B8.5 Switchback DRL/Turn Signal Need help with VCDS

[btb.tyler09]

So I'm working on modding my DRLs to make them switch off and turn amber for turn signals. I had previously disabled the "wink" function for the DRLs, and never realized the winking doesn't work when the headlights are on. Does anyone know a way to enable the wink or even dimming of the DRL while headlights are on? Otherwise I'll need to go back to the drawing board for this.

Here's a pic of the amber DRLs.

[btb.tyler09]

So I finally got the first headlight finished, so here's a video of how it's currently working. I have to leave the turn signal light in for now because i can't figure out how to enable the "wink" when the headlights are on. Pretty bummed about that now. This may actually require an aftermarket controller after all.

I've got to share a link due to file size.
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ah5xP6Ic-gPhmrIOq3YMUGEKd9Hx3g

[CrownSeven]

Nice work looks great! Gotta be a way to get the wink working with the headlights on.

[mys4.org]

That looks awesome! DIY in the works?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[btb.tyler09]

That looks awesome! DIY in the works?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Yeah. Plan is to finish the passenger side tomorrow and document everything with that.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Audizine mobile app

[Ornithology]

So I finally got the first headlight finished, so here's a video of how it's currently working. I have to leave the turn signal light in for now because i can't figure out how to enable the "wink" when the headlights are on. Pretty bummed about that now. This may actually require an aftermarket controller after all.

I've got to share a link due to file size.
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ah5xP6Ic-gPhmrIOq3YMUGEKd9Hx3g

s
This is still very good! Nice progress!

[btb.tyler09]

It's been over a year since i did this, and I had the unfortunate event of one of my DRLs turning a shade more yellow. I don't think it was from doing the mod, seems to be a common issue. Anyway it gave me another opportunity to improve the switchback DRL mod, so I went back to the drawing board. First I finally found the correct coding in VCDS to enable full switchback functionality even with the headlight on:

Enable DRL "wink/switchback" with headlights on:
[09 – Cent. Elect.] [Coding - 07] -> Long Coding Helper -> Byte 27
Bit 4 - DRL (Daytime running lights) shutdown with turn signal active [PR-8EX/8EY] (1 = active)

I actually tried using an aftermarket switchback controller first, but that obviously triped a code on the dash for DRL failure. After hours of searching VCDS for how to disable that code I found this bit just a few bytes over from the normal "wink" bit that is mentioned in the VCDS thread.

I also found much brighter LEDs for the amber DRL. 100 lumen Cree Leds from Mouser, wired in with 30 ohms of resistors glued to the back of the DRL heatsinks and pulling power from the turn signal wires.
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...EBPAL100000D01

Here are some pictures comparing iteration 1 to iteration 2. I'm very happy with the results. I also feel comfortable removing the standard turn signals, so I did that and put black vinyl over the lens for the turn signal reflector.

Screenshot_20200621-182718.jpgScreenshot_20200622-134242.jpg


Here's a link to a video of the new lights in action:
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ah5xP6Ic-gPhmu44...5v6Og?e=AZStHU

[Ashtonts]

Thanks for posting the coding. I’m doing a sequential switchback strip in mine shortly, and I’ll probably wire it only to the turn signal and retain the factory DRL, so I’ll need full-time wink as well. What you’re doing was my idea of a fallback if I can’t get the strips to work or look good. Glad to know that’s at least an option! Yours look great.

I’ll almost certainly need some resistors too. I better go order some lol.

Did you find a way to get rid of the dash code with the controller?

[btb.tyler09]

There is no Dash Code with the current setup. The resistors in my setup are just used to get the right amperage through the Amber LEDs. I have found there is no code on the turn signal circuit when you install LEDs there. Not sure why, just never had any trouble with it. I did not find any way to turn off the dash code for front bulb out warnings. There are some guides in the VCDS thread on how to do it for the tail lights, but i tried every bit in that address, and neighboring addresses with no luck on any of the front light warnings. In the long coding for Module 09 Cent Elect, there are bits for disabling load monitoring for various front lights which may work, but i didn't try them since it wasn't needed for this application.

