Parking light mod - with a twist (headlight warning buzzer)

So, was driving by Radio Shack and decided to pick up some diodes and do the parking light mod.

Was actually very easy. I did not cut the wires to the relay. Just pushed the one control wire out of the terminal block and replaced it with my own wire connected to the diodes.

Did make a couple of twists to the install though.
1) In the old parking light mod thread, people mentioned that if the headlight that you are pulling control power from dies, the relay won't trip and the headlights won't go up. So, I went for overkill, got 4 diodes, and wired all headlight terminals (10-13) up the the relay.

2) Headlight warning buzzer. Since I can now have the parking lights on and headlights down, I figured there was a possibility of me getting out of the car and leaving the parking lights on. And, if my '75 Corvette had a warning buzzer from the factory, why didn't my '77 GTB. So, I added one. And it was even simpler that the parking light mod. LOL.

Just got a small 79dB buzzer at Radio Shack. Connected the positive to the bottom terminal of fuse 14 (parking lights). Connected the negative to the bottom of fuse 1 (stop lights, etc) which is powered by the ignition switch. If lights are left on, with ignition off, the buzzer grounds through the stop light circuit and buzzes. If the ignition is on, there is +12V on both sides of the buzzer and no noise. Ignition on, lights on, no noise. Quick and easy.

 

Both very clever ideas. ... Adding 2 more diodes for the other light, and a buzzer to my ToDo list.

does anyone else loose their lights momentarily going from low to high beams after the mod? Not all the time, but I often loose both lights for a second or two or get winks & blinks going from low to high or high to low beams

 

I just did this mod with two diodes. My car is a 78 GTS US model.

My lights will "wink" when the lever is pulled back to flash the high beams. Headlights are on, buckets are up and when the lever is pulled back, the buckets will go down, lights go off, then buckets go up, low beam is back on. It's like a wink, then a flash, but high beams do not come on when lever is pukked back. The "high beam flash" becomes the buckets going up, then down only with the low beams.

The up and down lever function is normal. Middle position-low beam and lowest position-high beam.

When moving the lever from low to high beam (middle to lowest position) the lights do stay on.

I think I remember reading that this was a known problem with this mod.

 

My understanding is that the "pass to flash" function only turns the headlights on low when the light stalk is in the parking light position. At least that is how it works on my car. When the headlights are on low, pulling the stalk does nothing for me. In high, it dims the headlights from high to low. So, I believe that the "pass to flash" is a monetary switch for the low beam.

However, it only works with the parking lights on, it does not work with the stalk turned off.

May have to add separate pass to flash driving lights like the Euro cars.

 

heres my low power running light mod.
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What diodes did you get..anything specific?

 

RE: Parking light mod - with a twist (headlight warning buzzer)

Thank you for this simple improvement to my life. I have a tendency to forget to turn off the parking lights and have been wanting to do this, but I didn't know how to wire it up. This will really help.

 

The original post specified 200V, 1 Amp diodes. They come in packs of 2. Since I ended up using two each on low and high beams, I am sure that the current is very low.

Pulled the relay for headlight control and inserted a small pick into the hole next to the right hand terminal. This is the control terminal. The pick will depress the latch and let you pull the terminal out the back of the relay block. I then covered that terminal with electrical tape. Inserted a new 1/4" terminal into the relay block and wired that to the diodes and the bottom of fuses 10-13 (counting from the left). I used some terminal doublers from Radio Shack to make this thing easily removable.

 

If a '75 Chevrolet can have a headlight warning buzzer, why not a '77 Ferrari, LOL. But, basically the same principle as the generator warning light. Differential voltage. I think the buzzer has a built in diode so just make sure to go red wire to the (+) parking lights and balck wire to the controlled "ground".

Now I just need to figure out a key buzzer. Not sure if our ignition switch supports that.

 

Very cool.. and thanks for the details!

 

BTW, where are most of you getting your clear/white euro parking light lenses? I think that should be a nice upgrade to Grigio.

 

Hey, I was just thinking about this and I'm wondering if there is any reason I couldn't use the existing inactive seat belt warning buzzer. I think I would have to figure out where it's hidden and all the hash of wires and relays that are involved, but it might be kind of cool. I think it also is connected with a "key in the ignition warning" circuit. So maybe remove the seat belt buzzer part of the circuit and include lights on warning and get a key warning too. I may bag out though because it would take less time to go to Radio Shack and get a buzzer.

 

Here is a link to the buzzer I got from Radio Shack.
RadioShack 12VDC Mini Electric Buzzer : Buzzers, speakers & mics | RadioShack.com

It cost a $1.59 and for what it does and ease of install, definitely worth it. 79dB is just about right for a warning buzzer. Do NOT get the 102dB Piezo siren. Damn, that was loud, LOL.

 

Just completed the "lights on" warning buzzer trick. I used a piece of mounting tape to put the buzzer on the same panel that the relays are on. There is an extra space at the lower left so I ran the wires through a hole and the buzzer sits flat in a space that looks like it belongs.

I also learned what a piggyback connector is. I used it to add another spade lug to the two existing ones. So the whole installation is neat and clean. I zip tied the wires in so it's pretty classy.

Thanks for the great tip on how to do this. It's something I've wanted to do for ages, but haven't known how to figure out the wiring. For all you guys who are getting older, and forgetful, this will be a lifesaver. Now if I can only figure out where I put my glasses...

 

Guys, for posterity's sake in this digital age, where are your pictures? "-)

 

Yeah, I thought about taking a picture but it seemed kind of mundane compared to the stuff that the talented guys post.

 

Guess you're right.. sorry, cant seem to find any of my Ferrari tear-down pics.
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The empty bottle of Jack Daniels explains a lot. I've often wondered what would drive someone to take apart an entire engine on their workbench...

 

Firstly.. because they can, and based on your comment alone, its obvious that wondering is probably what you do a lot of....

Secondly, the empty bottle of Jack merely serves as a decanter for a particular cleaning solution.

And lastly, that isn't an entire engine on a work bench.. simply heads and cam towers being disassembled for inspection in the manner they should. We call it bench-work as a matter of fact.

 

I hope you understood my comment was intended to be a light attempt at humor. I am always impressed by the bigger deal mechanical work that is shown on this site. I can do little dinky stuff, but pulling apart engines and gear boxes remains out of my league.

 

My apologizes as I really didn't get the humor, nor as I posted did I recognize it was you.

No worries..

 

No problem, dry humor fails on the internet, but I keep trying...

 

BTW, back to the topic at hand. Again my thanks to the original poster of this quick trick. I have only had this buzzer installed for a week or two and already it has managed to warn me of my parking lights being left on more than once. I can't imagine how many times I left them on in the past without knowing it. It is a great idea and everyone should take the half hour or so to rig this up.

 

Looks like I'll have to find diodes elsewhere. Radio Shacks in my area have all closed their doors!