View Full Version : For owners of Valeo (and maybe Bosch) E-code lamps.. a good mod...(LONG, as always!!)


Rich Quinlan
12-21-1998, 02:25 PM
Today I installed a simple mod to shut off the parking lights when the headlights are turned on. I have the Superwhites, and run blue parking light bulbs. When the two of them are on, it "taints" the white color of the PIAA's, and people have said, "Yeah, I have the same bulbs you do!" only to find out they have that cheap rainbow colored crap in their housings.<p>You will use 4 contacts of a normal SPDT relay: 30, 87a, 85, and 86 as follows: (I used a harness that plugs into the relay to make it easier)<p>30 - "New" (headlight) parking light wire, closer to the wiring harness<br>87a - "New" (headlight) parking light wire, closer to headlight connector<br>85 - Low beam 12v+ wire<br>86 - ground wire (solid brown)<p>All of these are in the factory harness leading to the headlight. <p>Pull back the insulation and solder the wires from 85 and 86 to their respective wires and insulate them.<p>Then cut the parking light wire going to the headlight, and wire it into terminals 30 and 87a on the relay.<p>Wrap everything in the material of your choice (I used heat shrink around the connections, and a VERY neat double-wrap of electrical tape around the entire wire harness, including the relay.)<p>If done right, it will hardly be noticeable, only the relay that is near the harness is a tip-off.<p>Now as soon as you turn on your headlights, the parking lights will extinguish, leaving only the pure white light of the headlights.<p>"WARNING - if one of your headlights burn out, there will be no indication that you're not a motorcycle, as the parking light on that side will not illuminate.. This is quasi-legal, but if your lights are in proper working order, it shouldn't be a problem"<p>I don't recommend using crimp-down butt connectors for this due to the moisture in the compartment. And as for quick-taps, don't walk, RUN away from those POS's!!!<p>Rich Quinlan<br>Nothing but white out of the headlights of my '97 1.8tqms in Pearl<ul><li><a href="http://home.att.net/~richquinlan">Quinland</a></li></ul>

stanj
12-21-1998, 03:21 PM
I mean, the orange on the turn signal is for a reason - so that the car is visible from the side. <p>I mean, where I come from we don't have anything visible from the side and we still have less accidents, but I had this same "legality issue" when doing my Euro style tail lights :-)<p>- Stan<br>

James
12-21-1998, 05:30 PM
Hey Guys,<p>Although I don't have city lights yet, I have benn planning to upgrade my headlights. When I do, I will be adding a city light to the unit. I've thought about the city light "colouring" the headlights though, and here's my idea.<p>Because I have a Canadian Spec A4, I have the DRL circuit built into the car. This means I actually have a switched wire for the DRL relay that will cut off power as soon as the headlights are on. So what I'm going to go is add a relay and use that DRL switched wire to trigger on and off the city lightws. This way, my city lights would act as my DRL, and as soon as my headlights come on, the city lights will go off. I've already found the trigger switch. So it shouldn't be too hard to do. I would just have to feed power to the city lights through their own wires instead of tapping into the park lights. I actually like the fact that the corner lights are lit when the headlights are on. <p>Later,<p>James Wu<br>A4 Club of Vancouver<br>1998 Black/Onyx 1.8tqa<p><ul><li><a href="http://vancouver.a4.org">A4 Club of Vancouver</a></li></ul>

Rich Quinlan
12-21-1998, 05:47 PM
It wouldn't affect the visibility of your car at all.. it only affects the little parking light inside the headlight housing... I didn't say to disconnect the parking light in your turn signal (although I did)..<p>The only legality issue is that if a bulb burns out, the car is dark on that side to oncoming traffic...<p>Rich Quinlan<br>Red inside, white outside... :)<ul><li><a href="http://home.att.net/~richquinlan">Quinland</a></li></ul>

vic
12-21-1998, 11:46 PM