Technical Extra lights on a Stilo

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Technical Extra lights on a Stilo

Finn

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Hello guys

Can anyone tell me if and how I can put a pair of extra driving lights (full beam) on my 2003 Stilo? I have a pair of Hellas handy and to be honest I'm not that impressed with the car's own ones on dark country lanes. I'm sure my old runaround 1992 Uno gives better vision!

I had a 1996 Volvo V40 that got confused when I wired the aux lights in the usual old fashioned way (feed through a relay, signal to relay from the back of the car's own headlight). On that the extra lights came on with full beam but not when I flashed the lights, and they also came on with sidelights, but only when the ignition was on! I have no idea how that worked, there must be multiple voltages going along the same wire somehow or something.

The Stilo is 7 years newer and far more complicated... So is it possible on the Stilo to get them coming on and off with the main beam, and if so, how?

Thanks!
 
I can understand why you want those extra lights - Cars from up north in Norway, Sweden and Finland are usually decorated with 2-4 extra lamps in front. :) My family is from above the arctic (polar) circle...

I'd recommend an extra switch for your new lights, fed directly from the battery, and avoided every possibility for damaging the car's electrical system - it seems a bit fragile... Maybe there is some sort of relay that can be used that shuts them off with the ignition (orange wire from ignition barrel). If you flash your lights, they will not flash - but is that a problem?

Morten.
 
As all the electronics on the stilo are can based
the only way to add additional driving lights is to
piggy back the original system.

You will therefore need to fit an additional own
produced wire loom with a fused feed direct from the
battery to the lamps. Use wire capable of taking the
power load to both lamps. Feed both lamps from the
switched side of a 12v relay, feed from the battery to
the other side of the switch. Then use a spur feed from
the cars main beam bulb wire to act as the live side
of the coil on the relay. The negative side of the coil
earths to the body.

http://dlcparts.com/images/BoschGuide.pdf page 29

John
 
I can understand why you want those extra lights - Cars from up north in Norway, Sweden and Finland are usually decorated with 2-4 extra lamps in front. :) My family is from above the arctic (polar) circle...

I'd recommend an extra switch for your new lights, fed directly from the battery, and avoided every possibility for damaging the car's electrical system - it seems a bit fragile... Maybe there is some sort of relay that can be used that shuts them off with the ignition (orange wire from ignition barrel). If you flash your lights, they will not flash - but is that a problem?

Morten.

Morten, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately Finland is different to every other country in the world... :) Firstly I'm only legally allowed one pair of auxiliary lights, and even they are limited to 17,5 ref each making 35 for a pair. They count the car's own as 40 ref and 75 is the max allowed at a time. Also they have all kinds of strange rules about switching. In this case I'm pretty certain they have to work together with the car's main beam, otherwise you may have both on and forget to switch the aux lights off when someone is coming towards you. This I can understand, but limiting the ref to 75 I don't. They just love to have rules over here!

As all the electronics on the stilo are can based
the only way to add additional driving lights is to
piggy back the original system.

You will therefore need to fit an additional own
produced wire loom with a fused feed direct from the
battery to the lamps. Use wire capable of taking the
power load to both lamps. Feed both lamps from the
switched side of a 12v relay, feed from the battery to
the other side of the switch. Then use a spur feed from
the cars main beam bulb wire to act as the live side
of the coil on the relay. The negative side of the coil
earths to the body.


John

John, thanks for the link. It's a fascinating PDF ful of good tips and I will save it for future use, but does it address this particular thing anywhere? What you describe above sounds like what I've done many times in the past on cars and larger vehicles, but does the Stilo system not get confused if you borrow a signal from the car's own lights? As Morten said, the electrical system seems pretty fragile and I don't want to upset it like I did on my Volvo!

Cheers, Steve
 
Hello guys

Can anyone tell me if and how I can put a pair of extra driving lights (full beam) on my 2003 Stilo?
Would it not be a lot easier to simply upgrade the output of the existing lights.

Standard you have 110 watts dipped and 220 watts on full beam which is a fair output.

You could upgrade to 150%, 180% 190% extra brighter bulbs etc (I believe current drain is the same - they're just more efficient)
 
Morten, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately Finland is different to every other country in the world... :) Firstly I'm only legally allowed one pair of auxiliary lights, and even they are limited to 17,5 ref each making 35 for a pair. They count the car's own as 40 ref and 75 is the max allowed at a time. Also they have all kinds of strange rules about switching. In this case I'm pretty certain they have to work together with the car's main beam, otherwise you may have both on and forget to switch the aux lights off when someone is coming towards you. This I can understand, but limiting the ref to 75 I don't. They just love to have rules over here!

We have the same kind of rules here aswell (including the ref. 17,5), and they have been narrowed in later years. Here's the summary:
- One or two pairs of "long" lights. As one pair is there from the factory, only one pair of extra lights is allowed.
- The lights are to be lit one pair at the time, so, either 2 or 4 lights - not 1 or 3.
- When you go from "long lights" (don't know the correct terms) to "short lights" all of them (inlcuding the aux lights) must be shut off at the same time.

