Where to splice in side repeater lamps for widebody (T90)
10-16-2009, 08:46 PM
#1
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Where to splice in side repeater lamps for widebody (T90)
I am having some trouble understanding the wiring diagrams in my service manual with regard to where to correctly splice into the wiring harness when adding the T90 side repeater lamps. The diagram appears to show it splicing into the park/turn signal but shows the park/turn as the DRL on another page. I don't think they should be coming on with the DRL's, should they? Looks like maybe I should be looking for a light blue/white stripe on one side of the car and a dark blue/white stripe on the other?
OK read another thread about converting side markers to blinkers, I understand. DRL's have two hot leads, one for the DRL's and one for the turn signal. The side markers don't blink. I neeed to tap into the blue wires on the DRL's.
OK read another thread about converting side markers to blinkers, I understand. DRL's have two hot leads, one for the DRL's and one for the turn signal. The side markers don't blink. I neeed to tap into the blue wires on the DRL's.
Last edited by vetracer; 10-17-2009 at 12:49 PM.
10-17-2009, 10:48 PM
#2
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Well I'm not seeing much interest in the subject so far but I'll post the info here in case anyone wants it. Tapping into the blue wire behind the front turn signal/DRL and black ground wire is the way to go.
Notice the note in the photo below about drilling and securing the wires as they run from the DRL across the top of the wheel well to the repeater light. You don't want the wires just sliding around up there unsecured. If doing a widebody conversion you could take care of this while the fenders are off. Here are the push fasteners I used to hold it in place:
Also at the rear of the fenderwell:
Repeater now flashes with turn signal:
Notice the note in the photo below about drilling and securing the wires as they run from the DRL across the top of the wheel well to the repeater light. You don't want the wires just sliding around up there unsecured. If doing a widebody conversion you could take care of this while the fenders are off. Here are the push fasteners I used to hold it in place:
Also at the rear of the fenderwell:
Repeater now flashes with turn signal:
Last edited by vetracer; 10-18-2009 at 12:15 AM.
10-19-2009, 03:48 PM
#3
Hi Vetracer,
I just wanted to draw your attention to a potential side effect on your installation.
You appear to have a US Corvette, as such the front turn signals are also DRLs. In the daytime they are therefore fully illuminated by default, unless you switch the lights off when you start the car.
The problem is that with the Euro version of the Corvette, the front turn signals do not serve as DRL so that are not on all the time. As such any export lighting is not designed to function in US mode.
By adding the side repeater turn signals on the US Corvette you are going to face an overheating problem.
The end result is that the light bulbs will heat so much that it will melt the plastic on the side and the light bulb will cease to function.
Your alternative, other than switching off the lights all the time, is to swap the light bulb for an amber LED that does not heat.
Otherwise, congratulations on the nice installation, the only problem is that you them on the wrong way. The thicker part should be in the rear and the thinner part in front.
For a bit of history, some have preceeded you:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...een-up-to.html
a++ Cedric
I just wanted to draw your attention to a potential side effect on your installation.
You appear to have a US Corvette, as such the front turn signals are also DRLs. In the daytime they are therefore fully illuminated by default, unless you switch the lights off when you start the car.
The problem is that with the Euro version of the Corvette, the front turn signals do not serve as DRL so that are not on all the time. As such any export lighting is not designed to function in US mode.
By adding the side repeater turn signals on the US Corvette you are going to face an overheating problem.
The end result is that the light bulbs will heat so much that it will melt the plastic on the side and the light bulb will cease to function.
Your alternative, other than switching off the lights all the time, is to swap the light bulb for an amber LED that does not heat.
Otherwise, congratulations on the nice installation, the only problem is that you them on the wrong way. The thicker part should be in the rear and the thinner part in front.
For a bit of history, some have preceeded you:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...een-up-to.html
a++ Cedric
Last edited by CroOrange; 10-19-2009 at 03:52 PM.
10-20-2009, 02:56 PM
#4
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Hi Vetracer,
I just wanted to draw your attention to a potential side effect on your installation.
You appear to have a US Corvette, as such the front turn signals are also DRLs. In the daytime they are therefore fully illuminated by default, unless you switch the lights off when you start the car.
The problem is that with the Euro version of the Corvette, the front turn signals do not serve as DRL so that are not on all the time. As such any export lighting is not designed to function in US mode.
By adding the side repeater turn signals on the US Corvette you are going to face an overheating problem.
The end result is that the light bulbs will heat so much that it will melt the plastic on the side and the light bulb will cease to function.
Your alternative, other than switching off the lights all the time, is to swap the light bulb for an amber LED that does not heat.
Otherwise, congratulations on the nice installation, the only problem is that you them on the wrong way. The thicker part should be in the rear and the thinner part in front.
