LED Daytime Running Light (DRL) Upgrade on Sport S

[ttepps]

Hi all,

I do not see this specific question answered on the forum so I am hoping someone can help. It looks like @Gregj really understands the DRL setup.

I’ve installed after-market fender DRLs on my 2021 Sport S. These ones are specifically designed to fit the Sport fender and are plug and play. They are similar configuration to the stock LED fender lights in the Sahara or Rubicon. The turn signals include resistors so there is no programming needed. Install went well.

https://www.extremeterrain.com/axia...ing-turn-signal-lights-smoked-j155019-jl.html

I changed the pins on the wire harness so that the top white light connects to the DRL circuit in the existing body harnesses instead of the parking light circuit. I used JSCAN app to activate the DRL circuit. I live in Canada so DRLs are compulsory. In Jscan, I set the following:

• Set “Left Dedicated DRL Lamps Output Present” to Active
• Set “Right Dedicated DRL Lamps Output Present” to Active
• Set “LED Dedicated DRL Present” to Active
• Set “DRL Lamp Location” to Dedicated

This activated the circuit and the dedicated white fender lights come on. Mine are on when the Jeep is in gear and the parking brake is off and the headlights are off. This is typical DRL behavior for most vehicles, however, I’ve noticed on Jeeps with the stock LED fender lights that the white lights are on all the time; even with the headlights on. It’s as if they are DRL + Park lamps use the same lamp.

I am not sure if I am missing a setting that keeps the DRLs on even with the headlights on, or if the stock fender lights are wired so that the white lights are powered by both the DRL circuit and park lamp circuit and this was missed in the after-market configuration of these lights. Does anyone know if there is a setting in Jscan to keep the DRLs on while the headlights are also on? Or is this a wiring thing. I could wire the DRL Circuit and park lap circuit together, but I’m not sure if that would cause other problems. I've enabled and disabled the DRL Dropout on Jscan but that only changed their behaviour while using the turn signals.

From a legal standpoint, they are fine the way they are; the Jeep always has forward facing white lights which is what’s required in Canada. I do like and wish the white fender lights stayed on while the headlights were on though like the stock LED setup. It looks much better.

The below picture shows the Pins in the body connector. All are in use except for Pin 4. Park Lamps are only when the lights are on, so them alone do not work for DRL functions in Canada because if they are off during the day. Does anyone who understands vehicle electrical know if connecting the wires coming from Pins 4 and 5 and running those to the white light would cause issues with the BCM? This would keep them on almost all the time.

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[Gregj]

Travis, you are correct, the DRL’s act as marker lights when the headlights are on. They illuminate at a lower level at night. I’m sure this is accomplished with circuitry in the light itself.

As for the idea of connecting pins 4 and 5, I don’t know how the BCM would react. I guess back feeding the wires to the BCM could be prevented with some diodes but this is an area beyond my skill set. As an option, if you wanted them to be on any time the Jeep is on you could treat them as Halos and use a fuse tap to the heated seat circuit, that would turn them on all the time but they wouldn’t drop out with the turn signals.
Gregj

 

[ttepps]

Thanks for the reply @Gregj. I was hoping there was a setting in Jscan I was missing that would turn them on with the headlights too. I will try to do some research about how a BCM reacts to back flow for connecting the leads from Pins 4 and 5 together, or into the diode option.

I guess in the stock LED fender lights the white strip does run off both circuits: DRL circuit when lights are off, at full power; and park lamp circuit when lights are on, at a reduced power or modulation. That's how I assume it has the two lighting levels depending on the situation. I know the Sahara and Rubicon builds do have both circuits running to the fenders.

 

[ttepps]

I have not got around to the wiring to make the white strip work as DRL and parking lights together. I'll provide an update when I make that change.

