Help me add cornering lamps to my car

[gf0012-aust]

Thanks, but living in the Boston area, I have to say, for better or worse, that anyone making this kind of modification has little to fear from the authorities. My car has passed inspection each year with no questions asked, and unfortunately, I've seen cars on the road with some pretty horrific add-ons , like aftermarket HIDs that blind everyone in their path, multiple sets of fog lights, blue colored lights that are too dim to light up the inside of a refrigerator, etc. If these cars are not scrutinized, I doubt that mine will be. When anyone does get ticketed here, it's usually for having too little light or causing a public nuisance. I have had a couple of people ask me if my lights were cameras, they do look a bit sinister. Anyway, I've made a point of aiming them carefully, and trying to avoid any un-necessary glare; it makes no sense to **** off other drivers for no reason, regardless of any legal implications. I thought of using inertia sensors, but I suspect that they would kick in too late for my purposes; my biggest complaint with "plane jane" headlights is that, with the mediocre street lighting we have in suburban and rural areas, you can't see the lane markings in the roadway into which you are turning, so activating them with the turn signal would light up that area the earliest (before actually starting a turn). I owned a couple of 1960s Cadillacs that worked this way and was happy with the arrangement (most of the newer US-spec. BMWs I've seen activate them with the turn-signals, as well as steering angle). As I wrote, this setup may not work for everyone, in every jurisdiction, but some elements of it might be helpful, even to those with different restrictions.

I have seen a competition vehicle here which had modified the Hella Dynaview controller to drive his LED 36 watters and rock lights (rock lights are used on the corners of vehicles to hilight the ground so that the observer can assist in placing the vehicle.

I suspect not much need for rock lights in daily driving in your neck of the woods

If you can get a Dynaview controller to look at they are not hard to modify. The loom is colour coded and you can't mess up the interconnects.

One of the engtineers at work was looking at using his iphone to act as an inertia sensor and was happily building an app to manage the lights on his comp vehicle. An interesting exercise and way outside my patience zone......

 

[PLhonda]

Re lumen_aeternum #38: I found that the 3 watt, single diode lamps, which are usually rated around 100 lumens, are roughly equivalent to the brightness of a standard (50 watt) aftermarket fog lamp. The great thing about them is that they were well sealed against weather, but I did have to seal the holes I made for wiring. The odd thing is that the light from an LED is hardly noticeable in well-lit areas, but surprisingly bright in dark ones. Mine came with built-in Fresnel lenses; the only thing I added was a shroud over the top of each to cut off the upper third of the beam. Hopefully, similar lights will be available soon in reasonably priced, approved, automotive packages .

 

[PLhonda]

As for distance, the way they are aimed, I can see the beam on the pavement for only about 20 feet, but I've seen objects further away illuminated, usually only a few feet off the ground. Very similar to the beam from the angled, side-mounted cornering lights on old American cars.

 

[PLhonda]

I have seen a competition vehicle here which had modified the Hella Dynaview controller to drive his LED 36 watters and rock lights (rock lights are used on the corners of vehicles to hilight the ground so that the observer can assist in placing the vehicle. I suspect not much need for rock lights in daily driving in your neck of the woods If you can get a Dynaview controller to look at they are not hard to modify. The loom is colour coded and you can't mess up the interconnects. One of the engtineers at work was looking at using his iphone to act as an inertia sensor and was happily building an app to manage the lights on his comp vehicle. An interesting exercise and way outside my patience zone......

Good choice of words, "patience zone" is a big factor in these things, at least for most of us. I'll have to check out what Dynaview is offering when I finally have to replace my Honda (assuming it doesn't last forever). Now that I have this car the way I want it, I'm inclined to quit while I'm ahead ;--)) .

 

[kaichu dento]

...When I turned the steering an extra light came on. At first I thought it was a headlight that had delayed starting, then eventually realised what it actually was - a cornering light.

I think some of the Cadillac models had this feature and I remember thinking years ago that eventually all cars would have them.

Nice low level beam that keeps out of others eyes, right where you want it.

I added them to my Honda Accord by simply using those headband-mounted LED "worklights" they sell at Home Depot. These particular ones have machined aluminum flanges and look less silly on a car than some of the newer (and cheaper) plastic models, but they were still only about $20 a piece.

