Thanks Ian, that would be helpful

I have copied wytonpjs diagram and when I plugged it all in everything I wanted worked brilliantly except the indicator didn't come on at all.. I may have mixed a wire up tho so I will need to wait until tomorrow night to check, hopefully an easy fix

That is a good idea using the DRLs with the high beam, can you just splice the wire and direct it towards two pins? or will you have to find a seperate power source? Ie does the high beam produce too much power for the LEDs?

Also, for others thinking of doing this.. having now done the wiring i see now that saving the money on the adapters like Ian has could be a great option, however having the ability to work away from the tight confines of the car was a big bonus for me to learn on. 2011 black FL2

Luke,
In reply to your query about power, it is the voltage signal that is important, i.e. 12V = on, 0V = off. The DRL will 'see' the voltage and take it's power as required. The original 'old' style setup could deliver far more power than the new setup will take, as a the high beam bulb would of taken several amps and the new setup will be in the order of milliamps.

I have attached my diagram below. You will see that I have utilised pins 9,10,11 purely for joining several wires together on the lights. On the vehicle side of the connector this is just a wire linking those pins together. I have also added two grounds on pins 12+13 to be attached to the chassis. You may ask why I have done this! The answer is that in modifying the lights the only original wire I have actually cut and joined into is the dipped beam supply (the red section before the diode is a newly made up wire). This means that if I want to put the lights back to original I only have to make good one wire and move the pins around on the connector.

Pin 6 will be a signal from a split charge relay, that detects when the engine is running. All the connector descriptions shown in red are new additions to the car side wiring loom, which are simple enough to implement.

Iain

Click image to enlarge

update. my indicators work fine, turns out it was a faulty pin.

i followed the wiring diagram wytonpjs has provided by simply using wiring to the new pins and adding a couple of extra wires. Note I have not added any diodes/controllers etc (left out the round DRL completely)

Most actions work properly..

Two problems are;
Daylight flashing doesn't work (as warned), I have some 6a diodes on the way which will resolve this problem.

The signature strip only comes on with the headlight, given I always have the car set to 'auto lights' during the day there is no signature strip as the headlights are not on. I assume that is what the diode on pin 2 (car) to pin 16 (light) is for??

I hope to add these tonight and will report back

Almost there.. 2011 black FL2

Is it just me or does the signature strip seem to be dimmer than it should be?

I know on the MY2013 + the strip dims, is there a way to be sure mine is on full strength the whole time? 2011 black FL2

I do not think my signature strip dims just the led roundel ,but may be wrong.

Luke,

The diode between pins 2+16 is not there for the purpose you outlined. To get the signature lights on you need to create the signal, which I would suggest comes from a split charge relay. A split charge relay will switch on the lights when, and only when, the engine is running. Also your signature strips should come on if you set the lights to 'sidelights' only.

I agree the signature strips are not very bright but I guess there is a limit on how bright sidelights are allowed to be. This was one reason for not using the DRL's as they over power the easthetic effect of the signature strips. I also assume that on other marques such as audi, where the signature lights are very bright, that they dim or go off for night time driving. Unfortunately the LR signatures do not do this as they are always accompanied by (in non-modified form) the DRL's.

Iain

I have resolved the high beam daytime flashing.

However, I have no idea what that diode on 2-16 does because the signature strip performed exactly the same with and without that diode.

I wanted the signature strips to be on any time the car is on which is exactly what the lights did when I first plugged them in without an adaptor.. So I have just changed pin 16 (light side) to piggy back off the original pin it was touching (also pin 16) and it works a treat.

The only down side from this method is that you cannot have the car running and have no lights at all on (as the signature strips only turn off with the car) and, you cannot have Parker lights (I could fix this issue but as neither of these are important to me I wont)

Everything else performes perfectly 2011 black FL2

Luke,

Regarding the diode on pins 2-16:

When the DRL lights are required (on their own), power needs to also go to pin 16 as well as pin 4 (using the other diode). This is to provide power to the DRL circuit board which also handles the signature strips. If the diode between pins 2+16 was not there, preventing current flow, then in the case outlined above the voltage signal could run 'backwards' into the vehicles electrical system where it would not normally be present at that time. This probably won't damage anything but preventing back-feeding using a diode should be considered best practice.

Iain

edit: the back feeding would probably put on the tail lamps as well.

Last edited by Iain G on 23rd Oct 2014 9:19 pm. Edited 1 time in total

Thanks Ian, that makes good sense

I'm very happy with the lights, the only other thing I've realised is that the signature strips light up on a 2013 car when you unlock it, this doesn't happen with my version u til yhe car starts, I assume this is no easy fix? 2011 black FL2

Hi Lukeis/Iain G

Sadly, I must admit I have not been following FREEL2 for a while due to work/life issues - I have tickets running in tonight's £150m Euromillions lottery draw and will retire tomorrow if I can!

Lukeis - re your last post, if you read back, I originally wired up the lights directly to the car's fuse box. Whilst this has the advantage of turning the DRLs on when you unlock the car, it also means that they remain on after you lock it until the car's aux circuits power down. Whilst this "looks good", it's actually counter to the law here in the UK which says DRLs should only be on whilst the engine is running. I suspect this is also why LR separate the signature from the DRL as sidelight and DRL if you catch my drift (and on the base model headlight without signature strips, that the DRL has 2levels of brightness).

Very many thanks to those who have posted positive comments about my posts. Having stumbled through this I'm glad to share the knowledge. I'm still "working" on an old-fashioned but simpler way of making this work without Genlabs or any other firms controllers - it's not that difficult but my recollection of basic electronic circuits is quite vague. I'm intending to talk to a couple of genuine "rocket engineers" I do "business" with at work to progress this - more later.

Best regards to all,

Peter

Thanks for taking the time to pop back in and add to the excellent post, Peter

I do have a little bad news, unless we have the same numbers I fear I may have the winning numbers but wish you well

Keep up the good work and I hope the work/life issues settle for you

Best regards

Paul

G'day Peter

I think car inspections here are a little more relaxed so that wouldn't technically be a problem however it would probably annoy me if the lights stayed on when plugged directly to the fuse box after locking the car, is that what was happening?

As an alternative, given your knowledge do you think I could wire them up to the same connections as the puddle lights in the mirrors, these come on when the doors are unlocked which is good, but turn off immediately when the doors are locked. As this wire would be in addition to the existing wiring which operates the signature lights while operating the car then I assume a similar diode would be needed to stop the puddle lights being on while driving?

I hope this makes sense, this is the first electrical work I have done so I'm definitely learning on my feet!

Luke 2011 black FL2

Slight update, I have made a small modification to allow the signature lights to come on when the lights are manually turned on (useful if parking on side of road and is probably a requirement of the MOT). A new diode has been fitted in each headlight to achieve this As the signal from the split charge relay is from two separate relay outputs no further diodes are required as when the split charge is off the LHS and RHS signals are isolated.

Click image to enlarge

Thanks boys, I haven't changed mine to light up when I unlock the car but I will.

Just back on the brightness for a second, have you guys seen the brand new Land Rover discovery signature lights? They are very bright and look sharp!

As they look the same style as the freelander 2 ones.. Does anyone know how they are made so much brighter? Is it just a different set of bulbs, or more watts of power? If so, how easy or hard would it be to make ours that bright too? 2011 black FL2

Has anyone tried to retrofit 2014 LED front lamps with signature strip to 2007-2009 land rover freelander 2 (before facelift) with halogen bulbs?