For a bit of history, some have preceeded you:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...een-up-to.html
a++ Cedric
I just wanted to draw your attention to a potential side effect on your installation.
You appear to have a US Corvette, as such the front turn signals are also DRLs. In the daytime they are therefore fully illuminated by default, unless you switch the lights off when you start the car.
The problem is that with the Euro version of the Corvette, the front turn signals do not serve as DRL so that are not on all the time. As such any export lighting is not designed to function in US mode.
By adding the side repeater turn signals on the US Corvette you are going to face an overheating problem.
The end result is that the light bulbs will heat so much that it will melt the plastic on the side and the light bulb will cease to function.
Your alternative, other than switching off the lights all the time, is to swap the light bulb for an amber LED that does not heat.
Otherwise, congratulations on the nice installation, the only problem is that you them on the wrong way. The thicker part should be in the rear and the thinner part in front.
For a bit of history, some have preceeded you:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...een-up-to.html
a++ Cedric
The DRL's have three wires going to them, one is a ground (black) and the other two are for the DRLs (brown) and the turn signals (blue). I presume the DRL must be a dual filament bulb. At any rate I spliced into the blue turn signal wire so the only time the repeater lamp is illuminated is when it blinks with the turn signal. They are not illuminated with the DRL's or park lamps. I said from the beginning in my original post that I suspected they should NOT come on with the DRL's. I also said they flash with the turn signals.
Also the lamps will only fit in one direction. In the example you posted the person who started the thread cut his own holes in the fender. I would have thought they went the other way myself, but they don't. If you look at the way the light snaps in from the back you will see that it can only go in one way.
I also realize I am not the first person to do this. Just trying to help other people out here on the forum, especially my point about securing the wires on top of the fender. I did a search before starting the thread and found very little information on the subject.
Shannon
Last edited by vetracer; 10-20-2009 at 03:40 PM.
10-20-2009, 05:32 PM
#5
Hi Shannon,
I am not interested in having an argument, I am just telling you how it works and what the side effects will be of your installation. So you don't have to believe me, go ahead and melt the side lamps.
The three wires that come to the Turn/DRL lamp, one is ground, one is DRL when the HID lamps are on (night time) or park lamps and the other is a mix of DRL (daytime)/Turn signal.
The DRL do not light up straight away, you have to put the car in drive for them to come on. So if you put the car in park and get out to look, they will go off.
What you can do is drive the car, leave it in drive with your foot on the brake and look outside (you can also put the ebrake and get out if you wish. Make sure the ebrake is well pulled). You will see the side repeater bulbs are on.
Anyway the turn signal/DRL signal is mux'ed in front just like the stop/turn signal is mux'ed at the back.
You will also find a photo of French Corvette here: http://passionlincoln.xooit.com/imag...ef0f22.jpg.htm
Take as it you want, but I don't need you to tell me how it works.
Regards,
Cedric
I am not interested in having an argument, I am just telling you how it works and what the side effects will be of your installation. So you don't have to believe me, go ahead and melt the side lamps.
The three wires that come to the Turn/DRL lamp, one is ground, one is DRL when the HID lamps are on (night time) or park lamps and the other is a mix of DRL (daytime)/Turn signal.
The DRL do not light up straight away, you have to put the car in drive for them to come on. So if you put the car in park and get out to look, they will go off.
What you can do is drive the car, leave it in drive with your foot on the brake and look outside (you can also put the ebrake and get out if you wish. Make sure the ebrake is well pulled). You will see the side repeater bulbs are on.
Anyway the turn signal/DRL signal is mux'ed in front just like the stop/turn signal is mux'ed at the back.
You will also find a photo of French Corvette here: http://passionlincoln.xooit.com/imag...ef0f22.jpg.htm
Take as it you want, but I don't need you to tell me how it works.
Regards,
Cedric
10-20-2009, 08:02 PM
#6
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Hi Shannon,
I am not interested in having an argument, I am just telling you how it works and what the side effects will be of your installation. So you don't have to believe me, go ahead and melt the side lamps.
The three wires that come to the Turn/DRL lamp, one is ground, one is DRL when the HID lamps are on (night time) or park lamps and the other is a mix of DRL (daytime)/Turn signal.
The DRL do not light up straight away, you have to put the car in drive for them to come on. So if you put the car in park and get out to look, they will go off.
What you can do is drive the car, leave it in drive with your foot on the brake and look outside (you can also put the ebrake and get out if you wish. Make sure the ebrake is well pulled). You will see the side repeater bulbs are on.
Anyway the turn signal/DRL signal is mux'ed in front just like the stop/turn signal is mux'ed at the back.
