A quick video of the automatic headlights I added to the wife's 88. It uses a daytime running lamps module and sensor from a Grand Prix along with a wiring harness I built. I molded and cast a plug to connect to the factory headlight connector making it a plug and play setup. I will be making more to sell, I will start a thread in the mall when I have some done.
Chris.... I have to have this, and I have to have this NOW! Very nice! I had been looking into aftermarket options to add this to my Fiero, but I am not that great at wiring, and did not want to blow out my electrical system attempting to wire something in. This plug and play solutions is perfect!
If you happen to make another one up before the end of the month, please let me buy it from you! I will actually book a flight from West Palm Beach to Minneapolis St. Paul to meet up with you, and pay you in person for it. Ok, so I am already coming up for the Tyler Shipman Memorial Car show, and the flight is already booked.... but I will still pay you in person for it
[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 07-08-2016).]
Chris.... I have to have this, and I have to have this NOW! Very nice! I had been looking into aftermarket options to add this to my Fiero, but I am not that great at wiring, and did not want to blow out my electrical system attempting to wire something in. This plug and play solutions is perfect!
If you happen to make another one up before the end of the month, please let me buy it from you! I will actually book a flight from West Palm Beach to Minneapolis St. Paul to meet up with you, and pay you in person for it. Ok, so I am already coming up for the Tyler Shipman Memorial Car show, and the flight is already booked.... but I will still pay you in person for it
We're coming to the Tyler show too so I will bring one with me.
I have angel eye headlights which are exact dimensions as fiero stock lights i remember i paid about $14 for the pair on ebay about 10 yrs ago and they took the stock wiring. This would be good with these.
seajai that's a real nice upgrade for the Fiero. Before you get too deep into production have you considered having the wipers also activate the lights. This would put the icing on the cake. Pennsylvania has a law "WIPERS ON HEADLIGHTS ON" . Just thinking out of the box or have a common harness for either or.
Meanwhile I'll keep an eye out in the mall for this upgrade.
Spoon
------------------ "Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne." - Kurt Vonnegut
I molded and cast a plug to connect to the factory headlight connector making it a plug and play setup.
Interested to see more of how you did this. The hard part of any plug and play setup is getting the connectors which don't exist anywhere in the real world.
I've thought about building one of these, but auto headlights on a car with motorized headlights carries a small risk. Have you considered what the system does if a motor fails? The system could run continuously or overheat or create a number of problems. Do you have a manual override?
Interested to see more of how you did this. The hard part of any plug and play setup is getting the connectors which don't exist anywhere in the real world.
I've thought about building one of these, but auto headlights on a car with motorized headlights carries a small risk. Have you considered what the system does if a motor fails? The system could run continuously or overheat or create a number of problems. Do you have a manual override?
I used a factory headlight connector with male terminals plugged into it to make a model of the plug I wanted. I then made a silicone mold of the model. To make the connector, I crimp the wires to the terminals and then insert them into the mold. I mix the 2 part liquid plastic and fill the mold. 10 minutes later the plastic has hardened and the new connector is easily pulled from the silicone.
I designed the harness to essentially tee into the factory harness and control the lights independent of the headlight switch. With the system off, normal switch operation is retained. The headlights can be turned on manually at any time. The module acts just like a 2nd headlight switch and only functions with the key in the "ON" position, when the key is in the "OFF" position, the module is off and has no control of the headlights. If a motor were to fail up or down when the system turns "on" would be the same as having the headlight switch on. You would need to go out and unplug the motor if it was dark and you needed to use your headlights. Overriding the module and shutting it off would turn off the headlights and close the doors. A motor that fails up or down when the system is turned "off" would also have to be unplugged because the module has no control over the motors when it is turned off ( when in day mode or when the key is off ). The only need for an override switch would be if you needed the headlights off to enter a gate or building, etc ( or to sneak home if you stayed out too late ) I do not include an override switch but one can easily be added by putting a switch in-line with the power wire, this wire just plugs into one of the open "IGN" cavities on the lower left front of the fuse panel. Shutting off the power on this wire turns off the module and disables the automatic headlights.
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 07-10-2016).]
Very clever way to create the connectors. I need to try something like that for my setups.