I did notice the other day that the new DRLs are not overly visible during the day. The turn signals are very bright. This may be that the new LEDs poor quality, but I was checking the setting in Jscan and noticed the following voltages in the Light Voltage Regulation Menu. Keep in mind that my Sport S came with full Halogen set up and has now been converted to full LED with all after market LEDs except for the headlights and fog lights; which are the Mopar LEDs.

My readings are:

Left/Right Front Corner Voltage - 13.6 Volts
Left/Right High Beam Voltage Regulation - 13.6 Volts
Left/Right Low Beam Voltage Regulation - 13.6 Volts
Left/Right Rear Corner Voltage - 12.8 Volts
Left/Right side DRL Voltage Target - 11.0 Volts

There seems to be no voltage settings available for any turn signals

I am going to bump up the voltage for the DRLs because 11.0 seems low. I know that halogen DRLs are set from the factory to use high beams at reduced voltage (I read 7 volts, but many that was wrong), but when I changed the location of the DRL, perhaps the voltage remains at a lower setting even though its now a dedicated LED.

Can anyone with Jscan who has a full LED set up from the factory give me their readings from the Voltage Regulation menu for all of the above? Assuming you've left them at the factory defaults.

Thank you in advance.

Travis

 

[justjay619-702]

I've been trying to figure this out as well.
I have Rubicon fenders with LED DRL's on my Sport. When driving during the day, only the amber part stays on as DRL's and not the white. But when I turn the headlights on, the white fender LED's turn on.
I kind of like how the ambers being on looks different from everyone else, but it looks a little weird with the halo's on.
So would all I have to do is switch a couple of the pins around?

 

[Gregj]

I've been trying to figure this out as well.
I have Rubicon fenders with LED DRL's on my Sport. When driving during the day, only the amber part stays on as DRL's and not the white. But when I turn the headlights on, the white fender LED's turn on.
I kind of like how the ambers being on looks different from everyone else, but it looks a little weird with the halo's on.
So would all I have to do is switch a couple of the pins around?

Have you changed the settings in the BCM? It seems like the DRL location has not been changed to “dedicated”.
Gregj

 

[ttepps]

I agree with Gregj. It sounds like your DRL settings are set to turn signal and not dedicated in the BCM. The DRL pin in the connector is the same on the Sport and Rubicon so repinning should not be required. I only did it because the lights I got did not have a DRL circuit at all. The stock LEDs would have it.

 

[justjay619-702]

Have you changed the settings in the BCM? It seems like the DRL location has not been changed to “dedicated”.
Gregj

I agree with Gregj. It sounds like your DRL settings are set to turn signal and not dedicated in the BCM. The DRL pin in the connector is the same on the Sport and Rubicon so repinning should not be required. I only did it because the lights I got did not have a DRL circuit at all. The stock LEDs would have it.

I have a tazer mini and it doesn’t have in depth options like the jscan does. But I did turn on DRL and set them as LEDs. I’ll double check them tomorrow.
Thanks for the help though

 

[justjay619-702]

I agree with Gregj. It sounds like your DRL settings are set to turn signal and not dedicated in the BCM. The DRL pin in the connector is the same on the Sport and Rubicon so repinning should not be required. I only did it because the lights I got did not have a DRL circuit at all. The stock LEDs would have it.

Actually now that you mention it, I think I may have selected turn signal as my DRL location because I didn’t really know what dedicated meant. Guess I’ll check that tomorrow and change it to dedicated.

 

[iamstillvince]

haven't seen it mentioned but also a note as i see you are in Canada. the lights are different in canada, honestly dont remember all the differences but even a sport from Canada and US have different lights so programing is probably different. it gets confusing

 

[justjay619-702]

Ok so I did have my DRL’s set to turn signal. Switched it to dedicated and that solved my problem. Thanks for the help.

