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Adding DRLs to pre-facelift W169

GLK

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This mod, or rather some of its ingredients, has been discussed and mentioned in a few places around this (and other) forum, as I was looking for answers and advice regarding wire routing, LED layout, RF noise, etc, etc.

I decided to put it all in one place, as it might be useful to someone looking for information on a similar upgrade, particularly as it, due to the type of LEDs used, can be applied to other models.

As I took my time doing this mod, and didn't want driving around with holes in my bumper, I bought a set of new fogs and surrounds to work on, whilst keeping the existing ones on the car, up until the moment, when I was ready to swap them for the modified ones.

new fog lights and surrounds:
IMG_3060small_zpsfh4tdubh.jpg


I went for a small, round LEDs:

IMG_3034%20resized_zpsujmvvte4.jpg


These are very bright, and simple enough to mount on the fog surrounds, without affecting the actual fog lights, including keeping the "follow me home" function intact, which is what I wanted.

The layout, and number of LEDs per side took some consideration, and a few photoshopped mock-ups, bringing me in the end to a simple straight line of six.

Once the LEDs were mounted:

IMG_3224small_zpsukt5wonf.jpg


I fitted the wiring harnesses with waterproof 2-pin plugs:

IMG_3225small_zpskgf617ts.jpg


To comply with the current regulations, a daytime running lights must dim, once your dipped beam is on, so I needed a DRL controller for this.

I also wanted to have a manual override switch, to turn them off completely, and after some research picked an ignition sensing controller, as opposed to voltage sensing ones, mostly available on eBay, etc, as these could be problematic - they react to voltage drop and could dim your DRLs when it is not intended, and also might drain your battery if they malfunction.

The ignition sensing controller is not connected directly to battery and uses dipped beam positive as a trigger, without having to guesstimate the voltage drop to react upon.

Due to each individual LED being a powerful 9W, I needed two controllers for reliable operation:

IMG_3342small_zps7wk1p4b3.jpg


Also, as LED dimming produces a lot of RF noise, these must be housed in a grounded metal box, away from instrument cluster and other sensitive electronic stuff in the cab.

I bought an aluminium box and waterproof strain relief plugs to fit the controllers in the engine bay:

IMG_3384small_zpshmkhkyge.jpg


IMG_3388small_zpsnr9ntxlk.jpg


Last test before assembling controllers into the box:

full power:
IMG_3310small_zpsrzfyv5ei.jpg


dimmed:
IMG_3311small_zpsiyk8dyrp.jpg


And now with the box fully assembled:

IMG_3394s_zps7p95obvx.jpg


IMG_3402s_zpsj8radydq.jpg


Fitted the box in the engine bay, slightly different place than initially planned, to allow more space for the cables:

IMG_3417s_zps8ws6jv1f.jpg


IMG_3418%20resized_zpsqap9ww6p.jpg


OS lights connected:
IMG_3421s_zpsntu6mnel.jpg


NS lights:
IMG_3413s_zps0ewpmyws.jpg


the cable is braided and routed around the engine bay:
IMG_3419s_zps9qxet6ju.jpg


Swapping the fog light surrounds required raising the car, and removing wheel arch linings (even though the WIS says just loosening is enough), so I went to Nick at Parkham Garage, who did an excellent job, as always:

old:
IMG_3407s_zpse6lorxhj.jpg


new:
IMG_3411s_zpsaewum67g.jpg


Now I needed to fit 3 wires through, from the cab into the engine bay. With Nick's help, the glove box was removed, and next to the SAM unit was a nice grommet for the bonnet release cable, which I already looked at from the engine bay side:

IMG_3426%20resized_zpsh6ngycsx.jpg


In went a 1.5mm pull wire, then all three wires, which then were wrapped in Tesa tape and that section also went through fine, with some silicone spray help:

IMG_3427s_zpsutkrualw.jpg


IMG_3432%20resized_zps3yadqsi1.jpg


Now all I had to do, is to fix the braided sheath, fit a 3-pin waterproof plug, and seal the rubber grommet on the engine bay side with high-temp black silicone:

IMG_3435small_zps8en7noc6.jpg


The rest of the wiring, inside the cab, was very easy: Tesa tape and hooking up to the switched positive wire of the power socket in the centre console:

IMG_3440small_zpsxsrx6pwv.jpg


IMG_3445%20resized_zpscbj8jsjk.jpg


A waterproof fuse holder, with a 15A mini blade fuse, was added too.

