A little project - W169 flexi DRL / Turn Signal mod

ZZZZ

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I wanted to see how easy it is to fit the newish style changeable DRLs (those flexible ones that turn yellow when you indicate) into a W169 headlamp, and whether that will look OEM-ish

The trial headlamp unit was kindly donated by David Richardson (don't worry, he's not driving around with one headlight - he's got a new one).

the headlamp:
35563824131_24b9830e7d_o.jpg


daytime light:
35525485022_81d90ace6c_o.jpg


turn signal light:
35307131140_9620afc441_o.jpg


It doesn't look too bad, I suppose, but it's not perfect either - the light is not in fact, as uniformed, as I wanted (expected the white light to be continuous); the mounting clips are pretty crude; the glue that holds the headlamp together is a horrible sticky ... substance (thanks to Craig for a great tip on dealing with it, by the way); there's a problem with the ends of the flexi tube - too crude to leave as is, particularly the wired end (I fed that inside the chrome trim).

All in all, having done this, I have to conclude that, I won't be doing it with my car - too fiddly, and the end result is, well, questionable.
 

Craiglxviii

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David this is very good. I think we may need to have a little chat...
 
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ZZZZ

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I've done some further bench testing - everything works perfectly, including hazard lights mode and the short 3-blinks turn signal - there's a short delay, before the white DRL resumes - just like OEM.

Now that I played with it a bit more, the white light is very bright and uniformed, and the naked eye doesn't actually see the individual LEDs, as in the above photo, rather it looks a continuous flexi tube, as it should really.

The thing is growing on me ha-ha :)
 

David Richardson

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Nice one David, I love it.

Dave
 

LostKiwi

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I have to say it looks fine to me.
 
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ZZZZ

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Thanks chaps, glad you like it.

It is clear to me that, neither my expertise, nor the facilities available, are sufficient to professionally dismantle a headlamp unit, and re-assemble it after the retrofit, however the actual mod is reasonably okay ...

I guess that's where Craig's expertise will come in :)
 

umblecumbuz

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That looks brilliant (pun apologies).
Didn't know there was such a gizmo.
Where can you buy these flexi drl's?
 
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ZZZZ

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I bought it on AliExpress, there are plenty on eBay too ... the quality will vary considerably, as always.
 

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