After speaking to colleagues today at a cruise event, here is my tack. To be tried tomorrow. I will abandon the relay. That has a variable resistor that seems designed to accommodate Eurpean requirements for a either a fog intensity on one beam or a driving lamp intensity on the other. So that will be shelved. As is the three-prong switch that came with the package.

I intend to find power from the underhood light wire (seen below). It is hot, I have tested it. I will scotch-lock unto it for power and go with a two-prong heavy duty on-off toggle switch under the dash. So I am going to a simpler system. Each front lamp will have power and each a ground. The toggle switch will have power from the underhood light circuit and it will be grounded also. I will let you know how things turn out.

 

Why dont you just hook up to the positive lead on the alternator? That way you are taking power directly from the source, since they are only on when the engine is running. Just put a fuse on the wire and put a eye loop and put it on the alternator where the positive lead hooks up.

 

Here is the wiring that came with kit. So I just hook up that red 15-amp fused wire to the alternator as my power source? Sounds too simple but may work ;) .

 

Paul: I have driving lights on both daily driver cars. Have hooked them
up with the relay trigger wire going into a positive wire feeding one of
the high beam bulbs. Then the positive (power source) wire from the
relay is hooked to the battery with an in line fuse. On a corvette, I
would hook this wire to the starter feed wire as someone else
suggested.
On one car, I fed the wires for the switch thru the firewall and mounted
it on the dash. On the other car I left the switch in the engine
compartment and wire tied it with the other wires.

Point being, I leave the driving light switches on all the time and there
is no need for them to be on the dash. Lights are activated whenever
the high beams are on.

On another car I have, I also added fog or all weather lights which I
tied into a parking light bulb. So whenever the low or high beams
are on they are activated.

You mentioned using the underhood light. This is fine as a source to
activate the relay. But this would not be suitable to power the lights
as it would not carry the load.
Also with this method of hooking the lights up, you are relying on the
switch to turn them on or off. When driving, this is not as convenient
as having the lights tied into the high beam circuit, as whenever a
car approaches you have to turn both the high beam switch and the
driving light switch, instead of just the high beam switch.


[Modified by mark79,80, 7:12 PM 9/1/2002]

 

Paul,

Although this will likely NOT be a problem, I'll be interested to hear what the lights look like, at night, from behind the grill. I wonder if there will be any effect such as shadows, etc. Unlikely, but I'd like to hear how it looks when you're finished.

 

I have thought of that but I would not use those lights at night. I started this as another thread on DRLs and switched here for installation as they are not intended to work in conjunction with the headlights. I really just want running lights for the daytime. As an example I was off to a cruise day this morning on a local two-lane highway heading toward Montreal. The speed limit is 90kph. But there are those who wish to go faster; and coming from the opposite direction, and wishing to pass. The C3 profile is so low I want them to see me coming. I swear today there were several who did not and pulled out to pass but dropped back in time. I want more visibility in other words.

I should have some pics with lights on (day and night) tomorrow evening.

 

Mark,
I really appreciate the time you took to reply! But I do not want those lights on with the headlights. I want them on a separate circuit. Controlled by an on-off switch under the dash. They would not be used in the city but on the highway (particularly two-lanes) for increased visibility. And they would not be used at night. My Brother and I will try the alternator source tomorrow as a power feed; fused at 15 amps. I have a box of fuses for back-up. But no bulbs. Wish me luck!

 

Paul:

Now I understand the purpose of the lights. Would recommend using
the positive feed for the starter rather than the alternator output.
Alternator output maybe fine, but feel safer with the starter feed as
you know it can handle the load. Also starter is not being used
whenever the lights are on so you know the wire has plenty of
capacity. On the lights I am familar with, the relay serves to
provide a source of power to the lights and enables you to use
a light duty switch in the car, since the relay carries the load, not
the switch. So why not use the relay and switch that came with
the kit? For some added convenience, you can hook up the green
wire (relay feed) to a circuit that is keyed with the ignition, so you
don't leave the lights on when the car is off. An easy source
under the hood would be the battery feed to the distributor.
Or if this is not a concern, you can connect both the relay positive
and feed wires to the same starter positive terminal. Regardless
of how it is connected, use an in line fuse for the positive feed wire.

 

i was going to mention using the alternator as a power source also.
you will need to use a relay. here is the steps i would take
1:p:roperly ground both lights. either separatly or together
2:the main hot source would be from alt to relay. then from the other end of the relay to the lights. this is your main power supply.
3:to activate the relay to turn the lights on as you want. run a wire from the relay switch post to the switch under dash. connect the other terminal of the switch to the ACC plug on your fuse box.
4:the relay will need to be grounded to ativate the relay switch. depending on where you locate the relay us can use a short ground wire to whe relay mounting screw.

 

Mark,
Interesting points! Thanks. I will try a number of configs tomorrow and let All know what happens.

