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DIY - Positioning Lights as DRLs

34K views 93 replies 23 participants last post by  bad_turbulence 
#1 · (Edited)
My positioning lights are now officially running as DRLs.



After 2 full weeks of testing period, I built and installed the second module (Passenger side). I must warn you all, you need lots of patience and skills in electronics to complete below project.

This installation is for Canadian Sorentos, although it can be easily adapted to the US version (See comments at the bottom). Before going into the beef, let me define a few specs:


  1. DRL Reduced OEM Voltage (High Beam) : 2.32 Volts
  2. High Beam Voltage: 14.5 Volts
  3. Parking Lights Voltage (Input of LED controller): ~13 volts.
  4. Positioning Lights (Output of LED controller): 12.5 Volts and 60 miliAmps
  5. High Beams ALWAYS turn on along with the Low Beams.
  6. Low Beams ALWAYS turn on the Parking Lights (Positioning LED eyebrows and tail lights)
  7. LED controller outputs 4 wires, 2 for LED eyebrow (Red/Black) and 2 for 3-led yellow parking light (Yellow/Blue)

Since I didn't want to run any cable into the headlamp housing, I had to boost the OEM DRL voltage (2.3 volts) to 12.5 volts while running on DRL mode but also disable my circuit when Parking lights (Only or LB or HB+LB ) were ON, so LED eyebrows would not received voltage from 2 separate sources simultaneously.

Something I realized after my initial exploration, the LED controller monitors the current going through it, meaning that the current returning from the led strip MUST come through the LED controller. If the current flows back across another ground circuit, LED EYEBROWS WILL NOT TURN ON. When parking lights are off (No input voltage), LED controller opens both lines to the LED strip.

Taking all that into account, I came up with this circuit:



Materials:

2 DC to DC Voltage Booster (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B011EBSKK0/ref=pe_386430_121528420_TE_dp_1)
2 Voltage Regulator LM7812 (https://www.amazon.com/L7812CV-LM7812-L7812-Voltage-Regulator/dp/B00O072KB6)
4 Diodes (50v 1 Amp)
2 Double Pole mini relay 12vDC 5Amp (G5V-2-DC12: Omron : Double Pole Double Throw 2A 12 Volt: Electromechanical)
1 Dual Perforated Mini PBC board (https://www.radioshack.com/products/dual-mini-board)
2 JST-PH (2mm) Jumper 4-Wire Assembly (JST-PH (2mm) Jumper 4-Wire Assembly (15cm wire) in Canada Robotix)
Cable 28-30 AWG (Multiple Colors)
Shrinking Tube according to the AWG

How it works:

Relay bridges simultaneously both poles (Positive and negative from High Beam) when is not receiving signal from the parking lights (+) and opens the circuit when parking lights are ON. Voltage regulator ensures the input voltage at the booster does not surpass 12 Volts. Booster increases the voltage from 2.32 to 12.5 (When on DRL only) and from 12 to 12.5 Volts (If raise the high beams while lights are off ). Diodes prevent current from flowing back into any of the the sources through the positive wire.

Given that I had to place my module in between the LED controller and the Load (LED strip), I used a very similar connector type (Male/Female) as the OEM connector. Note you must use the 4 wires of the connectors, 2 for LED eyebrows and 2 for 3-LED yellow parking light (These 2 go straight from controller to LED strip harness, they DO NOT enter the boosting module)

Female connector goes into the led controller and Male goes to the LED strip connector. It can all be removed without leaving any trace and even if the module breaks, it will keep the circuit between the LED controller and the LED strip working as OEM.

Installation:

1) Preparation: Remove the low and high beam dust caps. Remove the Low and High beam bulbs. Remove the fuse box cover (Driver Side) and the Coolant container (Passenger side).



2) Disconnect the headlamp harness connector. Lower-right pin (Housing socket) is empty, but there is a rubber cap tucked from behind, stick a thin Allen Key to push the rubber cap out of the slot into the headlight housing.



3) Using a wire, fish the Parking Light Signal cable (From module) through the newly created pin slot by sticking the wire through the open pin slot and out through the Low Beam bulb opening. Twist the cable around the pin (Parking Lights +) next to it. Place harness connector back in.

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4)Remove the socket cap from the High beam socket. Run the DRL voltage cables (From module) through the socket cap and hook them both to each terminal (Positive and Ground) of the High Beam socket.

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5) Stick your hand (Palm up) into the headlight housing and disconnect the LED strip harness from the LED controller. Plug in the Female harness (from module) into the LED controller and the Male harness (from module) to the LED strip harness.

