Guys, simple question, is there a switched live under the bonnet I can tap in to for fitting DRL's. The pair I did have were wired as follows -

Negative to - side of the battery, Positive was spliced in to what I thought was a switched live on the headlight plug, (position 1) and the control wire was spliced in to position 6. Wired in this method allowed the DRL's to activate when the ignition was switched on, bujt turn off when the headlights were switched on. For some reason I have tried this with a new set of DRL's (the same as previous apart from a few case changes) but they will not work........

What sort of DRLs are you after? There are options for activating them in VCDS, which might save you a lot of hassle.

I ran mine from the fusebox, through the gommet in front of the driver's door and up the inside of the wing. Not idea, but job done

I have these DRL's, the odd thing is, they are a direct replacement for the ones I have been running for over a year, I only changed as over time the old ones filled with moisture. The original ones were wired from slot 1 (which I assumed was a switched live) on the headlight plug, but the new ones will not operate from any of the pins on this plug, and the strange part is, neither will the old ones now???? I am wondering if I have inadvertently created a fault on the headlight loom as initially I got the positive/negative round the wrong way, although there are no warning lights?!!

The new lights definitely work and I have found a switched live they operate from in the interior fuse box.

Alex, how easy was the install from the fuse box in the car to the engine bay, it's looking like this is my only option atm. :(

Once I'd sussed that was the way to go.....about 10 minutes, literally. You'll need to push a hole in the grommet. I didn't bother with pics, but can take some, when it's not raining.

I think I used pin 2 from the driver-side headlamp connector (again will check when no rain). IIRC that's the sidelight feed.

So the live is in the fuse box inside the car (switched live) the negative is to the battery terminal and the control wire for turing the DRL's off when the headlights come on is on position 2 of the headlight plug?

I don't mind wiring it this way but I am still baffled how they worked fine when linked to my original wiring, but after I fitted the wires round the wrong way I can't find a switched live on the headlight plug???? It's obviously there because the headlights are all working fine....... :S

So the live is in the fuse box inside the car (switched live) the negative is to the battery terminal and the control wire for turing the DRL's off when the headlights come on is on position 2 of the headlight plug?

I don't mind wiring it this way but I am still baffled how they worked fine when linked to my original wiring, but after I fitted the wires round the wrong way I can't find a switched live on the headlight plug???? It's obviously there because the headlights are all working fine....... :S

Switched live in internal fuse box - Yes.

Negative to battery - yes. (Although I grounded to the chassis on the driver-side - less cables to faff around with)

I used the sidelights feed as the trugger to turn off. (I leave the light-switch in auto) IIRC DRLs are supposed to go off (or dim) when the sidelights are on.

If you're looking for a live from the headlights, with the headlight connector disconnected, I suspect that the diagnostics will spoil your fun as it will detect a bulb-fail and drop all power until there's sufficient resistance again. (i.e. a filament is there. LEDs won't give enough resistance and will show a bulb-fail.)

Switched live in internal fuse box - Yes.

Negative to battery - yes. (Although I grounded to the chassis on the driver-side - less cables to faff around with)

I used the sidelights feed as the trugger to turn off. (I leave the light-switch in auto) IIRC DRLs are supposed to go off (or dim) when the sidelights are on.

If you're looking for a live from the headlights, with the headlight connector disconnected, I suspect that the diagnostics will spoil your fun as it will detect a bulb-fail and drop all power until there's sufficient resistance again. (i.e. a filament is there. LEDs won't give enough resistance and will show a bulb-fail.)

This is precisely where the problem is! The new DRL's are almost identical to the old ones, apart from a few improvements. The old ones were wired as mentioned in the op, with the live being spliced in to the headlight plug, negative to battery and control wire to position 6 on the headlight plug (mine go off with dipped beam NOT sidelights though). When I initially connected the new DRL's to the old wiring they worked fine, but when I tried to fit them yesterday they wouldn't work because I got the wires round the wrong way, once I realised my mistake and corrected it they wouldn't work, and neither would the old DRL?

Are you suggesting that when the headlight plug is unplugged from the headlight no power is sent to it because of diagnostics CANBUS etc??

This is honestly doing my head in.......

Are you suggesting that when the headlight plug is unplugged from the headlight no power is sent to it because of diagnostics CANBUS etc??

Yes. I spent a while sitting with the connector and a multi-meter (after having thought "this will only take 2 minutes") I mean you'd think it would be easy: I had the negative side of the meter attached to the battery and just probing the headlight connector looking for 12v when the lights were on. After 30 minutes (and much swearing) I gave up.

It was bfranc in http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/226672-drl-install/page__view__findpost__p__2667732 that gave the the right line to pick-up. I connected up, reconnected the plug, stuck the meter on it, sidelights on.....12v bingo! (I have a different problem now, but that's not related.)

I have to admit, I'm not sure why there'd be an ignition-switched live in the headlamp housing - everything in there will be controlled by either the light-switch or indicator (or CANBus).

......the other option would be to pop round and see Gizmo with his VCDS and get the fogs set as DRL.

