wiring help!

[guest2913]

I'm thinking of putting some DRL on my GD1 jazz but wanting someone to confirm you can not wire it up to the fuse box under the bonnet! I wanting them to come on when the engine turns on, I do believe you have to go to the interior fuse box?

[guest4426]

not necessarily, anywhere with an ignition live will be fine.

[jazzster]

not necessarily, anywhere with an ignition live will be fine.

DRL lights, most makes come with wiring instructions to connect one wire to earth on to battery live and one to side light wire, they normally come on when you start engine, and go out or dim with side lights on, they must go off or dim by law in uk with lights on. Also there is law on fitting height and distance from side of car.
I Have been thinking about fitting them myself but not made my mind up on cheaper one or the more fancy ones that dim, ring automotive ones have wiring and positioning instructions on there website for fitting.
I Would put in line-fuse then direct to battery

[SuperCNJ]

You can get your live from the engine bay, say from the side light, but you'll have to up the fuse Amperage as they will draw more current together. Alternatively, you could find an vacant fuse slot in your fuse box and hardwire it into that. It's actually quite easy to do, I hardwired a reverse parking camera so that it turns on with ignition. There is a convenient bolt next to the internal fuse box that you can ground to and you can get ready made piggy-back hardwire fuse plugs for a few quid off ebay.

[guest2913]

To wire into the fuse box under bonnet, how is this done, not every experienced in electrical side of cars but mechanical am okay haha!

[SuperCNJ]

It's actually quite straightforward, I'm not a lekky but essentially treat the fuse box as your live supply, then as the circuit returns to the battery via the chassis, so in theory you can ground anywhere on the chassis or engine block of the car.

I did this with the fuse box under the steering wheel, not with the one under the bonnet.

Find an empty slot in your fuse box that turns on with the ignition - use a multimeter. In the interior GD fusebox, there's quite a few empty slots. The advantage with hardwiring to the fuse box is that your device is protected by a fuse individually. Whereas wiring directly to the battery you're not and if you're tapping the DRL into the sidelights, then if you blow the fuse, both DRL and sidelights won't work.

There's plenty of info on the net, hardwiring stuff to any car is the same. So do a google or there may even be some videos on youtube. The hardest part of hardwiring is gaining access usually.

[guest2913]

Thank you for the advise! all have a look around on the net! i was sure the fuse box under the bonnet is always live! shame though, would made a nice easy mod like but oh well! like i said thanks for the advise!

[jazzster]

if you are buying ready made DRLs they come with a switching relay that turn them on and turns then off with side lights, they have 3 wires one battery positive one sidelights and an earth. If you are fitting them to just turn on with the ignition live they would not turn off when you side lights or headlights are on and this would be illegal. Some just dim with sidelights which should be legal if they are approved make.

[guest2913]

well ive ordered some drl with a some sensor on, they hook up straight onto the battery and some how know the engine has turned on and turned off and has a wire to the side lights to dim the drl when the car lights are on hehe, ill give it a week and report how good they are and post a video of them!

[guest2913]

Put it this way, I posted in January about the auto drl module off ebay I bought,
Basically it has a sensor which some how knows the engine is on, after a few drives, it stopped working, you could hard wire it into electrics, so when you turn the key, well they come on and dip when side lights come on, it was too much work and after week of looking though wiring diagrams of the jazz, I found a way without going inside the car, not the best buy, but a good modification, I've got a 06 SE Auto and after a silly mistake and hit another car and wrecked the bumper I got a sport bumper but didn't have no fog lights, I've successfully wired the drl lights into the fog lights so it makes it look more like OEM drl's then this silly halford screw onto the bumper job and other jazz drives have been checking them out.

I'll get some pics tonight or try to do a video