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Old 05-20-2014, 11:41 AM   #1
Lyrrad
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Default 2015 WRX Making C-Light/Park Lights as DRL

Hey guys,

I am new to the forum, so please excuse me if I post this incorrectly (wrong section, format, etc).

I know there has been a lot of talk and desire lately, including myself, about how to make the C-Lights on the 2015 WRX/STI come on automatically with the DRL. After looking over the wiring diagrams and testing it out yesterday, I think I finally came up with the answer. It is working just fine for my car and there are no lights on the dash.

Some things to note:

1) This was done using the LED version headlights/C-Lights. I assume it will be the same with the base headlights, but this hasn't been confirmed.
2) For a brief moment when starting the car, it looks like a light comes on indicating that the DRLs are off (?), but I don't remember if that was happening since I disable the DRLs or not. Either way, the light goes off right away (about 1 second later). I'll try to get more details on this later.
3) As others have mentioned, the C-Lights are not very bright. They may not be legal to be used as DRL in your area. I might look into replacing the LEDs to brighter ones in the future. And I might consider wiring the fog lights to come on as DRL as well. But I'll see how I like this for now.

What this does:
- Makes the C-Lights, front Marker/Parking lights and Tail lights come on when the car is running.
- They will turn off if the Parking/Handbrake is pulled.
- The headlights will still work like normal when turned on.
- The high beams still work like normal when turned on.
- The "auto" lights will still turn on the head lights like normal when in the "auto" position.
- Turn signals still work as expected.

And finally, here is how I did it:

1) Follow all steps to disable the DRL by unplugging the resistor.
Instructions can be found here:
http://www.iwsti.com/forums/2015-sti...ng-lights.html

2) Remove the plastic under the engine bay.

3) Trace the wiring harness from the DRL plug you just disconnected along the radiator support to the left side of the vehicle.

4) You will find the Body Integrated Unit (?) where several wiring harnesses come together. This is where you will begin your surgery.



5) Release the zip tie by inserting a small screw driver from the inside to lift the tab.



6) Peel back the wire looming and cut/remove the electrical tape, exposing the wires.



7) Separate the wires to give you more room and to locate the ones you need. You will need the solid Green (not Green/Yellow) and the Black/Blue wires. NOTE: There are two different Black/Blue wires. I don't think it matters which one you use, but someone might want to confirm.



8) Install one vampire clip on the Green wire and add a new wire (I used red). Then install another vampire clip on the Black/Blue wire and insert the same new wire.



9) Re-tape the wires and place them back inside the wire looming. Then tape over the entire area to weather-proof it and re-attach the zip tie.




Enjoy!
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Old 05-20-2014, 12:09 PM   #2
SubyMass
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Can you go into some detail on what/why you did it this way? Ie the green wire is _____ and the black/blue wire is _______. By connecting them this way it _______.

Just curious because I don't typically like to blindly cut/splice/rewire and it sounds like you already researched this and know.
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Old 05-20-2014, 12:27 PM   #3
Lyrrad
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The Green wire is the positive wire that leads to/feeds the DRL. The Black/Blue wire is the positive wire that feeds the C-Lights.

You can verify this by looking at the connector that plugs into the DRL resistor (Green Wire) and the connector (F125) that plugs into the head light unit (Black/Blue).

By feeding the Green into the Black/Blue, it provides power to the C-Lights through the DRL current.

I suspect that if you chose the "other" Black/Blue wire in my pictures, then it might power the C-Lights only (instead of the park lights). This was what I was originally planning to do.

But I wanted the Park Lights as well, so when I discovered the second Black/Blue wire and it gave me the results I wanted, that was as far as I tested (other than confirming side-effects).

You can easily test the current by running a wire from the Green wire connector of the DRL resistor to the #1 pin of F125 (head light connector) and another wire from the White/Black wire connector of the DRL resistor to the #3 pin of F125. When the car is running and the parking brake is off, the C-Light will light up.

http://techinfo.subaru.com/proxy/709...0BEV1_1081.pdf
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Old 05-20-2014, 04:01 PM   #4
Lyrrad
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I just went up to my car to check which warning light it is that comes on briefly and it is the "LED Headight Warning", so more investigation may need to be done.

