional research on this while waiting for the parts and came across forum posts on how to enable the side markers as blinkers - which I thought would come in handy to wire in the additional blinker wire for the DRL's that I purchased. So, I ended up combining the two things - wiring in my new DRL's with the turn signal, as well as the side markers as turn signals. Specific to wiring in the DRL's, I followed the same instructions I had the first time (though the relay I have that connects to the battery was already installed so I did not have to do that again, just swap out the actual DRLs). That took care of the red and white wires for the DRLs. The additional yellow wire was to connect to the + wire from the turn signal indicator on each side. This is where the info on using the side indicator lights as turn signals came in handy. I actually had found two different posts on this topic, and each used a different approach - one had you cut the - wire on the side marker and the other had you cut the + wire on the side marker, then run a length of wire and connect this to the proper wire on each side. I wanted the side markers to work as turn indicators both when the lights were on and when they were off (they blink alternately with the front turn signals when the lights are on, and in synch with the front turn signals when the lights are off), so I followed the instructions in the PDF below which had me cut the brown (-) wire, but then used the info in the other link to attach the piece of wire I added to the brown wire that was cut. Here are links to the instructions I am referring to - thanks to the people who put those together: Anti-Bling Porsche Boxster DIY's: Side Marker Turn signal LED --- and --- (this is a link to a PDF) https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQFjABahUKEwjZypbV6OzGAhVEdz4KHfEmA7c&url=http%3A%2F%2Frennlist.com%2Fforums%2Fattachmen ts%2F996-forum%2F619743d1332881602-looking-for-side-light-flashing-dyi-tutorial-sidemaker_mod.pdf&ei=noquVdmDEcTu-QHxzYy4Cw&usg=AFQjCNGK2lXc10A_2HWV4R9tkKjb-bg5zA&sig2=ZFpA3LWiRX3RXFpWKjzqRQ&bvm=bv.98197061,d.cWw Here is a pic of what my previous DRLs looked like (they were not bright enought, and one of the LED bulbs inside the passenger side was not working): Here is one of the new ones wired in (note the yellow wire in the frunk, this was not attached yet): For the DRL turn signal, I connected the yellow wire from the driver side (right if facing the front of the car) to the BLACK/GREEN wire at the headlight connector inside the opening where I removed the headlight (you can see it in the picture above - it appears orange and blue in the picture - using a wire connector, the kind you insert the wire in and crimp down to push the metal piece into the wire). I then started the car and made sure the DRL functioned with the rear turn signal (it alternated between white and yellow) which it did. ** Good idea to verify that all your turn signal, side marker lights, etc are functioning correctly before starting this ** ** Remove the side markers per your manual ** I then wired in the driver side (right if facing front) side marker by: - cutting the brown wire a few inches from the connector - terminate the brown wire that you just cut (the end not connected to the connector) - connect a piece of wire, a few feet or so, to the brown wire on the connector ( I used a butt connector for this). - connect the end of the wire that you just added to the brown wire on the connector to the same BLACK/GREEN wire you connected the front DRL yellow wire to (I did this again up at the headlight plug) using a crimp on connector (just as I did for the yellow wire here) I then started the car again and verified that the side marker worked with the lights on, and also when the left turn signal was engaged. I turned the car off and re-installed the headlight on that side. I started the car and then verified that the DRL worked (white) when the car was running, the side marker came on when the headlights were turned on, and the front turn signal, DRL and side marker (as well as rear turn signal) all worked when the left turn signal was engaged. NOTE: When testing the turn signals while the headlight is removed you will get the rapid blink, this goes away and the blink is normal rate when testing with the headlight reinstalled. NOTE 2: Even though I verified that the lights were all working (with the assistance of my wife) before starting this, one of the side marker lights burned out while I was doing this. That lead to some frustration as I assumed I had wired something wrong and spent/wasted some time redoing it. I then smartened up and used the bulb from the other side (I had not started that yet) and it worked correctly. So a good idea to have a few extra bulbs around if you chose to do this to protect your sanity. For the other side, everything was the same with the exception of the wire at the headlight connector to connect the yellow DRL wire (and the wire you add to the side marker) to. On the passenger side (left if facing the car) this is a BLACK/WHITE wire (the smaller black/white wire, as noted in the referenced PDF). Here is a picture of both new DRL's on: Here is a video of the whole thing in operation: https://youtu.be/NxHWCWG2xTw

