Guys I am confused with the operation of parking lights on our TA and need some help.

First things first, as some people know car has Xenons & the DLRs have 2 bulbs in each, same as any other 500.

In normal operation the DLRs are ON but rear lights are not on.
Night time driving turn left hand stalk to O and low beam & rear lights come on.
when car is parked, turn ignition OFF and turn stalk to O, DLRs come on with rear lights.

Two questions;

1) during evening driving with DLRs is there anyway to have rear lights on as well, i.e. not have low beam plus rear lights ?
2) how/when does the 2nd bulb in DLR come on?

Cheers

The 2nd lights in the DRL pod is the high/full beam light.

As far as I am aware, there is no way to have the rear lights on at the same time as just the DRL lights. They only come on at the same time as the low beam headlights. I wish you could do that, many a time it's too light for headlights but too dim to drive with no lights on at all which is where the old style sidelight setting on cars used to come in......bloody Fiat...lol

Can't see it having xenons making any difference to that, though I am fully prepared to be corrected on that. Would be nice though.......

Richard.

You understand the issue, thanks. So 2nd bulb in DRL (not DLR as I mentioned, which is Docklands Light Railway) is the main beam, in the case of Xenons the 2nd bulb may be redundant as there is a flip gate in Xenons to redirect beam to high beam.

I will check high beam.

So to confirm one has to turn on low beam to put rear lights on at dusk/dawn.

arorat said:

Guys I am confused with the operation of parking lights on our TA and need some help.

First things first, as some people know car has Xenons & the DLRs have 2 bulbs in each, same as any other 500.

In normal operation the DLRs are ON but rear lights are not on.
Night time driving turn left hand stalk to O and low beam & rear lights come on.
when car is parked, turn ignition OFF and turn stalk to O, DLRs come on with rear lights.

Two questions;

1) during evening driving with DLRs is there anyway to have rear lights on as well, i.e. not have low beam plus rear lights ?
2) how/when does the 2nd bulb in DLR come on?

Cheers

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If it's dark enough to need the rear lights on then you should have the headlights on. Thankfully the 500 doesn't enable you to run with just parking lights on which stops the incredibly dangerous practice of people running around on the road DRIVING with PARKING lights on.

Exactly. The old 'sidelights' were actually meant for parking, and not driving. This is why we had dim/dip lights (with the big resistor to run the headlights at a dimmed, when the ignition is turned on, but brighter than pilot lights alone) in the eighties and early nineties..

bgunn said:

Exactly. The old 'sidelights' were actually meant for parking, and not driving. This is why we had dim/dip lights (with the big resistor to run the headlights at a dimmed, when the ignition is turned on, but brighter than pilot lights alone) in the eighties and early nineties..

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Pet hate of mine to see people hanging onto the very last moment at dusk to put their headlights on What people don't realise is that being visible from behind is far less important than being visible from in front due to closing speeds. Sidelights are barely visible on most cars especially when the sun is starting to get low. Headlights are far more visible and a MUCH safer option.

Some homework for people.

Work out the tme taken for the following cars to meet (as in crash into) each othee, The cars are both half a mile apart.

Two cars on an A road doing 60 mph each and heading in the opposite direction

One car doing 30mph in the same direction as a car doing 60mph from behind the 30mph car

Work out both sums and you'll see why being well lit from the front is way more important than being lit from behind.

Fact is, headlights on in the day don't dazzle/glare - so it's better to have them on too early than too late.

bgunn said:

Fact is, headlights on in the day don't dazzle/glare - so it's better to have them on too early than too late.

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Yup. Personally in the 500 I'm happy driving around with DRL's on during the day until dusk and then it's headlights on as soon as it starts getting the tiniest bit dark.

arorat said:

You understand the issue, thanks. So 2nd bulb in DRL (not DLR as I mentioned, which is Docklands Light Railway) is the main beam, in the case of Xenons the 2nd bulb may be redundant as there is a flip gate in Xenons to redirect beam to high beam.

I will check high beam.

So to confirm one has to turn on low beam to put rear lights on at dusk/dawn.

Click to expand...

Arorat. Posting below showing the OFF, DRL on, Low Beam and then High Beam in the 'standard' headlights with input from grimwau...
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/269925-diff-colour-dash-4.html?p=2764152
I didn't realise that the 2nd bulb in the DRL came on when high beam was turned on. It would be a good comparison if the Xenon set up was any different to the standard headlights. Expect that the only difference will be in the brighness of the main headlight.

