Can you reprogram front sidelights or headlights to be permanently on DRLs ?

[philnewmerc]

Hello
I have a 2003 CLK500 and on the motorway I think it's helpful to have DRL (daylight running lights) on to bully alert other road users of my presence in their rear view mirror (in seriousness I think Volvo had this right decades ago, lights perm on are a helpful thing for safety).
So, I don't want to butcher my car with eBay DRLs so I wondered if STAR can reprogram the front lights (side, main, or even fogs) to be permanently on and act like a DRL?
Many thanks!
P

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Headlights can be on a CLK, select the 'constant' setting in the dash.

Moving to correct section

 

[philnewmerc]

Headlights can be on a CLK, select the 'constant' setting in the dash.

Moving to correct section

Ahhh, that's an easy one. I shall pop out and try that (presumably this is just the front ones on, not the rear too?)
Cheers!

 

[Teego]

Ahhh, that's an easy one. I shall pop out and try that (presumably this is just the front ones on, not the rear too?)
Cheers!

On my CLS it's front and rear.

 

[Ted]

If you are handy with electrics you can convert your foglights to be drls - they can dim on sidelights/headlights too.

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Killerhertz did a much neater job than this with twin lamps in the same housing on his cls

edit: Killerhertz’s video

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[Ted]

And my howto that I did at the time…


This 'howto' is a simple way of converting foglights on a w203/209 to DRLs

To give a more 'modern' look, I used LED bulbs - on the A209 these were H7. Get the best ones you can.
My vehicle had AMG styling - this meant that there was a plug/socket within 3 inches of the foglight. This made the overall install simple.
Black wiring was used throughout as this hides better than coloured wiring.
A dimmer unit was bought from E-Bay - a search on E-Bay for ‘DRL dimmer’ will throw up several.
Start on the nearside. On the 209 the foglamps are accessed from a panel under the lamp. Drop this down to remove the bulb. The small grill held in with three small Torx screws should be removed to make access easier. The bulb and holder rotate around 45 degrees. Note the position of the holder when it is released as it is not obvious how it goes when it is refitted. Disconnect at the connector and remove.
Remove the existing incandescent bulb, make up a couple of fly leads, connect them to the bulbs and splice into the existing vehicle wiring. There is no need to observe polarity. Locate the bulb where any heat generated will not damage anything. I hung it from the headlamp washer pipe where is was secure, but not touching anything. Test that the bulb illuminates when you turn the foglights on.
All of the above is to defeat the bulb failure circuit without adding resistors etc. The bulb will light up if you lock/unlock the car or turn the foglights on and can be seen through the small grille but does not cause dazzle or distraction. I think the diamond pattern looks quite nice . You can of course put resistors there but there is little to be gained.

Now splice into the short fly leads from the bulb holder. run one cable to earth - you can use the earth on the vehicle harness - this is the brown wire, or a convenient ground stud. The other cable should be long enough to reach the headlights on the other side.. As an LED is polarity sensitive, ensure that the correct polarity is observed - you can test by touching the end of the long wire against a live point - horn (ignition on) or lights (lights on)
Once tested replace the bulb holder with the LED bulb in the foglight. Ensure that this is fitted correctly as water will get in if it isn’t.
Route the cable to the offside - I routed mine behind the spoiler with some cable clips.
Now do the same for the offside foglamp. On the 209 it is then easy to route the wires up behind the offside headlamp.
Now fit the dimmer unit according to its own instructions. You will need an earth - use an earth stud, there will be one on the flitch panel, a sidelight feed - you can tap into this without removing the headlamp bulb cover - the wire will be grey with a tracer (red or black iirc), the wires to your DRL bulbs, and an ignition feed. To get this, run the wire from the dimmer unit alongside the existing harness to the fusebox/SAM located up by the wiper linkage. There are a number of entry/exit points you can push the wire through. If you use black wire it will hide well.
Locate an ignition live in the fusebox/SAM this could be the horn fuse using a piggyback fuse (Halfords), or in my case because space was tight in there, I used a feed from an unused relay that became live with ignition on. Test with a testlight and it’s simple to put in an inline fuse.
I don’t need to stress too strongly that an appropriate fuse (say 5 amps) should protect this circuit at the fusebox.
Now test it all. DRLs should be on with ignition, and go dim with sidelights. Old foglight bulbs will shine through the grilles when locking/unlocking or if front foglightsare turned on.
The dimmer unit can now be ty-rapped to the harness and pushed under the slam panel - out of sight and out of any water and crud.
Last job is to put everything back, make good, ty-rap all wires, and bask in the warm glow of a job well done (and a single malt).

 

[philnewmerc]

On my CLS it's front and rear.

yes can confirm on CLK (2003) this puts on front and rear lights...

 

[philnewmerc]

The suggestions are ingenious, but a much neater (in my very humble opinion deleting fogs is not ideal) would be just the have the front sidelights permanently on acting as DRLs - they're pretty noticeable but quite dim so not intrusive. Is this at all possible via STAR?

I definitely could do the wiring and spend a day crawling under my car, but I'd 100% rather not (done enough days swearing like a docker in the past!)

Cheers!

 

[markjay]

DRLs are meant to be bright and intrusive... the front parking lights (5w) simply won't have same effect, and won't provide the same level of road safety as DRLs do.

I had the same dilemma when I had the W203. The stick-on DRLs look naff, and while replacing the front fogs with DRLs was a much neater solution, I didn't want to lose the fogs.

So in the end I just set the front headlights to 'constant', as a poor man's DRL.

The downside, BTW, is that the dipped beam isn't as bright as DRL, and moreover the 55w Halogens consume far more energy than the LED DRLs, which is why it was a no-go option for car manufacturers struggling to reduce emissions and increase mpg.

Eventually I sold tbe W203 and bought a W204. The W204 came with DRLs, but no front fogs... I miss the front fogs, they were a godsend when driving the W203 in the early hours of the morning through mist-covered B roads in East Anglia while on holiday.

 

[whitenemesis]

I ( well, Comand.co.uk ) replaced the fogs on my CLS55 with a drl/fog combo unit from osram. Might be a similar unit available for the clk

 

[markjay]

I ( well, Comand.co.uk ) replaced the fogs on my CLS55 with a drl/fog combo unit from osram. Might be a similar unit available for the clk

I wish I knew about this solution back then!