sneak
New Member
Posts: 2
|
Post by sneak on Apr 17, 2021 3:26:04 GMT
Hi all, I noticed that once you turn on the headlights, the DRL's dim significantly. I have a north american 2018 R, and would like to keep the DRL's bright with headlights. Does anyone know of any adaptations or long coding to achieve this? Extensive searching and tinkering has not resulted in any success.
|
|
|
|
Post by dv52 (Australia) on Apr 17, 2021 22:29:09 GMT
sneak: Without trying to preach, there is a very good reason why "once you turn on the headlights, the DRL's dim significantly" - it's because the DRL lamps don't have reflectors with cut-off characteristics.
The primary purpose of DRLs is to be as bright as possible during daylight hours - which is needed because for on coming traffic to see your car, DRLs must compete with sunlight.
However, at night-time these bright lights (which don't have cut-off characteristics) are aimed directly on on-coming traffic - so they will blind drivers in the opposite direction if illuminated at the same daylight brightness. Hence the need to dim the lamps "significantly" at night.
In most (ALL?) countries, the requirement to dim the DRLs is also part of the local road laws
Don
|
|
sneak
New Member
Posts: 2
|
Post by sneak on Apr 18, 2021 1:01:47 GMT
Thanks Don! I didn't even realize at night this would be an issue. Of course they need to be very bright to be seen in the day, I feel silly.
That being said - if I wanted to bump the brightness ever so slightly as to keep them a safe brightness, whilst making them a bit more pronounced with headlights, is this doable? I have seen talk that they have been offloaded to a different module, so I'm not sure if I was even looking in the right place.
Thanks again, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind, cheers.
|
|
|
|
Post by dv52 (Australia) on Apr 18, 2021 5:36:02 GMT
sneak: don't "feel silly". I'm sure that there's lots of stuff that you know and I don't know - that's the purpose of forums like this ; so we both get to share information with the community!!
Yes, you are correct - whether you can tweak the dimming level of the DRLs at night very much depends on which control module(s) manage the DRL lamps on your car!
It really depends on what type of DRL lamps are fiited to your car and when your car was built. If your DRLs are incandescent lamps, there's a good chance that the dimming level can be altered. If your DRLs are LED and if your car is a later version mk7.5, then it's possible that the lamps are managed by Light Control Modules (LCMs). If your car is equipped with LCMs, the dimming level can't be changed
You can check for LCMs by looking at your scan report. HERE's a scan for a Golf mk7.5 with LCMs - look at scan report on the 5th post - notice the modules at address hex29 and hex39.
Don
|
|