You will also find a photo of French Corvette here: http://passionlincoln.xooit.com/imag...ef0f22.jpg.htm
Take as it you want, but I don't need you to tell me how it works.
Regards,
Cedric
I am not interested in having an argument, I am just telling you how it works and what the side effects will be of your installation. So you don't have to believe me, go ahead and melt the side lamps.
The three wires that come to the Turn/DRL lamp, one is ground, one is DRL when the HID lamps are on (night time) or park lamps and the other is a mix of DRL (daytime)/Turn signal.
The DRL do not light up straight away, you have to put the car in drive for them to come on. So if you put the car in park and get out to look, they will go off.
What you can do is drive the car, leave it in drive with your foot on the brake and look outside (you can also put the ebrake and get out if you wish. Make sure the ebrake is well pulled). You will see the side repeater bulbs are on.
Anyway the turn signal/DRL signal is mux'ed in front just like the stop/turn signal is mux'ed at the back.
You will also find a photo of French Corvette here: http://passionlincoln.xooit.com/imag...ef0f22.jpg.htm
Take as it you want, but I don't need you to tell me how it works.
Regards,
Cedric
I'm glad you brought it to my attention, the car rarely moves without me behind the wheel so I may not have noticed it for a long time. This is also something that is important to document for the benefit of other forum members
Now, on to how to fix the problem...
10-20-2009, 08:27 PM
#7
Hey, I don't want to argue either. When I responded it didn't sound to me like you really read my original post. After your explanation in more detail I went out and checked. You are correct, they do come on with the DRL's when the car is in drive. I don't feel a lot of heat coming off of them but it's possible that as you said they could get hot. They appear to be sealed which might prevent the bulb from being easily changed. I wonder if an inline capacitor could reduce the light output. I really don't want them on except as a turn signal.
I'm glad you brought it to my attention, the car rarely moves without me behind the wheel so I may not have noticed it for a long time. This is also something that is important to document for the benefit of other forum members
Now, on to how to fix the problem...
I'm glad you brought it to my attention, the car rarely moves without me behind the wheel so I may not have noticed it for a long time. This is also something that is important to document for the benefit of other forum members
Now, on to how to fix the problem...
The outside is not the issue, the problem is that inside those little things is an amber bell shaped piece of plastic. It is this plastic that gives the amber look 'n feel because the light bulb is white.
This plastic is very close to the light bulb and it well melt under continuous use guaranteed (I know I tried during my tests as I converted my vette to euro specs).
My suggestion until you get this issue fixed would be to install a super bright LED. For example you can check on superbrightleds.com, I think they are a forum vendor, I once saw their banner here.
The bulbs are very easy to change, you need to access the inside of the fender because they come out from the inside. You twist the base and it will unlock the light bulb (wedge 194 type) .
There is a small O-ring rubber that separates the casing from the base that comes off.
Will leave a PM shortly.
a++ Cedric
10-20-2009, 10:24 PM
#8
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Hi,
The outside is not the issue, the problem is that inside those little things is an amber bell shaped piece of plastic. It is this plastic that gives the amber look 'n feel because the light bulb is white.
This plastic is very close to the light bulb and it well melt under continuous use guaranteed (I know I tried during my tests as I converted my vette to euro specs).
My suggestion until you get this issue fixed would be to install a super bright LED. For example you can check on superbrightleds.com, I think they are a forum vendor, I once saw their banner here.
The bulbs are very easy to change, you need to access the inside of the fender because they come out from the inside. You twist the base and it will unlock the light bulb (wedge 194 type) .
There is a small O-ring rubber that separates the casing from the base that comes off.
Will leave a PM shortly.
a++ Cedric
The outside is not the issue, the problem is that inside those little things is an amber bell shaped piece of plastic. It is this plastic that gives the amber look 'n feel because the light bulb is white.
This plastic is very close to the light bulb and it well melt under continuous use guaranteed (I know I tried during my tests as I converted my vette to euro specs).
My suggestion until you get this issue fixed would be to install a super bright LED. For example you can check on superbrightleds.com, I think they are a forum vendor, I once saw their banner here.
The bulbs are very easy to change, you need to access the inside of the fender because they come out from the inside. You twist the base and it will unlock the light bulb (wedge 194 type) .
There is a small O-ring rubber that separates the casing from the base that comes off.
Will leave a PM shortly.
a++ Cedric
Got your PM, thanks for the suggestions. I apologize, you were right about the DRL's. I'm still not sure how the repeater lamps could fit if you turned them around but the picture you posted shows it. Is it the same car that was converted by drilling the fender?
I also searched some photos here on the forum and saw them facing the same way as mine. I even ordered the backing plates which I did not use because they did not fit. I read in another thread that they weren't needed but tried them anyway.
