DIY: LED strip DRLs within halogen headlight housings

[Scott Fitz]

I know this isn't going to be to everybody's tastes, I myself will be looking for some whiter/brighter LEDs in the future but I like the way it's turned out so far.

Here's some pictures of the finished job:

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First you are going to need the LED lamps to swap the existing halogen DRL/sidelights these can be found on eBay by searching for "P13W Chevy Camaro LED" (I don't want to promote any particular seller), you will need 4 in total, a picture of the ones I used can be seen below.

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Use a hole cutter to cut out the circular blanks covering the DRL and sidelight bulbs, A and B, this will reveal the two lamps that need changing, simply unplug and swap with your new LED lamps, to seal the holes you can buy rubber seals (same as the ones covering the holes for your headlights) from your dealer (seen in 2nd picture below).

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[Scott Fitz]

Now it's time to start on the LED strips, for this you will need to remove the lens from the housing, to do this i used a heat gun on medium heat and run it up and down the seal for approx. 3-5 min until I was able to pull the lens from the housing.

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Once you have the lens and the housing separated you can start to install your LED strip, again a simple search on eBay will bring up a lot of sellers offering these.
I used the double sided tape provided with my LED strip to attach it to the housing in the shape I wanted, I then passed the cable through to the back of the housing and out of the hole I cut out earlier (this is the hole at the back of the unit and not the one on the bottom), the lamp/bulb holder that is visible through this hole is the one I jointed onto (DRL).

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Being an electrician I had a load of crimps knocking about which I used to joint the LEDs onto the DRL feed (sorry I have no pictures of this but you can see in the third picture of this thread how I've jointed the cables) you need to splice into the cables before they enter the lamp/bulb holder and attach your LED strip cables to these.

*Note LEDs unlike normal lamps will not work with reversed polarity, so you need to make sure you get the + and - cables the right way around for the LED strip to work, if it doesn't simply reverse the cables.

To re-seal the lens to the housing use the same method in reverse, offer the lens up to the housing and heat the sealant with the heat gun to bond them together, then allow to cool.

Your all done, re-fit the headlights to the car plug in the adapter and away you go, there are no faults codes thrown up by this install.

[Scott Fitz]

I've just ordered some brighter/whiter LED strips along with amber LED strips for my indicators, hopefully they'll be here for the weekend as I'm planning a more OEM looking install, watch this space!

[theblacksurge]

I fitted the LED bulbs about a year ago, gotta say I wasn't too impressed as the light output was much duller the the halogen DRLs, also the light looked distinctively blue.
I also tried the LED strip method but with larger LEDs, I fitted them in front of where the DRL bulbs would sit, unfortunately the plastic lense at the bottom obscured them giving a not very appealing effect.
Can't wait to see how yours look, given that they're fitted above.

[jabicho]

What´s the point of doing all this work to eventually fit leds that are half as powerfull as the original drl??? you´re missing the main point here:drl are to be visible in daylight, what you need is a type of led between 4000-5000k colour (like Audi´s OEM equipment) and over 300 Lumens per led bulb so as to be visible

[theblacksurge]

What´s the point of doing all this work to eventually fit leds that are half as powerfull as the original drl??? you´re missing the main point here:drl are to be visible in daylight, what you need is a type of led between 4000-5000k colour (like Audi´s OEM equipment) and over 300 Lumens per led bulb so as to be visible

For me it was simply because the stock DRL/Sidelamp bulbs were so damn yellow, which really detracts from the look of any modern day car. Even next to cheap H7 Headlamp bulbs they show up as dirty old yellow (rather like the Mk1 Mondeo lamps used to go).

I would have been happy to simply replace them with a clearer whiter bulb, but nobody makes them, there seems to be only one type and they are around £20 each!, and there's four on the car.

I looked at replacing the lamps with bi-xennons with the LED DRLs but you have to change the headlamp units + ballasts + a new bumper with washer jets is needed. Too much cost and hassle.

So I gave the standard LEDs a go just to see if it would feasable if you get the right kind of LEDs. As it didn't work out I refitted the original DRL bulbs, but always have them switched off now. It makes me cringe whenever I see them on any A4 or A3, they look so awfull.

[Quade]

any pictures with the final look?

[Guest 2]

any pictures with the final look?

First 2 pictures in the post.

[andylef]

What´s the point of doing all this work to eventually fit leds that are half as powerfull as the original drl??? you´re missing the main point here:drl are to be visible in daylight, what you need is a type of led between 4000-5000k colour (like Audi´s OEM equipment) and over 300 Lumens per led bulb so as to be visible

OK can't argue that brighter is better. But thanks Scott_Fitz for the post, I'm sure many of use who have the early halogen DRLs are hankering after the full LED spec'd light set, but sadly can't afford to get the whole Xenon package. If you know of a better more appropriate LED bulb that meets your quoted criteria could you let us know? Or for that matter since this is now quite a common upgrade has anyone come across better LRD bulbs for this fix?

[Quade]

A bright led bulb: OMtuning P13W 30W LED bulb CREE XB Canbus - YouTube. audi led.jpg