Has anyone ever thought of making a mod so that you can wire your parking lights to your ignition so that you can leave them on all the time, and they will shut off when you turn the ignition off. Also, this would leave the availability to turn the headlights on without the key so the stock alarm system wouldn't be affected. That way if the alarm is triggered, the headlights will still flash.

I like to leave my parking lights on during the day, especially with the brighter clearance light mod. This helps for increasing the visibility of your car to other cars on the road, but isn't as extreme as keeping the headlights on all the time. Kind of like running lights.

First of all, does anyone think this is possible? Without actually having gone under the hood of the car, I would think you'd have to take a relay that would be activated by the ignition (easily tapped into by the fuse panel) and have that relay in series with the parking light relay. Hopefully, this would enable the parking lights to turn off with the ignition switch.

Second of all... Has this been done before? If so, is there a writeup for it?

Third... Is there anyone interested in a mod like this? I'd be willing to experiment and do a writeup. The theory seems simple enough.

 

Geez - just flip a switch, lazy azz!

 

Yah i dunno bout you but according to my observations there is a little position inbetween on and off that makes them come on.My headlights can also be turned on when my car is off what are you inhaling

Ian check yer PM's

 

My key doesn't have to be in the ignition to turn my headlights on.

 

yes this is very possible, and I did it on my B14 Sentra. It isn't the easiest job but it can be done with some electrical skills. Now first off, I'm not sure if the maxima has the same type headlight wires as the Sentra so it may take some experimenting.

You will need 3 relays, soldiering tools, lots of wire, crimping and splicing tools, heat shrink (my choice of insulator), and alot of patience. You can get pilot relays at your discount auto parts right above the fog light section. There are 4 inputs per relay. Two inputs trigger the relay to switch on. You will wire them together and then to the wires going to the cigerette lighter (cigerette lighter turns off when key is out).

Test them by putting the key on ACC mode. All 3 relays should click on. Now the hard part. Make yourself 6 5-foot long wires and solder each of them to an empty connector on the relays seperate the wires into 3 groups of 2 (2 wires and 3 relays, make sure the 2 wires in each group go to the same relay. Behind the steering wheel on the side of the headlamp switch, you should be able to access the base of the headlamp switch. Going into the switch should be about 8 wires. Now if you disconnect different wires, different lights will go on and off. you need to disconnect 3 specific wires for all of the headlights/corners to turn off at the same time (hence the 3 seperate relays). You need to find those specific wires and connect them to the relays.

When all is done, when the key is off, the 3 relays will switch off disconnecting the 3 switch wires. And making the headlights impossible to illuminate when the key is out. When the key is on or at on ACC,the relays will reconnect the wires and the lights will be usable again. This Mod will save your battery if you are one of those forgetful paople

I usually do writeups and diagrams for sentra tech, Give me until tomorrow, and I'll post up pics and diagrams for you. I don't want anyone to cut the wrong wires.

 

oh, BTW, I'm not sure how this will affect the alarm systems headlight flashing alert. I'm sure it won't be affected b/c it is on a seperate switch. I have a 97 Sentra and a 96 Maxima so hopefully I'll be able to find a pattern in the wiring.

 

Jeez, will you guys ever quit F-ing Flaming??? (not you 1997)

Its a valid f-ing Question and I think would be a cool mod. If you don't think so, don't hit the F-ing "Reply" link. Man, some questions on the .org deserve flaming, but this is by far not one of them. Some of you guys can be real @$$holes. Cut it the F out!



I guess some major auto manufacturers don't think its such a bad thing because they include this in their designs, namely VW and Volvo.


BTW, thanks for the informative reply 1997. I appreciate it. One question though. Why use 3 sepearate relays when you can get one rated at a higher amperage and hook all three sets of wires to the one? Also, I'm only interested in doing this to the parking lights and leaving the actual headlight circuit alone.

 

Well, each relay is rated at 30 amps anyway, you need 3 seperate relays b/c your tapping into 3 seperate signals. I'm not sure if you can single out just the corners. I'm pretty sure the corners, tails and interior lights are on 1 wire, the left regular beam is on 1, the right regular beam is on 1, the left high beam is on another, and so on. If you tapped into the switch and messed with the wires a bit, you'd see what I'm talking about. If you clip the wire for the parking lights, one of your headlights may go on spontaneously or something crazy like that. Also, If you manage to get only the corners to do this, your headlights still will not do what the corners do. In this case, you turn the key off, the corners, interior lights, and tail lights will go off, but the headlights will stay on.

 

what about this idea... they sell those DRL kits (day-time running lights) why not hook them up to the clearance light instead of the headlamp?? would this work. i too have though about doing that as i think it would be a nice cheap safety feature

 

I didn't know they sold a kit for that.

 

I'd think a guy named MacGyver265 could fasion what he needs out of a beer cap, a gum wrapper, and the tweezers from his swiss army knife.

 

yeah, that would work fine. I think it's a bit of overkill, IMO. one of those has to go for $50 at least....

If you want to do it the way I suggested, it will probably cost about $10. All you need is some soldering material/skills and be able to cut and splice a few wires.

I have the diagram drawn out. It's real easy to read and understand. If someone can host the full sized pic, send me your email. I would post it from my printroom acct., but printroom doesn't show up in full suze/quality. I'll send it in .jpg format.

I listed the wire colors/schemes from my 97 Sentra. For a Maxima, the color codes may be the same (I'm not sure what to expect if you have stock fog lights). If any Maxima gurus want to take a crack at it, be my guest. IMO, this is an easy, cheap mod that has saved my battery many times. And like you are looking to do, if I want, I can leave the switch in one position all the time and they will shut off when the car shuts off.

 

I like the idea behind this mod, but there may be a catch in some states. Here in Louisiana, it's actually against the law to be running parking lights without headlights on (parking lights used for illumination). Good way to establish PC to get to "meet" someone if a cop wants to ("profiling" is unconstitutional, but PC can be established quite easily by application of some off-the-wall laws. Might be lame (no license plate light, crack in windshield, 2 mirrors required, etc..., ), but it will fly in court as PC for a stop). For those who may ask about DTRL, they are not the same as parking lights, therefore don't count. A possible way around this is if someone were to wire the front turn signals as their parking lights (on when switch turned on to show the cop), and corner lights as DTRL. Just something to think about.

Dave

 

Well you have to admit that the part about turning on your headlights without the key in was a stupid statement since that is already the case. And like some others said just turn that *** once and there you have it. Not that it will make a big difference but it's your idea so i hope you can do it.

 

I said that for clarification in the mod, there's nothing stupid about that. Read the original post where I said "this would leave the availability to turn the headlights on without the key so the stock alarm system wouldn't be affected". there is a reason for everything I said. I know that the headlights already worked this way, I was interested in doing this mod while keeping the headlight's current operation stock, therefore the necessitation to state this because it wasn't obvious. You people need to read a little closer.

 

so does anyone want to try this mod? I have a pretty good diagram ready if anyone here can host a full sized pic on the boards.

 

I have no way of hosting the pic, but I'm interested in the diagram. I'll PM you with my email add.