For the manual override switch, I decided to use a latched push button, rather than a rocker switch - in normal position (DRLs dimmed on main light) it's flush with its bezel, so very easy to determine, without taking your eyes off the road, and looks neater, than a non-OE rocker switch (and yes, it's hidden under the sliding cover anyway). Oh, and the power socket tray was cleaned after this picture was taken, honest!:

IMG_3444small_zpsoy9ufdnz.jpg


So, the end result:

full DRL power:
IMG_3457-2small_zpsr3uy9utv.jpg



dimmed, with dipped beam on:
IMG_3461small_zpsubmrkvoe.jpg


The actual lights are bright white, without purple of yellow tint, regardless of the angle - the slight difference in colour above is due to digital imaging peculiarities.


at night time:
Screen%20Shot%202015-11-26%20at%2017.54.28%20small_zps9whpnvrh.png


Screen%20Shot%202015-11-26%20at%2017.54.35%20small_zpsb3tewy5i.png



IMG_3459small_zpstc3m06af.jpg

A200 with daytime running lights

That's about it, happy with the result, equally from a technical, road safety and visual appearance points of view.

Hopefully it'll be of use to someone else.
 
Get that poppy back on!

:thumb: I'll buy a new one next autumn ...
 
I was asked (on the other side) where to source all the components used in this mod, so put together a small list of links, with a couple of footnotes ... not sure if anyone here is interested, but if so - give me a shout and I'll copy it here too.
 
OK, here we are: apart from the new fog lights and surrounds, which I bought from MB Oxford, at a very good price, almost everything else was sourced from eBay.

Main components:

LEDs: 12x 9W
Corrugated Tubing: 1m
Waterproof Plugs: 2x 2-pin; 1x 3-pin
Braided Sheath: 3m
Red-Black 17A Cable: 3m
Thinwall 16A Cable: 3x 2m
Aluminium Box
Waterproof Strain Relief Plugs
Latching Push Button
DRL Controller: 2 units
Mini Blade Fuse Holder
2-Pin Connector

Other bits:

Tesa tape; Silicone spray; Hi-Temp Silicone black sealant; Dielectric gel; Cable ties; Heat-shrink tubing; M6 locking nuts; M6 15mm bolts; 2x Aluminium angles; GB Blue Thread Lock; 15A mini blade fuse, etc, etc.

A few notes:

There are lower rated LEDs of the same shape available, namely 3W and 5W, and these will not require two controllers to dim them, just one for both sides.

A simple rocker switch can be used instead of latching push button. I wired the push button so that, when it's latched (flush with base, as pictured) the circuit is open, and when released (i.e. pops up) - it's closed. So to turn DRLs off completely on dipped beam, I press the button to get it into the raised position - very easy to operate without looking at it, if ever needed. If you don't want to have the override button, then it simplifies things a bit - you'd only need to route one wire through into the engine bay, and use a 1-pin waterproof connector instead of a 3-pin one. This will also eliminate the need for a 2-pin plug under the power socket tray.

The ground point used for this install is to the left and up of the box, and can be seen in one of the pics. Having a fourth plug just for the negative wire out of the box can be avoided, by fixing the wire to the mounting brackets, but I prefer it the way I've done it.

Trigger wire (positive wire to dipped beam) can be picked up from either of headlight plugs - yellow for the OS or grey-yellow for the NS. Depending on which one you go for (mine had easier access on OS), don't forget to feed the third wire into braided sheath on corresponding side.

If you're going for 9W lights, and using two controllers (a single one won't run 108W), get a slightly larger box - say, 100x97x40mm - it was a very fiddly job getting everything into the one I bought (100x71x25mm): the mounting M6 bolt + nut, which is also a ground point for the box, takes some space, and you have to go around it, etc, etc. Plenty of space in the engine bay for a larger box anyway. To make the box waterproof, I sealed partly assembled sections from inside, left them to dry and carefully took them apart again, without damaging the sealant beads. The fixing screws for the sides of the box go into grooves, rather than a solid metal, so I added little blobs of Araldite to create solid bases for the screws - you'll see what I mean, once you look at the box.

Also, with two controllers, do not link 'negative out' wires (blue) together and, obviously not the 'positive out' either - LEDs are dimmed by rapidly oscillating current and signal will be different on two 'negative out' wires. Trigger (grey), and override button wires (white and orange) can be linked together (grey with grey, etc).

That's about it :thumb:
 
Due to renewed interest in this mod :) - first of all, my apologies for photobucket messing it up - I can upload all 30 pictures via flickr, but won't be able to edit the original post.

After nearly three years, I have now retired these DRLs - during this time I had to replace two individual bulbs, which over three years (out of 12 bulbs in total) is not a bad record, however it was put together without giving much thought, as to how to access it for repair, etc. My fault entirely, although I partially blame Mercedes design for W169 fog inserts too - impossible to remove, without taking the front bumper off.

old DRLs removed:
28777676058_c4affdeb60_o.jpg


new H11 harness:
28777678508_0640c8a649_o.jpg


Anyway, I kept the controller and only slightly changed the wiring harness, and converted the [otherwise pretty useless] fog lights into DRLs, so the car got back its OEM appearance, with an added function.

27782756117_4f51bf2243_o.jpg


Dual activation (SAM and DRL Controller) works without conflict, no errors, no flickering, etc. Follow me home / headlight delay functions, as well as light on at unlocking (when dark) - all work as before.
 

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