draco

Here in Australia, the 2nd Gen RX doesn't come with DRL's as they do in the US. Now I know most people on this forum like to turn them off but I was wanting to have some aftermarket DRL's installed (yes I am caught up in the fad). I was going to put the LED strips that you can buy off of ebay on my car but would like to know how these are installed? How do you connect them to the car without affecting the other systems and throwing up codes? Has anyone done this on an RX330/350 as of yet?

willyb0b

you can use a normal rocker switch with them, tap the power coming off the ignition wire.

mowmow

Draco, all I did on mind is to find a 12V power source, make sure there are 12V when car is on and 0V when off
then connect the LED strip to it and you are done. So when your car is on, the led strip is on, when your car is off, no led strip, don't even need to do a switch of any kind.

Howiefied

Have a look at philips 4 drl, all they need is power from the battery. It detects alternator load and automatically switch on. They're also 100% rta compliant in australia and are oem fitment on bmw so you know they're good. Around the $110 range for drl4. Whats better is i've done the measurements and they should fit perfect in the holes underneath your fog lights on the rx.

draco

I did think about tapping something like the cigarette lighter but not sure where to route the wire into the cabin to do this. I'm sure there is a firewall grommet somewhere I could borrow to achieve my task (would just have to hide the wiring and make sure it didn't get in the way of anything else).

draco

Thanks for doing the measurements. I intend to purchase a flexible strip of LED's rather than the preset ones like the Philips DRL. I also won't be able to use the brake vents (I think that's what they are) for the LED's as I have something else in mind for them. That and I will be putting on a front lip for the car in the not too distant future.

mowmow

All we did was to use tap the power from the fuse box in the engine bay so you don't even have to run wires all the way through the firewall, which saves a lot of time.

draco

Might be best for me to take this to a sparky then.

Poisson

Draco, what did you end up getting? Malz have got Autotechnica brand LED strips for $35 but they look a bit cheap & nasty in the box - didn't want to buy them then find they look bad on the car!

draco

Hi Poisson, I haven't got there as yet. I have been concentrating on other things, and it's one of those projects that I will eventually get to. Before I do I might try and get some spare foggies.