Looking for ideas regarding adding white LED DRL’s to 2018 Ram 1500.

[corneileous]

I figured this would probably be the best forum to post this but I'm really wanting to add some white DRL lighting somewhere on the front of my truck but I have no idea what to get or where to even put them. Sure, I could just spend upwards of $13-1400 on a new set of aftermarket headlights that already has them in there but number one, I don't wanna spend that kind of money and number two, I really do like the factory projector headlights that come on this truck; I just don't like the fact that they waited until the new fifth GEN body style before they started incorporating those white LEDs in the headlights.

There is one other option that's not quite as expensive but unfortunately it involves putting the headlights in an oven and taking them apart. I've seen where you can replace the whole amber LED turn signal strip on the bottom of the factory premium projector headlights that has white LED's mixed with the amber LED's but like I said, I don't feel too comfortable putting my headlights in an oven, then having to pry them apart and putting them back together so that they don't leak and get a whole bunch condensation on the inside of them so that idea is pretty much out.

Any ideas or do any of you guys know of some pretty neat lighting that I could use? I've looked around quite a bit and I just can't really find anything that I'm looking for. At least one cool thing about how my truck is set up though, there is a dedicated circuit inside my headlight wiring that's strictly for daytime running lights and by using a software called alpha OBD, I can actually designate those white LEDs as my DRL's and even be able to enable the DRL dropout of those lights when I turn my turn signals on.

Thanks in advance.

 

[EJR]

If your looking for advice on cosmetic type of lighting, you have reached the wrong place.

For dedicated DRL lamps that are designed to produce a *real* DRL beam, you'll want to look at Philips or Sylvania/Osram for their kits that get mounted in the lower bumper.

 

[corneileous]

If your looking for advice on cosmetic type of lighting, you have reached the wrong place.

For dedicated DRL lamps that are designed to produce a *real* DRL beam, you'll want to look at Philips or Sylvania/Osram for their kits that get mounted in the lower bumper.

Actually, that's a lot of what I'm looking for but what did you assume I was in the hunt for??

BTW, that Phillips kit you linked is no longer available.

 

[EJR]

BTW, that Phillips kit you linked is no longer available.

Whoops, I missed that part on the product page. You can still purchase the Philips Daylight kits from over seas sellers. I had the Daylight 9 kit on our, now sold, 15 Grand Caravan. It was a solid kit though the lenses got pitted much quicker than I would have liked.

The discontinued GE Nighthawk LED DRL kit was a nice kit. I still have it just never got to use it. Its unlike any other DRL kit on the market in that the 3 LED blocks can swivel slightly (adjustment knob at the top) to keep them illuminating straight forward while mounting on curved front bumpers.

You may also want to research Nolden for their universal DRL kits. Nice OEM grade lighting.

 

[corneileous]

Whoops, I missed that part on the product page. You can still purchase the Philips Daylight kits from over seas sellers. I had the Daylight 9 kit on our, now sold, 15 Grand Caravan. It was a solid kit though the lenses got pitted much quicker than I would have liked.

The discontinued GE Nighthawk LED DRL kit was a nice kit. I still have it just never got to use it. Its unlike any other DRL kit on the market in that the 3 LED blocks can swivel slightly (adjustment knob at the top) to keep them illuminating straight forward while mounting on curved front bumpers.

You may also want to research Nolden for their universal DRL kits. Nice OEM grade lighting.

Those are nice kits. I don't know why that was so hard for me to find.

Now the next question would be where in the heck to install them that would look good.

I kinda like to hook them up somewhere as close to the headlights as I could because of how I said I would prefer to hook them up being that I could make them respond like OEM lighting.

But I see that some of those come with some kind of a module so how did those kits work?

Thanks for those recommendations, though.

 

[EJR]

Now that I think about, are you aware you can activate your amber LED turn signals into DRLs using an OBD programmer? Might be an easier way to add DRLs without needing to figure out mounting positions for external DRL kits.

 

[corneileous]

Now that I think about, are you aware you can activate your amber LED turn signals into DRLs using an OBD programmer? Might be an easier way to add DRLs without needing to figure out mounting positions for external DRL kits.

