As always: Do not hold me responsible for any injury or damage, if you do something silly being inspired by my ideas...

X308, 1998/99, 3.2L

Yesterday I posted about my new angel eyes on the X308 in the section "What did you do to your X308 today?"
Doug asked for more information - I would have written anyway:


That's the LED DTRL I added to my fog lights. It's a halo or angel eyes.


I bought it some time ago, probably on Aliexpress. This is a screenshot from such a listing. I chose diameter 80mm. Mine measures 82mm OD, according to this drawing even bigger. 80mm would have been best for the X308. I was torn about using those angel eyes here (above), added to the existing fog lights, and...


...and the alternative would have been complete new LED fog-lights with integrated angel eyes. The thing is: I could not find them for the X308. I bought the one above for X-Type or S-Type and I was close to using it and simply "making it fit" (if it wants to or not... ). You can see I started already on adapter brackets. I definitely would have made it fit, but then I decided to use the other angel eyes...


DTRL is not allowed to be switched on (at least not in Australia), while the low beams (dipped lights) are switched on (it is suggested that this blinds other drivers at night - but this means as well, that it can be activated in combination with high beam...). So I removed the low beam bulb-socket and measured, where the +12VDC are, when the low beam is switched on.


I found it and I spliced into the +12VDC cable, soldered it on and shrink tube over it.


Next I need a power supply and an "ignition ON" signal. Well, the "switched thru" 12VDC from the ignition coil gives me that signal (see above). In the past I then got myself a fused 12VDC feed directly from the battery, but this time I figured that this is actually too complicated and I simply used those 12VDC from the coil as well as feed to power the LED DTRL.


I used two 12VDC relays. The red wire brings the 12VDC from the relay - FUSED!


In detail, it looks like that. I know that the first relay in line is actually not necessary, when I use the power from the coil directly and not from the battery, but hey - maybe next time I'll think faster... The function of the upper relay is to cut off the power supply to the LED DTRL, when the low beam is switched on. In the diagram above the lower relay is the right relay in the previous picture ( and the upper the left). The coil and switch drawn in red inside the 2 boxes are obviously only symbols for what you find inside of the relay. And NO means Normally Open and NC means Normally Closed.


Getting there... Note the connector: I added a 2 pin connector for the 2 cables to the LED DTRL. Obviously I do not want to start cutting cables in the future, if I want to remove the bumper. The relay on the right is the ignition relay. Nice that I had some space for my small 2 relays. (this is where at some X308 versions there is a wash-wipe relay).


I wrapped the 2 relays in insulation tape.


I had to cut a little gap into the lid for my cables. Looks neat and tidy.


To get access to the fog lights from behind you need to remove that black cover under the car. The angel eyes come to the fog lights from the front, but I needed to move the fog-lights back a little bit (momentarily to feed the wires thru and that "box" which is part of the angel eyes). Not easy, as the nut is on a long bolt, i.e. I would have needed a long socket, but there is no space for a long socket - luckily I had a half-long 10mm socket. I attached the angel eyes the low tech way: With silicone. Sounds rough, but this is not noticeable. I wiped off the excess silicone in time and I though of something to press the angel-eyes into position, while the silicone dries. I positioned the electric wires for the DTRL with zip-ties behind the bumper.

And note of caution: removing or partially removing the fog light on the right side is very difficult, because of that very limited access with the wash-water-bottle restricting access. So as you are under the car and you are holding the ratchet without being able to get a proper grip and cannot hold the ratchet safely, it might fall out of your hand and land right on your face - possibly break your nose. Wear a face-shield...


Here it is: The "Angel in the center fold" (J. Geils Band, 1981), complete with angel eyes and chromed wings (mirrors).


I also found some real nice and bright LED bulbs (T10) for those lights, which light up in the first light-on position. Optionally, I could switch those on manually at daytime as well, additional to the automatic DTRL.



PS: Those are the T10 LED bulbs I just mentioned above.

 

That's cool. A simple way of powering the DRL rings is to use the side light feature - by T connecting your 12V to the DRL rings. They fire up with the w5w sides in the headlight. I'm not a fan of the soldered relay, looks like a fire hazard. You can extend the bumper light looms with IPX waterproof connectors so it's factory neat.
Mine fell to bits with rust so replaced with full LED fogs with DRL's.

 

Well, no, sadly it is not as simple as "powering the DRL rings via the side light feature"...
Firstly, this would not be a DTRL, as that one switches on automatically with ignition ON.

Plus, I just checked: What you are doing is as illegal in the UK as it is in Australia:
https://www.gov.uk/government/public...running-lights

The DTRL is designed for use at DAY, hence DTRL, and it is illegal to use it at night, as it blinds others.
So if you feed you angel eyes via side-lights, this means, that it is also switched ON when low bean (dipped beam) is switched on, which is illegal.

You write about the extra relay as fire hazard: Well, it's not: There is this 10A fuse, and the purpose of this is circuit protection (just in case) and prevention of cable-burnout.

 

In Tennessee, Big Brother has not yet implemented legation concerning DTRL s, operating
at night. And...that is painfully obvious when you come over a hill to meet an oncoming.
vehicle that has been modded to a bright light conversion without concern. While I like the idea of
DTRLs and the "Angel eye" concept, my personal choice would be to have them installed such that
they would be at full illumination during the day but reduced illumination when the headlights
automatically power up. They have a very lenient voltage range so it could be done.

 

I never really felt like halos fit these cars, always came off as a bit "boy racery" out of place, but whatever to each their own. The point here is more on the electrical side of things...