However, like I said, the warning light does not stay on and there does not appear to be any indication that the lights are not functioning properly.

If anyone has any ideas/suggestions, I'm all ears.
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Old 05-20-2014, 06:20 PM   #5
WRX_02_227
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Subscribed! Good work so far. I'll follow this thread for updates.

I'd rather just have the C lights on all the time when the car is on. Couldn't the black/blue wire just be wired to an ignition wire to pull that off?
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Old 05-20-2014, 07:14 PM   #6
Big-E
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OP, I have a few questions.

What do you mean by 'C-Lights'? Is this short for 'City Lights'?

With regard to the headlamps themselves, you have a low-beam, high-beam, side-marker, turn-signal, and an LED City Light Is this correct?

What kind of low-beam and what kind of high-beam? HID / Incandescent? Incandescent / Incandescent?

I presume that the DRL's are vis-a-vis the high-beams?

Last edited by Big-E; 05-20-2014 at 09:24 PM.
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Old 05-20-2014, 08:58 PM   #7
Lyrrad
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WRX_02_227 View Post
Subscribed! Good work so far. I'll follow this thread for updates.

I'd rather just have the C lights on all the time when the car is on. Couldn't the black/blue wire just be wired to an ignition wire to pull that off?
Yes, this is possible. Depending where you supply the ignition wire to the Black/Blue wire, you may need to run one to the left C-Light and one to the right C-Light.

This idea has me thinking back though... when I wired the C-Light directly from the battery as a test, I only checked to make sure the C-Light turned on. But I don't remember now if I checked to see if the side marker lights were also on. It's possible that powering the C-Lights automatically powers the whole Parking Light system. This should be pretty easy to test, but I won't be able to do it until Friday.
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Old 05-20-2014, 09:07 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Big-E View Post
OP, I have a few questions.

What do you mean by 'C-Lights'? Is this short for 'City Lights'?

With regard to the headlamps themselves, you have a low-beam, high-beam, side-marker, turn-signal, and an LED City Light Is this correct?

What kind of low-beam and what kind of high-beam? HID / Incandescent? Incandescent / Incandescent?
"C-Lights" are the LED (or halogen bulb on base model) lights that surround the headlights. They are in the shape of a "C".

The 2015 head light system has a halogen high-beam. This bulb also serves as the DRL by running at a lower wattage.
On the base model head light system, the low-beam is also halogen.
On the Limited or Premium (Sport or Sport-Tech in Canada), the low-beam is LED.
Both models have a string of lights around the outside of the housing (think Audi) that light up when the head leads are on. The base model uses a halogen bulb to light the C-Light. The Limited or Premium models use LED lights to light the C-Light.

There are lots of posts that show/explain the details of the headlight systems of each model. Hope this helps.
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Old 05-20-2014, 09:34 PM   #9
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That's great. Thank you. Your explanation is clear and to the point.

Do you have a wiring schematic for the parking-lights, head-lights, and the DRL?

I think that what you have done is used the ground from the DRL to power the parking-lights. The DRL is a drop-resistor on the ground-side of the circuit from the high-beam lamps.

So when the DRL's are active, the ground is being fed back into the parking-lights to have them illuminate.

Just make sure that no power is fed-back into the electrical system. You may want to install diodes to prevent this.
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Old 05-21-2014, 08:09 AM   #10
Lyrrad
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You may be right. I didn't have my voltmeter on hand to confirm because I think someone borrowed it and didn't return it.

However, looking at the wiring diagram at http://techinfo.subaru.com/proxy/709...0BEV1_1081.pdf, it would appear that the Green wire comes from the Number 7 fuse (Page 1) via the Green/White in the DRL Relay. I don't know much (or really anything) about Subarus, but typical practice is that you fuse the positive leads.

The Green wire then goes on to feed the White/Black wire via the DRL Resistor, which powers the High-beam bulb.
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Old 05-21-2014, 12:28 PM   #11
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Interesting.

