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Posted by: Spoke Jul 23 2017, 06:42 PM

For better visibility of my car to others, I decided to wire the running lights (front white LED lights, rear running lights) to be on anytime the ignition switch is on. Had too many times pulling the headlight switch out one notch just to leave the lights on after I turned the car off and walked away.

What I did was disconnect the front and rear running lights from the headlight switch and use a relay to power the running lights from constant on battery voltage. All the wires needed are available at the fuse panel.

First I located the running light fuses. They were fuses 5 and 6.



I had a Hasco CAR1C40DC12 relay which is a standard 12V automotive relay. I made up a couple of pigtails to connect the relay to the fuse panel.

In the pic below, the red wires are on the contacts of the relay. The single red wire will connect to the constant 12V power found on fuses 10, 11, and 12. The double red wires will connect to the 2 fuses for the left and right running lights; fuses 5 and 6.

The black wire is the positive terminal of the coil and will go on a switched voltage fuse. The brown wire with ring connector is the negative terminal of the coil will go to chassis ground.



The wires from the light switch were removed from fuses 5 and 6 and the double red wires were attached. The single red wire was placed on an unused spade on fuse 12. Not visible in the pic is the positive coil connection (black wire) on the load side of fuse 9. Fuse 9 is for the fog lights but it does have switched power.



Finally the negative side of the coil is attached to the chassis in an unused nut on the chassis. One of the wires from the headlight switch is shown after application of shrink-wrap tubing to protect the loose wires from shorting out.

The new relay fits nicely between the relays on the fuse panel. Now I won't forget to turn off the running lights during day trips.

Posted by: solex Jul 24 2017, 08:22 AM

Nice one Spoke, it has been a while (I still have the rims I bought from you)

I'm in the process of trying to get my Fog Lights attached and will eventually hook everything up as driving lights as you have done

Posted by: larryM Jul 24 2017, 11:51 AM

did same a few yrs ago - but only the fronts (required added diodes) - only ON when engine is running ( have the JWest fuse panel)

- cuz up here on the mountain backroads too many "nuts" in SUVs & such just don't see our tiny cars as they pull out of overgrown driveways or come barreling down the mid-to-wrong-side of the many curves

- after a couple white-knuckle full skid stops i decided the lights would provide some defense




yes - those are Cibie Pallas down below in a real 916 "bumper" - installed in Germany

Posted by: rgolia Jul 24 2017, 03:55 PM

Very nice Jerry. Exactly what I need to do. Cannot tell you the number of times I leave the lights on...like every time I drive it.

Posted by: rgolia Jul 24 2017, 04:10 PM

And BTW...where do I get one of those relays?....you sure you don't want to make me a kit with all the directions so I don't fry my car?

Posted by: jkb944t Jul 25 2017, 05:58 AM

Very nice write up.

Jeff B