[Daniel List]

Hi to all
In Switzerland we have the problem that our law gives the order that the DRL must be white light and the turn signals must be amber. My Solstice has amber bulbs for DRL and front turn signals at all. So, I would change the bulbs in to led twin colour bulbs white/amber. Does anybody knows a led bulb that fits to my Solstice from own experience?
Thank's a lot for your help and greetings from Switzerland
Daniel

 

[JohnWR]

Hi Daniel,

Welcome to the forum.

Later models of the Solstice, and all of the Skys use the low beam headlights for DRLs. It may be easier to convert to that type of operation.

 

[Daniel List]

Hi John,
Thank you for your fast answer, I will proof this opportunity.
kind regards, Daniel

 

[JohnWR]

Later today I will post both schematics for you to compare.

 

[RedOne07]

Interesting, any idea when the break point was ?

 

[DaveOC]

As far as my memory serves, the break point was the start of 2007 production. But that was a l-o-n-g time ago, I could be wrong. This picture was dated 10-1-2006, they are all 2006s.

 

[RedOne07]

I have a very late MY2007 without fog lights and as far as I know the DRL and turn signals are the same light.

 

[DaveOC]

Before I go charging off to all by files, remind me, please, is your Solstice intended for US use or for export? This might have implications for the DRL location.

 

[DaveOC]

I just checked my copy of the 2007 Owner's Manual for the Solstice, and the Daytime Running Light is the same bulb as the headlights. This is, I assume, the US version of the Owner's Manual. The 2006 Owner's Manual indicates that the DRL bulb is the same bulb as the parking light. YMMV.

 

[RedOne07]

My car is a US car without the export RPO (Canada or Mexico) with built date June 20 2007

According to the GM US online 2007 PDF Owners Manual:
The DRL system makes both low beam headlamps turn on at reduced intensity when the following conditions are met:
•The ignition is on.
•The exterior lamp control is turned to AUTO.
•The light sensor detects daytime light.
•The shift lever is not in PARK (P)

According to the GM US online 2006 PDF Owners Manual:
The DRL system will make both front turn signal lamps turn on when the following conditions are met:
•The ignition is on.
•The exterior lamp control is turned to AUTO.
•The light sensor detects daytime light
•The shift lever is not in PARK (P).

 

[JohnWR]

The difference, and what it will take to change to the low beam headlights, is a bit more than I expected. Unless the programming is actually there to add a DRL relay.

 

[Daniel List]

Hi Friends,
My Solstice is a canadian model that was imported to Switzerland. I bought it at 2012 an now a few years later, the officials would like to change me the bulbs as I wrote. I bought two led bulbs white/amber from Super Bright LEDs Inc. (www.superbrightleds.com) and asked them for bulbs that will fit to the Solstice 2006 Base. Unfortunately they don't fit as is and I will have to work on it. I thought that somebody has probably changed the DRL/turn lights on his Solstice as well to led. I will tell you if I made a goal to this item
Friendly greetings from Switzerland and enjoy the new week.
Daniel

 

[WickedMike]

I know a few have switched later model Solstices , 2007 +, from the headlight driving light down to the parking or fog lights. I haven’t done the mod myself and I’m thinking may be a post on it and I don’t think it was a difficult switch . Don’t know if possible to simple do opposite switch to an 06. Will follow this post.

 

[TomatoSoup]

I know a few have switched later model Solstices , 2007 +, from the headlight driving light down to the parking or fog lights. I haven’t done the mod myself and I’m thinking may be a post on it and I don’t think it was a difficult switch . Don’t know if possible to simple do opposite switch to an 06. Will follow this post.

I did the post-2007 DRL mod and writeup (https://www.solsticeforum.com/threads/simple-reroute-drls-to-foglights-mod-for-hid-users.73671/) but it's not the inverse, nor as easy, to mod a 2006 to do the opposite... as JR said in his schematic post above.

The OP has the right idea. The easiest way for him would be to use 'switchback' white/amber LED bulbs - the bulb type is: 3757

 

[JohnWR]

Will a switchback LED work in this case? If I understand the circuit, the DRL uses the turn signal element, so how would the bulb know that it is supposed to be a DRL instead of a turn signal?

 

[TomatoSoup]

Will a switchback LED work in this case? If I understand the circuit, the DRL uses the turn signal element, so how would the bulb know that it is supposed to be a DRL instead of a turn signal?