DRL's being on at night is absolutely blinding. If you've ever driven at night with an idiot on the oncoming direction who didn't turn their headlights on and only has their DRL's at day brightness (esp on Japanese cars), you know the pain...

The schematic looks sound, though I'd probably split the 12v supplies for the bottom relay. Keep the ign12v signal powering the coil, but connect the common of the switch to the battery 12v. That way you're not putting a load on the ign switched 12v, I'm not sure if it's going to signal or power. If ign12v is signal you run the risk of sinking more current than intended and causing weird behavior.

The physical implementation of the relays is a little janky, I'd use relays with spade fittings (and possibly matching receptacles). Or at the very least, add some staking of wires and securing the relays.

For the idea of drl's running at a dimmer voltage, that would be easy, just connect the NO of the top regular to your "dimmed DRL" input. The LEDs probably have regulation built into them so if you try to simply drive them at a lower voltage it could just compensate and still run bright, you may need a system designed with a dimmed input in mind..

 

Can you give an example of the kind of car you're talking about here? My experience is the exact opposite of this. DRLs in my experience are never any brighter than a car's regular low beams, in many cases they actually are the low beams, often being run at lower power than full low beams. Any car I've ever encountered running DRL only at night is running extremely dim front lighting (and zero rear lighting)...I see people driving at night with DRLs (or no lights at all) daily on my commute. I'm unable to think of a time I've found DRLs to be bright, let alone blinding.

 

@Peter, we all have solutions to problems, some of them differ as do opinions.
The light units I have are simply adopted to the car's harness, one feed to fog, the led ring to sidelights.

I have my lights set on Auto, and it sailed through the last MOT with nothing illegal, in fact they're just an upgrade on what's already there,
so I take a mild offence to the attempted suggestion, I think I know UK road laws a little better than you, but thanks for the effort.

 

@ Sean: Looking at the UK legislation...:
https://www.gov.uk/government/public...running-lights
I am not so sure you know the UK legislation better.
Switching DTRL on during the night is rightfully so illegal (not in the US apparently, but in G, AUS, UK at least), as it is blinding other drivers. That does not mean that some MOT-dude might not miss that...
I suggest that you call the MOT-telephone-hotline and ask them. I am sure there is something like that - we have an equivalent here down under.

@ Randy & Nilanium: I have used a special control box from China in the past (instead of my relays) on 2 non-Jaguar cars: It dimmed the DTRL on low beam. That was nice. Actually, it also had the DTRL on a time-delay-switch-off after ignition OFF. Problem with that: It was Chinese crap, and after a while, it did not switch off the DTRL after Ignition OFF any more. At least not all the time. That would be very worrying for a Jaguar especially, as a perfectly charged battery seems to very important there. That is why I did not even mention that option in my thread above. However:

> For the idea of drl's running at a dimmer voltage, that would be easy, just connect the NO of the top regular to your "dimmed DRL" input.
That is a very good idea, Nilanium. I may even adapt it. I assume an additional resistor in line would do the trick. I just have to find out the required power rating of such a resistor and the Ohm-value...

 

It may be of interest that Canadian cars have been required to have daytime running lights since the 1990 model year. The normal configuration is that the low beam headlamps (not brighter than normal, nor dimmer than normal) function at all times.
And indeed you can often see, or rather not see, cars running at night with no illumination other that the front low beams. In recent years some makes (including Jaguar) use their LED front lights instead of the headlamps.

However, since 1990, Jaguars for Canada have ALWAYS had front, side and rear lamps illuminated whenever the engine is running and the car is in gear. (And that is the case with the X308). So Jaguar drivers can never be accused of driving at night with no rear lamps.
The system is so automatically care-free that my wife does not know where the light switch is in the X-Type she has driven for 19 years. No kidding. She has never needed to touch the switch. The lights come on with the engine and go off with the engine.

 

I wonder what is different with the Canadian light design. Perhaps a relay?
If so, that could be something many here would be interested in.

 

@SOV22:
So Canada seems to similar than Sweden in those regards. Once, I knew all that by heart, as it was me , who designed the interior of the X400 (X-Type) light-switch. Thus: I can tell you, where your X-Type light switch is... ... In Canada: On the left side of the steering wheel on the dashboard...
And it is exactly because of the different requirements all over the world that there have to be that many different versions of that light switch, but at least I significantly lowered the total number of different variations by convincing the Jaguar Stylists to make that switch symmetrical (oval), overwise there would be many more versions due to LHD and RHD...

@Randy:
Sorry, after all that time I forgot the details, but if I were asked today, how to do it, I would "hard-wire" a short circuit between the OFF position and the first and second light ON position, so that they are all the same and supply power with ignition ON...

 

Interesting... I wonder if this is one of those special "dealer activated" options? I'll need to do some googling to see if this is done through the cars computers, or if it is actually wired differently.
Being able to turn on the factory DRL option and then wiring halos directly to the side lights would simplify things a lot

 

I got a feeling that this is "wired" differently. The reason as to why I believe so, is that it is "wired" differently on the X-Type. And I know that, because I did that!
I am the one, who designed the X-Type light switch electrically inside (I worked as engineer in the X400 design team), and the light-switches are designed differently internally for countries, where it is (was) mandatory to have the lights on all the time. Sweden is another one of those countries. Hence, if you want to have an X-Type, where the lights are on all the time, this should be archivable by swapping the light switch out for a light-switch from a country, where the lights are on all the time. And maybe that is the case for the X308 as well.

 

That's the same way Volvo did it too for their running lights back in the 90s. I know as we used to order non-DRL light switches from time to time.