My drl project
My drl project
Either you like them or you hate them...
I on the other hand wish the 5th gens came factory with them just for safety reasons... (Yea I know Canadian models have them)
For years I have attempted drls on many of my cars, 96 accord, 03 GLE, 93 prelude, and my current 03 SE and it ended decent other than they were not running at half voltage like factory installed drls... My install functioned like factory, (drl comes on when car started and shuts off when headlights and/or emergency brake was applied) but was flashed by oncoming traffic for the drl being full voltage..
I was talking to a buddy of mine and he strongly hates the drl look. He owns a 01 is300 and wanted to remove everything that made them work. He finds just removing the drl resistor disables them so he ends up giving me the box. Me thinking about my drl installs in the past, I believed the resistor box was all I needed to drop the voltage down...
The resistor box installed on my 03 SE
Done a quick wire up and this is the end results...
After the box was installed, I'm frustrated because they didn't disable when ebrake was applied or when headlights came on but it gave me the dropped voltage I have been looking for... After cussing and countless hours searching for a Lexus wiring diagram, I came across a guy on the internet the sketched out a diagram for a Nissan Quest drl project...
<<< his youtube video
His sketch...
After reading more about it, I decided to drop the Lexus resistor and pick the parts up and give it a shot.. Wiring shows to do everything that I wanted for the factory look even voltage drop..
A current picture of what's done so far... All grounds have been wired up and bolted down.. Relays are bolted down where the resistor was..
This is a current project so give it a couple of days for the finished look...
Will update as I go..
I take no credit for the diagram
Thoughts? Opinions?
I on the other hand wish the 5th gens came factory with them just for safety reasons... (Yea I know Canadian models have them)
For years I have attempted drls on many of my cars, 96 accord, 03 GLE, 93 prelude, and my current 03 SE and it ended decent other than they were not running at half voltage like factory installed drls... My install functioned like factory, (drl comes on when car started and shuts off when headlights and/or emergency brake was applied) but was flashed by oncoming traffic for the drl being full voltage..
I was talking to a buddy of mine and he strongly hates the drl look. He owns a 01 is300 and wanted to remove everything that made them work. He finds just removing the drl resistor disables them so he ends up giving me the box. Me thinking about my drl installs in the past, I believed the resistor box was all I needed to drop the voltage down...
The resistor box installed on my 03 SE
Done a quick wire up and this is the end results...
After the box was installed, I'm frustrated because they didn't disable when ebrake was applied or when headlights came on but it gave me the dropped voltage I have been looking for... After cussing and countless hours searching for a Lexus wiring diagram, I came across a guy on the internet the sketched out a diagram for a Nissan Quest drl project...
His sketch...
After reading more about it, I decided to drop the Lexus resistor and pick the parts up and give it a shot.. Wiring shows to do everything that I wanted for the factory look even voltage drop..
A current picture of what's done so far... All grounds have been wired up and bolted down.. Relays are bolted down where the resistor was..
This is a current project so give it a couple of days for the finished look...
Will update as I go..
I take no credit for the diagram
Thoughts? Opinions?
I admire your work to make everything the way its supposed to be and wire it up correctly but... on the 5th gen you have 2 options for your headlights... either auto or on all the time if you chose "on" all the time the car will shut off the headlights once you get out of it so you don't drain your battery and this feature pretty much acts like DRL...
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 836
From: Connecticut
I think OP wants his DRLs to be seperate from the headlights. I may be wrong though. He sounds dedicated so GL. I hate DRLs. Few weeks ago I pulled the fuse to my 04 passat DRLs.
Posted from Maxima.org App for Android
Posted from Maxima.org App for Android
If the purpose of this is safety, the whole project is pointless. The maxima has a fantastic feature where you can simply leave your full lighting package on ALL THE TIME and it shuts itself off with the key OFF, so you never actually get stuck with them left on.
Driving with every light on is WAY safer, and IMO better looking than half-voltage high beams only.
HOWEVER, I personally like the look of DRL's on SOME cars, the 5.5 is one of those cars, but only with Yellow High beams in there, IMO. If this is part of your initiative, I fully understand.
Whatever your reason, you seem devoted to it, I applaud that. I love projects like these so I'm subscribing, and will definitely be peeking in and help anywhere I can dude!
That all said, and with helping in mind, you do realize you can simply get the DRL module from any Canadian Maxima/G35/Altima, etc, etc, etc and wire it in much easier, right? And if the purpose is OEM-like function/appearance, nothing would surpass that.
