So I wanted to give my fiancee the safety of LED DRL's but most kits completely replaced the foglights or used some cheap led's that would burn out fast. So I went with the Philips LED Daylight 8 - Daytime Running Kit. They also offer this in a 4 LED and 5 LED version, but I chose this one as it's the only version with a built dimmer function.

Here's how this kit is suppose to work http://www.carbulbsdirect.com/produc...ht-running-kit

So today me and my local shop go about installing the kit. Philips says generally the kit takes about 2hrs to fit, most of the time being measure 2x cut once when mounting the actual units. The control box is suppose to be a no brainer, here's where my problems came from.

First off, lemme state, I have a 2010 C200 CGi Avantgarde model (H11 fogs) in Hong Kong.

So we go about testing the wiring of the kit to make sure its working as its suppose to. Connect the power and ground off the battery as stated in the instructions, and then test for the parking light using the built in voltmeter. There is a small blue LED on the back of the box that lights up when you've "Found" the parking light connector off the OEM harness. We got 3 that lit up ok, now lets try the process of elimination.

So we test each of the 3 connections off the harness thoroughly, ignition on, parking light off and then off etc. Now we've narrowed it down to one connection but WAIT, there's a problem. The kit is suppose to run full power when the ignition is on, dims when the parking light is engaged, so why is it our kit is in dim mode with the ignition on and parking lights off??

We spent about 40min rechecking the wiring, retesting each connection off the harness etc. Finally..........I just said **** it, we ended up installing it powered off the OEM harness, dim wire unused. So basically now, as long as the car is on or on 2nd click, the LED are running full power even when the headlights are turned on. It's not my preference but you make do with what you're given. Aside from the wiring issue, install is pretty straight forward (Measure 2x cut once) so I didn't feel a DIY was necessary, not to mention I was busy helping my guys at the shop with installation and trouble shooting.

I've shot Philips an email about this problem and hopefully they respond with a solution. So here are some camera pics of the kit installed on the car. Oh and this isn't the only electrical PITA reason I hate the electrics on this chassis. I've tried to install a HID kit in the fogs and no matter cancelers, relay kits, high grade HID kits, low grade kits etc, I could not for the life of me stop the damn things from flickering/strobing. And no, I don't have the corner function so that isn't it.

 

German engineering at its finesse. Do you know the brake lights/parking used 1156 bulb while other uses 1157 (2 filaments). They lower the voltage for the parking light (around 4 volt) then when brake applied, it jumps to 12v.. I was trying to make some LED light for it. But gave up because of that.

 

It's annoying, it's like they over-engineered the electrics but shorted on the build quality on this chassis. Benz is now where Audi was almost 10 yrs ago. Also, when we used a real volt meter to read, the connectors were showing close to 14volts

 

At least in Germany they have more engineers than lawyers, unlike us in the US

 

Makes me miss my WRX that much more.