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DRL not work when EV mode, correct?

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by luckie, Dec 20, 2021.

  1. luckie

    luckie Junior Member

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    Newbie question, searched old posts but no joy, so the PP Manual seems to support that if you select DRL lights to be ON they will decline to do so (to save energy) as long as you are in EV mode. But will turn ON once you switch to HV mode.

    Is this correct? Guess I could get out of the car and go look at night.

    Different topic: Is there a precise effective way to do a Search on the Forum and limit the Search to only the Prius Prime forums?

    Apologies for trivial questions, at relatives for Xmas and everyone else is literally on laptops, “working from home” at their day job, for real, even tho here for visit, lol, so I’m posting from my phone some questions I thought of on 6hr drive to get here. Lol.
     
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  2. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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    No, the light controls have nothing to do with the driving mode.
     
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  3. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    As far as I know, there is nothing that changes in the car based on driving mode (EV or HV) other than the mode itself. Toyota takes great pains to make the car agnostic to drive mode.
     
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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    when you are in the forum, the box is checked 'search this forum only'. there is also advanced search, click 'more'.
    i often use google with prius chat in the key words
     
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  5. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    if you use

    Code:
    site:priuschat.com
    in the Google search bar, results will be limited to pages in the priuschat site.

    PS - It drives me crazy that this site doesn't allow inline code or give you a way to escape characters to avoid automatic conversion to emojis.
     
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  6. luckie

    luckie Junior Member

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    Here’s what made me curious : screenshot of Manual hopefully attached. Notice it says Hybrid system operating.
     

    Attached Files:

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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    ev is still using the hybrid system
     
  8. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    In Toyota manual lingo "hybrid system operating" means READY mode.
     
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  9. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Would be silly to give the driver the ability to turn DRLs on, and turn them off for various reasons. Defeats the purpose.

    The search function does let you select specific forums. It also isn't accessible from the plug in ones, as the Shop, Prime, and PiP selections in the menu bar have taken its place here.
     
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  10. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Nothing to add here. I came in too late. LOL

    Just tangential topic to the DRL. My son's Honda uses the headlight High beam as DRL at reduced voltage I think. I changed his headlights to LED replacement bulbs from the OEM halogen bulb for both high and low beams, so he can see better on unlit countryside streets. Well, even though DRL is not required in the US by law unlike in Canada, Honda wanted to make sure the DRL system is working correctly all the time, the system checks the presence of working High beam bulbs. The ECU does not like that LED bulb being in the High beam, it throws a DRL error code, a very obnoxious one for that. Luckily, people who modded the headlights with LED must have this problem in many cars, such that they made an LED error code canceller that allows the ECU to think that DRL light bulb is working. It looks like the one below.

    The problem is that they are usually made very cheaply. We are now in the third set in less than three years. And, accessing the headlight housing on those compact cars is so difficult... I want to make sure that the next car he buys either has no DRL lights or already has an LED headlight programmed with DRL.

    upload_2021-12-20_13-48-51.png
     

    Attached Files:

  11. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Many DRLs are just one of the headlight bulbs at around half power. The PP manual implies that is the case there.

    I'm guessing Honda's DRL check is like the one for blinkers; the system looks for the expected amount of power draw for a factory bulb. Aftermarket LED blinkers will have a resistor to prevent the rapid 'dead bulb' blinking rate. of course, you lose the low power use of LEDs this way. That canceler harness may very well be just a resistor too.

    I put LED bulbs into the Camry without issue. But just the low beam one, and have the DRLs off.
     
  12. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    That's my understanding. It is just a resister, but since the bulb is used for both high beam at full voltage and DRL at a lower voltage, it must be able to tell the difference between the light being on High beam or OFF (DRL). In any case, my son's Honda has such an obnoxious error message on DRL malfunction, it dings audio and light warnings will not go away unless the headlight is turned on. When the canceler failed, he had to drive the car with the headlights on all the time day and night to avoid hearing and seeing the warning.

    For our Pathfinder Hybrid, I also changed both low and high beams to LED bulbs, but DRL is a separate halogen bulb, so I did not have to install any canceler gadgets.
     