As I mentioned towards the end in my opening post, I have that Alfa OBD software that allows me to do a lot of stuff like that, and I have enabled my DRL's even with the ability to turn them on and off at my leisure within my Uconnect settings on my radio but, I'm not interested in using any of my stock lighting. That's why I'm inquiring about an aftermarket kit that I can use with my system and besides, I'd rather have the white light like most cars today have that my truck didn't come with.

If my headlights weren't so hard to remove for changing bulbs, I could use those but either way, I don't want to use any of my headlights or fog lights due to overuse of the bulbs and having to change them way more often than I should. For the longest time I was using the amber turn signal LED's in the headlights as my DRL's but again, I'm not crazy about the amber light and second, I've heard that some people have burned those out from over-usage and being that they are considered part of the headlights and are built-in, I've also heard that warranty won't cover them if they quit working which means I'd have to buy a whole new headlight unless I wanted to try my luck with oven-heating them and cracking them apart so, I'd just rather not go that route.

 

[-Virgil-]

This topic has been pretty well covered, though I would add a few additional points:

1. Nolden is not "OEM grade" -- not even anywhere close, except in their own imagination.

2. In addition to the Osram LEDriving line and the Philips line, Hella also makes a large variety of high-quality LED retrofit kits. See them here and here, including lamps and kits designed to account for 15° or 30° of horizontal rake/curve angle to the mounting location. You have to pay attention to this rake/curve, because like all other lamps, a DRL will only do its job if it is mounted with its optical axis straight ahead. You can't just take a lamp intended for mounting on a flat, straight-across surface perpendicular to the vehicle's front-to-back axis, and rotate the lamp so it matches your raked/curved mount surface, and still have it work.

3. Anything that involves baking/disassembling the headlamps is a complete non-starter of an idea.

4. The amber turn signals on trucks like this are rated for prolonged steady operation as DRLs; all such trucks sold in the Canadian market are equipped that way. It's not some kind of unauthorized hack, and no, it doesn't cause them to burn out or cause other problems.

 

[corneileous]

Just thought I'd update the thread and say that I decided on these animated LED strips from Sparksmith to be both DRL's and directional orange turn signals. They were about the only thing I could find online that fit the bill and would be the easiest to install. I plan to put them on the top of plastic piece that surrounds the cut outs in the front bumper where my tow hooks stick out from.

I was hoping to hook them up to my dedicated DRL wires being that I have access to my body control module but being that these have their own processors built in, I just need to hook them to a circuit in my fuse box with a fuse tap that is only live when the ignition is on and then run the other wires to my left and right turn signals being that when either turn signal is activated, the light on whatever side will turn off the white DRL and flash the orange LED's in a directional pattern. When the turn signal is turned off, they'll re-illuminate the white DRL's.

I'll post up some pics when I get them installed. I was supposed to get them installed this weekend but since I was out of town for work all last week and since they showed up last Monday while my wife wasn't home and since she didn't know about it, I didn't find out until Friday when I got home that some POS must have swiped them off the front porch so now I have to get with the store tomorrow to have them send me another set....

 

[corneileous]

Here's the photo/video I promised on my new DRL's that have direcrional turn signals with DRL dropouts.

 

[EJR]

And how exactly are those DRLs dimming (or shutting off) at night when your low beams are on so that they don't glare other drivers?

 

[corneileous]

And how exactly are those DRLs dimming (or shutting off) at night when your low beams are on so that they don't glare other drivers?

They don't. For one, there's no way to do that with these lights unless there's a circuit in my fuse box I could tap into that would only put power to these when the headlights were off or trying to figure out some special type of operation with a relay and second, they really aren't bright enough to cause any glare.

My wife's fairly late model Honda Civic has factory white LED DRL's built-in to the outside edges of her headlights that are on pretty much anytime the ignition is on and those are probably brighter than these so again, I really don't think these lights are blinding anybody and if they are, they probably don't need to be driving at night unless they use a pair of those special night driving glasses for people who have extreme night time light sensitivity.

 

[EJR]

They don't. For one, there's no way to do that with these lights unless there's a circuit in my fuse box I could tap into that would only put power to these when the headlights were off or trying to figure out some special type of operation with a relay and second, they really aren't bright enough to cause any glare.

