Driving Lights, install, wiring

[joel0407]

I'm about to install some driving lights on my Skoda Yeti (read cheap Tiguan but better). I have Bi-Xenons so I'll be tapping into not the high beam wire but the wire that opens the shutter. In order to attemp to get around throwing an error with the CANBUS I am going to use a transistor to operate the relay that will inturn operate the lights.

Reason is the coil in the relay has a load of 85ohms or about 2 watt or 150 milliamps at 13.2 volts. The Transister only needs 0.03w or 0.002 milliamps. Hopfully the very small power drain of the transister will be undetected by the CANBUS. The transistor can only handle about 500 milliamp on the Emiter and Collector side which will be plenty to power the coil in the relay but hardly enough to power a set of driving lights.

I'll keep you guys posted as to my results.

Happy Days

[joel0407]

Ok the last 2 days have been rubbish to say the least. Well until about mid day today anyway.

I have done a bucket load of searching, posted questions on several forums and sent a few Private Messages to people who had posted pictures of Skodas with driving lights. I was hoping that other Skodas might just use the same colour code with the head light wiring. Still no idea what wire was the high beam wire so I could use it to activate the relay.

All the wiring is sealed so I cant just test from the back of the plug. If I unplug connector, the Contorl Unit detects a break in the system, throws a code and turns off the light so I cont test from the end of the unpluged connector.

I managed to find the relay inside the head light and check the wires on the back. Power was all over the place and never anymore than 2.5v.

I was pulling my hair out and starting to think it wasn't going to be possible. A mate had suggested that I run a kick switch to the floor and operate the driving lights seperatly but that would annoy me to no end.

So late last night I found a site that had a downloadabe copy of the workshop manual and sold the key to operate it for 9.99 pound. I down loaded it over night and it turned out to be the best money I have ever spent on the Yeti.

I spent a couple of hours studying the circuit diagrams and by mid morning I was convinced that it couldn't be done. Turns out the Bi-Xenons have there own Control Unit. It monitors individual wheel speeds, steering angle, rear axle heigh to name a few. Turns out its a very cleaver unit. It receives Data from the main ECU and power then does it's own thing so there is no power wire as such going to the unit to open the shutter. It has it's own power and opens the shutter when it's told to via CANBUS data.

Then I considered that some people sell change over headlights from Halogens to Bi-Xenons. I checked the circuit diagrams for NON Bi-Xenons and found there is a wire from the power control unit that supplies power for high beam. Low and Behold it still workes even though everthing else is settup for Bi-Xenons.

So I now have a high beam power wire to activate my relay for the driving lights. It's Yellow with a grey line on the left side head light. I beleive ut's differnt on the right.

Happy Days.

[tigger73]

Thanks for posting back your findings. I am sure its going to save someone else a lot of heartache in the future.

[Tiggy11]

Hi Jamrsflys, good posts with some great info.. I have just bought some ipf 800xs lights I am going to have a go at putting on myself. I am thinking of getting a 35 or 55w HID kit to put in the driving lights. A couple of questions for you
- how many watts are your HID lights?
- what type of ballasts do your HIDs use? ( analog, digital or Canbus)

Thanks

Sent from my RM-821_apac_australia_new_zealand_218 using Tapatalk

[mike64]

Great documentation thankyou. I have installed a Rigid Industries SR2 led flood bar. The only thing I can add is I am using a Jaycar SPST 15Amp fused relay (catalogue number SY4076) with no adverse ecu effects.

Tiguan 130kw TDi