Hello All,
Like many other 14 - 17 Chevy Tahoe/Suburban owners with halogen headlights, I would prefer that the LED strip were used as the DRL instead of the halogen low beam light. It's taken over a year of on and off research (wish I could do this full time, but have to work...) to get enough information on the headlight system and figure out how to make a system to do what's described in the thread title, which is to utilize the LED strip for DRL, and support a conversion to OEM HIDs. So, here are the requirements/features of the system:
1) Small electronics module (< 2" x 4"), consuming < 4 Watts of power for the electronics from the low beam power drive
2) Automatically detect the low beam operating mode (DRL or Low Beam), and power the LED strip and turn off halogen light when in DRL mode, and restore normal LED/Low beam operation when in Low Beam mode
3) Accept an external, fused 12 V raw battery input to power the LED strip for DRL operation, including a separate internal fuse to protect the LED power drive
4) Provide jumper to provide the option to power an HID lighting system
5) Build in electronics to keep the BCM from issuing any "bulb out" errors
6) Build cables that interface directly with the existing wiring harness to support a nearly plug & play installation (except for the 12V raw battery supply line).
7) Utilize only automobile rated parts throughout the system for reliability
8) To the extent possible, make the system fail-safe such that if it fails, the lighting system will return to normal function. This will not likely be possible with HIDs operation, but should be possible for halogen operation.
My plan is to build up and test the electronics as much as possible on the workbench before attempting installation in the vehicle. The first step on vehicle installation will be to install one unit on the driver side to test the DRL/Low beam swap control. When successful, then repeat for the passenger side.
Upon completing the first step, then proceed to HID installation. My goal is to install OEM HIDs, because the headlight assemblies on my vehicle have the cutouts for the OEM ballast and will support installation of the OEM or other HID bulbs, which will allow for a very clean HID installation. Although this might not be as bright as some of the aftermarket HIDs, it should be adequate and far superior to the halogens (I have Phillips Crystal Visions in Low/Hi beams and they arent' bad but no where close to HIDs). The fog lamps will also get LED upgrades too, but those are outside of this thread's discussion.
So, that's a long lead-in. I hope to post a lot of progress information and pictures as this goes along. The goal is to complete the system by early fall (Sept/Oct 2020).
Like many other 14 - 17 Chevy Tahoe/Suburban owners with halogen headlights, I would prefer that the LED strip were used as the DRL instead of the halogen low beam light. It's taken over a year of on and off research (wish I could do this full time, but have to work...) to get enough information on the headlight system and figure out how to make a system to do what's described in the thread title, which is to utilize the LED strip for DRL, and support a conversion to OEM HIDs. So, here are the requirements/features of the system:
1) Small electronics module (< 2" x 4"), consuming < 4 Watts of power for the electronics from the low beam power drive
2) Automatically detect the low beam operating mode (DRL or Low Beam), and power the LED strip and turn off halogen light when in DRL mode, and restore normal LED/Low beam operation when in Low Beam mode
3) Accept an external, fused 12 V raw battery input to power the LED strip for DRL operation, including a separate internal fuse to protect the LED power drive
4) Provide jumper to provide the option to power an HID lighting system
5) Build in electronics to keep the BCM from issuing any "bulb out" errors
6) Build cables that interface directly with the existing wiring harness to support a nearly plug & play installation (except for the 12V raw battery supply line).
7) Utilize only automobile rated parts throughout the system for reliability
8) To the extent possible, make the system fail-safe such that if it fails, the lighting system will return to normal function. This will not likely be possible with HIDs operation, but should be possible for halogen operation.
My plan is to build up and test the electronics as much as possible on the workbench before attempting installation in the vehicle. The first step on vehicle installation will be to install one unit on the driver side to test the DRL/Low beam swap control. When successful, then repeat for the passenger side.
Upon completing the first step, then proceed to HID installation. My goal is to install OEM HIDs, because the headlight assemblies on my vehicle have the cutouts for the OEM ballast and will support installation of the OEM or other HID bulbs, which will allow for a very clean HID installation. Although this might not be as bright as some of the aftermarket HIDs, it should be adequate and far superior to the halogens (I have Phillips Crystal Visions in Low/Hi beams and they arent' bad but no where close to HIDs). The fog lamps will also get LED upgrades too, but those are outside of this thread's discussion.
So, that's a long lead-in. I hope to post a lot of progress information and pictures as this goes along. The goal is to complete the system by early fall (Sept/Oct 2020).
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