DRL

[Adamsy]

Was just looking at the ZR today and thought i reckon some daylight running lights ala Audi wouldnt look to bad around the foglamp area, has anybody had a bit of play with these before?

[DJKOR]

If you really wanted to do that, I would suggest to rewire your fog lights with a relay so that when your car is on, your fog lights receive constant power through them in series (effectively running at half power) and then then run normally when you turn your fog lights on. I'm out at the moment but will draw a diagram when I get back. This would be the most cost efficient option.

Or were you not referring to DRL in the traditional sense and are thinking of putting in additional lights like LED's.

[Adamsy]

Cheers Djkor that'd be really awesome if you could really Appreciated :)

[DJKOR]

Excuse my really crappy diagram. I have attempted to draw it in a way that is simple to understand. It's about the best I can do in the meantime. I nearly forgot the diode hence why I've had to put an asterisk next to it:

Essentially this is as I mentioned above. When the ignition is switched on, both fog lights will come on, but at half power. When you then turn your fog lights on, they will both come on at full power.

Should cost no more than $10 to perform this modification, depending on how cheap you can pick up a relay for. Making a +12v ignition switched source would require another relay however.

[Hamstor]

...Essentially this is as I mentioned above. When the ignition is switched on, both fog lights will come on, but at half power. ...

I got pulled over in a RBT station the other week, and was asked why my fog lamps were on. I answered I left them on as I thought it added saftey (making me and the road more visible). The copper said it was illegal to drive with fog lamps on unless there was fog...

[DJKOR]

I got pulled over in a RBT station the other week, and was asked why my fog lamps were on. I answered I left them on as I thought it added saftey (making me and the road more visible). The copper said it was illegal to drive with fog lamps on unless there was fog...

That is true, but depending on how the cops are from where the OP is from, having his fog lights on will not be a problem.

We have discussed before about the legality of fog lights and it basically comes down to the fact that yes they are illegal, but not always enforced.

[Adamsy]

Cheers thats a great help, might have to give it a crack see what can be done :)

[Foss]

What purpose is served having your foggies at half power during a clear day? I can see the merit in it on a dull and overcast day, when visibility is poor (especially on a silver or white car), but apart from that... why? Even in low visibility I just throw my parkers on, my foggies are on automatically then too.

And just while im on the line of thought, I find the auto light setting is a bit sh!t. At times when I (and judging by 8 out of 10 other drivers in my area, they too) feel it is necessary to have at least parkers on when visibility is getting low, apparently Toyota didn't share our thoughts when programming the system. It they do, however, turn on automatically when I drive under a 4 lane overpass on a clear blue sunny day.

[Speedz]

one of the concern is that foglights is deemed illegal even in QLD now so having it running as a DRL looks cool and practical to me :P

[DJKOR]

What purpose is served having your foggies at half power during a clear day? I can see the merit in it on a dull and overcast day, when visibility is poor (especially on a silver or white car), but apart from that... why? Even in low visibility I just throw my parkers on, my foggies are on automatically then too.

Each to their own about what they want. Here the OP is looking at it as an optional feature. He also mentioned for looks, not safety.

If you want to really want to question the need for DRL, maybe bring it up on an American forum. This seems to be one feature they get as standard.

[Adamsy]

I just thought it would be something different for an aurion but ofcourse anything that makes your can more obvious to other road users is a good thing.

something like these could be cool :P

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/AUDI-R8-S6-A5-XENON...id=p3286.c0.m14

have a look :)

[DJKOR]

What would be even more cool is cracking open your headlights and putting in a custom LED strip like the Audi's. I would do it by drilling 5mm holes in the silver relector and mounting individual LED's one by one. Of course this requires patience that I don't have.

What would be even more cool are adapting these to fit. If only I was made of money:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEXUS-LS600...sQ5fAccessories

[Adamsy]

Yeah thats a pretty damm trick lens and body by lexus there!

these ones on the net can be mounted inside the lens if your clever enough and can get the lens open lol, seem easy enough to fit and install with the options to have them turn on with a switch or with the ignition.

[DJKOR]

Yeah thats a pretty damm trick lens and body by lexus there!

Too bad they cost like a 1/4 the cost of my car.

these ones on the net can be mounted inside the lens if your clever enough and can get the lens open lol, seem easy enough to fit and install with the options to have them turn on with a switch or with the ignition.

Yeah, but that would just be the cheaper way out. The way I see it, if you are going to open the headlights, then go the extra step to custom fit some LED's.

[Foss]

Each to their own about what they want. Here the OP is looking at it as an optional feature. He also mentioned for looks, not safety.

If you want to really want to question the need for DRL, maybe bring it up on an American forum. This seems to be one feature they get as standard.

Each to their own, I couldn't agree more. Not knocking the idea by any means, just asking the question. My Aurion is white, and all my past cars have been silver, so I understand the merits of needing to stay visibile (especially on a dull day) as well as anyone.

Adamsy, those ebay light strips could look good. I see them looking pretty tidy shaped along the bottom of the fog lamp up around the outer side edge or something, and around the bottom of the headlights. Not sure how the Dev. cops would take it tho.

[prometheus]

Im not too sure about the Audi LED lights thing , I've seen them on the road a few times and they look a bit tryhard.