Also, if you can convert the side marker to blink opposite of the DRL/turn signal as in this thread by C62ENVY:
http://http://forums.corvetteforum.c...rn-signal.html
Sounds like grounding the marker light through the DRL blinker. If this works then I would think you could make the side marker and repeater flash together?
Last edited by vetracer; 10-21-2009 at 12:06 AM.
10-21-2009, 08:35 AM
#9
Hi Shannon,
No issues, don't worry. The important part is that you understood there is an issue and that you don't damage your car, which was my major concern.
The photo I showed you is of a friends car, the post on CF is my car, I have a JSB. Before I undertook the conversion of my car, I checked out the corvettes in the French Corvette Club for reference - made a special trip over for that. Funny thing is that my expat contract got extended for another year ... so the rush was useless.
I'm sorry for you if nobody responded but this isn't really the kind of thing that people have undertaken because it is quite complex.
The only real solution that I have found is to flip the car in export mode. Any other solution will have drawbacks and not work perfectly - for those that I could imagine, for info, I'm an electronics engineer.
I have made myself a small electronic circuit that you could use if you wish but it has the drawback of not blinking when you lock or unlock the car, which annoyed me big time. Other than that it works fine, it requires some splicing near the BCM though to work nicely.
The advantage is that it doesn't require flipping the car in export mode. In export mode everything works just fine - I can't comment on XmRadio because I canceled but I can try this morning as I go to work (the free part should work).
a++ Cedric
No issues, don't worry. The important part is that you understood there is an issue and that you don't damage your car, which was my major concern.
The photo I showed you is of a friends car, the post on CF is my car, I have a JSB. Before I undertook the conversion of my car, I checked out the corvettes in the French Corvette Club for reference - made a special trip over for that. Funny thing is that my expat contract got extended for another year ... so the rush was useless.
I'm sorry for you if nobody responded but this isn't really the kind of thing that people have undertaken because it is quite complex.
The only real solution that I have found is to flip the car in export mode. Any other solution will have drawbacks and not work perfectly - for those that I could imagine, for info, I'm an electronics engineer.
I have made myself a small electronic circuit that you could use if you wish but it has the drawback of not blinking when you lock or unlock the car, which annoyed me big time. Other than that it works fine, it requires some splicing near the BCM though to work nicely.
The advantage is that it doesn't require flipping the car in export mode. In export mode everything works just fine - I can't comment on XmRadio because I canceled but I can try this morning as I go to work (the free part should work).
a++ Cedric
Last edited by CroOrange; 10-21-2009 at 08:44 AM.
10-21-2009, 12:12 PM
#10
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Hi Shannon,
No issues, don't worry. The important part is that you understood there is an issue and that you don't damage your car, which was my major concern.
The photo I showed you is of a friends car, the post on CF is my car, I have a JSB. Before I undertook the conversion of my car, I checked out the corvettes in the French Corvette Club for reference - made a special trip over for that. Funny thing is that my expat contract got extended for another year ... so the rush was useless.
I'm sorry for you if nobody responded but this isn't really the kind of thing that people have undertaken because it is quite complex.
The only real solution that I have found is to flip the car in export mode. Any other solution will have drawbacks and not work perfectly - for those that I could imagine, for info, I'm an electronics engineer.
I have made myself a small electronic circuit that you could use if you wish but it has the drawback of not blinking when you lock or unlock the car, which annoyed me big time. Other than that it works fine, it requires some splicing near the BCM though to work nicely.
The advantage is that it doesn't require flipping the car in export mode. In export mode everything works just fine - I can't comment on XmRadio because I canceled but I can try this morning as I go to work (the free part should work).
a++ Cedric
No issues, don't worry. The important part is that you understood there is an issue and that you don't damage your car, which was my major concern.
The photo I showed you is of a friends car, the post on CF is my car, I have a JSB. Before I undertook the conversion of my car, I checked out the corvettes in the French Corvette Club for reference - made a special trip over for that. Funny thing is that my expat contract got extended for another year ... so the rush was useless.
I'm sorry for you if nobody responded but this isn't really the kind of thing that people have undertaken because it is quite complex.
The only real solution that I have found is to flip the car in export mode. Any other solution will have drawbacks and not work perfectly - for those that I could imagine, for info, I'm an electronics engineer.
I have made myself a small electronic circuit that you could use if you wish but it has the drawback of not blinking when you lock or unlock the car, which annoyed me big time. Other than that it works fine, it requires some splicing near the BCM though to work nicely.
The advantage is that it doesn't require flipping the car in export mode. In export mode everything works just fine - I can't comment on XmRadio because I canceled but I can try this morning as I go to work (the free part should work).
a++ Cedric