mystery wire nest

[stefan]

is this mess factory?



There are a couple wires tapped into the headlight wires, a wire that goes to the positive battery terminal, a ground wire, and a green wire that was just wrapped around a rad hose

[Guest]

:shock: Uh.. ok what is that? Headlight flasher relay like what the emergency cars use? Dunno? Part of an alarm probably.

[PaulLehr]

My guess would be that D.R.L. module would stand for Daytime Running Lamps and no it dosent look factory

[stefan]

ok, here you can see it before i moved it around.



the orange and white wires are tapped into the headlights, the black wire gose to a chassis ground, the red goes straight to the battery and the green one was just coiled up by the rad

[fastivaca]

What year is your car? DRL does stand for daytime running lights. My '92 has them standard from the factory and I think that's the first year they required. If yours is a '91 or earlier it may not have had them. Could also be that the factory installation failed and this was a repair job.

[stefan]

its a 1990

i think i got it... this car was originally from the states, so when it came up here it was probably installed to pass a safety

I think it might not be in right tho, that green wire was just wrapped up there, and its probably the switch wire, because the only other wires going into it are the constant hot, ground, and light wires. How would it be turned on/off?

[krustyguitar]

Canadian

That there is an aftermarkek D.R.L, IN canada it is necessary to pass safety, I live in canada and I dissconect mine, (less drain).

[monkeyracing]

Considering what all the other wires are, the green one is probably a signal wire to trigger the relay and activate the lights. Not the best installation though.

[htchbck]

I bet the green is supposed to tap into the "run" setting on the ignition so the lights are on whenever the car is on. Just a guess though. When I had neons I ran the power for them through a similar relay so that they would turn on and off with the headlights.

[Bowls]

D.R.L.'s are a disgusting waste of energy, the amount of gas used to power those things everytime u drive during the day, for every car since like 1990, is alot of fuel.
Find out if their necessary for where u live to pass inspection, if not, yank it. the green wire i'd say is some kind of ground wire of sorts, not a hot wire.
its necessary for inspection eh? I'm going to disconnect mine after i get it inspected.
And i see what u mean by the green wire being a trigger of sorts, but the D.R.L. wouldn't work if it wasn't connected.

[stefan]

Why do Canadian vehicles require daytime running lights?

On December 1, 1989, Canada became the second country after Norway to require daytime running lights (DRLs) on all new passenger cars, multi-purpose vehicles, buses and trucks manufactured for sale in Canada, in order to increase visibility and reduce collisions. The combined effect of this regulation and the voluntary use of DRLs - in vehicles not previously equipped with them - has been an estimated 11.3 per cent reduction in daytime collisions involving two passenger cars, vans or light-duty trucks travelling in different directions.

looks like im gonna have to make them work, atleast untill i get the car inspected :wink:

the green wire isnt the ground, there is another black wire that goes straight to a chassis ground.

the green wire must be the trigger wire, because the module is hooked up to constant +12 and there is no other wires going into the system

[Bowls]

Canadian LAW , is a bunch of BS. I can crank my brights and go and look at the front of my car in daylight, and i can barely tell their on. It's more likely a conspiracy between government and oil companies, to use more oil. i guarantee, the collision rate went down because we were phasing out of the muscle car stage and more into where most cars are 4 cylinders. which car's are easier to handle and have less power?

GM, the bush administration and an oil company conspired to get rid of the electric vehicle line. and they succeeded, everyone of them except one was destroyed, and that ones engine was disabled.

the D.R.L.s work right now?

[htchbck]

the amount of gas used to power those things everytime u drive during the day, for every car since like 1990, is alot of fuel

I don't claim to be an expert in car electrical systems by any means, but I will say that even when I was running 15' worth of neons and a 1000watt sounds system in my festiva, I never noticed any decrease in fuel economy. I think the alternator puts out a bit more juice than the car needs on a regular basis (which is why it has a regulator on it to keep the voltage at an acceptable level), and I doubt having DRLs requires any extra gas expenditure... however, this is just me speaking from personal experience with power-intense accessories and what limited knowledge I have of how a car's starting/charging system works, so someone feel free to correct me on it :roll:

P.S. if anyone wants to start talking conspiracies and such, take that to the arena... thanX

[Bowls]

My father is an electronic genious and a very skilled mechanic, we got into a heated debate about this.
The engine charges the battery as u know, the energy that the battery has to put out to keep those lights going all day, isn't much. but when u multiply that by atleast 150,000 million cars that are on the roads of the world everyday. Thats more power than you will ever use in your life time. Tell me that isn't a decrease in fuel economy? Everytime u turn something electric on ur car, its taking more power to turn that crank to charge the battery. Grab one of those hand held flashlights that u power by lever u squeeze in and out. the motor in it stops spinning very quickly with the light bulb on it, but remove the light bulb and it keeps it spin for a much longer time.

It doesn't hurt you much, but it hurts the earth ALOT. as for the conspiracy talk, ford isn't a part of GM and does anyone in here actually like the bush administration? i will take it to the arena next time, im very opinionated when it comes to GM , Bush and the oil companies.

Their ruining the world that i have to live in, and the world that my children are going to live in. if no one speaks up, our children will be dying the same time as us.

[htchbck]

^^^ ok, gotcha... sorry bout that it was just a simple missunderstanding. I didn't realize you meant TOTAL fuel economy, that argument definitely makes sense. I was just thinking in small terms (as my mind often does... prolly why I bought a festiva, come to think of it :lol and for an individual it doesn't really make a difference in fuel economy. Leave it to me not to see the big picture