If you want to be "visible" I reckon a good idea would be to install a really loud horn or put two horns in series ? ( You will have to excuse me , its been well over a decade since I studied some electronics ) ; so that way , if any clown on the road looks like a potential collision threat you give them a nice loud blast and the cops have little chance of ever pulling you up on it.

[Adamsy]

DJKOR: you'd be the man to ask, are the Aurion headlamps a sealed unit?

Paradigm: lol do I know you mate? How did you know what are i was from?? Unless that’s your white ZR with the gold badges that's getting about town? But I can’t see the cops having much of a leg to stand on, it's the exact same technology used extensively by AUDI throughout its range and on a local front by HSV on its E2 range. My thought's exactly it would look quite good sitting along the top or bottom of the fog lamp surround perhaps along the bottom in an L shape :)

[DJKOR]

DJKOR: you'd be the man to ask, are the Aurion headlamps a sealed unit?

They sure are a sealed unit in the sense that all you can remove are the bulbs.

[Foss]

Paradigm: lol do I know you mate? How did you know what are i was from?? Unless that’s your white ZR with the gold badges that's getting about town? But I can’t see the cops having much of a leg to stand on, it's the exact same technology used extensively by AUDI throughout its range and on a local front by HSV on its E2 range. My thought's exactly it would look quite good sitting along the top or bottom of the fog lamp surround perhaps along the bottom in an L shape :)

lol, hardly. The background in your avatar (or, well, the previous one) looks a lot like the up the bluff or around Coles Beach road area. And judging by your ride, I assume you'd be the fella I was talking to in at Gowans a few weeks ago.

On topic, there was similar debate regarding the legality of fog lamps a couple of years ago. Supposedly they were illegal to use (foggy or not) unless they were the ones with those yellow covers that stop glare or whatever they are designed to do, like the ones fitted on those police SUV's that are getting around town. Those arguing they were illegal maintained that although they were illegal, if they were a factory standard accessory that came on the car, the cops could hardly expect you to take them off. But I wonder whether these Audi style light strips would fall into a similar category as underglows, led valve caps, light up window washers, etc.

[Steven]

well heads up guys, just got an email and it looks like the traffic laws (in queensland) have been amended to say that driving with foglights on in conditions that don't warrant their use with earn you a fine. I never looked up what the law said previously, but this is what it'll mean now. Furthermore even if the light is only half illuminated, you'll have a hard time arguing that they were designed that way from factory to run all the time considering the QPS uses Aurion's themselves.

Other changes were something like the driver is now responsible for their passengers not wearing a seatbelt, and something else that escapes me right now.

[Adamsy]

"lol, hardly. The background in your avatar (or, well, the previous one) looks a lot like the up the bluff or around Coles Beach road area. And judging by your ride, I assume you'd be the fella I was talking to in at Gowans a few weeks ago.

On topic, there was similar debate regarding the legality of fog lamps a couple of years ago. Supposedly they were illegal to use (foggy or not) unless they were the ones with those yellow covers that stop glare or whatever they are designed to do, like the ones fitted on those police SUV's that are getting around town. Those arguing they were illegal maintained that although they were illegal, if they were a factory standard accessory that came on the car, the cops could hardly expect you to take them off. But I wonder whether these Audi style light strips would fall into a similar category as underglows, led valve caps, light up window washers, etc."

O yep im with you now lol and your dad has the 1GR-FE V6 Hilux SR5 yeah? && your spot on the previous pic was taken at the mouth of the Don near the old gun club and the current one is from Coles beach as you thought.

mmm might have to do some homework before i go any further then :S

DJ: cheers dude i thought that was the go lol

[dave262]

The problem I've always seen with the fog lights is that so many cars out there seem to have them incredibly poorly aimed! If you ever see one of them coming up the hill towards you, it is quite frequent to get dazzled worse than from the normal headlights.

I only ever use the foglights in the areas where there are no street lights, just so I can make sure I don't hit anything low-lying on the road (such as branches... bad experience!). The moment I am back into an area where there is more than one street light nearby, they go straight off. Saw a beamer get pulled over the other day along burwood highway for driving with foglights on - so they seem to enforce it in VIC too. Mind u... it was a modded BMW with HID in the foglights... so could have just been that!

[DJKOR]

... you'll have a hard time arguing that they were designed that way from factory to run all the time considering the QPS uses Aurion's themselves.

That is true. That said though as I mentioned earlier, in Brisbane the cops only seem to enforce it depending on the day they are having. I have driven past many cops (including an Aurion cop with HIS fog lights on) and haven't been stopped. Not saying it's fine to have them on, just saying that most of the time you may be pretty lucky.

With all that said though, the only person in this thread considering the idea is Adamsy and he lives in Tassie. They may be even more relaxed about it so for him, this modification may be alright.

[Steven]

All the police aurions seem to run the foglights on all the time - I never really gave it much thought till now, they might be exempt from the new laws.

Even though it's hardly been enforced (as in, who cares anyway there are much more important issues to take care of), it wouldn't surprise me if alot of cops, especially the traffic department, starting writing these out in force to keep the bosses happy.

[Adamsy]

Paradigm:

being hooning around lately have we lol