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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1841  
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Which car/loom?
The black wire you’ve mentioned is probably an earth. I guess it could be the case that the new unit is earthed via an alternative route. I think I had a light unit like this - main bulb via an H plug; the DRL was simply an additional bulb piggy backed into the sidelight circuit, so it came on with the sidelights and wasn’t really a DRL at all in the true sense. I would try the simple thing first - connect up the H plug, and the red wire to the DRL. If you have a multimeter, or even a simple illuminating probe, before making the connections you could check to see if the red light is live and if it supplies power when you’d expect it to. Of course all that could be nonsense, depending on what you have…  But a meter or probe would certainly help. Donald
1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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5th Nov 2022 8:16am |
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| BronzeXtech13 Member Since: 05 Nov 2022 Location: Western Cape Posts: 4  
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Hi Donald, thank you for your reply. Eletrical is not my thing, as you can tell, so what I did was I actually attached red to red and tried running the DRL and nothing. So I disconnected it and just plugged in the main light to at least have high and low for the time being. See attached picture and let me know what you make of it.
Again, the new light just has the extra red coming out of it for newer vehicles with real DRL. But I know there is a way to hook this up right because I’ve seen late model defenders with the DRL light operational. What are your thoughts… |
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5th Nov 2022 10:04am |
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| BronzeXtech13 Member Since: 05 Nov 2022 Location: Western Cape Posts: 4
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Forgot to attached the photo
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5th Nov 2022 10:06am |
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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1841
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Hi,
Sorry, been away for a couple of days, and just got back to this. Having looked at the pic on your gallery - these are the old lights, yes? They're what are usually called 'Crystals' with the option for the additional smaller bulb. I had a set of these, and had that extra bulb wired in to my sidelights. I just spliced the red wire into the power supply for the standard sidelights, and the black to the earth. Quite straightforward. As both were LEDs I had no concern about the wire gauge/size. Proper DRLs are bit more complicated I think (I don't have them). Possibly more or less complicated depending on your local regulations. In the UK, I think DRLs are supposed to switch off or dim once the headlights come on, so you need some sort of relay arrangement to make that work. Do you know the SA regulations, or is such a thing just not enforced? I don't suppose you have a wiring diagram, or a photo of the connections page in the instructions for the new lights? It's difficult to think what else to suggest without a bit more info. Donald 1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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7th Nov 2022 1:38pm |
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| BronzeXtech13 Member Since: 05 Nov 2022 Location: Western Cape Posts: 4
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Yes, old lights, that’s exactly it, a separate small bulb that acts as a DRL when I toggle one forward just before the main lights.
Perfect, I’ll give that a try, not much I’ve seen regulation wise here in SA about it, would be shocked to see it enforced if so lol. No, unfortunately this company didn’t send any diagrams and isn’t much on support even though they are quite a large company. I appreciate the help, hopefully I can get them working ! |
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8th Nov 2022 1:05pm |
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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1841
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Happy to help if I can, but I do think there might be an issue with what DRLs actually are.
When you put the lighting switch forward one position that's not a DRL. You are putting on the vehicle sidelights. The extra bulb in your old lights is just an additional sidelight, not a DRL. A DRL will come on automatically, as soon as the ignition is turned on, and does not need a switch. You'll know this - so many modern cars have them. You can make DRLs work on an older Defender, but as I said before it's a bit more complicated than just plugging in the lamps and connecting the wires. I haven't felt the need to do this, but I think there are several folk here who have done this job, and maybe doing a search will find some suitable threads where you could find useful information on what's involved, and maybe even a kit that would make the installation quite easy. Without knowing exactly what lights you have, and how they are meant to be wired up it's hard to go much further. What make and model are they? Also what vehicle do you have? My own car is a 1994 110SW - pretty basic electrics. Over the years the wiring changed a bit and became more complicated. It would be useful to know what you have and that might help someone else come in and offer some more specific suggestions. Donald 1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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8th Nov 2022 1:26pm |
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| Penfold_6290 Member Since: 22 Sep 2021 Location: Dorset Posts: 319  
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Interesting thread this and poignant for me because I wired up some DRLs on my Td5 110 last weekend. You have the exact same Wipac Crystal lights with pilot bulb as I do.
I had fitted a pair of Hella semi recessed lights into the bumper years ago to serve as fog lights but I have now fitted them with LED H3 bulbs which have a reduced light output compared to a halogen 55w H3 bulb. Perfect for a DRL.  Click image to enlarge https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/products/...-drl-bulbs Despite their description they provide nowhere close to the same illumination as a 60w halogen bulb. Regardless of which lights you wish to use as DRL (pilot bulbs, in bumper LEDs) the method is the same. I have powered the bumper DRL from an ignition live which is part of a much bigger wiring loom in the engine bay, which I believe is the same on the Puma. Ignition live wires tend to be white wires with a green trace, in the same way red wires with an orange trace are side lights or instrument illumination, always check with a meter. I've taken a spur off the white/green wire in the main harness, this ignition live goes through a 5 pin relay mounted in the engine bay via pin 87a and then out through pin 30 to the DRL. The relay coil is energised by the side light circuit, so side light live to pin 85 and earthed via pin 86. So, as soon as the headlight switch is moved one click forward the relay coil is energised, moving the contact from pin 87a (where there are volts) to pin 87 (where there isn't) , i.e. the side lights come on, the DRLs go off. Using a 5 pin relay and wiring it up with the ignition live at pin 87a, not pin 30 also means I can actually power the DRLs back on with the side lights if I wanted to (I don't, but I could) via a separate switch providing 12v to pin 87. If you are content to simply operate your pilot bulbs with one click of the switch then ignore the previous detail. I'm assuming if the new light (a pic would be great) has only one red wire to power the DRL/pilot bulb then its bulb must earth through the body of the light via the black earth wire in the three pin H4 connector. The white connector on the bulb wiring of your old lights looks like it is made to connect to the side light loom as it has that type of white plug on it. Hope that is of some use to you. |
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8th Nov 2022 4:24pm |
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| donmacn Member Since: 06 Nov 2017 Location: Nth Scotland Posts: 1841
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I can't quote the directly previous post, but you've said: "I'm assuming if the new light (a pic would be great) has only one red wire to power the DRL/pilot bulb then its bulb must earth through the body of the light via the black earth wire in the three pin H4 connector." That was my thought too. In his 2nd post the OP says he tried simply connecting the 'DRL' red wires - but it's not clear if the H4 connector was also connected, and providing an earth. And "The white connector on the bulb wiring of your old lights looks like it is made to connect to the side light loom as it has that type of white plug on it." Yep. I wondered if someone had modified the vehicle loom to have two of these white plugs - allowing the original sidelights to come on, and the additional bulb in the headlight unit. When I had these, I didn't go quite that far, but I did fit a short 'spur' cable into the standard sidelight circuit with plugs so that I could plug/unplug the whole headlight units. Donald 1994 Defender 300Tdi 110 SW - owned since 2002 - 230k miles and going strong (The 'rolling restoration' or tinkering thread: http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic58538.html ) 2000 Range Rover P38 4.0L V8 in the past.. RR classic - fitted with 200Tdi 1984 RR classic - V8 with ZF auto box 1993 Discovery 300Tdi not to mention the minis and the Type 2 VW camper... |
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8th Nov 2022 5:19pm |
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