I like the way new cars have the headlights come on when you start them and turn off with the engine. Is it possible to put this set up in a 69. If so would it be difficult. I shouldn't think so. Thanks

 

You could wire the headlights through ignition on switched power.

 

The ignition switch in these cars isn't designed to carry that much current. You'd have to run an isolation relay that is switched by the ignition switch. This is what GM did for high current accessories like power seats and power windows. Personally, I don't consider having the lights switched to be a "feature".

 

I’m guessing what your looking for is the automatic headlights (they come on automatically when it gets dark). Check this out

Directed Electronics 545T Nite-Lite System D
these guys have one in progress, who knows when it will be available?


http://www.revolutionelectronics.com/Development.html


As much as I adore my wife, she still complains about my “primitive” 06 Ram and it’s labor intensive task to turn on the headlights. I have had one of thev DEI controllers for a couple years now. Sooner or later I’ll get around to installing it on my Ram. I have had this article bookmarked for years.


https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...ht-switch.html

 

Headlights on full power are a source of needless glare to oncoming drivers. Recall how irritating Saturn's running lights were--and they only activated headlights at half power.

I appreciate the safety aspect of Daytime Running Lights, so I wired the upper filament of the front turn signals to come on with the ignition. You can get a kit for this from Daniel Stern.

Another advantage of this approach is that the turn signal bulb is cheaper and easier to replace than a headlight.

 

Look closely at these new cars. In many cases, it's NOT the headlights that come on, but separate daytime running lights that are dimmer. The purpose of these lights is to make it easier for the car to be seen, not to see at night. These lights are not bright enough to use as headlights. On an old car, running lights don't exist, and, if you want something like daytime running lights, you'd probably want to wire something up so that the parking lights come on when the car is started, not the headlights.

My 2014 Mazda 6 has the kind of running lights I described. Each headlight pod actually has TWO lights in it. The inboard part on each side has the smaller running light while the outboard side has the actual headlight. The turn signals are outboard of the headlights. Another couple of features of these modern running lights is that they don't turn on until the car is shifted out of Park, and they turn off when the headlights are turned on. No need for both of them to be on at the same time.

In short, daytime running lights on modern cars are much more sophisticated than simply turning on the headlights when the car is started.

 

In some states running parking lights only is against the law. Parking lights and front directionals are amber vs a DRL that are clear.

 

I hadn't heard this, but it makes sense. Scratch my idea of wiring up the parking lights.

I think the bottom line here is this: live with the lights the way they are on your old car.

 

Eric, it is OK to use amber directional signal lights as DRLs (e.g. Challenger).

Gary

 

Except for one thing my friend. The 1157 bulb for the front signal/running lights is a clear double filament bulb vs the 1157A which is amber. The lens on the 68-72 Cutlass series are all clear/slightly opaque. That should satisfy the DMV for their concerns. BTW what is the issue with running the park lights? Never heard of this.

 

Nothing, except that you would be turning the taillights on, too. With DRLs, only lights on the front of the car turn on.

Plus, I'm not sure that the parking lights are bright enough to be worth turning on. DRLs are brighter than parking lights but not as bright as headlights.

 

Actually Dan the park lights are plenty bright to be seen. And as for the DRL not using the rear tail lights there is a movement to stop that practice because of the number of rear end collisions that occur in low light conditions where just the DRL's are on. Personally I run with my lights on all the time because IMO it's safer and makes my vehicle more visible at all times. One thing I don't care for though (and my new car has this) is the HID lights. I don't believe there's any provision on my car for just 'park' and DRLs.

 

Maybe instead of all this speculation, we should wait for the OP to tell us exactly what he's looking for. Some cars (mainly imports) only allow the headlights to operate when the key is on. I assume this was to prevent draining the battery by leaving the lights on. This is different from DRLs. We don't know which the OP was asking about. In any case, DRL conversions are easy. There are a bazillion modules available on line for $15 or so.

 

I think that depends on the car. I've seen some old cars with parking lights that are fairly dim. They certainly aren't as bright as DRLs.

 

^^ Which for some people is absolutely perfect and eliminates that annoying chime module for lights left on. Only time I ever appreciated it was when I left the lights on with the wifes Saturn and there was no chime. (insert curse words for dead battery here) Turns out the chime module is integrated into about 7 different circuits including the rear defrost which wasn't working either. Plug in a new relay (no longer produced but available at the bone yard) and voila, so I picked up 6 of em on the cheap just in case. Now she doesn't drive it anymore, sigh...

You're right about the import - at least Hyundai. I leave my setting at lights on all the time. When the car is turned off there is about a 45 second delay and they go off automatically. Something I really like when it's dark out and the headlights give that extra bit of illumination that prevents tripping over something.

 

Honestly Dan, DRL's are a joke in some cases. They were originally supposed to run the high beams at 25% brightness. I guess they chose the high beams since they don't get used all that much. My DRL's on the Sonata are a ribbon LED set of lights. :Yeah, looks cool as heck but kinda blends into my white paint.
See what I mean?