Start on Page #51: http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/2002/EL.pdf
All you need is the DRL module and a harness for it, junkyard. Then simply attatch the imput/output wires according to the designations, all the relays and diodes, etc are already built into the heat-sinked and fully-sealed DRL module. Much more reliable, compact, less work, and more OEM looking as well.
Driving with every light on is WAY safer, and IMO better looking than half-voltage high beams only.
HOWEVER, I personally like the look of DRL's on SOME cars, the 5.5 is one of those cars, but only with Yellow High beams in there, IMO. If this is part of your initiative, I fully understand.
Whatever your reason, you seem devoted to it, I applaud that. I love projects like these so I'm subscribing, and will definitely be peeking in and help anywhere I can dude!
That all said, and with helping in mind, you do realize you can simply get the DRL module from any Canadian Maxima/G35/Altima, etc, etc, etc and wire it in much easier, right? And if the purpose is OEM-like function/appearance, nothing would surpass that.
Start on Page #51: http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/2002/EL.pdf
All you need is the DRL module and a harness for it, junkyard. Then simply attatch the imput/output wires according to the designations, all the relays and diodes, etc are already built into the heat-sinked and fully-sealed DRL module. Much more reliable, compact, less work, and more OEM looking as well.
I applaud that guy with the Quest for figuring out a wiring diagram.
My only concern is that there was no mention of protecting the connections on the relays from corroding due to eposure to the elements. It would probably take a couple of years to happen, so some will say I'm overly concerned or **** or something.
You could put the relays in some sort of box similiar to how Nissan has their relays to slow the effects of the elements. What I would do is pack the connections with light bulb grease and then plug the wires on. I would use a box both for appearance and the protection from the elements.
My only concern is that there was no mention of protecting the connections on the relays from corroding due to eposure to the elements. It would probably take a couple of years to happen, so some will say I'm overly concerned or **** or something.
You could put the relays in some sort of box similiar to how Nissan has their relays to slow the effects of the elements. What I would do is pack the connections with light bulb grease and then plug the wires on. I would use a box both for appearance and the protection from the elements.
The yellow reflector is def in the future bro...
And as for the module, i was being cheap and grabbed some parts out of my garage... Most I have spent was maybe 2 bucks on the diodes...
And as for the module, i was being cheap and grabbed some parts out of my garage... Most I have spent was maybe 2 bucks on the diodes...
If the purpose of this is safety, the whole project is pointless. The maxima has a fantastic feature where you can simply leave your full lighting package on ALL THE TIME and it shuts itself off with the key OFF, so you never actually get stuck with them left on.
Driving with every light on is WAY safer, and IMO better looking than half-voltage high beams only.
HOWEVER, I personally like the look of DRL's on SOME cars, the 5.5 is one of those cars, but only with Yellow High beams in there, IMO. If this is part of your initiative, I fully understand.
Whatever your reason, you seem devoted to it, I applaud that. I love projects like these so I'm subscribing, and will definitely be peeking in and help anywhere I can dude!
That all said, and with helping in mind, you do realize you can simply get the DRL module from any Canadian Maxima/G35/Altima, etc, etc, etc and wire it in much easier, right? And if the purpose is OEM-like function/appearance, nothing would surpass that.
Start on Page #51: http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/2002/EL.pdf
All you need is the DRL module and a harness for it, junkyard. Then simply attatch the imput/output wires according to the designations, all the relays and diodes, etc are already built into the heat-sinked and fully-sealed DRL module. Much more reliable, compact, less work, and more OEM looking as well.
Driving with every light on is WAY safer, and IMO better looking than half-voltage high beams only.
HOWEVER, I personally like the look of DRL's on SOME cars, the 5.5 is one of those cars, but only with Yellow High beams in there, IMO. If this is part of your initiative, I fully understand.
Whatever your reason, you seem devoted to it, I applaud that. I love projects like these so I'm subscribing, and will definitely be peeking in and help anywhere I can dude!
That all said, and with helping in mind, you do realize you can simply get the DRL module from any Canadian Maxima/G35/Altima, etc, etc, etc and wire it in much easier, right? And if the purpose is OEM-like function/appearance, nothing would surpass that.
Start on Page #51: http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/2002/EL.pdf
All you need is the DRL module and a harness for it, junkyard. Then simply attatch the imput/output wires according to the designations, all the relays and diodes, etc are already built into the heat-sinked and fully-sealed DRL module. Much more reliable, compact, less work, and more OEM looking as well.
