Another life saved from a off topic rant! I sure wish car salespeople would mention DRL.

 

To disable the "Auto Lights," all that is needed is to unplug the connector off of the back of the ambient light sensor, and put in the sensor's place, a 600ohm resistor. Actually anything from 600-620ohms has worked for me. I just noticed this topic while doing a search, and thought I'd add my .02

 

Actually, the 2009 FSM says you can jumper(short) between the two wires as a test of the BCM and read the sensor voltage with the assistance of a TechII. This would tell me that you don't need a resistor at all - a direct short would work.

Since my post #72 above I have installed a 4.7K Ohm resistor across the wires feeding the ambient light sensor. The location I chose is behind the driver’s side kick panel on the backside of the BCM. The wires are Yellow with a Black tracer and Light Green with a Black tracer. This location is a lot easier to reach than the sensor on the dash IMHO.

My desire was not to totally disable the light sensor and thus the DRL, but to reduce its sensitivity. I did not like that every time I was parked under an overpass at a Red Light the interior lights would come on - so far, so good. I will see if I like the resistor value in the summer. For the Northern California winter it is fine for me.

 

This is such a long thread for such a simple topic, although I have nothing to add to it... I got used to turning the DRLs off everytime I start the car after 2 days of owning it, doesn't seem to be too big a deal to me...

 

I live in a rural area and when driving on the posted 55mph 2-lane roads, I find that when I have a vehicle with DRLs (or a vintage one that I turn the headlights on), idiots are less apt to pull out on me when I'm just upon them.

Not a big deal in town, but I like them on the backroads.

 

Sorry, Rick, but this argument doesn't hold water. DRLs are a passive system that requires no participation from the driver. Sounding the horn every 30 seconds is an active system that requires the driver to perform an action. The point of the passive systems are to provide an extra level of security or safety automatically without requiring someone to initiate it.

The safety studies done in Canada are what led to the high-mounted stop light (3rd brake light) and the DRLs. Data conclusively showed dramatic reduction in accidents with the implementation of these two items. Both are government mandated in Canada, only the 3rd brake light is mandated in the US (since 1983).

My dash lights are set fairly low, so even when the lights turn on and off in tunnels, parking garages, etc., I barely notice the change inside.

Our vehicles offer fully automatic lighting. I, for one, happen to appreciate the fact that I never have to touch my lighting controls. There are only two things that I do with my lighting system: move between low- and high-beams, and turn fog lights on and off as wanted/needed. When I get into our Kia Sportage without automatic lights I hate it, and find I tend to park the vehicle almost every time and leave the lights on.

My opinion, and like a**holes, everyone has one ... some just stink more than others.

 

My horn comment was tongue-in-cheek. I love the autolight feature just not the DRL's. Some people rely on the DRL's too much and, during inclement weather or even darkness, don't know/forget that their taillights are not on.

PS: The "Tail of the Dragon" must be pretty cool. I've heard a lot about it in my Honda S2000 club.

 

Correction:
It turns out shorting the two together does not work, as it turns on all the IP lights at low level at all times.

A selection of a resistor will be required for whatever effect you desire.

My only advice at this time is to try one of the values already mentioned and leave it alone to see if you like it before wiring it in permanently.

 

The 2006 BCM logic seems to react in a similar manner, found that a 2k ohm resistor across the wires connecting to pins 44 and 47 of C2 works, downside no IP lights. Head and Parking lights work normally. Resolved by allowing for no Auto lights in daylight using the 2k resistor in parallel with the photocell and installed of a means to open the circuit, permitting non daylight mode using the photocell resistance.

Performed continuity testing since there are more than one LT GRN/BLK and YEL/BLK wires at BCM connector C2

Thank You Sno White

Ref: Images below.

 

Hello to all. Been a 'fly on the wall' for over a year now and only now am I making my first post, because everyone seems to have an answer or found solutions to everything I would like to know about. You guys are great. However, I've been waiting for the definitive answer on this DRL & Auto Headlight issue.

I believe everyone knows by now, how to disable their DRLs (fuse #31 underhood). The question remains, what's the best way to deal with the Auto Headlights circuit when installing HIDs. I found on alldatadiy.com the description on how the ambient sensor handles these two systems.

The BCM sends 5 volts to the sensor and depending how much light it senses is to how much of the 5 volts it sends back to the BCM to identify current outside lighting conditions. If it gets 5 volts, the BCM thinks its full-daylight. In the case of DRLs, it illuminates them and keeps the Auto Headlights off. As the outside lighting decreases, the voltage also drops getting back to the BCM, so does the DRL illumination to a pre-determined setting at which time the Auto Headlights turn on.

Here is what I've done...
I went to Radio Shack and purchased a 5 volt diode and plugged it into the connector that went to the ambient light sensor. Now, the BCM thinks its daylight all the time and the Auto Headlights remain off. The headlights still come on when the wipers have been on for 15 seconds or more (feature of auto headlights), but I have to manually turn on the headlights when needed, just like the old days.

Now the downside...
The voltage the BCM receives back, controls the odometer/DIC display as well as the factory radio display brilliance. This modification causes these displays to be at full brilliance day & night (you get used to it). The rheostat only controls back-lighting of the instrument panel and instruments. ...Thoughts...?