 

Looks like a pretty good setup to me, thanks for sharing the pics.
:cool: :smash: :seeya

 

Paul,

I think if I had a similar year Corvette to yours, I might look for rectangular lights that could be mounted directly below your existing amber signal lights.


I might even try to work something into the existing signal light housing that could serve as a DRL.

It may be that the round lights will not be too visible when not on (car is parked), especially from a standing position, but the circular shape does draw the eye when surrounded with mostly-rectangular or horizontal shapes. :confused:

 

I hear you! I looked at all the shapes and sizes and went with small, round and intense. There is not much choice of mounting space there, particularly below the parking modules. Once I get the wiring figured out and in place, I can replace the units themselves if the "look" is not to my liking.




[Modified by paul79, 7:49 AM 9/2/2002]

 

i think the round ones will look good. they will match the round headlamps. looking forward to seeing the complete project lit up :yesnod:

 

Thanks to everyone for advice! Here will be my first experiment today....

Here is the wiring set-up as recommended by Hella. Keep in mind the manufacturer assumes the battery is under the hood so the length of the wires is not too great.



Here are the ground wires (Y style) for the lamps. Straightforward.



Here is the relay.
-Red is hot and will go to the alternator post. That wire is only about one foot long so the relay will have to be located on the inner fender wall near the alternator
-Blue is the ground for the relay
-Black (again in a Y style) is power to the lamps. That wire is short also; hence another reason for the choice of the relay location.
-Yellow is the switch
I use the alternator post as the battery source for my timing light so this seems like a reanable approach.



Here is the switch. The blue wire (top right) is its ground. Yellow from relay goes into the switch. My dilemma is that green wire, supposed to go from switch to either low- or high-beam wiring. There is a variable resistor in the relay so I assume that determines the intensity of the lamps depending on whether you choose low (fog light) or high (running light). I do not want to tap into the headlight circuit so I do not know the relay will react. In fact I do not really understand its purpose! But I will not use the green wire and see what happens. Alternatively I can run it to an ACC wire and I believe that may provide an ignition switch function??

But the fact that the lamp circuit will not be switched by ignition is fine with me: I have a battery disconnect and use it. As well the headlights are not switched by ignition and that has never been a problem.



[Modified by paul79, 8:20 AM 9/2/2002]


[Modified by paul79, 8:29 AM 9/2/2002]


[Modified by paul79, 8:43 AM 9/2/2002]

 

Great documentation & pics Paul. Again I'll save this post for when I attempt the light treatment. The light placement looks good. I though, may opt to mount them in front of the grille.

Len

 

Thanks Len. I was not happy with potential mounting points exterior to the grille (drilling holes in 'glass) or below (spoiler is in the way). And I wanted things to remain relatively stock looking. Walking around the car you would be hard-pressed to notice the lamps. And they can be removed with no harm done.

 

Hey paul79. I think you've got a good plan here.

I don't want to cloud the issue or get to a point of TMIO (too much information overload)... just trying to help you understand what is going on...

There is not a variable resistor in the relay. The relay is just an electronic switch. Apply 12v to the yellow wire (or green wire + the switch) and it will complete the circuit (close the switch) for the red-to-black wires.

The purpose for the relay is that Helia wants you to control their driving lamps (DL) thru the headlight circuit. The headlight circuit isn't designed to handle the added load of the DL.

Hence the relay. It takes very littlte power to activate the relay. The green wire would connect to the headlight circuit. Very little power drain from the headlight circuit activates the relay which provides high power to the DL.

You will need to connect the green wire somewhere or the relay will not function and thus the red-to-black wires will not get switched on.

The big difference in wiring is because you don't necessarily want the headlight circuit involved in the operation of the DL at all. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. You _could_ simply run a wire from the battery (or the alternator in your case) to a switch to the DL (and take the relay completely out of this picture).

Like I said at the beginning, sounds like you have a plan and go with it. We've seen the pictures with the lights installed... how bout some with the light shining proudly... :cool: :cheers:


[Modified by gb4622, 10:38 AM 9/2/2002]

 

Thanks for those comments! I've changed my mind again. I am going to set-up a simple circuit:
-hot black Y wire from lamps to alternator with 15-amp fuse receptacle; lamps grounded
-hot wire from same alternator post to heavy duty, two-post toggle switch under dash (this switch grounded)

My concern is that the 15-amp in-line fuse may blow because of alternator output.

 

Hold on... I hope I misunderstand what you are saying.

If you run a wire from the POS (+) alternator post to a switch that is grounded, when you turn the switch on you will probably have a fire. If I read this correctly, you are in effect grounding the POS side of the alternator.

For the simple circuit try this...

From the + alternator go to your 15-amp fuse receptacle and then from the other end of the fuse receptacle go to one post of the heavy duty toggle switch.

From the other post of the toggle switch go to the + side of the driving lights.

Ground the - side of the driving lights.

A rough picture...

POS circuit: Alt (+) -----> fuse -----> switch -----> lamps (+)
NEG circuit: lamps (-) -----> ground

Hope this help... :cheers:
Roger