[snowrx]

do you have more pics?! Did the lights fit through the hole without modifying the bumper cover at all?? Cant tell if you had to trim a little or not.

Trim a little? I don't think anything worthwhile will fit in the existing tiny hole! On the other hand these 3.3" lights pretty much fill up the OEM spot.
I separated the grille from the bumper, drilled away the OEM bezel profile, then scribed the light profile so I could use a die grinder to rough cut the grille to fit the new light. For the SS3's I also needed to open up the bumper cover light mounting flange a bit to get some up/down adjustment. After the lights were in the mounts I could scribe out a slightly oversize profile to mount the lights with room to adjust, but set as far back as I could.

If one wanted to recess these lights much further you'd likely be cutting away the bumper cover flange and fabricating a chassis mount bracket that shines through a carefully aligned hole in the bumper and grille. Mine ended up flush on the inside and standing out on the outer edge.

 

[Cptnslo]

Trim a little? I don't think anything worthwhile will fit in the existing tiny hole! On the other hand these 3.3" lights pretty much fill up the OEM spot.
I separated the grille from the bumper, drilled away the OEM bezel profile, then scribed the light profile so I could use a die grinder to rough cut the grille to fit the new light. For the SS3's I also needed to open up the bumper cover light mounting flange a bit to get some up/down adjustment. After the lights were in the mounts I could scribe out a slightly oversize profile to mount the lights with room to adjust, but set as far back as I could.
View attachment 8340

Nice work! It’s good to see a clean install also and not some shoddy crap like I’ve seen in the past on other platforms

 

[snowrx]

Of course the SS3's go on sale after I buy them;

SS3 SAE/DOT White Pro LED Pod (pair)

<style><!-- .rammobcontainer{ max-width: 400px; margin: auto; text-align: center; } * { box-sizing: border-box; } @media screen and (max-width: 767px) { .ramcontainer{ display: none; } } @media screen and (min-width: 768px) { .rammobcontainer{ display: none; } } --></style> <div...

www.diodedynamics.com

If you're thinking of going with these, keep in mind that DD has seems to have sales several times a year

 

[CrazyAirborne]

Off course the SS3's go on sale after I buy them;

SS3 SAE/DOT White Pro LED Pod (pair)

<style><!-- .rammobcontainer{ max-width: 400px; margin: auto; text-align: center; } * { box-sizing: border-box; } @media screen and (max-width: 767px) { .ramcontainer{ display: none; } } @media screen and (min-width: 768px) { .rammobcontainer{ display: none; } } --></style> <div...

www.diodedynamics.com

yeah got that 15% off email this morning, super tempting!

 

[snowrx]

I still need to figure out how to trigger the relay to run these lights. As they are driving lights, I want them only on with my high beams. The LED headlamp units are CAN controlled, and I don't know how to tap those data wires. The only analog wire I see in the harness is for the dimmer switch, under the steering column. There's a brown wire in pin 6 of connector z17 that pulls to ground when the high beam switch is on. The ECU has 5 volts at the pin, so you have an inverted signal of 0 volts for High On, and 5 volts High Off.

I can't just tap the wire to ground a relay coil because that would put 12 volts on the ECU pin when the switch was off, which I assume would be not good. I think I can put a solid state DC-DC relay in parallel with the switch and isolate the ECU that way, but am still working it out.

 

[centerpunch]

The only analog wire I see in the harness is for the dimmer switch, under the steering column. There's a brown wire in pin 6 of connector z17 that pulls to ground when the high beam switch is on. The ECU has 5 volts at the pin, so you have an inverted signal of 0 volts for High On, and 5 volts High Off.

I can't just tap the wire to ground a relay coil because that would put 12 volts on the ECU pin when the switch was off, which I assume would be not good. I think I can put a solid state DC-DC relay in parallel with the switch and isolate the ECU that way, but am still working it out.

I only know enough about electronics to be dangerous, but would this work?
.

 

[centerpunch]

Are you sure it's CAN controlled? A page in the service manual looks like there's a single LED module, and a solenoid that moves to change from low to high beam.
.
(edit, image deleted because it was not for our cars...)

 

[centerpunch]

Oh, I was looking at the wrong thing- you're right!
.

 

[centerpunch]

But seems like my diode idea above should work....

 

[snowrx]

Would be much simpler to do with diodes, I'm just hesitant to cut one into the harness and spec them myself. Also not sure what the failure mode is for diodes if I get it wrong, hopefully they go open circuit rather than shorting.

Now that I'm working a CAN / CXPI car my wiring tools and supplies are oversized! I don't even have a good wire stripper for the little 5v wires....

 

[underscore]

Can you not just find the switched power wire for the high beam bulb and have that trigger a relay? I usually just find out what kind of bulb the highbeam is and buy another male and female socket for that type and make a harness that plugs between the body harness and the bulb and lets me tap into the high beam power without touching the stock wiring.

 

[centerpunch]

Can you not just find the switched power wire for the high beam bulb and have that trigger a relay? I usually just find out what kind of bulb the highbeam is and buy another male and female socket for that type and make a harness that plugs between the body harness and the bulb and lets me tap into the high beam power without touching the stock wiring.

No, there is no "switched power wire for the high beam bulb" except maybe inside the headlight housing.

As the diagram in post 48 shows, there is a power wire going to the headlight assembly, and a data wire that tells the headlight what to do.