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Other/US Models

There is good and bad news.

Bad: There is no voltage source inside the headlamp housing to power the LED strips, thus you will need to run an ACC wire from the fuse box into the housing through one of the unused pins of the Headlamp harness connector.

Good: Less complicated circuit.

Warning: DO NOT let any tool/part lingering over the engine or somewhere around the engine compartment. If something falls down it's nearly impossible to bring it back.
 
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#64 ·
No. For HIDs with auto-leveling, there is no way to do it from the Low Beam opening. It's nearly impossible. The auto-leveling mechanism is right in the middle, making impossible to bypass the LED controller. Easiest way is to drop the bumper. It's fairly simple as long as you have another pair of hands for help.
 
#69 · (Edited)
Finally got this done on my SXL with factory HIDs.

It is much simpler for us in terms of wiring except the bumper removal part. Ignore section 4.1 which requires fishing the module wire, etc.


  1. Remove the stock bumper. There are youtube videos and threads here. Its easy to remove/install again later once you do it as the tabs loosen a bit. No need to disconnect the front camera and fog light connectors. Just place it down close the car.
  2. Remove the Stock headlight assemblies by removing the 3 (10mm and 12mm sockets) screws at the top. They are locked at the bottom so you will have wiggle and pull but don't bump on the metal parts.
  3. Remove the round LED access cover on bottom and the HID ballast. I was not able to remove the the main ballast connector (with red rubber boot). So I just let the ballast hang on the side.
  4. Slide the KSO16 DRL module through the ballast opening. Fish the LED inline harness towards the left LED opening alongwith the green wire.
  5. There are two connectors. One with black-brown wires which is the Stock parking light trigger. Other is the LED harness connector that is the controller. Disconnect the stock LED connector and connect the KSO16 harness inline while matching the red wires. Press the connectors tight for a secure fit. Not too tight as the module connectors are delicate. I used a small flat head precision driver to slowly pry the stock LED connector off. Use it to push the harness connector in too. The space is tight to connect the both the KSO16 connectors in that small slot. So I slid my finger from the ballast opening to hold the stock connector.

  6. For SXL with HIDs, ignore the 4.1 section. Its easy for us in terms of wire splicing. Just splice the green wire to the brown wire from from the stock parking light connector. Its recommended to use posi-taps but I couldn't find any locally and was late to order online so I used quick splice connectors. I know it might void the warranty if the LEDs burn out. They should work fine for another 8-10 years so I might sell the Sorento before that anyway.
 
#70 · (Edited)
  • Remove the cover for the High beam, Now fish the ground black wire from the module towards the high beam opening and out. Pull the tab on the outside of the H7 connector a little with the precision driver and remove the cover. Then insert the driver in the negative terminal from the front and push the tab outward to remove the H7 ground connector out altogether. Strip the module ground wire enough to wrap it around the connector and insert the H7 ground terminal back in the socket. Put the socket cover on. No need to fish it from the other end as the instructions say, It stays secure between the terminal, socket and the cover.




 
#71 · (Edited)
  1. Now remove the black L-shaped rubber cover for the moisture drain and fish the ACC red wire from the module through it. I removed the foam piece out and then put it back in before installing the L-shaped cover back. I extended the ACC wire by soldering a long wire (about 6-7 ft) of similar gauge. I didn't have small enough heat shrink so I just covered it in electrical tape. I covered it in a flex sleeve and zip tied it.


    Tuck in the wire on the LHS as shown.



    Also for those wondering about add-a-fuse, I used the power outlet fuse location to get ACC power. Put the stock fuse in the bottom slot and the 5A fuse for the DRLs in the top slot that is inline with the red wire (makes logical sense, no!)

  2. Install everything back and you are good to go. The LHS (sitting in the car) bumper tabs are bit hard to put back so I installed the bumper fully in slightly towards the Left first and then pulled the tabs over the locks. Then I moved on to the RHS and installed the the tabs which went in easily. Make sure the top tabs inside the engine bay over the grill fit properly over the front frame rail hooks. It's easy to miss them.
  3. Test according to the instructions but a simple test is when the eyebrow lights come on with just ACC on.
 
#72 ·
Man, our eyebrows are just so hard to see. There has to be a way to make a DRL mod jump out of the front of the vehicle and grab some attention (to let other traffic know we're there) I know there have been some valiant attempts, but I'm not sure anyone has hit the mark yet..... If you have hit the mark, post photos and tell us what you did to make them super-bright. And perhaps you didn't even use the eyebrow housing, perhaps you used a different approach.
 