  13. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    The DRLs can be turned completely off in a settings menu of the Camry. Is that not an option, or not matter to the warning, for the Honda?

    Considering the number of models with DRLs where the auto headlights can be turned off, or simply don't have the auto feature, resulting in people driving at night with just the DRLs, leaving the headlights on all the time is a safety suggestion.
    I'd have to pull out the starter battery to get a highbeam LED in on the one side, so stopped with the low beams.
     
  14. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    That's a crazy price, they are just capacitors buried in resin for weatherproofing. The Honda DRLs are highbeams run at 30%, to get that nice, highly visible orange glow.

    They shouldn't cost more than $15 or so. I got some years ago when they were under $10/pair.

    Toyota uses pulse code modulation (PCM) which apparently cycles the power to the bulb on and off rapidly to reduce the power to the highbeam DRLs, which flickers an LED bulb. Putting a capacitor inline will smooth out the flow of current to the bulb and stop the flickering.



    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  15. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Correct. There are no DRL switches on the light switch knob. DRL is ON if the ignition is on and headlight is off and the parking brake is released. For the OEM bulb, DRL is supposed to operate slightly dimmer than the normal high beam, but to tell the truth, I don't know if the LED bulb with the canceller is operating dimmer than normal.

    I agree with you in that it is safer to have the headlight on all the time, than having DRL on all the time. What I don't understand is that DRL is not mandated in the US yet Honda and many other car manufacturers built-in DRL system as a non-optional feature. However, I have not yet seen a car that turns on the headlight automatically when the wiper is turned on. At least in my state, it is the law to turn on the headlight when the wiper is on.

    Yep, that's the same way for my son's Honda. And, after the 12v battery is removed, the radio locks up, every time... He has to enter the radio code in order to re-activate the radio. At least for US Honda vehicles, there is a radio code lookup site. But as @Mendel Leisk attests, there is no such convenient site for the Canadian Honda vehicles. My son now has the code written down inside of the glove box very prominently. LOL
     
    #15 Salamander_King, Dec 20, 2021
    Last edited: Dec 20, 2021
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  16. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    The one I posted was not the one I got. I think the first two sets were around $15/pair. But both sets failed in less than a year. The current third set, I think was a bit more expensive more than $20 but the built quality was noticeably better than the first two. We are hoping this one will last much longer.
     
  17. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    Junk made in China from Amazon is like that. There's a whole ecosystem of paid fake reviews to promote the products. It happened pretty quickly too. Just a couple years ago most of the stuff on Amazon was "regular" stuff you could find at a retailer somewhere. Now it's basically the North American outlet for Alibaba.
     
  18. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    I generally agree, but for this item, there really is not an alternative. As I understand it, changing OEM halogen bulb to replacement LED bulb is illegal. Although not much enforcement for this regulation, I don't think any reputable manufactures would make and sell such illegal mod items. I weigh the risk and benefits and came to the conclusion that having brighter LED headlights in our area is safer. I made sure that the low beam LED has a very clean cut-off that does not blind the oncoming traffic.
     
  19. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    DRLs are mandated for Canada. Making all North American models non-optional is cheaper. GM hasn't gotten rid of the DRL off position on US model switches for the likely reason customers wanting it are vocal, but GM has lobbied the NHSTA to make DRLs mandated in the US. NHSTA's response is that evidence of DRL effectiveness isn't conclusive. Results might be different at Canada's higher latitudes.

    It's wipers on, lights on here, and IIRC in NJ. The simple engineer solution to having the lights come on with wipers would probably have the head lights flashing whenever you hit mist or the washer. I don't know anyone ever getting a ticket over the wipers and lights, so a less annoying design solution is probably getting priority of the same level as enforcement.

    Another reason to avoid Honda then.
     
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  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    same here. it started out big, but they cut it to a five dollar fine. enforcement is likely negligible, but i'm sure many people follow the rule, which is helpful.
    i was a bit surprised they didn't implement it like th pedestrian warning, to give the engineers time to come up with an elegant solution.