[Ashtonts]

There is no Dash Code with the current setup. The resistors in my setup are just used to get the right amperage through the Amber LEDs. I have found there is no code on the turn signal circuit when you install LEDs there. Not sure why, just never had any trouble with it. I did not find any way to turn off the dash code for front bulb out warnings. There are some guides in the VCDS thread on how to do it for the tail lights, but i tried every bit in that address, and neighboring addresses with no luck on any of the front light warnings. In the long coding for Module 09 Cent Elect, there are bits for disabling load monitoring for various front lights which may work, but i didn't try them since it wasn't needed for this application.

I'll dig into disabling the load monitoring if needed when I get started on my install. I may try playing around with resistors for my strips as well, but I wonder if that would cause issues with the aftermarket controller. Hopefully I can figure it out or (fingers crossed) it just works out of the box.

I appreciate the info!

[btb.tyler09]

I'll dig into disabling the load monitoring if needed when I get started on my install. I may try playing around with resistors for my strips as well, but I wonder if that would cause issues with the aftermarket controller. Hopefully I can figure it out or (fingers crossed) it just works out of the box.

I appreciate the info!

No problem, shoot me a pm if you run into issues and need some help. I've spent many many hours trying to figure this out, so I'm pretty familiar with these headlights now...

Time to go figure out sequential Tail lights...

Sent from my LM-V450 using Audizine mobile app

[Ashtonts]

No problem, shoot me a pm if you run into issues and need some help. I've spent many many hours trying to figure this out, so I'm pretty familiar with these headlights now...

Time to go figure out sequential Tail lights...

Sent from my LM-V450 using Audizine mobile app

Will do! Thanks.

Tail lights will be in the near-ish future for me to try to tackle as well. It’s been done on the B8.5 already and there are some YouTube videos out there (zero info on how they did it of course ). It’s definitely possible, just a matter of figuring it out lol


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[btb.tyler09]

Will do! Thanks.

Tail lights will be in the near-ish future for me to try to tackle as well. It’s been done on the B8.5 already and there are some YouTube videos out there (zero info on how they did it of course ). It’s definitely possible, just a matter of figuring it out lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have had some luck on these recently too. I started building a set of sequential tail lights using a Ghost module for the control, and the same LEDs i used on my original headlight mod. the issue is the North American cars came with a single signal wire shared between turn and brake, so there is no way to do a sequential light with separate Amber LEDs like i really wanted. However it is possible to add the separate signal wire and recode the controller to the Rest of the World variant. I will dig into that more now that the fronts are finished.

Here's a thread where we discussed it previously:
https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...4#post13680694

And there are some recent posts at Ross Tech that actually show coding for a B8 just need to see if it works for B8.5:
https://forums.ross-tech.com/showthr...o-coding/page6

And here's a link to a video of my tail light on the bench:
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ah5xP6Ic-gPhmq9BQsyAFPeP_B3xpg

[SteveYem]

Uh oh....I might have found my summer quarantine project.

Great work and thank you for posting the details!

[btb.tyler09]

Uh oh....I might have found my summer quarantine project.

Great work and thank you for posting the details!

No problem, best of luck. It is a pain finding glue to hold the LEDs to the pcb; lots of what i tried took forever to harden. I recommend using some Arctic Alumina thermal epoxy. I would like to design a custom PCB that slides the OEM LED over just a hair and allows for proper mounting of the amber LED, but that's on the outer edge of my capabilities. For resistors i wired 4x120 ohm 2 W resistors in parallel to yield the 30 ohms needed to drive these Cree LEDs just to make sure i had some power overhead. I should probably have put some kind of voltage regulator upstream of the LEDs, but i didn't.