To sum this, I can add one pair of "long" aux lights into the main long lights but with an additional switch. If this switch is on always, they will be lit when I turn on the original factory mounted "long" lights.

What's the correct terms for the different lights on a car? I know fog lights... We actually call them "curve lights".
 
  • Side or parking lights
  • Direction indicators
  • Dipped beam headlights
  • Main beam headlights
  • Fog lights
  • Spot lights (I think these are what you're calling 'long lights' Morten).
 
Yes Morten, I knew what you meant! In Finnish the terms "long" and "short" are also used. They also use the term 'driving lights' for normal dipped lights, which is a bit confusing as I think in the UK 'driving lights' sometimes refers to extra "long" lights. As Yellow Peril said, the UK terms are dipped beam and main beam, also called full beam. 'Auxiliary lights' normally means the same thing, although it can probably refer to any aftermarket lights added after the car left the factory.

So your Norwegian rules seem similar to here. But even if you have a separate switch for your extra lights so you can leave them off, the signal to turn them on and off still needs to be jumped off the car's own main beam lights if you want them to always switch off with the car's own main beam. Which brings us back to the start with the problem, can I do that on my Stilo or will it mess up the delicate electrical system too much? :)

Steve
 
If you check on page 29 diagram A or B you adapt from that.

The main positive should be taken direct from the battery
new wire and fused and is run to the positive feed to both lights.

This wire is broken by the relay switch, the negative feed to both
lights is taken from a body earth.

The bit that needs to work from the stilo is the coil side of the relay.
Add a wire to one of the wires that powers the the actual bulb.
Feed this wire to an illuminated switch (lights up when power is applied)
near the driver, then back to the coil side of the relay - this will then
switch the lights on when the bulb on the car lights light up. You can
also switch the additional lights off by the switch if need be in fog.

As you are piggy backing the stilo system after the can switching part
in theory it should not cause any problems with the cars electronics.

Try it first though before fitting the lights properly.

John

Please Note No liablity accepted for advice given.
 
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Thanks John. That does sound like what I have done previously, so I guess I'll just try it and see if the Stilo gets confused or not. Like I said, my 1996 Volvo did get confused, even though I jumped the signal to the relay from right behind the headlight at the car's own full beam wire. I'm still not exactly sure how this managed to confuse it, but it did. I suppose it could have been something to do with the Volvo's lights being on all the time, regardless of switch position - I guess that system has to be more complicated than bog standard light wiring... Maybe if I can get hold of a wiring diagram for the Stilo lights it will show if there is anything else connected to the full beam lead for any reason.

Also I'm now in Finland and the cold might be adding to the pressure on the car's systems. Today it suddenly informed me of a bulb failure, rear fog light. I wasn't even using the fog lights, and when I put them on they both worked. So I think the car is easily confused, and today's -15 C temperature might have worsened it.

Shadeyman, those look like pretty standard relay kits, which I am familiar with. In fact, the abovementioned Volvo was wired with a kit that came with a set of Ring spots, and it still got confused!

Anyway, thanks everyone for the advice. I'll try the old trial and error approach and hope for the best, but not until it warms up as I haven't got a heated garage!
 
Argonought said: Would it not be a lot easier to simply upgrade the output of the existing lights.

Yes, I thought of that, but this country's rules get in the way again. Max full beam bulb wattage 60W, over that you get trouble with the law and MoT man. It is tempting to try though... :)
 
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Today it suddenly informed me of a bulb failure, rear fog light. I wasn't even using the fog lights, and when I put them on they both worked.

If you have the 5 door (which I have) from 2001-2004 or so (pre 2nd edition), with fog lights on each side of the number plate, they get water in from the rear windscreen wiper hole... You have to open up the rear fogs, clean the contacts etc., and seal the wiper hole with silicone. Look at your fogs, they will look like they have a greenish Gaussian blur on the lower half.
 
Max full beam bulb wattage 60W, over that you get trouble with the law and MoT man. It is tempting to try though... :)
But surely spotlights would count as full beam so that would really be 110 watts per side plus the dipped beam (always on) making a massive 165 watts per a side. That amounts to a staggering 27.5 amp load on the electrics just for lighting :eek:

The uprated bulbs you can buy are actually rated as standard 55 watt so effectively you get something for nothing (in truth they're just more efficient tending to give a whiter light). One downside is that they tend to blow a lot quicker than normal bulbs although main beams aren't that difficult to replace on a Stilo ;)
 
Hi Mort!

Update: I finally had the chance to fit the extra lights, and I had no problems. I fitted them using the standard procedure for fitting extra lights and they work with main beam and also when I flash the lights.

Stilo lights.jpg

The lights are Hella's 17,5 ref full/main beam auxiliary lights, so they're legal here and in Norway. The blue and the shape was a coincidence (these were left over from a previous car), but I think they look ok!