As for manual override it's not needed, but a nice to have. My new car has no off switch whatsoever for the headlights, so I can't sneak in at night anyway.
I thought about doing an auto headlight setup, but I would use relays to get the controls down to the low amperage level such that they could be controlled by an alarm system (all lights on at disarm for example). Your DRL module probably has that capability already.
[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 07-12-2016).]
Yeah, the DRL module has 3 internal high amp relays to do all the switching. The only input it the light sensor though so no way to get it to turn on the lights with an alarm.
Originally posted by jscott1: My new car has no off switch whatsoever for the headlights, so I can't sneak in at night anyway.
My brother is a cop in Phoenix. He had to use his personal truck at times, and needed a way to turn the lights off after dark. The dealership told him to apply just a single click of the parking brake. It will not even engage the brakes at that point, but it did in fact turn off his lights. Not sure if it will work on other makes and models, but it did work for him. Heck, it's worth a try!
My brother is a cop in Phoenix. He had to use his personal truck at times, and needed a way to turn the lights off after dark. The dealership told him to apply just a single click of the parking brake. It will not even engage the brakes at that point, but it did in fact turn off his lights. Not sure if it will work on other makes and models, but it did work for him. Heck, it's worth a try!
Wont work with my car because it has a dealer installed fog light kit, which was designed for a car without auto headlights, so the "Off" position is really "Auto" and the actual off position was lost in the upgrade. The only way to get a real off is to hack into the harness. So no sneaking for me until the warranty period is over.
Wont work with my car because it has a dealer installed fog light kit, which was designed for a car without auto headlights, so the "Off" position is really "Auto" and the actual off position was lost in the upgrade. The only way to get a real off is to hack into the harness. So no sneaking for me until the warranty period is over.
Here's an idea:
Make a harness that plugs into the fuse that controls the lights. Remove the fuse that controls the DRL or circuit breaker for the headlights. Plug a wire into one leg of the fuse, put a fuse inline on this wire so the circuit would still be protected. Run this wire to a toggle switch. From the switch run another wire back to the other leg of the fuse. Now when you shut off the switch, it acts like a blown fuse and shuts off the lights. Turn the switch back on, lights work. No hacking required and you can just unplug it whenever you need to go in for warranty work.
Make a harness that plugs into the fuse that controls the lights. Remove the fuse that controls the DRL or circuit breaker for the headlights. Plug a wire into one leg of the fuse, put a fuse inline on this wire so the circuit would still be protected. Run this wire to a toggle switch. From the switch run another wire back to the other leg of the fuse. Now when you shut off the switch, it acts like a blown fuse and shuts off the lights. Turn the switch back on, lights work. No hacking required and you can just unplug it whenever you need to go in for warranty work.
Thanks for the idea!
... I'm adding you to my mental list of electrical gurus when I need help.
Woul having switch back turn signals make any issues with the auto light setup?
Not too familiar with switchbacks so I did a little research. If I'm reading it right the switchbacks act as daytime running lights but you need to have the park lights on to make them work?
If you are driving with the park light switch on to operate the white part of the switchbacks during the day, everything will work as it would without auto headlights. When it gets dark enough to trigger the module, the headlight doors will come up and the headlights will come on. Everything will operate the same as it would if you had manually turned on the headlights. When you shut the key off, the headlights will go off but the park lights will stay on (because the switch was in the park light setting previously) and the headlight doors will stay up. You would then have to push the switch to "off" to shut off the park lights and make the doors go down. The Fiero headlight switch turns off the power on the white "down" wire in park and headlight mode which is why the doors would stay up.
There is an output on the DRL module for daytime running lights, I'm just not using it in this application. I could add another wire to the connector for this feature. If you were to tie this wire into the harness on the light side to the S211 splice and add in a diode so it didn't back feed power to the rest of the lights, the switchbacks would operate as daytime running lights without having to turn on the switch. The front sidemarker lights would be on too in the configuration because of the way they are wired into the circuit. When the module switches to night mode, the switchbacks would remain on, they would just receive power from the other contacts inside the module that feed all of the lights.
Here is a wiring diagram showing what I'm talking about:
[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 07-13-2016).]