[yahyah]

It's been over a year since i did this, and I had the unfortunate event of one of my DRLs turning a shade more yellow. I don't think it was from doing the mod, seems to be a common issue. Anyway it gave me another opportunity to improve the switchback DRL mod, so I went back to the drawing board. First I finally found the correct coding in VCDS to enable full switchback functionality even with the headlight on:

Enable DRL "wink/switchback" with headlights on:
[09 – Cent. Elect.] [Coding - 07] -> Long Coding Helper -> Byte 27
Bit 4 - DRL (Daytime running lights) shutdown with turn signal active [PR-8EX/8EY] (1 = active)

I actually tried using an aftermarket switchback controller first, but that obviously triped a code on the dash for DRL failure. After hours of searching VCDS for how to disable that code I found this bit just a few bytes over from the normal "wink" bit that is mentioned in the VCDS thread.

I also found much brighter LEDs for the amber DRL. 100 lumen Cree Leds from Mouser, wired in with 30 ohms of resistors glued to the back of the DRL heatsinks and pulling power from the turn signal wires.
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...EBPAL100000D01

Here are some pictures comparing iteration 1 to iteration 2. I'm very happy with the results. I also feel comfortable removing the standard turn signals, so I did that and put black vinyl over the lens for the turn signal reflector.

Screenshot_20200621-182718.jpgScreenshot_20200622-134242.jpg


Here's a link to a video of the new lights in action:
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ah5xP6Ic-gPhmu44...5v6Og?e=AZStHU

Hey Bud, did you ever end up documenting the work?

[btb.tyler09]

Hey Bud, did you ever end up documenting the work?

I have actually found some new LEDs again and want to improve this. I always want to improve it and I'm not 100% sure I want to share the process in it's current state. Maybe a bit of a perfectionist, but after driving with these on a sunny day I noticed the turn signals are still not super visible. At least in the reflection of other cars.

If the latest iteration is brighter maybe I will share more details then. If you are good with electronics you can figure it out from everything I've put in this thread though. It's pretty rudimentary in it's current state. Just glue some SMD LEDs right next to the white ones and wire them into the turn signal circuit with a resistor. For this to be practical it really needs a custom PCB, but that's beyond my capabilities right now.

Sent from my LM-V600 using Audizine Forum mobile app

[yahyah]

I have actually found some new LEDs again and want to improve this. I always want to improve it and I'm not 100% sure I want to share the process in it's current state. Maybe a bit of a perfectionist, but after driving with these on a sunny day I noticed the turn signals are still not super visible. At least in the reflection of other cars.

If the latest iteration is brighter maybe I will share more details then. If you are good with electronics you can figure it out from everything I've put in this thread though. It's pretty rudimentary in it's current state. Just glue some SMD LEDs right next to the white ones and wire them into the turn signal circuit with a resistor. For this to be practical it really needs a custom PCB, but that's beyond my capabilities right now.

Sent from my LM-V600 using Audizine Forum mobile app

Ok, I think its worth a try, the leds do produce a lot of heat, how are you overcoming that?

[btb.tyler09]

Ok, I think its worth a try, the leds do produce a lot of heat, how are you overcoming that?

Well I used thermal epoxy to glue them to the pcb, and they are only on periodically so I don't think they get that hot. I also oversized the resistors by quite a bit and glued them to the back of the DRL heatsink.

I found some LEDs that are about twice as bright as the ones listed above and plan to run them on a 700 mA driver. I'm hoping that will be the end game for this.

Sent from my LM-V600 using Audizine Forum mobile app

[yahyah]

Well I used thermal epoxy to glue them to the pcb, and they are only on periodically so I don't think they get that hot. I also oversized the resistors by quite a bit and glued them to the back of the DRL heatsink.

I found some LEDs that are about twice as bright as the ones listed above and plan to run them on a 700 mA driver. I'm hoping that will be the end game for this.

Sent from my LM-V600 using Audizine Forum mobile app

Thats awesome, looking forward to the finished product, can you send me a link of the new leds you found

[adam044]

Sub

[btb.tyler09]

Figured I'd post an update since there seemed to be interest in this.

