LED Headlamp upgrade w/DRL

[GrantOv]

I am considering boosting my headlamp output and many of the newer LED lamps come with Hi/Lo beam in addition to DRL and Turn Signals. I'm not sure if I'm won over with the turn signal option but DRL may be interesting. Would a person just piggyback on the front facing grill lights? or have others just added switched power with a hidden toggle? I don't think current headlight lamp switch has any contacts for DRL as 1972 may be well before these were typical.

Thoughts?

 

[Sheriff41]

I can't speak to the DRL question but do your homework when selecting your new lights. There are a lot of LED headlights that fit our cars that are pretty much junk. If you find good ones, you will like them. I'm running Cibie glass H4 lights with LEDs in my '72 and the brightness and pattern are very good.
They also maintain the original look. Unfortunately, the Cibies aren't available any longer. Several members have had good success with Hella lights.

Another car I have had Delta Tech glass H4 headlights with LEDs when I bought it and while the brightness was good the pattern was terrible. I ditched the Deltas and went with wired-in relays and Sylvania H6024 Silverstar Halogens. I like this setup, though it's not quite as good as what I have on the '72.

 

[Stanglover]

This is what I did on my car. There has been many post on this subject. IF you decide to go with Hella Vision Plus as I did, I highly recommend adding the water shields I designed. I'm not just trying to sell you something, you will need them due to the fact that water can get in. That's not the fault of the lamps per se, but the fact that the gap between the hood and fender is directly over the lamps. Sealed beam lamps are a one piece design, so not affected. The conversion is two pieces. Also consider running the headlights off relays.
As for running DRL's, that is something I really want to explore further. One other thought I had was to ADD a second LED bulb to grill lamps, but this would only be possible on Mach's.

In the classified section, I have posted the shields for sale. I'll update that as I want to re-promote this idea.

https://7173mustangs.com/threads/headlight-water-shields.44535/

https://7173mustangs.com/threads/led-headlight-conversion-with-direct-fit-water-shields.44079/

 

[raydav]

H4 was about five years ago. The design since then is these.
The unit is multi-element, projector (absolute low beam cut off above the horizon), and the halo is both DRL and turn signal. Just connect to the front parking/turn/DRL light - keep or eliminate the original lights.

And the units are sealed.

 

[The Heff]

On my Mach1 I use the grill lights ( which have a clear lens on them ) as indicators (orange ) and DRL as white. I found on Ebay a dual function LED lamp that changes from white ( DRL ) to indicators ( Orange ). They were easy to fit and look the biz.

 

[Cleveland Crush]

On my Mach1 I use the grill lights ( which have a clear lens on them ) as indicators (orange ) and DRL as white. I found on Ebay a dual function LED lamp that changes from white ( DRL ) to indicators ( Orange ). They were easy to fit and look the biz.

Sounds interesting. Where did you get the clear grill light lens?

 

[rvanamb]

I bought a set off amazon. I like the light output and they were less than $60. They have the DRL/turn signal rings. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BLMKFN2R

 

[Stanglover]

The choice of LED type headlights depends on what each individual wants and/or the look they're going for. It's your choice.
Either way, as the hood and fender gap exposes the headlights directly to water and therefore a possible chance water getting in to the lamps or around the connector plug, I offer a shield that fits directly into the lamp bucket to deflect water and protect your investment. See my ad in Classifieds.
As for DRL's, white lights would be preferrable, and that may depend on one's location, orange are acceptable in many provinces or states. For me, I'd prefer to make the Mach 1 grill lights dual purpose. (still working on that idea).

 

[TheDude]

I've had LED lights for a few years and they've been great. Switching to some that have DRLs and turn signals. Not sure if I'm going to hook up the turn signals or not, but I like the idea of people having a better shot at seeing me as my can in matte black seems to disappear a bit.

Where are people grabbing power for the DRLs and in particular for the turn signals? For the DRLs I guess I just need to run some switched power from under the hood somewhere, fuse it and get it to each light. For the turn signals, is there any way to do easily do that without cutting into the stock wiring at the turn signal?

Thanks and Happy New Year!

 

[Stanglover]

I've had LED lights for a few years and they've been great. Switching to some that have DRLs and turn signals. Not sure if I'm going to hook up the turn signals or not, but I like the idea of people having a better shot at seeing me as my can in matte black seems to disappear a bit.

Where are people grabbing power for the DRLs and in particular for the turn signals? For the DRLs I guess I just need to run some switched power from under the hood somewhere, fuse it and get it to each light. For the turn signals, is there any way to do easily do that without cutting into the stock wiring at the turn signal?

Thanks and Happy New Year!

DLR's is something I'm also looking at, but as stated before, I'm looking at converting the Mach 1 grill lamps. My thinking right now would be to run power via a relay. I already have relays powering the LED headlights, so should be quite easy to add a third relay and wire direct, but use a keyed hot wire as the trigger. Not sure what that will be at the moment, but it will need to be something that is not drawing too much power. I'm hoping some of our electrical wizards can chime it there.... please!
I'm not sure I would want to pull power, even for small LED's, directly off another circuit and potentially overload it.

 

[TheDude]

Thanks for that. Just checked my DRLs and they pull about .66 amps or about 8 watts total for both lights. That's a super lite load so I'm going to probably just going to try and use an existing circuit. That said, I do like the idea of having a safe switches source under the hood. I might toy around with adding a block that's switched and relayed so I can grab as much switched power as I need and not do something dumb on accident.

 

[The Heff]

Sounds interesting. Where did you get the clear grill light lens?

These came with the car when I bought her. The grill lights came with an Orange bulb, so these were used as indicators. Not sure whether this was an export version done by Ford, when the car was exported over to the UK in 1976 to an American Air base.
My DTR lights were additional bulbs that sat on the headlamps rear reflector dome ( sealed beam lamps ) and shone through a small round clear section. I quite fancied some DTR lamps in white, so opted for the dual functional LED white / orange type.
The power supply for the indicators or turn signal lamps was already there, so I just extended the DTR supply from the headlamps and wired both circuits into a double pole bayonette type lamp holder for the new LED indicator / DTR lamps.