The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Convert park lamps to DRLs

On my 65 the park lamps don't stay on when you pull the switch out all the way for headlights. So what I want to do is wire the parklamps into the ignition so that when you turn the key they come on (kind of like todays DRLs). But I am not sure which wire it is at the firewall, I can find the grouping coming through but not sure which is the turn signals and which is the parking lights. Can someone tell me which one 'should' be the parking lights wire (I say 'should' cause I think it's the original harness coming through, but you never know!) so I don't have to splice all the wires to do what I want?

Sixty5C10,


I might not understand, but I think you are going to have to find that/those wires BEFORE they get to the light switch. This would mean 'under the dash'. Isn't everything on the firewall 'after' the switch!

Stuart

I don,t have a diagram handy but I believe the parking lights are brown or black wires. You can tell by looking at the connections up front. The parking lights are the same on both sides & the turn signals are different. I think one is dark blue & one is light blue. Seems like some models had a purple wire in there. You can wire them in with the tail lights but I like that idea of DRL,s.

atomarc: What I was thinking was take and splice a 6 in wire from the firewall grommet and run it to the fuse box on the firewall into a slot labeled ign. I was hoping that would work.

wrench: I wasn't sure what color those were. I might be able to look in the front but not sure. I have recently just put in an aftermarket wire harness from Chevy Duty and it is taped up pretty well, so I can't see colors and am not sure if they used the same specs as original. I can see the wires at the firewall, just wanted to know what color to cut into. But you think they are either the black/brown ones??

Thanks for the responses!

IIRC, purple is front park lamps, brown is taillamps. Brian

Thanks Brian,
I will look for the purple wire.

I can think of several reasons not to do this and absolutely none to support doing so.

It is illegal in all states to drive with only your parking light on and even if your parking lamps are wired as DRLs, they are still parking lights.

DRLs have specific standards and are never combined with turn signals. Having the parking lights on makes it much more difficult to tell if the turn signals are on, both day and night. This could be overcome by having the parking lamp turn off whenever a turn was indicated, but seems like a lot of work for little gain.

but any new sports car comes from the factory with daytime running "parking" lights. (Check out the new Corvette) therefore, it must not be illegal to run in all states with parking lights only......it is illegal to run in all states with parking lights only-IF it is dark outside....but after dark, just remember to turn the headlights on. just my 2 cents

It is illegal to drive night or day with parking lights only on. As I said, DRLs have specific standards and 1965 parking lights would not meet those standards. The safety issue of the turn signals being harder to see trumps the safety benefits of using them as DRLs, in my opinion.

I'm with baldy. If a cop is having a bad day (or needs to pad his quota for the month), he will stop you, give you a ticket and explain to you how parking lights are for parking, and not driving.

The DRLs on every car that I have ever lain my hands on have involved either the low or high beam lamps. Sometimes the parking lights are involved, and sometimes they aren't.

I might also note, that in every car that I have ever owned that sported DRLs, I've disabled them. They've not been proven to be any safer, and the data that does exist points to them being more harmful than good -- which is why in most states (49, last I checked) you don't get an insurance discount like you do for airbags and seatbelts.

If I was you, I'd just turn on your headlights. You can't go wrong with your regular low beams -- and it's less work. If you are in a state that requires you to turn on your lights when it rains, or when you're in a construction zone, or whatever, you won't get a big fat ticket for not having them on.

If you must do something to your parking lights, wire them so that they come on as parking lights AND as marker lights when the headlamps are on. That is pretty easy to do; just put the parking light wire on the tail lamp terminal on the switch. The switch should be beefy enough to handle whatever extra current a couple of 3 candlepower bulbs will draw.

On my 98 buick centuary only the parking lights come on when you start it. they are pretty brite. On my 2005 Colorado the low beams come on when you put it in gear however you can override it by turning switch all the way to left (past it,s normal spring loaded position) the lights then stay off until you manually turn them on or restart the vehicle

From what I can assertain,there are some real AS%*OLE cops out there. What kinda law is that? Don't get me wrong I too know some real AS%*OLE cops,here in Texas I don't think a cop in his/her right or left mind would waste their time on this one.

A cop won't stop you here for anything unless maybe you hit his car. They would have to get out of their car & they just ain't gonna do it. Brian

Cops do not make they laws; they are supposed to help enforce them There is no need to call Cops names when they are enforcing a law.

Parking lamps are for when a vehicle is parking. Sidelamps are often used for other purposes.

DRLs are nice but, by definition, they are not parking lamps.

Really, look at the new corvette, or hell, even pontiacs, they have the parking lamps that are drl's. I hate it when you have an idea for something you want to do to YOUR vehicle, and somebody has to ask you why you want to do it. It's his truck, let him do what he wants to it, if you have advice, give it, but don't say you don't know why anybody would want to do that. That's why we own these trucks, so we can make them our own by doing whatever we want to them. I run all my vehicles with the parking lights on until it's dark, and have NEVER been pulled over for running my parking lamps. Never. That law is just gay. And besides, look at 99.9 % of the vehicles turn signals, there the parking lamps/turn signals.