 

[centerpunch]

Would be much simpler to do with diodes, I'm just hesitant to cut one into the harness and spec them myself. Also not sure what the failure mode is for diodes if I get it wrong, hopefully they go open circuit rather than shorting.

I'll ask a friend who will know what diodes to use, etc. Or maybe he'll propose another method. I'll keep you posted.

 

[snowrx]

I went with centerpunch's blocking diode solution, first cutting the high beam switched wire and splicing in a two pin connector so I could undo the mod.

I used two 1N4004 diodes and just shrink wrapped the assembly together.

It works (so far); but the black headlight power wire I tapped at the LH headlight connector to use to power my relay coil is powered for all the light switch "on" positions, so If you hit the high beam switch the driving lights will come on even if you are in the running lights position.
I can live with that for now.

One other wiring note, maybe it's just me listening to remote rural FM stations, but the SS3's make FM noisy when they come on, so you should add some ferrite rings to your harness at the lights to filter the RF out.

Edit- I put some snap-on ferrite chokes on the wires behind the lights, but they didn't do much for the FM RF noise. Next I will try to add some foil tape to shield the harness wires, and see if the LED housing is bonded to ground.

 

[centerpunch]

the black headlight power wire I tapped is powered for all the light switch "on" positions, so If you hit the high beam switch the driving lights will come on even if you are in the running lights position.

I'm thinking about adding some 5.2" PIAA LED driving lights in the grill (paper mockups shown in the pic below), want to control automatically with high beams like you.

(Note for folks just picking up on this thread: In the old days it was easy to just tap into the high beam wire at a headlight connector to control additional lights. But our car only has a single power line going to each headlight, then there is a digital data wire that tells the headlight what to do. So there is no simple way to connect to the high beam circuit.)

I took out one of the headlight fuses and measured the current across it:

1.77 amps in low beam
2.30 amps in high beam
2.12 amps in pull to flash (without low beams on)
2.30 amps in pull to flash (with low beams on)

I did these measurements with the car running. Without the car running, the voltage is lower and the current is higher- 2.05 amp for low beam and 2.50 amp for high beam. Not sure how stable the battery voltage is when the car is running- some newer cars don't keep the voltage high all the time like older ones. This may be a complication to have the circuit work reliably, because if the voltage varies a lot, the current will, too. Hopefully will be able to pick a specific current that will trigger the circuit when the high beams are on- no matter what voltage the battery is at.

So anyway I'm thinking about connecting across that fuse, and using a circuit to sense the current, and switching on the driving lights when the current to the headlight is above 2 amps or so.

Found this cool little module, ordered it today. If I can figure it out, I will use the little relay in it to control a normal automotive spec relay to switch the lights on and off.
.

7-30V 0-30A DC Current Detection Sensing Module Current Transformer Sensor Current Tester Indicator Overcurrent Protection Relay Module: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

7-30V 0-30A DC Current Detection Sensing Module Current Transformer Sensor Current Tester Indicator Overcurrent Protection Relay Module: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

.

 

[snowrx]

Note that the paper mockup shows the PIAA lights at the level of the bumper bar behind the grille, so they will likely have to stick out a bit if they have any depth to them. There's a bit of foam in front of the beam that might give some more room if you cut it away, but I did not measure it's depth.

 

[GR_Johnny777]

I'm thinking about adding some 5.2" PIAA LED driving lights in the grill (paper mockups shown in the pic below), want to control automatically with high beams like you.

(Note for folks just picking up on this thread: In the old days it was easy to just tap into the high beam wire at a headlight connector to control additional lights. But our car only has a single power line going to each headlight, then there is a digital data wire that tells the headlight what to do. So there is no simple way to connect to the high beam circuit.)

I took out one of the headlight fuses and measured the current across it:

1.77 amps in low beam
2.30 amps in high beam
2.12 amps in pull to flash (without low beams on)
2.30 amps in pull to flash (with low beams on)

I did these measurements with the car running. Without the car running, the voltage is lower and the current is higher- 2.05 amp for low beam and 2.50 amp for high beam. Not sure how stable the battery voltage is when the car is running- some newer cars don't keep the voltage high all the time like older ones. This may be a complication to have the circuit work reliably, because if the voltage varies a lot, the current will, too. Hopefully will be able to pick a specific current that will trigger the circuit when the high beams are on- no matter what voltage the battery is at.

So anyway I'm thinking about connecting across that fuse, and using a circuit to sense the current, and switching on the driving lights when the current to the headlight is above 2 amps or so.

Found this cool little module, ordered it today. If I can figure it out, I will use the little relay in it to control a normal automotive spec relay to switch the lights on and off.
.

7-30V 0-30A DC Current Detection Sensing Module Current Transformer Sensor Current Tester Indicator Overcurrent Protection Relay Module: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

7-30V 0-30A DC Current Detection Sensing Module Current Transformer Sensor Current Tester Indicator Overcurrent Protection Relay Module: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

.
View attachment 9194

Are you planning on getting these extra lights because the original equipment lights don't do a good enough job, or are you doing it more for appearance?

 

[Mtempz]

Are you planning on getting these extra lights because the original equipment lights don't do a good enough job, or are you doing it more for appearance?

I swear this dude is on a crusade against owners who make cosmetic mods

 

[GR_Johnny777]

I asked a simple question my friend, no need to freak out.
Just take a Valium and lie down for a while.

 

[Mtempz]

I asked a simple question my friend, no need to freak out.
Just take a Valium and lie down for a while.

You right