ST205: Wiring up a DRL harness on accent/city lights, Not working so well Options

[Jeebus]

Well, I read through 36 pages of search results on wiring, so I tried wiring my lights up last night, and it didn't quite work.

First off, over the past week, I took off the plugs from the DRL unit since they don't fit onto my accent lights, and soldered female disconnect plugs on them, so that they can wedge onto the prongs on my accent light plugs.

I did some research on wiring for headlights, and figured most lights on Celicas have a negative wire that is White with black stripe. Here are the wires from my car, positive on top, negative on bottom:

High Beams:
Red
Red w/ white

Low Beams:
Red
White w/ black

Accent Lights:
Green
White w/ black

Front Turn Signals:
Green w/ yellow
white w/ black

Fog Lights:
Red
Black

So my dilemma begins. Here are the pics that I've gathered from the eBay listing, as well as what I'm trying to accomplish:







I wired the DRL unit wires (Red/Black) to the positive and negative terminals of the battery.

Plugged in my accent lights into the DRL unit.

I tapped the left yellow wire into the red wire of my left low beam light.
(I only tapped the yellow wire on the left side, as there was already a tap on the low beam left on from before, and I didn't want to tap the right side if this was going to be incorrect and leave exposed wiring after removing my errors)

The white wire, I didn't plug/tap into anything, as I'm still trying to figure out which exactly are my side/parking light. It has a male disconnect plug, which I assume I'll have to remove so that I can use the wire to tap into another wire.

So the accent lights came immediately on as soon as I attached the positive battery wire to the battery. They would not turn off no matter what I did. I tried moving the black grounding wire off of the negative terminal of the battery onto a bolt on the chassis, but the same result. They stay on as long as the battery is connected.

Next up, the left accent light that is tapped into the low beam. It stays on. I turn on the low beams, the accent light stays on. I turn on the high beam, the accent light stays on. When I turn off the low beams, the accent light turns off momentarily, but then turns back on. Perhaps I need to tap the yellow wire into the turn signal light?

I'm a little at a loss here, as I want to get this done myself instead of paying a mechanic $60~$80 on top of the safety inspection.

[azian_advanced]

two things:

first, the red and black wires on the DRL controller shouldn't be wired straight to the battery, but rather from a source where the wire goes live when the ignition is set to ACC. it's better you find a wire that goes live only when the engine is running so the DRLs doesn't drain your battery.

second, your accent light bulbs operate at a different wattage than your low beams. you cannot simply wire the DRL controller straight to the accent lights unless you've measured how much current is flowing out of those wires using a multimeter. your DRL controller is likely outputting around 35 Watts whereas your accent lights (194 bulb type) are only 3.78 Watts. if you're trying to have your accent lights operate as your DRLs, then you need another 1-amp relay connected to:
-the yellow wire on the DRL controller to latch the relay (86)
-ground for the relay (85)
-power source providing 1 amp for the accent lights (30)
-wire to the accent lights (87)



This post has been edited by azian_advanced: Oct 3, 2013 - 10:09 AM

[Jeebus]

I see from a previous thread that you've installed the Hamsar unit from Canadian Tire? I may go this way if I can't figure this DRL kit out. Maybe I'll PM you for info if I get to this point.

As for the relay above, which one are you referring to?

As for wiring, I'm currently trying to figure out what is the closest ACC power source in the engine bay is so that I can splice into that (any suggestions?). I'm not stickle about having them turn off when my low/high beams are activated.

Been looking through a ton of older posts with ECU pin outs, but it's like reading hieroglyphs at the moment.

*EDIT*

I figured out the damn wiring situation, with the except of the accent lights being on so long as they're connected to the battery.
Yellow wires go to the (+) turn signals, so that the accent lights flash along with them. (Two turn signal lights on the front bumper, plus the one on the fender, hah)
White wire goes to the (+) of the low beams. Now the accent lights turn off when the low beams are on.
I just wasn't experimenting enough, in fear of melting some wires.

Last obstacle, finding a ACC power source in the engine bay.


This post has been edited by Jeebus: Oct 3, 2013 - 4:51 PM

[Hugo4]

Jeebus, you could get your ignition voltage off of one of the relay boxes. Use a meter to make sure you get a point that gets 12 Volts DC with the ignition turned on.

*I would recommend making sure that circuit can handle the extra load.

[Jeebus]

Thanks for the advice here folks. I looking up relays to piggy-back some power from, and was thinking relay #15 (Fuel pump), or the EFI relay, but I was discouraged once I unbolted the relay boxes and took a look under them for the wiring.

General consensus seems to be grabbing an ACC source from inside the cabin.

I went out and bought a 12v SPST relay with a harness, albeit a 5-pin one, so I'm going to need a little assistance as to the general wiring.

I drew up a diagram, but need confirmation as to whether it's correct. I probably need to add 15A or 30A inline fuse between the battery and relay, eh?



As for the power source to pin 85, it could be anything switched on when my key turns to ACC, correct? For example, if I decide to take Hugo's advice on grabbing ignition voltage from another relay.

This post has been edited by Jeebus: Oct 10, 2013 - 1:34 PM

[Hugo4]

My suggestion wasn't the best, just the easiest. azian_advanced suggested the best way to wire your lights. Another consideration you might have is what future plans you have for the vehicle; alarms, stereo, etc.

If you really want to do it up right, you could add an electrical/relay block in the engine bay to keep everything neat and tidy. Find your ACC source (if you don't have the ST205 repair manual supplement for chassis and body for wiring diagrams, you might be able to find them online or shoot me an email and I can send you a copy - it's 65M pdf, though).

These two pics are from Car Craft; http://www.carcraft.com/howto/116_0507_top...ectrical_fixes/

Basic (+) 12VDC block:



A relay control to provide a "switched" (+/-) 12VDC block with ignition on:



Seven circuit auxiliary fuse block with 3 hot/always on and 4 switched/ignition circuits. You can get smaller 2 circuit versions also.



If you decide to put a Dukes of Hazard horn in your GT4, you might need one of these...

[Jeebus]

Thanks for the info folks!

I've got the Engine Repair supplement manual (32.5mb) and the Repair Manual Supplement for the engine and body ( 40.6mb), so I'll sift through them for a power source.

I'll tell you how it goes!