Dutch Dekkers

Hello R-Class colleagues,

My 2007 R500 uses the ultra expensive bi-xenon low beam lights for daytime running lights. I just replaced the bulbs (very expensive) and would not like to waste their life time. Bi-Xenon lights totally loose their brightness when worn. When I replaced them I gained at least 300% output: Amazing difference.

QUESTION: Any idea how to rewire them, such that I can run an aftermarket LED set as Daytime Running Lights? Or to reword my question... It is obviously simply to wire a set of new LED Daytime Running Lights to turn on when the car is powered up. But HOW do I de-active the daytime running lights??

Looking forward to hearing from your experience,

Dutch

AZN Optics

I believe you'd have to recode them via STAR to not run as DRL as it's controlled by the ECU if there's only two lines (power and ground) feeding to your xenons with alternate current levels. If there's a third wire, that'd be the easiest as then there's dedicated line power for the two states and it's just a simple matter of using a meter to figure out which line is energized during DRL function and which isn't. Then just cut the DRL wire and feed it to an LED system, and tap into the same ground wire. You'll have to make sure the LEDs are either canbus or you wire in external load resistors so the SAM unit won't trigger outage.

Dutch Dekkers

Hi Michael,

That's super input!! As you could read in my post, I just handled those Xenon lights this weekend. And yes, they do have three cables going into the plug. I'll go in and see which line is powered when the car is running.

QUESTION: I hope and trust all of those three wires are indeed either ground or 12 volt max, and none of them is 25,000 volt? Am I correct to conclude that the 25,000 volt is generated by that black xenon firing box that receives that three-wired plug? or is the 25,000 volt generated elsewhere in the car?

Plus, Michael, I see you are with AZN. I found these http://www.aznoptics.com/index.php?m...products_id=26. Are these well recommended? I also found these on Amazon
Thanks so much for your input, Michael. Awaiting your answer AND would love to see a picture of your Ghibli.

Dutch

AZN Optics

Voltage will fluctuate depending on driving conditions between 12-14V. Take a meter to it to measure.

With the LED strip, you'll want to take some measurements as to where you want your placement to make sure they'll fit. Either of those options will require an extra external load resistor to not throw error codes. Basically the SAM will check for current draw and as LEDs are inherently low power devices, you'll need to splice in load resistors to trick the SAM into thinking enough power is being pulled by a standard bulb to not throw error codes. SAM will think it's a dead bulb otherwise, shunt power to the socket, and throw error codes.

As for the Ghibli, here are some sorta recent pics. Waiting on coilovers to dial in the ride height as she's kind of high right now.

Dutch Dekkers

Hi Michael,

I'm afraid I just gave away my age :-)
http://img.favcars.com/maserati/ghib...pictures_1.jpg

Yours is beautiful though! I was just thinking of the older one LOL.

*** Resistors... Any experience guess as to how strong? Or should I simply match the wattage of the bi-xenons?

Hans

AsianR350

Buy Philips LED DRL, this is the best DRL that I installed and still work. Turn on when the engine is on and turn off when engine shut off . Do not buy cheap one because they are not bright and may not last long.

https://mbworld.org/forums/r-class-w...ng-lights.html

AZN Optics

lol. I love the old Ghibs as well and wish I had one. I'll have to settle for the new generation.


50W6Ohm should be suitable, but yes, you should probably measure the draw.

As for the Philips, those are fine as well. They use Chinese Lumileds chips. Our uses Japanese Toyoda Gosei chips. Your call

Dutch Dekkers

Hello Michael,

My LEDs have arrived and I went in town to hunt for the resistors. Ended up talking to a tech firm with decades experience in building communications into cars and trucks. They warned me against it. They said those 50W resistors are pretty large (3 inch) and generate a ton of heat.

In the meantime, I also spoke with my Mercedes dealer and discovered that they do not use their STAR to switch off the Daytime Running Lights, so I have two options...

a) Cut the daytime running light wire going to the xenon and live with a MESSAGE saying my light bulbs burned out, and then hook up the new LED's simply to a source which powers up when the car is on. This route would not require resistors. OR...
b) Go with the resistors. Cut the daytime running light wire into the xenon headlights, place a resistor in line, proceed on to the LED's, and out to mass.

Obviously 100% my choice and responsibility.