#74 ·
Pics working as DRLs with the KSO16. Just a little bit brighter. You can see the stock Mazda6 DRLs are so much brighter.

Hey, atleast my Sorento is white as its highly visible in bright sun. DRLs will matter more in low light conditions not dark enough for headlights to turn on anyways. So I am happy with the result.





 
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#75 ·
Pics working as DRLs with the KSO16. Just a little bit brighter. You can see the stock Mazda6 DRLs are so much brighter.

Hey, atleast my Sorento is white as its highly visible in bright sun. DRLs will matter more in low light conditions not dark enough for headlights to turn on anyways. So I am happy with the result.
In the last pic you can barely see the Mazda's...but Agree, I wish they were brighter. I might try to experiment with my own, running them on higher voltage...wont feel good anyway If I had to take my Sorento in for warranty lol :D:nerd:;)
 
#82 ·
We just got a 2019 LX v6 (US model) which has a strip of LEDs below the projectors instead of the eyebrow earlier models have. No DRL at all on this car. And yet, "DRL" is molded into the lens of the headlight assembly, alongside the other normal DOT markings (see attached pic). So I have to wonder if the LEDs can be made to function as actual DRL.

As parking lights, they're very dim during the day and would be worthless as DRL. If I can find the time, I'll try to see how much voltage is being fed to the LED strip in parking light mode. I really have to wonder if it's getting 12v (or vbatt/alternator voltage) but there's a controller using PWM to reduce apparent brightness. I'd need a scope to tell for sure, but maybe a video camera would be able to capture that telltale flicker of PWM... Would be nice if it turns out that's all it is, and then I just need to trigger something on the LED controller to enable full brightness DRL mode!
 

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#85 ·
Josuet,
I don't understand what I'm looking at. Is this pic looking at the headlight ass'y from below? Are you looking inside the headlight ass'y through the removable caps? If you can provide some geography of the pic it will make it easier to determine how I need to take the pics. Thanks.
 
#88 ·
Highbeam stays on too. You could try replacing the HighBeam bulb with a LED but you risk having the light flickering or the canbus alarm turn on. We need to design a circuit to turn off the HighBeam DRL completely. Not worth the effort IMO
 
#89 ·
I have a 19 as well and would love to make the LEDs as DRLs to be on all the time. I thought about seeing if theres a way of taking the wires from the leds that go to the fusebox where they go, and rewiring it to a constant 12v source so they are always on. Problem is i dont want to mess up an electrical. I also want to add fog lights to come on with headlights but thats another project.
 
#91 · (Edited)
I adapted a connector to bridge the led controller connector and measure voltage and current while the led strips were on (OEM operation)

Also, it might depend on the type of strips your Sorento has. I know there are two types, maybe yours draw more current.
 
#93 · (Edited)
hi josuet,
been a long time, just a quick question. When stationary tonight I needed to turn steering wheel hard right in my 2016 LX Sorento (AWD). The steering wheel made an abrupt thump and wouldn't let me go right , it pulled the wheel back to center and it made the abrupt thump sound and my headlights blinked off and back on (perhaps dashboard lights too, can't remember as I was so stunned). I couldn't back up because a car was behind me so I was trying to maneuver hard right to clear the car in front of me. Kind of like leaving a parallel parking situation where you need to cut the wheel hard to the right to get out. I then tried to do it a 2nd time and it did the EXACT same thing....steering wheel gave way and lights blinked. I wanted to get your thoughts on this since you have the same car with EPS. (hopefully this is a recall or something weird that I was doing that EPS doesn't like)..sorry to leave the message on this topic.
 
#94 · (Edited)
UPDATE: seems like I have loose cable terminals on the battery. However, the positive terminal will not tighten to the cable fitting that goes around the positive terminal post. It only goes so tight (kinda loose because I can slightly turn it) but still will spin if you try to tighten the bolt (facing the engine to the left of the positive battery terminal). So I'm trying to figure out why it won't tighten very much, seems like the positive battery terminal cable has a very bad design. I also notice that my negative battery terminal is spinning freely as well, so I will tighten that one down AFTER I figure out the positive battery terminal issue. This is crazy, never seen a positive battery terminal be so loose, or at least be able to turn a bit freely. they don't have a good clamping mechanism but it's a very big positive battery terminal because there is a 200A service fuse built right in.
 
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