LED's as front daytime running lights...
 

I have purchased some 5mm white LED's so that I can make some little inserts to fit in the stock grille and hold clusters of LED's that will always be on (daytime running lights). Since they don't pull much power, I am trying to figure out the best way to wire them up. Should I attach to a fuse that only runs after power is turned on or should I have a relay that gets the power directly from the battery, but turns on from an accessory fuse? :help:

i would pull power straight from the battery (fused of course) and use an auxiliary source as the switch (something like the radio or windows)

Do they have simple relays like what I would need at AutoZone or Kragen? I assume they do.
Something like this:

https://www.autozone.com/images/prod...lpl-ry2003.jpg
AutoZone Part #PL-RY2

AutoZone, Radio Shack, I think if you have a newer Lowe's then they'll have them.

match the amperage of the LEDs (very little) to that of the relay and youll be set. if you cant find an exact match then go a little higher (no more than 5 or 10 amps)

Wow, the amperage of the LED's will be really low. Not sure how low yet as I have not designed the plastic piece I am going to mount the LED's in yet. I want it to fit into one of the honeycomb shape openings (maybe two on each side). It will be low power though.

Thanks

The relay is not a fuse. No need to match the amperage of the LED's. As long as you dont exceed the current of the relay, no worries.

If you just bought loose led's, make certian that you factor in running voltage. Your running voltage will be about 14.X vs 12. Calculate that when you are designing your circuit.

BTW. The canadian model F150 has DRL's, you could just pick up the controller from that model and use it on your truck to run the LED's.

Most of the autoparts stores have a little kit with a wiring harness for about 5-7 more dollars than a relay by itself. Some of these have a diode across the coil leads. This is a good upgrade because the relay will create a reverse polarity spike when you disengage it called reverse emf that can damage electronic control circuits.

The easy way to make this happen is to get an add-a-fuse and put it in a fuse slot like F1 ( wipers / washer ).

the add a fuse is put into the slot inplace of the factory fuse, the factory fuse is put back into the add a fuse, and an additional fused circuit is not made with the key in the acc/run position ( using F1 )

Picture of the add-a-fuse
https://www.f150online.com/galleries...2028-51119.jpg

Napa used to carry them, but all I have seen at the napas around here are the version that wedges into the fuse slot ( not good, bends the fuse slot open ).

With the add-a-fuse installed there would be no need for the relay, run the power through the firewall to the LEDs, and then ground the other side.

Sorry nothing easier then this, the fuse in the AUX panel under the hood is the clock spring illumination fuse, which gets power from the interior illumination circuit ( parking & panel lighting ).

Just another idea to get power to the LEDs.

The DRL kit from the factory runs through a DRL resistor, which cuts down on the voltage, and it is direct to the factory headlamp wiring. I guess one could take the DRL kit, and prior to the install of the DRL resistor, run the wire from there ?? Something we can look at, if you would rather go that route.

Let us know which way you want to go ( Add-a-fuse for about 5.00 or DRL kit modification for about 60.00 )

Good luck

Both of you have some good information here.


I had already thought of that and when I have done LED projects for my motorcycle used a higher resistance than needed even for 13v as you can get higher than that especially on starting the bike. I had planned to go conservative here as well. The LED's I ordered are 13,000 MCD, which is plenty bright (the ones I used on the motorcycle were 8,000 MCD red ones).

This ideas seems like it might be the best, if I can find that kit at my local stores. It doesn't put me out much cash if I end up junking the whole thing and should still work.

With this kit, would I need to use the "add-a-fuse" that SSCULLY shows or would I be able to use some other wiring that is already up front (headlight wiring)?

You should fuse the relay and the power source for the LEDs, so you may need to tap a circuit like the add a fuse.

Look near the aux lighting for the little relay kit. Its about $17 total.

Sounds like a cool little project. I was thinking of having the fogs as DRLs, but I like LEDs.

O.K., I got out and was looking at the truck more and decided that putting the LED's in the honeycomb will not be easy as there are a lot of contours and different sizes on the honeycomb grille. Also, that means the wiring for the LED's would have to be mounted to the hood, since the grille and hood are attached. No big deal on the wiring, but the contours tossed me for a loop. I forgot that the grille curves.

So, I started looking for different locations and I think I found the perfect location. In between the chrome bumper and the grille, there is the trim piece that has a gap between the two, large enough for the LED's in a stacked orientation and plenty long as well. Also there are some pockets that are molded in that I can drill a hole in the backside to pass the wires through. To attach the peice I will make, I can simply use double stick-foam tape or something like that.

Here are is a pic of where they will go:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...24_LED0003.jpg

And what it looks like behind the trim piece:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...24_LED0005.jpg

When the truck is not on, you will barely be able to see the LED's, but they should be plenty visible when they are powered up.

If you want, Murphskits ( Kawi ZG vendor ) has a set of LED driving lamps that might work for you.

These are some pictures from another ZG owner-
They are the lower ones ( uppers are hella FF50 ) :
http://www.fredandrose.com/Concours/images/Imgp0572.jpg

Shot of them at night with the headlamp on ( H4 halogen ) :
http://www.fredandrose.com/Concours/images/Imgp0577.jpg

Shot of them on during the day :
http://www.fredandrose.com/Concours/images/Imgp0582.jpg

They won't fit over the bumper / under the grille surround ( think that is the location from your pictures ), but they fit in the cut out in the front bumper either at the ends or over the license plate ( used my set and my '06 to size them up ).

They are 4" wide, 1-1/4" high, and at the deepest part, 1-3/4"

If you want some locations with them placed there, let me know, and I can take a picture against my '06 for you.
I have not had time to get them mounted to my ZG yet ( either riding it, or out of town ).

Wow, those are bright! Nice!

I wonder how many MCD's those LED's are? They are obviously the larger 10mm LED's instead of the 5mm that I ordered.

I don't think I need more information on those, since I have the 5mm LED's on order (should be here in a few days) in bulk (100 pieces with resistors) and I will make my own housings. It's just another project to take up some time and hopefully be usefull too!

I also am going to consider using the extra LED's as various lighting projects in our home!

I am still waiting on my LED's to show up (maybe today) and will make sure I have the proper sizes in my 3d model before finishing the design for my housings and having them made.

I was punching in the numbers to figure out the circuits and found a nice LED calculator for doing series and parallel designs: http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

Using this calculator and the info for the LED's I ordered, and a 14v power source, I need to run 5 banks of 4 LED's using 18 ohm resistors for each.

I got my LED's and they are bright! I don't have the pieces to mount them into yet (maybe by the end of the day), but I have soldered a few of the LED's together to test out.

Here is what I am having made:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...50/grill_1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...50/grill_2.jpg

I don't know that I will be able to fit all the LED's in there along with all the soldering that I need to do (I am not great at soldering), but I will give it a shot. If I can't do it, I will end up doing something like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...50/grill_3.jpg