I wrapped 10W resistors and a zenor diode into each wiring harness I built to get a 4.5V supply, and made sure to put a tie-wrap at the loose end of the electrical-tape-wrapping. The good thing about the LEDs is that they won't strain even a well-loaded circuit and don't need periodic replacement, so they also avoid any socket connections that might get corroded.

These have given me no trouble after about 3 years. I mounted them in the lower half of the grille (more of a "mouth" opening on Hondas, where they are well protected), angled out at a little more than 45 degrees, then added shrouds to limit the upper half of the beam, so they won't annoy other drivers. The controller is just a big capacitor and relay for each side, which gave me about a 13 second delay, so they stay on though the whole turn; they are activated by the turn signals and also come on with the backup lights, which makes it much easier to judge the distance to the adjacent cars while backing out of a parking space.

I also connected them to the standard Honda fog light switch, which I added (the car did not originally have them); being very much against clear-night fog light use, I only use them this way on rare (wet) occasions, but they actually seem more effective than the usual American spec fog lights I've had on other cars; seeing the side of the road (as well as any pedestrians) makes a bigger difference in dense fog than one might expect.

If I ever get around to it, I'll add switches to make them come on with sharp steering angles, but they work very well the way they are. I've made every effort, to the extent of my knowledge, the keep these things legal, but I don't claim to be an authority on that and wouldn't advocate anyone installing anything they know isn't.

The only feature I wish they had would be an additional timer to turn them off while stopped at a long traffic light; I assume the control modules for factory cornering lights already have such a feature.

Absolutely fantastic post and if you could separate your paragraphs your very well written posts would be easier to read.

I never understood why anyone considered cornering lights a gimmick; it only makes sense to direct the most light in the direction in which the car is turning, and have it come on only when needed. While this may not suite everyone's needs or expectations, I hope some of it will be helpful to anyone interested in doing something similar.

+1
When properly executed they seem to me more of a necessity than many other features now considered standard.

Turn signals were once considered unnecessary as well.

 

[-Virgil-]

Most US- and Japan-market factory cornering lamps light when you put on the turn signal, and remain lit until a couple of seconds after the turn signal is cancelled. If you want to wire up add-on cornering lights so they work this same way, there's a ready-built control box you can buy. It's called a "delay on release relay", made by Amperite, and is their part number 12D2SST1; a quick Google search shows they are not hard to buy (such as here). If you want to be able to adjust the delay time from 1 to 100 seconds, the part number for that control box is 12D1-100SST1.

The only tricky part I can think of would be wiring it up so the cornering lights don't come on when you use the hazard flashers, only when you use the turn signals. I guess on some vehicles you could tap into the hazard flasher switch and put an inhibitor relay in the delay-release relay's trigger circuit.

 

[Rick D]

I believe most modern vehicles already output a steering angle signal as part of the stability control systems. Could be something to investigate. Not something to hack into blindly though, since interfering with that signal could have serious impact on vehicle dynamics.

 

[Revolefil]

Most US- and Japan-market factory cornering lamps light when you put on the turn signal, and remain lit until a couple of seconds after the turn signal is cancelled. If you want to wire up add-on cornering lights so they work this same way, there's a ready-built control box you can buy. It's called a "delay on release relay", made by Amperite, and is their part number 12D2SST1; a quick Google search shows they are not hard to buy (such as here). If you want to be able to adjust the delay time from 1 to 100 seconds, the part number for that control box is 12D1-100SST1.

The only tricky part I can think of would be wiring it up so the cornering lights don't come on when you use the hazard flashers, only when you use the turn signals. I guess on some vehicles you could tap into the hazard flasher switch and put an inhibitor relay in the delay-release relay's trigger circuit.

Why use a delay at all? If the cornering lights are activated by the turn signals, won't they only come on when the turn signal is on, and shut off when the turn signal shuts off? I'm thinking of adding cornering lights to my 2006 Toyota Highlander, using the light specs previously mentioned in this thread (Thank you), power coming from the low beam through a relay, "switched"/activated by the turn signals, so the power only flows when the turn signal comes on, and only when the low beams are on (no need for cornering lights in the daytime). I'm going to test this arrangement out and see if it works, will report back.