I don't have time to really look at the schematic, however you may be correct that the power is fed through the resistor.
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Old 05-21-2014, 01:54 PM   #12
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Is this the same effect as turning the parking lights on???
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Old 05-21-2014, 01:59 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mikerydinhigh View Post
Is this the same effect as turning the parking lights on???
Kind of sort of. To turn the parking lights on you have to actually do that manually. If you mod the lights they will just be on.
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Old 05-21-2014, 02:42 PM   #14
Gro Harlem
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The DRL resistor only has two wires coming from it which can only mean one is +12v input and the other is the 40% output going to the high beam leads on the housing.

So if the Black/Blue wire is the +12v going to the LED "C" lights then the way you wired this makes perfect sense to me.

I see in the headlight diagrams from subaru that there are indeed two black/blue wires. One seems to go to the left housing's low-beam and the other doesn't have a solid description.

The next question would be how to increase the output of the LED "C" lights to match the brightness of most other cars with those types of DRL's. When I turn my parking lights on after disabling my DRL the "C" lights aren't very bright at all and I doubt you can even tell they are on if you were looking at my car when the sun is out.
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Old 05-21-2014, 07:19 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WRX_02_227 View Post

Kind of sort of. To turn the parking lights on you have to actually do that manually. If you mod the lights they will just be on.
Lol thanks I think I'll stick to the manual method, seems easier lol.
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Old 05-22-2014, 01:53 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mikerydinhigh View Post
Lol thanks I think I'll stick to the manual method, seems easier lol.
However your C-lights turn off when the e-brake is disengaged, correct? So I don't think you can manually drive around with your C-lights on at all.
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Old 05-22-2014, 04:52 AM   #17
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Default Lights on all the time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jonfaiella View Post
However your C-lights turn off when the e-brake is disengaged, correct? So I don't think you can manually drive around with your C-lights on at all.
C light is turned ON when head lights are ON ...

I remember seeing people on the street with all their lights on
in broad day light, so I guess its more of a style thing and its a
bit too rich for my blood.

Yet I digress the halogen bulbs in the C lights are a bit Sad looking
after I put in brighter H9 bulbs its barely notice-able.
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Old 05-22-2014, 08:38 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrz415 View Post
C light is turned ON when head lights are ON ...

I remember seeing people on the street with all their lights on
in broad day light, so I guess its more of a style thing and its a
bit too rich for my blood.

Yet I digress the halogen bulbs in the C lights are a bit Sad looking
after I put in brighter H9 bulbs its barely notice-able.
Replace with cool-white LED bulbs.
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Old 05-23-2014, 11:07 AM   #19
mikerydinhigh
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jonfaiella View Post
However your C-lights turn off when the e-brake is disengaged, correct? So I don't think you can manually drive around with your C-lights on at all.
Just went and checked, my C-lights work with the e-brake disengaged. On a side now people at work now thing I am crazy for keep looking at my headlights lol.
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Old 05-27-2014, 08:29 AM   #20
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Thank you for this. Probably my first mod when my car comes in.
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Old 06-01-2014, 12:48 AM   #21
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Anyone know if HIDs will also be 9005? (HB3?)
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Old 06-01-2014, 09:17 AM   #22
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Not sure I understand your question, OEM HID are always D2S (or D1S, D4S etc) but never a halogen bulb part number.

And no 2015 has HID, only halogen and LED.
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Old 06-03-2014, 02:28 PM   #23
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Yeah just reread this... Would need diodes. Some places it's actually illegal to run parking lights on without headlights.

Thanks for the information and pioneering this for everyone.
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Old 06-04-2014, 12:54 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Subi Speed View Post
Yeah just reread this... Would need diodes. Some places it's actually illegal to run parking lights on without headlights.

Thanks for the information and pioneering this for everyone.
My pleasure.

I was thinking diodes as well, but so far everything has been working well. I might add some the next time I am under there.

That law seems silly to me. On my A4, the parking lights came on automatically as part of the DRL system. I liked that the taillights were on at all times.
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Old 06-05-2014, 01:49 PM   #25
Sunman222
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Any idea what gauge the wires are? Thinking about getting Posi-Tite connectors.

http://www.amazon.com/Posi-Products-Posi-Seal-Weathertite-Connectors-4-pack/dp/B00HTR29JW/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1401990416&sr=1-2&keywords=posi-tite
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