Neither your schematic, nor the 2006 one I have, mentions DRL. So I'm not sure which filament is used. I would've thought it wouldn't use the high power filament, if only for longevity reasons.

However, if you are correct, John, and the car uses the turn filaments for DRLs, then you're also correct in that the OP is screwed and cannot use switchbacks.

SO @Daniel List - you need to verify if your DRLs use the turn (bright) filaments, or just the regular side light ones. If you have your DRLs on, ask someone to turn on your parking/side lights on the steering wheel stalk and see if the lights dim, or stay the same. If the latter, then you're good to go with switchbacks.

 

[JohnWR]

Neither your schematic, nor the 2006 one I have, mentions DRL. So I'm not sure which filament is used. I would've thought it wouldn't use the high power filament, if only for longevity reasons.

However, if you are correct, John, and the car uses the turn filaments for DRLs, then you're also correct in that the OP is screwed and cannot use switchbacks.

SO @Daniel List - you need to verify if your DRLs use the turn (bright) filaments, or just the regular side light ones. If you have your DRLs on, ask someone to turn on your parking/side lights on the steering wheel stalk and see if the lights dim, or stay the same. If the latter, then you're good to go with switchbacks.

The service manual references DRLs on the headlight page, but that could be because the ambient light sensor is there. It could also be a printing error that predicts the future....

I'm going to stick with the being the turn signal filaments for several reasons:

1. Post #10 with @RedOne07 's quotes from the '06 owner's manual.
2. The '06 service manual lists turn signal lamp supply and ground in the DRL troubleshooting guide
3. The lights look much brighter than running lights.
4. The front and rear, left and right, running lights are all controlled by the same relay, while the front and rear turnsignals use four different ones.
5. Using the turn signal filaments would actually increase longevity since they would work in opposition to the headlights instead of being on all of the time

What is needed is a circuit that controls the switchback, and I have found references to a control board that accomplishes this task by adding a 12V supply wire from the source that provides the desired control. The white DRLs are then lit whenever that source is powered unless the turn signal is active at which time they function as amber turn signals instead.

Here is a vidoe of one in action:

but I haven't found anything that is compatible with our turn signals. You would also have to turn the auto-headlights off to make this work, unless the controller ignores the constant-on DRL mode. (Which isn't mentioned anywhere.)

 

[sketcherjedr1]

Hi to all
In Switzerland we have the problem that our law gives the order that the DRL must be white light and the turn signals must be amber. My Solstice has amber bulbs for DRL and front turn signals at all. So, I would change the bulbs in to led twin colour bulbs white/amber. Does anybody knows a led bulb that fits to my Solstice from own experience?
Thank's a lot for your help and greetings from Switzerland
Daniel

I used these

VehiCode 3-Ways 881 886 896 894 898 LED Fog Light Bulb Conversion Kit - Dual Color (6000K White/ 3000K Yellow) Switchback and Flash Strobe for Emergency Warning Hazard Caution - Fanless (2 Pack) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SQPHXG3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_F127DbMJTG5W9

 

[JohnWR]

I used these

VehiCode 3-Ways 881 886 896 894 898 LED Fog Light Bulb Conversion Kit - Dual Color (6000K White/ 3000K Yellow) Switchback and Flash Strobe for Emergency Warning Hazard Caution - Fanless (2 Pack) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SQPHXG3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_F127DbMJTG5W9

If I am reading the description properly those are fog light replacements. How did you get them to work as DRLs?

 

[JohnWR]

I've been thinking about this way too much, and I think I have come up with a solution that requires the minimum amount of wiring changes, and still keeps most or all of the cars functionality.

First, to disable the turn signal DRL function without affecting the turn signals, you need two of these relays:

The operation is explained here:

One of them gets spliced into each of the turn signal wires with the turn signal control wire connected to the Trigger and 12V Input terminals, the turn signal bulb connected to the Normally Closed 12V Output terminal, and the Ground terminal grounded. The time delay is set to two seconds so that when the DRLs are powered they will stay on for that length of time, then turn off. When the turn signal is actuated the loss of power for the first "blink" will reset the relay so that the bulb will then cycle. Since the on time for each flash is less than the time delay, the signal will operate as normal. When the flashing stops the DRL will be on for the time delay and go off.

For white DRLs the easiest thing to do is to continuously power the low beam headlights, which can be done by replacing the control relay with a jumper. This jumper can either be a wire for burning the lights at full brightness or a resistor for reducing it. The problem with this approach is the inability to turn the headlights off.