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Those daytime running lights...


JetSepter

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For those who kindly expressed an interest, here are a few pix showing the daytime running lights that La Jet Sept now sports.

 

Made by Ring Automotive, they were bought from Amazon – though you can get them elsewhere – complete with wiring. An aluminium bracket was fitted to each with epoxy. The units themselves are sealed but the wires I protected with heatshrink tubing. After cleaning up the underside of the front wings with rubbing alcohol (Canadian term . UK = surgical spirit?), units were attached with much Sikaflex 221, secured in position temporarily with masking tape, and left to cure for 5 days.

 

The black earth wire from each was grounded at the earth point on the front left of the chassis already used for the headlights; the yellow wire was soldered to the red wire feeding the existing sidelights, at the left lights block connector; and the white power wire was fed back to my auxiliary fusebox, having removed the built-in fuse holder and refitted the blade fuse in the auxiliary box.

 

The light units have circuitry inside which senses (through voltage changes?) when the engine is started – just turning the ignition on does not do it – and turns the lights on some 20 seconds later. They go out a similar period after the engine is stopped. The yellow wire is supposed to sense when the car’s normal lights go on and dim the running lights as a result. Must confess I have not checked that yet, but I see no reason why it should not work as advertised.

 

Provided they don’t bounce off – which will depend on the Sikaflex and how well I cleaned the adhering surfaces – I shall be pretty happy with this mod, which I think serves the purpose without intruding very much on the look of the car. *biggrin*

 

Edited by - JetSepter on 21 Jul 2011 09:18:32

 

Edited by - JetSepter on 21 Jul 2011 09:20:28

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TomB - why not just headlights? Two reasons: I have been known to forget to turn them off and then go and have lunch. A flat Powervamp is not a Good Thing; secondly, there is a certain technical elegance about achieving visibility without using lots of watts.

 

irrotational - the EU DLR requirement for DLRs on new cars had just come in when I got my Seven. I fancied having some for the wattage reasons mentioned above, but Caterham were clear at that time that the Seven small volume status meant they did not have to comply. I am not sure that will remain the case, as regulations (alas!) move on, so ultimately I may not be alone on my errant path!

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Peter - Well, it was quite tacky at the start, but I used rubber gloves and it's pretty well cured now... 😬 However - each to their own.

 

Andy - Yes, the top of the light is glued in, too. I guess if there are aerodynamic issues I shall find out when the lights or the wings take off *confused*

 

Q102 - Haven't yet checked whether they dim or go out when the normal lights are switched on, They're supposed to do one or the other.

 

Douglas

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Quoting Tin Man: 
For safety, I always use my headlights during the day when driving my 7. This was advised by Hugh at Cadence many years ago.

 

John

Agree *thumbup* You have to give yourself every chance you can. With my car being black it just doesn't show up without the dipped beams on.

I suppose the answer would be a dynorod orange coloured caterham, now that would really show up *eek*

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Mind you, on this visibility thing, it seems to me that the tractors have got it right. I'm thinking for my next mod a long barber's pole strapped to the roll over bar with an amber strobe light on the top...

 

Now that would be tacky 😶‍🌫️

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DLR's also appear to dim/go out on the relevant side when direction indicators are operating. On the Audi I saw the other day at least.

 

I suspect this is a bit of a Marmite mod. Personally, I'm with AVES on this one.

Jesus - that looks tacky and awful to meblushing smiley but others think differently

 

If you leave the headlights on and flatten the battery, fit an ignition switched relay to the headlamp circuit.

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