I was with you on that about the elements and the relays but fuses and relays are cheap.. If something crapped out on me, I would test to see what went bad and lesson learned.. Although, I did put some thought into finding factory relay and relay wiring so I could just use up the empty blanks in my relay box..
I applaud that guy with the Quest for figuring out a wiring diagram.
My only concern is that there was no mention of protecting the connections on the relays from corroding due to eposure to the elements. It would probably take a couple of years to happen, so some will say I'm overly concerned or **** or something.
You could put the relays in some sort of box similiar to how Nissan has their relays to slow the effects of the elements. What I would do is pack the connections with light bulb grease and then plug the wires on. I would use a box both for appearance and the protection from the elements.
My only concern is that there was no mention of protecting the connections on the relays from corroding due to eposure to the elements. It would probably take a couple of years to happen, so some will say I'm overly concerned or **** or something.
You could put the relays in some sort of box similiar to how Nissan has their relays to slow the effects of the elements. What I would do is pack the connections with light bulb grease and then plug the wires on. I would use a box both for appearance and the protection from the elements.
well after being sick and losing my job, im finally able to get back on and update yall...
after more research into the maxima headlight wiring vs the quest headlight wiring, they seem to be different.. this is the maxima wiring and as you can see, there is constant power going through the high beam.. when the high beam is switched on, ground has been added from the stalk but when switched back off, power is added.. (meaning both sides of the high beam connector is throwing a positive charge out...)
after more and more research, i figured i would Google some of hamsar products and see how they work... Hamsar has been by far the easiest way to wire "drls" up but i dont have the wait time nor patience so i figured i would use a regular relay and add my lexus is300 drl resistor into it...
this setup uses less relays and far less complicated than the quest route..
after more research into the maxima headlight wiring vs the quest headlight wiring, they seem to be different.. this is the maxima wiring and as you can see, there is constant power going through the high beam.. when the high beam is switched on, ground has been added from the stalk but when switched back off, power is added.. (meaning both sides of the high beam connector is throwing a positive charge out...)
after more and more research, i figured i would Google some of hamsar products and see how they work... Hamsar has been by far the easiest way to wire "drls" up but i dont have the wait time nor patience so i figured i would use a regular relay and add my lexus is300 drl resistor into it...
this setup uses less relays and far less complicated than the quest route..
the testing....
the finished product before making the wiring look pretty...
http://youtu.be/0Gxze59-Prg
the finished product before making the wiring look pretty...
http://youtu.be/0Gxze59-Prg
Nice work getting it going! Not sure about your built vs. bought statement on this one, but I feel the same way.
You're still building it, just doing it cleaner with an OEM DRL module.
Sorry to hear about the job loss too man that sucks!!! Hope you get it sorted soon.
So at the end of this, you ended up using 3 relays per side and 1 big-*** resistor?
You're still building it, just doing it cleaner with an OEM DRL module.
Sorry to hear about the job loss too man that sucks!!! Hope you get it sorted soon.
So at the end of this, you ended up using 3 relays per side and 1 big-*** resistor?
Nice work getting it going! Not sure about your built vs. bought statement on this one, but I feel the same way.
You're still building it, just doing it cleaner with an OEM DRL module.
Sorry to hear about the job loss too man that sucks!!! Hope you get it sorted soon.
So at the end of this, you ended up using 3 relays per side and 1 big-*** resistor?
You're still building it, just doing it cleaner with an OEM DRL module.
Sorry to hear about the job loss too man that sucks!!! Hope you get it sorted soon.
So at the end of this, you ended up using 3 relays per side and 1 big-*** resistor?
i could have went with smaller resistors but im using what i have in the garage...
ill post a drawing of my diagram in a few..
Edit:
Last edited by fatboyslim86440; Nov 16, 2012 at 01:07 AM.
maybe in the future but i use my high beams a lot out here in the country...
LEDS- looks good but doesn't project as far as i would like...
HIDS- bright but wont last long with the constant on and off and only works at 12 volts
may have to open my headlights up and paint the high beam bowl with the yellow glass paint shortly
LEDS- looks good but doesn't project as far as i would like...
HIDS- bright but wont last long with the constant on and off and only works at 12 volts
may have to open my headlights up and paint the high beam bowl with the yellow glass paint shortly
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