Daytime Running Lights for cars

[proff]

I'm looking for circuit diagram for DRL issued in Silicon chip 8/1999. If someone have this SC scan or draw it. Thanks

[Zero999]

Lol, what's the poll for? I want to vote for I don't have it.

[Mechatrommer]

me too! maybe we can just rant why the hell,oppps... people want to run a car with its lights ON during the daytime?!

[migsantiago]

It seems that it's not a bad idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytime_running_lamp

Shafri, you need to be more open-minded. 

[marianoapp]

me too! maybe we can just rant why the hell people want to run a car with its lights ON during the daytime!

here is mandatory to drive with the headlights on during daytime, but only on highways

[JohnS_AZ]

Hmmmm.

They say most cars in the future will be electric, so I wonder how much the range of a fully charged battery will be reduced by running the headlights in the daytime?

[Zad]

20W of DRLs versus 37.5kW for a 50hp motor, I make that 1/1875th of the range, or about 500 feet if the range is 200 miles. I guess you need to live in a country that has approaching 24 hours of darkness in winter to appreciate how useful they can be in the gloomy twilight. Especially if you buy a car in a colour like grey/silver that fades into the background.

[logictom]

It seems that it's not a bad idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytime_running_lamp

Shafri, you need to be more open-minded.  

I think they have their uses. You get those windscreen wipers that turn themselves on when it rains so I think they should make light level activated headlights mandatory because you always get plenty of people (idiots) driving around when it starts to get dark with no lights on at all which is a annoyance being both a pedestrian and a driver!
Of course not having a new car these might be the standard these days

[JohnS_AZ]

Of course not having a new car these might be the standard these days

It's kind of funny ... I have a 1969 Cadillac I'm restoring. Not only do the headlights come on when it gets dark, it automatically switches from high-beam to low beam when there's an oncoming car.

Of all the modern cars I and my family have bought over 30 years, NONE of them do that.

[Zero999]

They say most cars in the future will be electric, so I wonder how much the range of a fully charged battery will be reduced by running the headlights in the daytime?

It makes a tiny difference with diesel and petrol cars but it's negotiable.

I heard something about a road safety group campaigning for it to be law in the UK for cars to have thei headlights on in the day but the environmentalists didn't like it.

I ride a motorbike and keep the headlight on all the time because it makes me more visible to other road users.

[Mechatrommer]

then it will be simple... car ON = headlight ON... simple. during the day, we need it ON, in the night we need it more ON!

Of all the modern cars I and my family have bought over 30 years, NONE of them do that.

you could be a millionaire for this!

for me who lived for 33 years old now, i never saw a car that can lit the light automatically with my own eyes in real life. we still need to rely on our right hand to turn the knob. and the newer model, its changed to the left hand side, real sucker! i dont know... for automobile industry in my place is like going backward. you want me to rant on this? politics sucks! goverment sucks! we are not even comply to AFTA! we are among the highest ranking in accident, our national car is like tin can that can be crushed easily, the tech (M&E) is 10-20 years behind and yet the price is the same as the modern and sophisticated Toyota Honda etc of the same transport class! people just making money by manipulating politics and selling the crappiest of the crappiest! the person in the government office up there? they are just a bunch of mama sucka fucka DICKHEADS. SUX!

[TheDirty]

Daytime Running Light are mandatory on cars sold in Canada.

There are different methods for implementing this.  Some just supply a reduced wattage to the high beams.  This is good, because it's more visible, since the light is pointed up, and it's much less wattage.  I've seen specs of 4watts for the DRL high beams.  It also uses the high beam bulb which is much less utilized than the low beam.

Do you need a schematic for this?  Seems like a pretty simple circuit with a relay.  Ours are generally attached to the parking brake switch, so when the parking brake is on the lights are off.  This lets you let the car sit with the keys in and have the lights off if you want (like in a drive-in), or remove the load to the lights if you are trying to start the car on an almost flat battery.

I've driven in a few cars with the light sensor that turns the lights on at dusk.  Not certain why that's not more common.  Seems like a pretty cheap feature.

[Neilm]

I believe that daylight running lights are being mandated by the EU.

My car can switch the lights on when it gets dark. Trouble is if I go under a wide bridge or through a short tunnel the lights come on and go off again - flashing the guy in front of me which is annoying.

Neil

[Zero999]

I believe that daylight running lights are being mandated by the EU.

If that's true the UK government isn't paying any attention to it.

Actually I think it's probably just Scandinavia because the winters are long and dark.

[Zad]

The UK government may not be paying a lot of attention to it, but it is going to happen anyway. Manufacturers aren't going to change part of their Eu spec for just one country. Its hard enough to get some of them to make right hand drive cars sometimes! The Audi LED DRLs seem to generate a heck of a lot of distracting glare, especially at night. They also look like something you would buy from a cheap car accessory shop, I'm sure EL wire would be more appropriate.