This is a great write up and makes me really want to do the same set up. Just a couple of questions: Where did you get the new DRL's? From the video it doesn't seem that the white LED's turn off completely when the amber LEDs turn on. Could this be done so that when the turn signal is engaged that only the Amber lights flash, then when the turn signal is off they go back to only having the white light on? I have seen this on newer cars with DRLs and turn signals that are integrated. Would you be able to post some pictures of how you mounted the DRLs? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I bought the new DRL's on ebay. Here is a link to the item (does not appear to be available specifically now but I'm sure you could find similar ones elsewhere on Ebay) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=141707798680&view=all&tid=1150496726004 The angle of the lights in my video because I am a little above the car I think are a bit deceptive - the way they do work is that when the turn signal is engaged the yellow part of the DRL flashes and the white is turned off (they may be part of the white LEDs that are still on but not fully, I will have to check again when I get a chance). So I think it is working the way you described, which is how I wanted them to work. As for mounting the DRL's, I followed the instructions in a separate thread for running the wires (which I need to try and find again) the physical DRL's are just attached to the louvered bracket using the mounting hardware and screws that came with the lights.

Here are the links to the other forum topics I used specifically for the DRL lights http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/43990-drl-leds-wiring-them-correctly.html - and - http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/37700-diy-led-drls.html Hope that helps....

Looks great - I like the brightness. It is quite busy for my liking and quite literally flashy. I would absolutely do this but TBH I rarely use the turn signals besides changing lanes on the freeway and even then its only for a single blink or two.

I made another video last night while it was a bit lighter out - the first one I made it was darker outside so the lights were brighter in the video. I did verify that while engaged with the tirn signal, about 1/2 of the while lights in the DRL stay on while the yellow lights are on. You can watch the new video here if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl0DXfNKfpE

Thanks for posting another video that does make it more clear showing that the only half of the DRL stays on while the turn signal is engaged. I still like this looks great and think it would be a sweet addition. I'm still wondering if there would be a way to make the DRL turn completely off while the turn signal is engage and not flash on and off with the turn signal? It would follow this sequence: DRL on - (turn signal engaged) - DRL off, Turn signal flash on off - (turn signal disengage) - DRL on

Do you mean just a white DRL without the yellow like mine has? That may be a feature of the actual DRL you purchase either way as opposed to something you can wire in generically - so if the ones I have completely shut off the white and only showed the yellow, that is more what you are looking for (or if there was no yellow then just shut the white DRL off the entire turn signal phase? When I looked on Ebay there were tons of different DRLs so I suspect you could find one that worked like you wanted ...

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Most aftermarket DRLs operate in the way you describe using a switchback controller. Not sure why his don't...

You could always run two wires to the interior: one to control the white LEDs and one to control the yellow. Then whenever you see or hear the turn signal come on, you would activate the correct color. Seems much more simple.

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I am using a relay that connects to the battery and has a yellow wire which you can connect to a headlight feed to make the DRL's go off when the headlights come on (I did not connect this). The + and - wires for the DRL's are connected to that relay. Then there is another yellow wire on the DRL itself which I connected to the turn signal to activate the yellow DRL lights. I believe I have mine wired correctly, but its possible I have something amiss. Or it could just be the way DRLs I have work and different types would function as you are looking for ...

Most DRL/turn signal combination units have 3 wires (red, black, yellow). The red wire is DRL 12V +, black is ground, and yellow is turn 12V +. It sounds like you have it hooked up correctly. Yours just must not use the same type of switchback controller. A lot of those units on eBay will have an animation in their description showing how it operates.

So after reading about DRL's some more this spring I found out there are two types of switchbacks that are used for the DRLs with turn signal. One, like the ones I had installed before, alternate between amber and white when the turn signal is engaged. These are called type AW. The other type, which alternates between amber and off when the turn signal is engaged is called type AO. I was not aware of this when I purchased the set I had previously installed. I thought the amber - off ones would look better, and be more like what most cars have so I started looking for some again. I was able to find some on ebay and installed them today. These are a little thinner, brighter and I think look better too. Here are a few pictures: And if you are interested in seeing an updated video you can look here: https://youtu.be/Lhb3m0EzrzQ

Very nicely done.