 

[Sjbgpr]

Hi All: I have a 22 Sport S 2 Door with LED Headlamps & Fogs, black plastic fenders and standard turn signals/Marker lights.
I purchased, pained and installed set of body colored fender flares with LED turn signals from a 2018 Sahara. I did not modify any of the pins just plug and Play.Using Jscan, I was able to get the turn signals to work correctly (No Hyperflash or Bulb out warnings) The top white portion of the fender LED lights up dim when the headlights are on acting as a parking light. I cannot get it to act as a DRL when the headlights are off. I chose "dedicated" for DRL Lamp location and LED Dedicated DRL Present is Active What location do I need to use for DRL Canada? Europe? Optional? Below are screenshots of my J Scan settings @justjay619-702 can you compare your Jscan settings to mine since you have it working properly? Thank you Stephen

 

[ttepps]

Set DRL location to Canada. This just forces the Jeep to have DRLs always active as it’s a requirement here.

If set to optional you can turn them on and off in the radio settings.

If that still does not work there should be two settings in Jscan to tell the Jeep that Dedicated Left and Right DRLs are present. I see you’ve set it to say they are LEDs but there is also two to say the lights themselves are present.

 

[JL MADDOG]

@ttepps I like those Extreme Terrain lights you found. Is everything working as you wanted it to?

I can't believe this. So, you CAN have DRLs on a Sport? My dealer said that there was absolutely no way they could enable DRLs on my Willys. I called Jeep directly and was told the same thing. Seems that ain't so?

Does it require you to swap out the light assembly or can you use the stock ones? Mine are halogen but I have LED bulbs in place at the moment.

What tool is used to enable DRLs on a Sport? JScan or Tazer?

Sorry for all the questions. I've just been thinking about trying to enable LED DRLs on my JL and keep running into a brick wall.

 

[ttepps]

@ttepps I like those Extreme Terrain lights you found. Is everything working as you wanted it to?

I can't believe this. So, you CAN have DRLs on a Sport? My dealer said that there was absolutely no way they could enable DRLs on my Willys. I called Jeep directly and was told the same thing. Seems that ain't so?

Does it require you to swap out the light assembly or can you use the stock ones? Mine are halogen but I have LED bulbs in place at the moment.

What tool is used to enable DRLs on a Sport? JScan or Tazer?

Sorry for all the questions. I've just been thinking about trying to enable LED DRLs on my JL and keep running into a brick wall.

@JL MADDOG DRLs are required in many countries so all Jeeps have options to program on DRLs otherwise they would limit the countries they can actually sell the Wrangler. A DRL is a forward facing white or orange marker light. Jeeps without the LED turn signal that includes the dedicated white DRL strip can still have DRLs turned on using Jscan using different forward lights. The options to program on the DRLs include: Dedicated (which must be equipped with the dual led strip turn signals), high beam, low beam, fog light, or SRT light bar. In Canada, the Sports with the Halogen package have the DRLs set to high beam at a lower voltage to dim them. This means the main headlight acts as the DRL during the day when the Jeep is moving.

The dedicated DRL in the factory LED assembly is the park lamp and the DRL in one light. Each has a separate wire. Park lamps are on when the headlights are on and DRL is on when the lights are off but the Jeep is moving. Two circuits power the same white light at different times.

For the halogen turn signals that come with the Sport, the light assembly only has the park light. This is the dimmer orange light you see when the lights are on. Turn signal flashes brighter.

The DRL wire for the dedicated white strip is present in the fender connection on the Sport, but in your case it will not have a wire running from the fender connection to the light assembly. The aftermarket light assemblies I got also do not have this wire, therefore, the white strip only comes on when the headlights are on.

One could splice the DRL wire and park lamp wire together to get a similar effect to the stock LED assembly. I did not go this route because I am not sure how splicing the wires together will affect the BCM. I did not want to risk shorting something out or causing a bulb out error. I set my fog lights to DRL instead and the white strips in the new lights I bought are only on at night with the headlights.

Unfortunately there is no way to get your lights to act as DRL without doing some wiring to modify the light assembly harness and I am not sure if there are BCM problems in doing that.

Having said all this, I like the lights I got.

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