My wife's fairly late model Honda Civic has factory white LED DRL's built-in to the outside edges of her headlights that are on pretty much anytime the ignition is on and those are probably brighter than these so again, I really don't think these lights are blinding anybody and if they are, they probably don't need to be driving at night unless they use a pair of those special night driving glasses for people who have extreme night time light sensitivity.

The Civic (and all vehicles equipped with LED DRLs) does in fact dim that outside DRL when your low beams are activated. Try it and you'll see.

Glare doesn't have to blind you to be glare. That's because glare is defined in two manners: discomfort and disability. Disability glare (the moderate kind) is of course the type where one would squint their eyes or hold up the hand to shield the light from the eyes because the intensity is disabling the vision to an extent. Discomfort glare (the mild kind) is the type that causes an uncomfortable or annoying sensation that would disturb the vision. In both cases the severity or impact varies from person to person and both should be avoided.

Most OEM DRLs will dim to an intensity that is equal or near the intensity of a typical parking lamp. I understand the angle of the camera is low and directly in front of the DRLs to capture its highest intensity but the best way to tell that their too bright at night is to check them at a far distance as if you were in a car in the opposite direction. Avoid any local light, it should be as dark as possible. Turn on your parking lamps and DRLs. If the DRL is visibly brighter than your parking lamps, then their too bright for night.

 

[corneileous]

The Civic (and all vehicles equipped with LED DRLs) does in fact dim that outside DRL when your low beams are activated. Try it and you'll see.

Glare doesn't have to blind you to be glare. That's because glare is defined in two manners: discomfort and disability. Disability glare (the moderate kind) is of course the type where one would squint their eyes or hold up the hand to shield the light from the eyes because the intensity is disabling the vision to an extent. Discomfort glare (the mild kind) is the type that causes an uncomfortable or annoying sensation that would disturb the vision. In both cases the severity or impact varies from person to person and both should be avoided.

Most OEM DRLs will dim to an intensity that is equal or near the intensity of a typical parking lamp. I understand the angle of the camera is low and directly in front of the DRLs to capture its highest intensity but the best way to tell that their too bright at night is to check them at a far distance as if you were in a car in the opposite direction. Avoid any local light, it should be as dark as possible. Turn on your parking lamps and DRLs. If the DRL is visibly brighter than your parking lamps, then their too bright for night.

So being that most headlights are brighter than the average white LED DRL's that stay on at night time; you're more worried about DRL's being of the same brightness, if not slightly brighter than most marker lights, if that is indeed the case?…hmm.

You know, I understand the concept about not using LEDs or HIDs in headlights that are intended for halogen bulbs but this right here kind of seems to me like nitpicking or splitting hairs but well, there's nothing about these lights I bought that say they're not legal for street use and being that I'm sure I know my wife's car pretty good, I guess I'll have to wait till I get home this weekend to verify that her factory DRL's do not change brightness between day and night to which I might also add that I don't think any other car does either because I've seen all sorts of cars with similar lights be just as bright at night as they are during the day.

 

[RHS-113]

DRLs are required by FMVSS 108 to switch off when the headlamps are switched on. Your wife's civic has LED DRLs that dim to provide a parking light function when the headlamps are switched on.

Daytime Running Lamps Permitted But Not Required on Passenger Cars, Multipurpose Passenger Vehicles (MPV), Trucks, and Buses:

Lighting device	Number and color	Mounting location	Mounting height	Device Activation
Daytime running lamp (DRL)	2 identically colored either white, white to yellow, white to selective yellow, selective yellow, or yellow	On the front, symmetrically disposed about the vertical centerline if not a pair of lamps required by this standard or if not optically combined with a pair of lamps required by this standard	Not more than 1.067 meters above the road surface if not a pair of lamps required by this standard or if not optically combined with a pair of lamps required by this standard See S7.10.13(b) for additional height limitation.	Steady burning. Automatically activated as determined by the vehicle manufacturer and automatically deactivated when the headlamp control is in any "on" position. Each DRL optically combined with a turn signal lamp must be automatically deactivated as a DRL when the turn signal lamp or hazard warning lamp is activated, and automatically reactivated as a DRL when the turn signal lamp or hazard warning lamp is deactivated. See S7.10.10.1(c) for additional activation requirements when mounted close to, or combined with, a turn signal lamp.

Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/571.108

 

[corneileous]

DRLs are required by FMVSS 108 to switch off when the headlamps are switched on. Your wife's civic has LED DRLs that dim and become parking lights when switching to low beams.

Well like I said, I'll just have to wait until this weekend to look at it closer to see what they do but again, I've never seen these lights dim and who knows, it's probably because they're not as bright as others. Even these that I bought aren't brighter than my OE front markers nor my custom 9011 halogens I got from Daniel Stern lighting.

But it's interesting how on some vehicles those white DRL's stay on all the time and on other vehicles, they turn off when the headlights are turned on. My 2018 ram 1500 is one of those that shuts off the daytime running lights whenever the headlights are turned on. Being that I have the capability on my laptop to make settings changes in my body control module, I enabled my daytime running lights but the only front lighting that I ever used for them was the brighter portion of the front turn signals or at one point, my fog lights. I never tested my low beams or my high beams to see how they reacted because I wasn't interested in using those lights for my daytime running lights because due to how much work is involved just to change my headlight bulbs, and I wasn't interested in causing myself to have to change those bulbs out more often.

All in all, I really don't think my new lights are bright enough to fall under that category to where they need to have the circuitry to dim the brightness when they know the headlights are switched on and being that some of those true daytime running light kits that was mentioned at the start of this discussion actually had that feature, that's also why I don't think these are bright enough to be breaking any DRL lighting laws.

 

[EJR]

So being that most headlights are brighter than the average white LED DRL's that stay on at night time; you're more worried about DRL's being of the same brightness, if not slightly brighter than most marker lights, if that is indeed the case?…hmm.

You know, I understand the concept about not using LEDs or HIDs in headlights that are intended for halogen bulbs but this right here kind of seems to me like nitpicking or splitting hairs but well, there's nothing about these lights I bought that say they're not legal for street use and being that I'm sure I know my wife's car pretty good, I guess I'll have to wait till I get home this weekend to verify that her factory DRL's do not change brightness between day and night to which I might also add that I don't think any other car does either because I've seen all sorts of cars with similar lights be just as bright at night as they are during the day.

You really have a lack of understanding of automotive lighting. The fact that you would even compare a headlight intensity to a DRL demonstrates that. I'm trying to educate you. These are not opinions or ideas pulled out of the ether.

A headlight does have higher intensity than a DRL but do you know what the main difference between the two is? A low beam is meant to be aimed in way that the light sits BELOW the eyes of oncoming traffic and does not glare. A DRL beam is designed to direct light AT the eyes of oncoming traffic so as to "dazzle" which makes the vehicle more conspicuous during the day.

TWO different beams. TWO different functions. TWO different intensity requirements.

You shouldn't be reckless about just throwing on bright lights to the front of your car without FULLY understanding how they should be applied and how they should function. Because that puts you in the same category as other ignorant people who put in LED bulbs in halogen lamps, blue halogen bulbs in halogen lamps or off-road pods/bars with driving beams shining at day and night. In other words, adding lighting to a vehicle inappropriately.

Look, all I'm saying is that you need to really find a way to turn those things off at night. If you had purchased legitimate DRL lamps from Philips, Osram-Sylvania or Hella then you wouldn't have this issue because their designed to operate in the required ways a DRL should operate. The full intensity of your LED strips are just too bright at night and you'll be glaring other drivers, which just isn't right.

 

[corneileous]

You really have a lack of understanding of automotive lighting. The fact that you would even compare a headlight intensity to a DRL demonstrates that. I'm trying to educate you. These are not opinions or ideas pulled out of the ether.

A headlight does have higher intensity than a DRL but do you know what the main difference between the two is? A low beam is meant to be aimed in way that the light sits BELOW the eyes of oncoming traffic and does not glare. A DRL beam is designed to direct light AT the eyes of oncoming traffic so as to "dazzle" which makes the vehicle more conspicuous during the day.

TWO different beams. TWO different functions. TWO different intensity requirements.

