will the DRL mod work on the ISF?

10727 Views 14 Replies 6 Participants Last post by DS2k, Feb 18, 2011

infinus

Discussion Starter · Jan 11, 2010

I saw there was a mod to give the DRL's full power on the 1st gen IS, would this mod work on the ISF also? I'll have to look to see if there is a similar box underneath the plastic covers.

http://my.is/forums/f64/drl-mods-full-power-disable-350087/

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infinus

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jan 15, 2010

So I looked underneath the covers and there is a similar looking box, but I'm just hesitant to stick the wire in there to try it out cause with my luck I'll probably blow something up haha.

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p.whitelock

· #3 · Jan 15, 2010

What is DRL?

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infinus

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 16, 2010 (Edited)

p.whitelock said:
What is DRL?

Daytime Running Lights. When your car is on your high beam bulbs are used as your DRL's they run at a like half power so they look kind of dim and dull.

Dont get the DRL's mixed up with the city lights, there is also a tiny wedge bulb in that housing that lights up.

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LNL HUTZ

· #5 · Jan 18, 2010

So you're trying to make your high beams come on all the time instead of the DRLs? Why? Aren't DRLs supposed to be dim so that they make you visible to oncoming cars but won't blind them?

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infinus

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 18, 2010

LNL HUTZ said:
So you're trying to make your high beams come on all the time instead of the DRLs? Why? Aren't DRLs supposed to be dim so that they make you visible to oncoming cars but won't blind them?

There are two bulbs inside that housing. when your lights are off the high beam bulbs are on as DRL's and run at half power giving a dim yellow look to the lights. When your headlights are on those bulbs turn off and the little tiny city light turns on in its place illuminating the housing.

During the day when the DRL's are on, having them on at full power wont blind drivers because daylight is much brighter than your DRL's/high beams, at night when the headlights come on the DRL/high beams will automatically turn off unless you have the high beams activated via the lever in the car.

You can replace the DRL's with LED bulbs and there is a little module to give them full power so they are nice and bright but you lose high beam functionality. I want the bright output and still be able to retain my high beams when I need them.

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EDB08IS-F

· #7 · Jan 18, 2010

Infinus, I believe you are wrong all together. The little wedge bulb is your DRL. I had my dealer turn off my DRL (little wedge bulb) on my last service. However, at night time, the little wedge bulb comes on. The next time I go in for service, I will ask to see if they can de-activate the little wedge bulb when the HID's are on.

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infinus

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 19, 2010

EDB08IS-F said:
Infinus, I believe you are wrong all together. The little wedge bulb is your DRL. I had my dealer turn off my DRL (little wedge bulb) on my last service. However, at night time, the little wedge bulb comes on. The next time I go in for service, I will ask to see if they can de-activate the little wedge bulb when the HID's are on.

I'm pretty sure I'm right. the whole point of DRL's are to be on when your headlights are off during the day. here are pics.

Here are the DRL's. The light switch inside the car is in the "off" position, you can see that when this is the case the high beam bulb is illuminated at half power acting as the DRL bulb.

Here are the lights with the switch in the "on" position, you can see that now the DRL's are OFF and the wedge bulb is ON, along with the headlights.

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infinus

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jan 19, 2010

As an update I ran a test to see if this would work, I unplugged the little box and turned the car on but the DRL's were still on, if this was the box that controlled them they should have been off. The car stayed on for like a minute then died, so I'm assuming this box has something to do with engine control and not the headlights. After pluging the box back in the car ran fine.

here is a pic of it:

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LNL HUTZ

· #10 · Jan 19, 2010

infinus said:
During the day when the DRL's are on, having them on at full power wont blind drivers because daylight is much brighter than your DRL's/high beams

That's silly. Daylight is much brighter than a AA-battery flashlight, but if you look right at the flashlight, you'll go blind for a bit. High beams are not simply brighter headlights--they are aimed above the ground and right into the eyes of oncoming drivers.

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infinus

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 19, 2010

LNL HUTZ said:
That's silly. Daylight is much brighter than a AA-battery flashlight, but if you look right at the flashlight, you'll go blind for a bit. High beams are not simply brighter headlights--they are aimed above the ground and right into the eyes of oncoming drivers.

Have you ever accidentally driven with your high beams on during the day? I have, didnt get flashed once. The only way they will get blinded is if they are staring directly into my headlights. This is no different than when people install LED lights and attach the device that gives them full power. Further more they are aimed straight ahead, if they were aimed into the eyes of oncoming drivers they would be aimed to the left which they most certainly are not.

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LNL HUTZ

· #12 · Jan 19, 2010

Try this: turn on your high beams during the day, walk 20' in front of your car, then look at the lights and tell me they're not blinding. Cars don't travel on tracks, so your lights will not always stay on your own side of the road. And what about the person in front of you?

Again, I think driving around all day with your high beams on is a bad idea.

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EDB08IS-F

· #13 · Feb 2, 2010

infinus said:
I'm pretty sure I'm right. the whole point of DRL's are to be on when your headlights are off during the day. here are pics.

Here are the DRL's. The light switch inside the car is in the "off" position, you can see that when this is the case the high beam bulb is illuminated at half power acting as the DRL bulb.

Here are the lights with the switch in the "on" position, you can see that now the DRL's are OFF and the wedge bulb is ON, along with the headlights.

Sorry Infinus, your right. My DRL's have been turned off for a while now so I thought it was the other way around. However, the little bulb still comes on when my light are on at night time.

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isflojo

· #14 · Feb 11, 2011

Is there an LED or regular bulb replacement for this little city light bulb to match the whiteness of the lowbeams?

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DS2k

· #15 · Feb 18, 2011

Perhaps this thread could use some clarification.

What infinus is looking to do WILL NOT trun the DRLs to "highbeam mode" all day long. I've had this done on my IS300, and all it simply did was make the DRLs slightly brighter than normal. Then I had to buy 6000K bulbs and replace the oems, and only then did the color of the bulbs matched the headlights (not spot on, but close). This mod did not disable the functionality of the highbeams.

So for everyone saying that turning on the highbeams during the day is a bad idea, this mod is NOT MEANT TO DO THAT, at least it didn't on IS300.

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