I was able to get one headlight done with the brighter LEDs and using an actual LED driver. Results are pretty good. They are noticeably brighter and do a better job of filling the light tubes. They appear about as bright as the white DRL at stock brightness now. I'm happy with this, and am now planning to produce a small batch of replacement PCBs to make this a little more professional. I blew two of the drivers so for now i'm waiting on parts to finish the driver side, and do some prototyping for the PCB.

For anyone that may want to try I'm using the following components:
Lumiled LXM2-PL01-0000:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/...1-0000/3961191
Ebay 700 mA LED driver:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Driver-...72.m2749.l2649

I'm using one driver for two LEDs wired in parallel and two LEDs for each light tube. This is to improve light distribution in the tube, and provide some redundancy in case one of the LEDs fails. Hopefully with a custom PCB i can slide the white LED over a little and get the amber one closer to center.


The passenger side is Rev 3 and driver side is still Rev 2.
Video:
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ah5xP6Ic-gPhmvYH...5RZcQ?e=J31hoJ

20201012_171321_Moment.jpg

[Red_sline]

Figured I'd post an update since there seemed to be interest in this.

I was able to get one headlight done with the brighter LEDs and using an actual LED driver. Results are pretty good. They are noticeably brighter and do a better job of filling the light tubes. They appear about as bright as the white DRL at stock brightness now. I'm happy with this, and am now planning to produce a small batch of replacement PCBs to make this a little more professional. I blew two of the drivers so for now i'm waiting on parts to finish the driver side, and do some prototyping for the PCB.

For anyone that may want to try I'm using the following components:
Lumiled LXM2-PL01-0000:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/...1-0000/3961191
Ebay 700 mA LED driver:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Driver-...72.m2749.l2649

I'm using one driver for two LEDs wired in parallel and two LEDs for each light tube. This is to improve light distribution in the tube, and provide some redundancy in case one of the LEDs fails. Hopefully with a custom PCB i can slide the white LED over a little and get the amber one closer to center.


The passenger side is Rev 3 and driver side is still Rev 2.
Video:
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ah5xP6Ic-gPhmvYH...5RZcQ?e=J31hoJ

20201012_171321_Moment.jpg

thats amazing for sure, i have bought the same material for make this mod in my audi a5 b8.5, its just what i was looking for, if i have some doubts could I ask you dude? How have you manage for instead of dimmer drl light with turning lights are on shut down drl for only shine the turning amber light? coding it? or with the 700 mA LED driver?? do you have pics of the 700 mA led driver soldered in parallel the conections?? thank you in advance, great mod!!

[btb.tyler09]

Figured I'd post revision 3.0. I finally designed a pcb and had a batch of prototypes printed. They work as replacement DRLs and have room for the amber LED to have switchback function like I did above. Driver side is new boards and are much better than the yelowed oem ones on the passenger side.20220306_105245.jpg20220306_160754.jpg

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[Ashtonts]

So when are you selling a kit

[Alfonso@GIAC]

Figured I'd post revision 3.0. I finally designed a pcb and had a batch of prototypes printed. They work as replacement DRLs and have room for the amber LED to have switchback function like I did above. Driver side is new boards and are much better than the yelowed oem ones on the passenger side.20220306_105245.jpg20220306_160754.jpg

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Very very interested as well. The LED's seem so much more white and way better.

[btb.tyler09]

Finally done. These are now available on my site. You can check out the launch video too.

https://youtu.be/_21f0z9jScAGX010046_1662031421519_1.jpg

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[Cin.]

Tutorial please would be appreciated!! Wanted this for my audi a4 b8.5 aswell.

[btb.tyler09]

Tutorial please would be appreciated!! Wanted this for my audi a4 b8.5 aswell.

Hi,

There's an instruction manual on my website for this kit. I've left a link for the product page and manual below. If you have any questions let me know.

https://www.brookerdynamics.com/shop...chback-drl-kit

https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...nManual_SB.pdf

Thanks,
Tyler

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[Cin.]

Thannks man appreciated it! I really dont feel comfortable with lenses but ill give it a try in the future!