QUESTION
Any idea on how irritating the MESSAGE would be. Can you just click it out of sight, just as with e.g. the front passenger airbag message which shows up when people go in or out of that seat? If that is the case I can totally live with such a message and would simply hook up the LED's to the daytime running light wires going into the xenon, by cutting them and rerouting them.

Thanks for your thoughts. A one liner is enough reply :-) I took a lot of your time already,

Hans

AsianR350

I am sure that you can disable DRL lights in the cluster instrument. Hook up LED daytime running lights are easy and no need load resistors. Buy a LED control module and connect to battery terminals in the engine compartment. it turns on when the engine on and off when turning off the engine.
See post #79
https://mbworld.org/forums/r-class-w...s-today-4.html

Dutch Dekkers

Hello AsianR350,

I checked your post and see you did it too, but... did you indeed successfully disable the DRL functionality? Because if I can do that, I can obviously mount the DRL led's and get them to work properly.

In other words HOW do you disable the DRL functionality??

Hope you have an idea.

Thanks :-)

Dutch

AsianR350

I did not remember how I set it but my DRL lights never turn on. Because I have after market HID so I use manual switch but not AUTO. I am not sure about Bi-Xenon lights. I will check the cluster instrument setting and let you know.

Dutch Dekkers

I actually doubt it's possible. I used a multimeter to identify which of the three wires going into my xenon starting units is actually for the DRL. The moment your unplug the plugs, the car's on-board systems does these things: It registers that the light is not drawing current > it assumes the light burned out > it cuts off the power going to the light (you can hear the relay click) > it displays the burned bulb message. So the only way to get it to work is to cut one of the three wires > please the multimeter in between to measure voltage > see if that wire is the DLR. If not, do the same with either of the two remaining wires. Then, when you have positively identified the DLR wire, cut it, place the exactly correct resistor in between and feed that wire to the LED's. BUT... now you suddenly have a resistor which gets as dangerously hot as your headlights do. So you better find a very sound way to avoid anything burning. Not only that... if something does burn, and burn your car to ashes, your insurance will likely not pay out.

Without a sound simple proper way to de-activate the car's own DLR functionality, followed by mounting your LED DRLs straight and simply on a live-when-car-on 12 volt source, I don't think there's a wise way to do it. So the best way may be to identify the sensor which activates the DRL's and either permanently short or permanently open that circuit to have the DRL's never come on. That would keep the Xenon's DRL function OFF and permit you to mount LED DRLs straight onto a live-when-car-on 12 volt source.

That's my conclusion after this discussion :-)

Thank you all for thinking along. Much appreciated,

Dutch

Dutch Dekkers

Here is what the Mercedes Workshop Manual has to say about its design

Daytime running lights (for United States of America and Canada)

If, with the rotary light switch set to "0" or "AUTO", "Darkness" is not recognized by the rain/light sensor (B38/2), only the low beams are switched on if the daytime running lights are active.
For Canada-vehicles (without code (615) Bi-xenon headlamp unit with integrated curve illumination) the halogen low beams are dimmed to a voltage of U = 13 V. The high beams cannot be activated.

As soon as the rain/light sensor recognizes "Darkness", the lamps are switched on as for the other national versions.
Special case:
The high beams can then be activated for United States of America-vehicles.

For United States of America-vehicles with active daytime running lights, the low For beams are switched off after the vehicle has been stationary for t = 3 min.
A change in the daytime running lights signal from 0 to 1 in the instrument cluster always results in the lights being actuated. The timer is then reset.

Depending on the equipment fitted, the front SAM control unit actuates the following components:


Standing and parking lamp
Low beam
High beam
Front side-marker lamp
Xenon headlamp supply module
High beam solenoid


The front SAM control unit forwards the switch-on request via CAN-B to the rear SAM control unit.

Depending on the equipment fitted, the rear SAM control unit actuates the following components:

Brake lights, taillights, parking lights and side-marker lamp
License plate lamp, rear-end door
Taillights for trailer (for code (550) Trailer hitch)
License plate lamps for trailer (for code (550) Trailer hitch)

Dutch Dekkers

And there's more... My initial thought that the light sensor was pretty basic was WRONG. It is actually a pretty fancy IR tool used for both ambient light as well as the wetness of the windshield in terms of rain, driving the automatic windshield wiper action.