You shouldn't be reckless about just throwing on bright lights to the front of your car without FULLY understanding how they should be applied and how they should function. Because that puts you in the same category as other ignorant people who put in LED bulbs in halogen lamps, blue halogen bulbs in halogen lamps or off-road pods/bars with driving beams shining at day and night. In other words, adding lighting to a vehicle inappropriately.

Look, all I'm saying is that you need to really find a way to turn those things off at night. If you had purchased legitimate DRL lamps from Philips, Osram-Sylvania or Hella then you wouldn't have this issue because their designed to operate in the required ways a DRL should operate. The full intensity of your LED strips are just too bright at night and you'll be glaring other drivers, which just isn't right.

I appreciate you trying to educate but I really don't think you fully understand the situation that you're trying to apply that teaching to.

You automatically think my lights, based on what you saw in a YouTube video are too bright when in reality they really aren't and are really no brighter than the factory installed daytime running lights on my wife's car or none of the hundreds of cars I've seen on the road at night that stay on with the headlights, that I'm almost 100% sure do not change their intensity when the headlights are switched on. Maybe some do but hers, no. I'm not gonna try to figure out how to turn these off at night because there literally there's no need to. These things barely light up the ground in front of them. It's not like I have driving lights installed as daytime running lights, and those .I'm not gonna try to figure out how to turn these off at night because they're literally is no need to. These things barely light up the ground in front of them and it's not like I have super bright driving lights installed that I'm using for DRL's. Those other brands that you mentioned are probably much brighter which is why they do decrease their output at night so I guess judge me as you feel free to do so.

 

[EJR]

You automatically think my lights, based on what you saw in a YouTube video are too bright when in reality they really aren't and are really no brighter than the factory installed daytime running lights on my wife's car or none of the hundreds of cars I've seen on the road at night that stay on with the headlights,

If their as bright as a OEM factory DRL, as you say, then they ARE too bright because the typical intensity of a DRL (which is what is required in order to be noticed during the day) is greater than the allowable glare of a low beam per the DOT FMVSS 108 standard.

that I'm almost 100% sure do not change their intensity when the headlights are switched on. Maybe some do but hers, no.

As I've stated already you are 100% INCORRECT. All factory equipped LED DRLs will ALWAYS dim or shut off at night because they have to. You may not think they do but your just wrong or never noticed.

SEE IMAGE BELOW
TOP = DRL activated with parking lamp.
BOTTOM = Low beam activated and DRL dimmed.

These things barely light up the ground in front of them.

So why did you bother getting them at all? If their not that bright at night as you say, then they certainly aren't visible during the day as a properly functioning DRL in the literal sense.

 

[corneileous]

If their as bright as a OEM factory DRL, as you say, then they ARE too bright because the typical intensity of a DRL (which is what is required in order to be noticed during the day) is greater than the allowable glare of a low beam per the DOT FMVSS 108 standard.



As I've stated already you are 100% INCORRECT. All factory equipped LED DRLs will ALWAYS dim or shut off at night because they have to. You may not think they do but your just wrong or never noticed.

SEE IMAGE BELOW
TOP = DRL activated with parking lamp.
BOTTOM = Low beam activated and DRL dimmed.
View attachment 37727



So why did you bother getting them at all? If their not that bright at night as you say, then they certainly aren't visible during the day as a properly functioning DRL in the literal sense.

They're not too bright for nighttime and if they are in fact not bright enough for true DRL use then oh well. There's no law that I'm aware of that outlaws them not being bright enough but now that I think about it, these lights weren't even marketed as a true DRL kit anyways, they were just more/less designed to be accent lighting for the grille but at least I've got something which is more that what some people can say.
But sure, aside from liking what I have, one of those true DRL kits would've worked for me due to not having a good place to put them. One of the other attributes I like with the ones I have is that they're only about 3/4ths of an inch tall and barely protrude out as far as they are tall so finding a place to put them was possible.

As far as the DRL's on my wife's Civic's decreasing their intensity when the headlights are on, maybe they actually do. As I said, I won't get to verify what they do until this weekend but if you end up being right about it, so what. All I was simply trying to say was that if they did, it's barely noticeable.