Thanks 53Rat
I wasn't looking for a lecture on what the laws are supposed to be. I was just looking for a wire diagram and I received that from a couple good guys. I run the park lights on my 2000 Silverado everyday too so that the fog lights will work, the fogs won't work without the rest on. And then when it gets dark the headlights kick on automatically, I have never been pulled over for it.

No vehicle has the turn lights in the same fixture as the DRLs for the reason given, it makes it harder to see that a turn is being indicated. Sorry if I offended anyone by stating a universal law. If someone asked how to put forward facing red lights on their cab, would it be infringing on their rights by letting them know that that was also against the law?

My 2000 Buick Regal has 2 bright yellow DRL,s which are also the turn signals. I think that law was put in years ago because people were driveing at night or dusk with just parking lights on.

Wrenchbender,

Do does the DRL turn off and blink to indicate a turn rather than being a dual filament bulb?

I have wired the park lamps/turn signal indicators to come on when the light switch is pulled out to the first position and to come on when the headlights come on in the second position, all the way out.

The park lamp/turn signal bulb has two filaments, one to operate the park lamp and a second to operate the signal. It is a very simple task to do so. It requires a three inch jumper wire from the signal lead to the head lamp lead a few inches back from the light switch plug. By doing so, the truck is much more conspicuous during day and night driving.

If the park lamps are on in the first position and the turn signal is utilized, one filament is burning continuous and the second filament flashes. There is no difficulty determining an operator's intention to change lanes or make a turn due to the park lamps and the head lights operating at the same time.

Tail light bulbs have the same characteristic to indicate braking, normal operation or flashing. There is no conflict with the law for the front park lamps and headlights operating simultaneously. The more conspicuous a vehicle is, day or night, the better for the operator and surrounding motorists/pedestrians. Not to mention, the '60-'66 Chevy trucks have a very distict look with the park lamps and headlights operation at the same time.

Additionally, they will perform the same as the millions of other vehicles manufactured with the same function designed and engineered into the vehicle. Ironically, every later model vehicle under power will have every light on the vehicle come on automatically when the key is turned on in the ignition.

I guess my 2004 Silverado isn't new enough for the ignition switch to trigger all the lights. Only the front DRLs come on, and then only if the engine is running and the transmission is in gear, unless it is dark, then the head and taillights come on and the DRLs turn off.

The easiest way to get the parking lights to come on at both park and headlight positions is to just move the wire from the parking light position on the light switch to the taillight position, as was mentioned earlier.

After reading thru the post again today, I may rewire my parking lamps to be on with my key switch also. I think my 53 3100 lights look cool on in the day time. Cops look out!

wow, this thread sure went snakey!
there was a simple tech tip pic here about this, but I couldn't find it on the tech tip page [maybe from a newsletter?] - as said above, simple as adding a 3" pice of wire to yer switch, but a pic is worth a thousand

maybe Peg could find where this pic is and get it in the appropriate tech tip

Bill

jumper the switch as above or hook up to ignition, i would disconnect at switch and connect to wire there, not cut the wire.

Yes.

Don't cut the wire. Use an inline connector. I use a product called Posi-Tap manufactured by Posi-Products. Try them at www.posi-products.com.

I just wanted to add my 72 has the same setup that your wanting for the 65, the running lights are on when the headlights are on and also use a second filament for the turn signal.works perfectly and have had no accidents or citations.I believe in 65 they just had not thought of this idea yet.

Copperhead,

That's not what he wants to do, reread the original post.

If I were doing what he wants to do, I would leave the parking lamp portion alone and wire the turn signal filaments to come on with the ignition and and flash when a turn was indicated. This would give a brighter light for a DRL, but flash on and off for the best contrast. This would require the use of a relay on each side with the turn signal powering the relay coil(other side of coil to ground) the NC terminal goes to the ignition and the common goes to the turn signal filament. this way the turn signal filament is on whenever the ignition switch is on and flashes on and off when a turn is indicated.

ever noticed how many of the late model chev's will usually have one of these lights not working...I call them parking lights but they may be driving lights,, but almost ever time I see one on the hi-way one of these lights will be out..........

Fred, the sockets burn out on a lot of those GMs, they just won't take the heat of a bulb on all the time. Brian

I wonder why they are called parking lights? I can't recall any law that requires you to turn on your parking lights when you park. If you park overnight or longer and turn on the "parking" lights your battery goes dead. Always been a mystery to me. Sorry about hijacking your thread sixty5C10.

Weeds

They were called "parking" lights/lamps to differentiate them from driving lights. As has been posted in other threads on the same subject, it is illegal in many places (states and countries) to drive a vehicle with the parking lights on by themselves. It is however usually legal (and sometimes required) for parking lamps and driving lamps to be on at the same time.

The purpose of these lamps is/was to give indication that a vehicle with a running engine was parking/standing (not driving).

Wikipedia

To check which wires are the parking lamp, I would just use a test light when the parking lamps are on to determine which is the correct wire, very easy to do.
Joe