Help with LED running lights please

ambo11, Aug 23, 1:08am
Want to fit some round LED running lights to the wife's grey car, but really confused as to which ones are "bright" enough so to speak so they are seen from a reasonable distance. Not interested in Hellas at $200 odd, there must be some half decent chinese ones on here. How do I know if they will be bright, i.e is there a certain thing to look for?
Want round as they will fit into the lower bumper easily. Will get the right relay etc from my local auto sparky. Cheers for any advice.
monzaman, Aug 23, 1:33am
There are lots under $50 including round led lamps on TM,you don't need a relay for lower powered led lamps.
stevo2, Aug 23, 2:12am
I put some super bright ones on my van. These ones in fact http://www.aliexpress.com/item/12v-6w-LED-Daytime-Running-Light-Waterproof-Universal-DRL-Kit-Day-Light-Auto-Driving-Light-External/1998665833.html
A relay was required to turn them off when the park/headlights were turned on.
xs1100, Aug 23, 4:19am
try hella ones from Autostop they seem to have them on special every 2nd day
sanders4, Aug 23, 6:36am
I paid $13 for 2 x 8 led lamps on trademe and they are pretty good and just wired in thru park lamps.
thewomble1, Aug 23, 7:41am
They must turn off when headlights are turned on.
poppajn, Aug 23, 9:02pm
Well that's illegal for a start, must go through a relay and go out when all other light's are turned on.
I got Hella's which are really bright for $120.
cammey, Aug 23, 9:09pm
Sanders may have connected positive side of LEDs to a circuit that livens when the key is turned on and neg side to the park light circuit.

This works fine on cars with conventional wiring without a relay as long as the total load of the LEDS is less than about 20% of the load of the park lights. At worst it may make the park lights glow very very dimly as the LEDs earth though the park lights.
franko171, Aug 23, 9:26pm
have mine wired to park lites no problims get wof
poppajn, Aug 24, 4:21pm
Then your WOF agent need's to read the lighting rules.
2sheddies, Aug 24, 4:31pm
Bit of a problem there. Every AVI in the country seems to read a completely different copy of the rule book or have vastly differing interpretations of the same one. What's considered a pass at one place is a fail at another. And not just with lighting.

Chances are that poster will get pulled up for it eventually when they use a different wof place/tester.
franko171, Aug 24, 5:53pm
as long as thy go out when park lites are turned on witch thy do
melonhead1, Aug 24, 8:45pm
Running your driving light relay through your headlight's normally closed contacts would do the trick wouldn't it?
wind.turbine, Aug 24, 8:56pm
You can have the DRL running with the park lights but some do say you are not allowed to be running the park lights on their own.

In the WOF regulations it does state that DRL must turn off when (MAIN) headlights are turned on.

so that does mean that they can go at the same time as park lights but then you are running into the other issue that I mentioned before but it wont really mater if you are using you park lights at the same time as headlights
poppajn, Aug 24, 11:21pm
Now I'm lost, the law say's you cannot drive with parklight's only on (as I understand it)
bigfatmat1, Aug 24, 11:52pm
DRL's can be on with headlamps as long as they are dimmed.
Hella does a relay that can be used for this sw20, Aug 24, 11:54pm
Half the cars on the road when it is getting dark only use their park lights. Where did this phenomenon come from? Then there are the muppets that drive with only their fog lamps on while it's getting dark, or even is dark!
wind.turbine, Aug 25, 12:14am
when I am towing during the day I turn the park lights on so the lights on the trailer are going but as soon as its getting dark or bad weather the headlights are on but tbh most of the time I have the headlights running all the time as they turn on and off with the key
trouser, Aug 25, 1:56am
I know. Turn your headlights on dip. That will be bright enough and save you quite a bit of mucking around.
poppajn, Aug 25, 2:21am
Same down here and I see a lot of car's with only one headlight. I wonder if it's anything to do with 12 month warrent's, i.e. people don't check their vechicles.
craigsmith, Aug 25, 9:38am
Depending on your car you might be able to replace the sidelight / corner light bulbs with brighter LED units. These may double as parking lights or may be amber instead of white, especially if the car in question is sold in the US where amber corner lights are the norm.

That will mark out the front corners of the car and assist with visibility in dim daylight (overcast, rainy, etc).

If you need anything brighter than that, then use the low-beam headlights. What you are suggesting is overkill for the one issue and underkill for the other.
socram, Aug 30, 12:26pm
It has always been so. When I first came to NZ and was travelling from Pakuranga to the Shore at night and back, I used to keep myself amused by counting the number of cars with defective lighting. Rarely were there less than 10 in each direction.