 

Olds called this the Nite Watch option, RPO T81.

 

Yes, I have an NOS Nightwatch in box. I was going to use it on my Cutlass but it doesn't play well with the U21 gages. The Olds Nightwatch delay is based on oil pressure bleed down in the sender.

 

FWIW, the DRLs on my '98 T/A are the same amber bulbs (operated at the same brightness) as the turn signal / parking lights. Unless your front turn-signal bulbs are the tiny wedge/blade socket types, 1157 / 1157As are plenty bright to be used as DRLs. I'm also skeptical that running parking lights while driving is illegal in "some states". I'd be interested in which states it is unlawful, and how those states justify it being unlawful.

 

I'll go way out on a limb here and speculate on this. When you pull out the headlight switch far enough to turn on the parking lights (the first stop) and not the headlights (all the way out), what happens INSIDE the car is the same as turning on the headlights. All the dash lights light up, and as far as the driver can tell, the interior lighting looks the same as though the headlights WERE on. I recall back in the day that people would sometimes turn on their parking lights at dusk while they're driving to better see the dashboard even though it might not have been dark enough to require the headlights. These same people would then not turn on their headlights until well AFTER they should have turned them on because they had forgotten that they weren't already on. So they would drive too far into the evening with their headlights off because they didn't realize their headlights are off.

In short, I'm guessing these laws against driving with only the parking lights on was a safety measure. How effective it was, I don't know. But I have seen, over the years, at dusk the occasional car driving without its headlights and they really should be on because they're hard to see.


Check out the very last entry on this page.

https://driversed.com/driving-inform...le/lights.aspx

Parking lights are located at the front and back of your vehicles; they are white or amber in the front and red on the back. All of them must be visible for 500 ft. It is never legal to drive with your parking lights on; they are only to be used during parking.

 

It's illegal in California. My guess is that it's illegal in most states. Not that it's enforced much if it is illegal in a particular state.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/f...=2.&article=4.

 

I frequently drive late at night. About once a week a dingus w daytime running lights and no tailights is tooling down the highway oblivious to the fact that theyre headlights ( and tailights) are not on. I attribute some of the problem to many newer cars that have gauges that are lit all the time.

i usually flash my lights to let them know. About 50% still dont get it.

 

I've lived in three states, CA, MN, and TX. Of those TX is the only one that allows driving with parking lights.

 

When DRLs came out, cars with hidden headlights presented a problem. I seem to recall that there was an exception made in this specific instance.

 

Some cars used the turn signals on solid for DRL for a while.

 

Running with the parking lights was illegal in 1969 , when I took drivers ed. Do not know if it still is. The reason was, parking lights are for parking, not driving. Most cars on the road then, had no flashers. This was in Delaware

 

We have a lot of hilly, twisting roads around us with many heavily shaded areas from the trees overhanging the routes almost tunnel-like in some spots. We installed some very thin strips of LED lights in the grille. They fit in between a shallow valley surround in the grille as if they were meant to be, simply good luck I guess. They are wired to a keyed on/off circuit so they come on without action from the driver.

 

I was thinking about this project of making DRLs and it seems fairly easy.
Tap into the high beam element of the low beam headlights with a 6 Volt (?) regulator and use diodes for isolation between the two circuits.
There may be some experimentation needed to determine the best voltage, I was just guessing at 6 Volts.
Power the regulator with a relay that is on with the ignition and off when the headlights are turned on.
The fun part would be designing and building the 6 Volt regulator.

 

You'll have to isolate them from the other 2 hi beam lamps also. You can put the 2 lamps in series and they will be half as bright.

 

You make some good points. I too see way too many yay-hoos at dusk running w/o their headlights on. I've done it myself.........until I hit a portion of road without street lights and I can no longer see where I'm going, then DUH!

I'm not a fan of auto headlamps. My '07 300C has an auto setting, but I never use it, so out of sight, out of mind. My wife's '13 SRX on the other hand the auto mode is the default and there is no way to over-ride it. Thus, every time I start the car in the garage, the HID's fire up for a whole 10 seconds until I pull out into the daylight then they shut off. This has to eat into the lifespan of the (friggin' expensive) HIDs unnecessarily. The headlamp switch does have have an OFF position, but its spring loaded and only momentary so it only "latches" in the OFF state after the car has started. Getting the timing of the twist to OFF with the push of the START button so that the HID's don't fire is like playing that Bop-It game, FRUSTRATINGLY FUTILE. So I've gotten into the habit of turning on the parking lamps before pressing START so the HID's don't fire up. Then I only have to put up w/ the reminder that I've left my parking lamps on when I get to my destination. IT NEVER STOPS!

 

Interesting. However, the same year Camaros do the same thing (at least my '94 Z28 'vert did), and their headlights don't hide. Keep in mind, this is in the early days of DRLs before Audi made the dedicated little string of white LEDs such a styling statement that every manufacturer now imitates it.

 

Sun up-Lights off

Sundown- Lights on.

I think we are making this waaaay too difficult.