[PetrosA]

In Poland it's required from October to March. I always used them year-round there and do so here as well. My Transit Connect doesn't have DRLs, so I turn them on manually. Our Passat does have them (come on when handbrake is released) but the downside is they come on full bright and a number of times I and my wife have forgotten to turn the headlights on when starting out at night, so the back end of the vehicle is dark. Stupid design. It would be much better to have a bright, low powered light dedicated for DRL instead of using the headlights. An LED array in matte plastic would be ideal.

[Zero999]

The UK government may not be paying a lot of attention to it, but it is going to happen anyway. Manufacturers aren't going to change part of their Eu spec for just one country. Its hard enough to get some of them to make right hand drive cars sometimes!

The already do that. It's not only the position of the steering wheel that's different on a right hand drive vehicle, the headlights are also angled differently. The UK isn't the only country to drive on the left hand side, Thailand, Japan and Australia also do. It's also safer to drive on the left because with most people the right eye is is better than the left so it can see on coming tragic more effectively.

[Mechatrommer]

The UK isn't the only country to drive on the left hand side, Thailand, Japan and Australia also do. It's also safer to drive on the left because with most people the right eye is is better than the left so it can see on coming tragic more effectively.

count Malaysia in!

[GeoffS]

In fact, you can count in all these countries.


EDIT: I changed the image to one that shows not only who drives on what side of the road but those countries that have changed sides.

[PetrosA]

... It's also safer to drive on the left because with most people the right eye is is better than the left so it can see on coming tragic more effectively.

That has to be the strangest argument I've ever heard for driving on the wrong side of the road Any statistics to back up the safety record you mention?

[Zero999]

That has to be the strangest argument I've ever heard for driving on the wrong side of the road Any statistics to back up the safety record you mention?

The reason why I think driving on the left is safer has nothing to do with being from a country which drives on the left. It's supported by science and is actually common sense when you think about it.

Here's a link to an explanation on Wikipedia, note the citations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic#Safety_factors

Here's another article which doesn't have any citations but explains it more clearly.
http://www.wikilaw3k.org/forum/Cars-Transportation-Safety/It-is-known-that-driving-on-the-left-is-safer-for-most-people-why-do-most-countries-drive-on-the-right-363415.htm

[Mechatrommer]

maybe thats why any camera model is designed for right handed people. majority is the right handed dominant people.

[Time]

That has to be the strangest argument I've ever heard for driving on the wrong side of the road Any statistics to back up the safety record you mention?

The reason why I think driving on the left is safer has nothing to do with being from a country which drives on the left. It's supported by science and is actually common sense when you think about it.

Here's a link to an explanation on Wikipedia, note the citations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic#Safety_factors

Here's another article which doesn't have any citations but explains it more clearly.
http://www.wikilaw3k.org/forum/Cars-Transportation-Safety/It-is-known-that-driving-on-the-left-is-safer-for-most-people-why-do-most-countries-drive-on-the-right-363415.htm

A manual transmission is a good point but, in the US atleast, these are a dying breed.  Its actually more expensive to get a manual transmission on some makes/models.  As for preference in side for sight, that is just a weak argument.  The citations are all journals to articles talking about eye dominance for preference in monocular and binocular apparatuses (which eye you use in a telescope, gun sight etc).  One of them even says that eye preference is not even related to and independent of handedness.  

As a mostly left handed and quasi-ambidexterous driver, I am not arguing for or against a side of the street to drive on - I just find it hard to believe either argument could be soundly supported with science.

[scrat]

As an Italian, I'm proud to see that there are some little details that still remember our ancients' splendour .
- most people in the world drive on the right, as in the Roman empire.
- many people still speak neolatin languages
- many English words derive from latin ones
We must call to them, because South Europe decline is undoubted.
Fo the hot heads...it's a joke!

About daytime lights, in my country they are mandatory on all extraurban roads, and the same is (AFAIK) for our neighbours in Slovenia, Austria and Croatia (perhaps they started well before Italy). It's a useful thing, especially for grey/silver cars at low light conditions (not only in Scandinavia).

[Zero999]

The British empire is why most of the world speaks English and is also why lots of countries also drive on the left.

According to Wikipeida, the USA used to drive on the left but I think they changed to the right, probably to rebel against the British.

I think the reason why most countries now drive on the right has more to do with the American influence on the automotive market rather than the Roman empire.

Having a manual transmission is not the only argument in favour of driving on the right even if the ocular dominance is ignored, there are plenty of other controls in the centre of the car: hand break, stereo, heater, air conditioning etc. I know one isn't supposed to use them whilst driving but many do.

It's probably not worth changing from driving on the right to the left but it makes sense not to change from right to left.

Hell I'm left handed myself so I know I'd probably be a safer driver if I could drive on the right but I'd rather drive in a place where everyone drives on the left because there's less chance of them hitting me.