GM truck driving lights on with high beams mod.

mich800 wrote:

It would be the lower fogs, middle primary and the top are technically the parking/DRL lights. But if you have been in front of one in your rear view mirror or approaching the top brightness is no different than the others. At least the perceived light that is hitting you. They look like 6 clearly defined lights.

It's bright, but I don't think it's 300 candlepower bright, which is something like over 3,700 lumens. Looks like Jeep knocks down the light output in that section so it doesn't get counted.


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dodge guy wrote:
The new LED’s and HID’s are far worse for blinding people than the mod the OP has done. I see no issues with driving lights on with high beams!

X2 and the Ford and GM LED's seem to be the worst for blinding oncoming vehicles (not that the FCA's are much different). I pass a guy in a new GM pick-up every night that I actually lose the sight of the road ahead of me until he gets past me. The first time I came upon him I flashed my high beams at him and when he flashed his back I thought the sun came out for a second! These new LED's are starting to get ridiculously bright IMO.

Don

Starting with at least the GMT 900 trucks, lights were run off relays accessible in the fuse panel. 2014 changed that to either hidden relays, or the relay function as part of the BCM.

transamz9 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
The new LED’s and HID’s are far worse for blinding people than the mod the OP has done. I see no issues with driving lights on with high beams!

I agree 100%. I dont know why OEM dont have the driving lights on with high beams.

I cannot speak for the OP's newer 2016 truck... However GM for years has run the headlight power through the headlight switch. Other manufacturers use a relay to power the headlights. Thus high+low together draws too much power and tends to burn out the headlight switch.

All three of my 1990's era trucks have an added relay setup to turn on the low beams when the high beams are turned on. My 1990's era sedans have full relay replacements so they run off a high current wiring bypass all the time. The factory headlights on the sedans are about as good as mounting a couple candles to the fenders. With the wiring bypass I am able to run brighter-than-stock bulbs. This really puts my lighting on par with current production vehicles and is not excessive by any means.

And before anyone gets on my case about it.... Around 70% of the time I come home in the evenings I spot deer on the road or at the edge. I firmly believe these brighter-than-stock changes have prevented many an incident for myself and my wife.

Thanks,
-Eric

proxim2020 wrote:

mich800 wrote:

I believe that is when the high beams are on. The new Cherokee has six light on with the low beam if you have the fogs on.

As far as overloading the high beam circuit, the Euro vehicles do not have this restriction and the fogs stay on with the high beams. So the wiring is adequate unless they are using a completely different harness.

Where's the 5th and 6th lamp that could be lit on the Cherokee? There's the headlight and the fogs, but I don't see any others. If you're thinking the LED strip, I don't think those strips produce enough light to be considered according to the regs.

It would be the lower fogs, middle primary and the top are technically the parking/DRL lights. But if you have been in front of one in your rear view mirror or approaching the top brightness is no different than the others. At least the perceived light that is hitting you. They look like 6 clearly defined lights.

And I agree there is no issues running them all at the same time regardless of whether the high or low beams are on. As stated the euro versions do not have this limitation and you can run with the fogs and high beams. Another weird difference is the euros like stubby radio control dials. Not sure why they go through the trouble changing these two knobs on the euros but they do.

mich800 wrote:

I believe that is when the high beams are on. The new Cherokee has six light on with the low beam if you have the fogs on.

As far as overloading the high beam circuit, the Euro vehicles do not have this restriction and the fogs stay on with the high beams. So the wiring is adequate unless they are using a completely different harness.

It's the total amount of lamps illuminated on the front of the vehicle. Lots of states have similar verbiage in their laws. For example:

CT Motor Vehicles Sec. 14-96y.
"(b) Whenever a motor vehicle equipped with head lamps as herein required is also equipped with any auxiliary lamps or a spot lamp or any other lamp on the front thereof projecting a beam of intensity greater than three hundred candlepower, not more than a total of four of any such lamps on the front of a vehicle shall be lighted at any one time when upon a highway."

WA RCW 46.37.270
"(2) Whenever a motor vehicle equipped with head lamps as herein required is also equipped with any auxiliary lamps or a spot lamp or any other lamp on the front thereof projecting a beam of intensity greater than three hundred candlepower, not more than a total of two of any such additional lamps on the front of a vehicle shall be lighted at any one time when upon a highway."

MI Vehicle Code Section 257.686
"(5) When a motor vehicle equipped with head lamps as required in this section is also equipped with auxiliary lamps or a spot lamp or any other lamp on the front of the motor vehicle projecting a beam of an intensity greater than 300 candlepower, not more than a total of 4 of those lamps on the front of a vehicle shall be lighted at a time when upon a highway."

Where's the 5th and 6th lamp that could be lit on the Cherokee? There's the headlight and the fogs, but I don't see any others. If you're thinking the LED strip, I don't think those strips produce enough light to be considered according to the regs.

BenK wrote:
Also, consider the alternator load...some can NOT supply that kind of power for long...duty cycle...

Any truck can handle a few more amps of load. It's minimal.

Grit dog wrote:
driving lights automatically stay on with high beams.

They are actually fog lights.

Also, consider the alternator load...some can NOT supply that kind of power for long...duty cycle...

proxim2020 wrote:

transamz9 wrote:

I agree 100%. I dont know why OEM dont have the driving lights on with high beams.

In some states you're restricted to a max of 4 illuminated lamps that can project a beam.

Still only 4 lights shining....except for vehicles that may have separate low and high beam lights (not alot).