I fitted them behind the number plate using a standard black plate with mounting ears on it. You probably have them in Norway - Biltema sell them in other Scandinavian countries anyway (I looked for it for you: http://www.biltema.no/no/Sok1/Alle/?quicksearchquery=42490). I bolted mine on with three bolts, if I remember right. I drilled through the bumper plastic and fitted right length bolts with big washers so they don't rip through the plastic bumper. It was difficult but possible to get the bolt up behind the bumper, with the washer in place, and push it through. A spanner can fit in there to hold it when you are tightening nuts from the front.

Wiring: I wired using a 4 pin relay and thick enough wire using the normal accessory wiring. The four pins were:

  • feed direct from the battery (via an inline fuse) to the relay
  • earth
  • switching signal
  • feed to lights
The switching signal I jumped from behind the right-hand headlight (passenger side for you, Mort). From memory, I think it was a purple kind of colour, but check it first. (I wired the signal from the low beam to turn off the DRLs at the same time, and also located the front fog to make sure they went right, so double check! But I *think* it was purple main beam, orangey-colour for low beam and red for fogs. But check using a live tester with a spike!) NOTE: I don't recommend using a suitcase connector, piggyback connector or whatever they're called, which are the blue things that go over the existing wire and crush a new one in next to it. The guy whose garage I was in jokingly said that their use is banned in his garage, and I found out why. I used them, as it was all I had, and they connection was rubbish. Sometimes on, sometimes off... I took the suitcases out and chopped the wires (for these and the DRLs) and replaced with a sleeve connector. The live from the battery should be fused and thick enough to take the current of whatever lights you put on there. Same goes for the feed to the lights. The relay earth doesn't have to be anything special, as I understand it, but it doesn't harm if it is thick, too. The signal from the main beam to the relay can be pretty much anything, as it doesn't carry much current.

Finally, after the relay is on and wired up, you of course need to earth the lights themselves. In my experience (I've fitted a few sets of these in my time) this is the area that causes most problems as it doesn't get done well. Simply earthing 'somewhere' might not be good enough! I ran earth cables that were as thick as the live feeds from each light back to the battery earth. As I was running wires along that route anyway it wasn't too much extra effort, and it guarantees a good earth.

Wiring colours: For clarity and to help future owners of your car (or mechanics), think about what colour wires you use. Not all the same colour and thickness because you happen to have a big reel of cable in the garage! (I've seen it done... a nightmare to try and trace wires later on!) I don't know if there is an official recommended colour system, but I use the following where possible: Red is live from the battery, yellow is switched live to the lights or other accessory, blue (if possible) for full beam signal to the relay (like it used to be in old cars) and always black for earth cables. Tbh, in reality my feed to the relay is red, because I happen to have a reel of red cable bought years ago for running marker lights on lorries and it doesn't need to be any thincker than that! :D

Stilo DRL.jpg
 
I've bought a pair of Hella Jumbo 320 FF. :D:D:D Finn, the rules here have actually softened. It is now allowed with 100% of 480 lux, not 75% = 360 lux as before. Anyway, it doesn't matter, as my new lights add 17,5*2=35% anyway. The other variant is 37,5*2=75% alone, leaving the Stilo to have only 25% left. Anyone know what number is on the Stilo's lights?
 
Found it... The number 20 is right behind the E-mark of both headlights. And since it doesn't exist an extra spotlight with ref. 30, we have to use 17,5. This adds up to 75% of max lux of 480. The only solution to max out the 480 lux is adding another pair of lights with ref 12,5 each, but I don't find that very logic.

I plan putting 100 watt bulbs into the lights, and using a thicker positive cable. The amp rating on the fuse is 25, so this means 300 watts can be pulled through, right? (I used 12 volts, as there will be voltage drops in -20°C). 100 watt bulbs will not pass the MOT here, but they will give me more light! (y)
 
Relay and wiring are now done and working. It clicks just as the main beam initiates. You were right Finn, it's the purple wire on the right side that feeds the relay the signal. The mounts are also bolted to the bumper. Waiting for my 100W bulbs from Demon Tweeks UK this week, so I can mount my pair of Hella Jumbo 320s in front.:D Planning to fry the iris of everyone coming towards me.Will post up pics when done.
 
:)

I'm still debating what to do about the bulbs that keep blowing on the left hand side of my Stilo. In less than a year of owning it both the sidelight bulbs have gone a second time. It's a pain in the butt to change them and I don't want to waste time changing them again if there is some kind of wiring problem that needs fixing. The low beam and fog light also went on the same side, so it probably is that earthing issue that I heard about. But I still haven't found the article on that and the Fiat people around here haven't come across the same issue!
 
hi there, i have the same problem with my stilo.
the lights are awful. i have tried changing the main d2r bulbs to a higher ones from ebay and they were really good but kept turning on and off on there own so i sent them back. only reason i bought then is that they were £18 and the real ones in the shop was £80. well i learnt my lesson but and i know now not to buy cheap ones off ebay.
the only solution i can find it to try new bulbs from a shop and if that doesnt work then i will get spot lights to fit in the bottom of each grill and make a relay and a switch in the car. this is the only option i have found or the only other option i have found is to change the car as the bip lights on my stilo are really really bad, and i know it sound extreme changing a car just because of the lights are bad but i think after christmas that is my only option
 
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