ARB Bumper Running Lights Question

Already searched, and have found no definitive answer.

I'm trying to get the amber bumper lights to be on full time, but flash with the turn signals (just like the headlight amber bulb). The small white light in the bumper is too dim to be of any use as a turn signal.

I used c taps to tap into the stock turn signal bulb to get the turn signal and running light to function, only to realize that the DRL (amber) switches from the bright filament to the dim filament when the headlight switch is turned on. As it's currently set up, the white bumper turn signals are lit when the headlights are off, and when the headlights are on, the amber bumper lights are on.

I take it this means there is no way to have the bumper amber on all the time and flash with the signal as there's no other circuit to tap that shares that characteristic. Ideas?

 

There are two ways I can see to do this...the first I know will work, but the second should work in theory, but you may want to get an electronics expert to look at it.

Method 1

The ARB Bumper signals are from a MkII Golf/Jetta. If I remember from my set, they come with 2 wire sockets. Go to the junkyard with that light and find a socket that will fit into the bumper signal that has 3 wires coming out of it. I don't know if Honda ones will fit the VW bumper, but if they do, 92-95 Civic corner lights as well as 86-93 Accord tail light sockets will work quite nicely. You'll need 1157 or equivalent bulbs for this.

Then you wire the ground to ground, the signal wire (green in the Honda world) to the turn signal wire and then +12v constant to an ignition hot circuit. This will illuminate the dimmer of the two filaments all the time and use the brighter filament for signalling.

Method 2 - Relay

The only way I can see to do this (and if there are any electronics experts on here, please feel free to correct me) is to used a normally closed relay and a fused link.

You would connect the +12v of the amber bulb to the switch side of the relay and then connect the other side to your +12v power source which would be something that would switch on with the ignition and then ground the negative side of the bulb to ground. Then connect the +12v from the turn signal wire to the coil side of the relay and send the other side to ground.

This should result in a bulb that is always illuminated (closed switch) and when the coil is energized (from the +12v turn signal) it will interrupt the switch. The only thing I don't know is if this will cause the wiring to see a short in the system and cause hyperblinking so proceed with caution with this method.

Your other option is to ditch the ARB signals altogether and find an LED equivalent that fits in the space.

I have the Philips Daylight 4 LED DRL kit which gives me LED DRLs, although I don't have signals that blink. I have seen kits on Amazon (no idea on the quality of brand) that offer white DRLs with amber blinkers.

 

I have mine set up with 2 relays. Bumper Amber wired to the dtrl's/signal, bumper white to headlight. Been working great for 5 years