GF54.21-P-6000RT Rain/light Sensor, Component Description
Location
The rain/light sensor is located on the inside of the windshield below the inside rearview mirror.

Task
To measure the light intensity and degree of wetting of the windshield

Function principle of rain sensor
Infrared light is beamed from the infrared transmitter unit (1) and is directed to the windshield (3). The intensity of light reflected at the windshield (3) is measured by the IR-receiver unit (2).
If the windshield (3) is dry in the area of the rain/light sensor (picture A), then the light is almost completely reflected and the IR-receiver unit (2) measures a high light intensity. If the windshield (3) is wet in the area of the rain/light sensor (picture B), then part of the light is scattered out of the glass of the windshield (3). As a result the intensity of the reflected light reduces and the IR-receiver unit (2) measures a lower light intensity.
The light intensity measured by the IR receiver (2) is a measure for the quantity of water on the windshield (3). The lower the measured light intensity the greater the amount of water on the windshield (3). As of production period 01.06.2006 the sensitivity of the sensor can be preset via the combination switch (S4) with the positions "intermittent 1" and "intermittent 2".

JonMac

Hi Dutch, can you confirm if you're in Canada? I know that DRLs there are mandatory and MB set them on to comply as part of the regional settings for the vehicle... and that's why you can't just turn them off...
I've heard of where using STAR , you can reset the country (ie. To the usa) but then you'll have to find out what other settings are affected. .. and find a dealer that would actually do that! (Most will not of course. ..)
Best of luck though,

Dutch Dekkers

Hi JonMac,

Yes I am indeed in Canada, and I did speak to the MB Dealer chief technician and he was not going to touch it (for all the right and legitimate reasons). I can fully accept and respect his decision.

STAR must be able to do it, but... I did not (yet) buy my own STAR.

Thanks for thinking along, JonMac. Warm regards,

Dutch

marc hanna

Where about in Canada are you? I might be able to point you to some one with a Star machine.

Dutch Dekkers

Mmmm... now you're talking :-) We live pretty remote though... Cranbrook BC. A wonderful small town and regional capital of the Canadian Rockies. Majestic mountains East and West of our spacious valley. Driving the only R in the region (obviously :-)

Thanks, Marc!

Dutch

AsianR350

Ok. I just checked my 08 R350, US model and mine do not have Bi xenon light, just projector halogen lights and the DRL lights can be turned off.

Dutch Dekkers

Hello Forum Friends,

This is especially for Michael and Marc. Here is the answer from Tech Support of MB Canada.

The Bi-xenon lights are controlled by line bus communication
The 3 wires into the HID units are power, ground and communication wire
As the daytime running lamps are required by law in Canada
We cannot assist in the modification or deactivation of daytime running lights

This means that all three wires are required and that there is not one wire for e.g. DRL, and the other for HiBeam and the other for LowBeam.
This also means that the only way to switch them off would be through STAR, and MB will certainly not do that as they obviously and rightly stick to their legal obligations. They are not in the customizing business.

This is where my trail ends, and I hope that others may be helped by the outcome. No problem. Just means I have to replace my HID bulbs more often.

Thank you all for thinking along! Super much appreciated.

Dutch

marc hanna

I figured as such. I'm still trying to track down some one with a Star Machine in your area. In the future, don't waste your money on OEM bulbs, there are several aftermarket manufacturers of HID bulbs that last a long time, have a nice colour of light, and only cost $30 to $40.

Here are the ones I bought last time. I'm quite happy with them:

AsianR350

I agree. I see some after market DS 2 bulb for around $25.00 US dollars.
Lucky me, I disabled mine which is not HID lights, it is H7 bulb. I have after market HID installed and still wanted to turn off my DRL lights because I am able to disable them for US model.

Dutch Dekkers

Hi Marc, thanks for the link to those aftermarket ones. Those prices do not justify all the "hassle" of trying to replace the DRL function of the HIDs. Awesome! I list-marked them on Amazon. Thanks for the reference.

As for STAR.. STAR is one thing... but knowing WHERE in STAR to do this is yet another.

Thanks so very much for your help in all of this, Marc. Top job!

Dutch

marc hanna

Glad I could help. Not all HID bulbs are created equal, but those ones seem to be pretty decent.