306maxi said:

If it's dark enough to need the rear lights on then you should have the headlights on. Thankfully the 500 doesn't enable you to run with just parking lights on which stops the incredibly dangerous practice of people running around on the road DRIVING with PARKING lights on.

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Papa-Maxi, I have been driving and riding bikes at an advanced level a long time to know all the basics of road manners and road speed, that wasn't my question.

Fariniac has answered the tech question and I will check operation of high beam via 2nd DRL bulb.

loveshandbags said:

Arorat. Posting below showing the OFF, DRL on, Low Beam and then High Beam in the 'standard' headlights with input from grimwau...
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/269925-diff-colour-dash-4.html?p=2764152
I didn't realise that the 2nd bulb in the DRL came on when high beam was turned on. It would be a good comparison if the Xenon set up was any different to the standard headlights. Expect that the only difference will be in the brighness of the main headlight.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much LHB, I recall the post now

arorat said:

Papa-Maxi, I have been driving and riding bikes at an advanced level a long time to know all the basics of road manners and road speed, that wasn't my question.

Fariniac has answered the tech question and I will check operation of high beam via 2nd DRL bulb.

Click to expand...

But driving around with just sidelights or even DRL's when it's dark enough to need your rear lights on is not really advisable and if a copper were in a bad mood he could pull you over. If in doubt, low beams on.

306maxi said:

But driving around with just sidelights or even DRL's when it's dark enough to need your rear lights on is not really advisable and if a copper were in a bad mood he could pull you over. If in doubt, low beams on.

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I feel the same as you about this. One thing i hate even more is people who drive around with fog lights on when its not foggy. When cars behind me have fog lights on with no fog, i just put my rear fog lights on until they turn them off.

306maxi said:

But driving around with just sidelights or even DRL's when it's dark enough to need your rear lights on is not really advisable and if a copper were in a bad mood he could pull you over. If in doubt, low beams on.

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mjsmke said:

I feel the same as you about this. One thing i hate even more is people who drive around with fog lights on when its not foggy. When cars behind me have fog lights on with no fog, i just put my rear fog lights on until they turn them off.

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what the.... coming out in force, no stopping you guys giving advice !! No one is talking about driving in the dark with sidelights and anyway Maxi then you complain the Xenons are too blinding... what the....

It is possible to dislike 2 extremes. I wouldn't enjoy an artic break, doesn't mean i have to then enjoy 2 weeks in Death Valley.

Fariniac said:

The 2nd lights in the DRL pod is the high/full beam light.

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Right... whilst Maxi takes this topic to the side of a Welsh cliff report on xenons / high beam is;

- no lights on, pull the stalk, high beam bulbs in DRLs come on.
- car on low beam xenons, pull the light stalk, xenons flip to high beam AND high beam bulbs in DRLs come on.

bless x

The reasons the Xenons don't light when you 'flash' is because the strike up time is too long, and repeatedly turning the Xenon lights on and off will eventually kill the bulb/ignitor..

Venters said:

It is possible to dislike 2 extremes. I wouldn't enjoy an artic break, doesn't mean i have to then enjoy 2 weeks in Death Valley.

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There was Superbike video few years back, bunch of journalists riders on bike tests to Spain on Superbikes, they would turn the lights off in middle of night doing about a ton (tickover), creep up behind cars and then blast the lights on and accelerate to 160, that would scare the pants off car drivers. Now I am not saying this is fun or good, but if you are going to use dim or no lights then do it in something fast.

arorat said:

There was Superbike video few years back, bunch of journalists riders on bike tests to Spain on Superbikes, they would turn the lights off in middle of night doing about a ton (tickover), creep up behind cars and then blast the lights on and accelerate to 160, that would scare the pants off car drivers. Now I am not saying this is fun or good, but if you are going to use dim or no lights then do it in something fast.

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If someone did that to me, I'd knock them off their bike with my car with the 'fear' that it caused which would make me swerve my car violently

There is no place for completely irresponsible, unsociable riding (or driving) and people like that deserve to have their driving privileges taken away.

bgunn said:

If someone did that to me, I'd knock them off their bike with my car with the 'fear' that it caused which would make me swerve my car violently

There is no place for completely irresponsible, unsociable riding (or driving) and people like that deserve to have their driving privileges taken away.

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Agreed. Full brakes on and a few dead morons. Darwin at his finest.