Automatic headlight off?

[Charlie]

Does anybody know a way that I can make it so my headlights go off with the car, no matter what position the headlight switch is in? I am not looking for a DRL, but someway to make it so I can leave the switch wherever I want, and it just doesn't power anything unless the igintion is "on."

If anybody knows a good way to do this, that would be great, because whenever I start do to my own thing it might get dangerous...

 

[TheJackal]

I suppose you could do this with a relay. Find a wire that has +12V only when the car is running. Run that to the relay coil and the other side of the coil to ground. Then, cut the headlight wire out of the switch and connect to the relay so that when it is closed the headlight will operate.

I'll try to make a diagram of this to make it clear.

I've thought about doing this to my own car at one time. In my old '89 CV, the chime speaker got so low it couldn't be heard. I couldn't hear when it was ringing and so I'd leave the headlights on without knowing. It was especially tricky with that car because it had delay lights and I'd be used to leaving it with the lights on. One day I accidentally left them on as I was taking an ACT test. There wasn't much hope for the battery after that.

 

[Charlie]

I was going to do a relay with that, but then I would be messing with the fuse panel, and I was looking for a way to avoid that. Like, hopefully somebody would know an easier/cleaner way

 

[TheJackal]

You could try this:

I don't know of any other way to do it, though. Anyone else?

BTW, Code Alarm page says that headlights are Red/Black and near the ignition harness. Verify with DMM first.

 

[CDW6212R]

Do you have the automatic headlight function already, the later models have it on the center mirror?

I rewired my mirror switch by feeding it a different circuit power, and covering my light sensor in the mirror. My lights come on when the oil pressure comes up(engine running), and turn off when the oil pressure drops(engine off).

If you only have the normal headlight switch, a relay or switch to interrupt the normal headlight circuit is the only answer. FYI, you can tap into the wiring there behind the headlight switch(red/yellow I think), that is very low current. It will do the same thing. Good luck,