Yes. I spent a while sitting with the connector and a multi-meter (after having thought "this will only take 2 minutes") I mean you'd think it would be easy: I had the negative side of the meter attached to the battery and just probing the headlight connector looking for 12v when the lights were on. After 30 minutes (and much swearing) I gave up.

It was bfranc in http://www.briskoda....ost__p__2667732 that gave the the right line to pick-up. I connected up, reconnected the plug, stuck the meter on it, sidelights on.....12v bingo! (I have a different problem now, but that's not related.)

I have to admit, I'm not sure why there'd be an ignition-switched live in the headlamp housing - everything in there will be controlled by either the light-switch or indicator (or CANBus).

That has bothered me from day one tbh, as I have CH/LH lights which work without the ignition being on????

That has bothered me from day one tbh, as I have CH/LH lights which work without the ignition being on????

The lighting control module will still be "live" though (runs CH/LH and puddles with ignition off). Just 'cos the ignition is off, doesn't mean the car is "dead". Consider also, CH/LH don't have to be the headlights either, can be programmed to be foglights.

Using any live feed might not be as easy as it seems, as I found when I originally looked for the live fed from the boot light in the hatch to install extra lights in the boot lid. By using just the live feed, the boot lights were on all the time, and the extra lights didn't work at all. It's all part of the CANBUS, and you will need to use both the live and negative FROM THAT SOURCE to get a proper, useable supply. I had to use both supply and negative wires from the boot light before both the original boot light and the extras I was installing would switch off as they should.

Mike

The feed from the fusebox isn't a CANBus feed, it is "proper" switched.

Hey,

Any pictures, would like to see how they look and how/what mounted to?

Hey,

Any pictures, would like to see how they look and how/what mounted to?

All done mate, they are the same ones I had before but an improved design so hopefully won't let moisture in.

Thanks to Alex (Rainbow Force) I picked up a switched live inside the cars fuse box, I then removed the lower trim under the steering wheel to gain access to the grommet in the lower A pillar, it was a PITA to feed the wire, but in the end I made a hole with a flat head screwdriver then taped the wire to a BBQ sewer (swmbo is not aware ) which I push through from the outside. The wire then runs about 100mm up then in to the wing, this then runs along and down to the lower grille inserts on either side of the bumper where the DRL's are mounted. Negative is from the battery - terminal, and the control wire is spliced in to to wire number 6 on the headlight plug (this turns the DRL's off when the headlights are swithed on).

The grilles and light units needed further modifications to fit snug, and I fitted new waterproof connectors to each light and the wiring.

Nice job, they look almost OEM.

Nice job, they look almost OEM.

:think:

i like the position these have been fitted pagey , do they stick out or are they pretty flush with the bumper and are they mounted using the brackets provided?

And if you want to use the leds as parking lights like the facelift vrs model you use this

http://www.tokioimport.net/epages/tokio ... ODULOS0002

(El sistema de Módulo circuito luz Diurna - Atenuacion se enciende automáticamente cuando se arranca el motor y al encender la luz de cruce, la luz diurna se reduce al 50% de su intensidad.)

(The light system circuit module Day - Attenuation is automatically turned on when starting the engine and the low beam light, daylight is reduced to 50% intensity.)

Edited 18 April, 201214 yr by alberg

i like the position these have been fitted pagey , do they stick out or are they pretty flush with the bumper and are they mounted using the brackets provided?

Thanks mate, the original ones sat flusher as the new version are slightly deeper, but nothing a bench grinder and stanley knife could solve!

I have used the brackets supplied but there is a method to fitting, basically you need to cut slots at the top of the grille for the bracket arms to pass through, you then bolt them in place, the bolts need grinding down as well. Tbh it's far from straight forward but worth it imho!

ok as i have bought the same ones and was thinking where to mount them , so do the grills at the top need cutting out so these lamps sit inside them?

ok as i have bought the same ones and was thinking where to mount them , so do the grills at the top need cutting out so these lamps sit inside them?

If you can wait until tomorrow morning I will pop one out and take some pictures of the cuts you need to make, I had to grind the back of the units to make them sit nice but you may be able to modify the grilles to achieve the same look -

ok pal that would be great!

Here are a few pictures of the modified grille and light unit, bear in mind this was an ongoing project so both look a bit butchered, however when the light is fitted none of the modifications can be seen. I will be tiding up the light and hammeriting the exposed metal, and I plan on getting a couple of new grilles to mod, now that I know exactly were the cuts etc, need to be.

This is just a hole to access the screw which fixes the light to the bracket -

Opening for the plug and to the right the cut out is required to allow the light to sit flush (the centre grille needs no modification) -

Light bracket fitted to the top of the grille, both myself and vRS Carl found this was the only way to fix it to get the light as high as possible in the grille and for ease of fitment -

Grinding of the light unit at the end nearest the fog light to get the DRL unit as far in to the grille for the flush fit -

Further grinding to the back of the DRL, again to allow the unit to sit as flush as possible -

As an extra protection against moisture ingress I have wrapped a strip of self amalgamating tape around the unit, this also covers some of the chrome which I am not a fan of (on my first set I sprayed the internal reflectors matt black and wrapped the entire lens cover in subtle tint Lamin-X film, I may do this on the new ones eventually) -

thats great thanks will prob do this weekend if it ever stops raining!