General Trekking drl off?

[dimtrek]

Hello panda people. I have been reading this forum for the last couple of months and finally now that my trekkin, diesel, has arrived i thought i d introduce myself. im dimitris from a town in northern greece. i have covered almost 200km the last couple of days and i have to say the car is agile, smooth, quiet and relatively comfortable on the motorway. 2 months ago the car dealer, myself and my brother , he ttok us for a test drive with a 4x4 on twisty roads and he pushed it and the car followed his lines easily. only when on bend you drive through a bump you could feel the back end feeling -how i put it?- dislocated?.
the diesel engine feels already "runned in". i get 4.2 lt/100km average consumption which sounds very optimistic. early days but very satisfied so far.
my question is can you turn the DRL off? i dont seem to be able to find the option in the menu. i asked my dealer and he said i cant, but i d like to check it with an owner in case we both missed it. i also have the locks on autoclose and they sound a bit "dry?".has anyone else noticed?
thank you for the nice forum.

 

[varesecrazy]

Hello, and welcome,
I'm fairly sure the UK models have the option of switching the lights ON / OFF,

maybe you cannot in Greece..??

anyway enjoy your new car!!,
Charlie

 

[Super Uwe]

Hi Dimitris,

Welcome to the forum as well

I don't know if the Trekking and 4x4 models are different (unlikely), but we have a regular 1.2 Easy and it doesn't have the option to activate/deactivate the DRLs.

We used to have a 1.2 500 Pop, and you could turn the DRLs off by scrolling through the menu. But for some reason, they decided not to put this option in the Panda. I don't know why!

I personally like to have my DRLs running all the time, so it's no problem for me. But I can understand you might want to turn them off.

 

[smprout]

Hi All,

I think you will find that on all new models that have gone into production after Feb 2011 have to have DRL's to comply to EU legislation.

The 500, although still being produced was launched in 2008 and therefore the option to switch off DRL's was in the menu so that the manufacturer covered all bases according to which EU country the vehicle was driven in... but after 2011 all cars in EU have to have them running at all times if the car is fitted with them

 

[Ralf S.]

Yes.. my Hire Panda (Pop.. or is it Easy?) has a light switch that turns the lights on or off only... there's no middle setting for side-lights as in the old days.

Ralf S.

 

[triumph7]

Hi All,

I think you will find that on all new models that have gone into production after Feb 2011 have to have DRL's to comply to EU legislation.

The 500, although still being produced was launched in 2008 and therefore the option to switch off DRL's was in the menu so that the manufacturer covered all bases according to which EU country the vehicle was driven in... but after 2011 all cars in EU have to have them running at all times if the car is fitted with them

Correct - the EU regs strike again! That's exactly what my dealer told me when I queried the lack of sidelight switch on handover....

 

[deeyup]

I don't think the info in drls is quite right.
From what I've heard, it's only cars which had type approval after a certain date (feb 2011) that have to have non switchable drl.
Cars type approved before this date can still be supplied without them, or have switchable ones.
Production date doesn't matter.

Panda was type approved after the date feb 2011, so you can't switch them off.
My old 500 which was built in 2012 was still switchable.

Btw,
Welcome to the forum Dimtrek, great car you have!

 

[asxetos]

The way I see it, doesn't the ability to turn DRLs off defeat the purpose of having DRLs in the first place?

 

[deeyup]

The way I see it, doesn't the ability to turn DRLs off defeat the purpose of having DRLs in the first place?

Yes, leave them on I would even if I could switch them off.

 

[nigelspanda]

I wonder if Having DLR lights ON has any impact on fuel MPG

 

[asxetos]

It would have a slight impact as anything else that consumes electrical power, which must be produced by burning fuel.

This is a good reason for using the highest efficiency LED bulbs in DRLs.

 

[triumph7]

It would have a slight impact as anything else that consumes electrical power, which must be produced by burning fuel.

This is a good reason for using the highest efficiency LED bulbs in DRLs.

Any recommendation about suitable replacement led bulbs?

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Hi All,

I think you will find that on all new models that have gone into production after Feb 2011 have to have DRL's to comply to EU legislation.

You're wrong.

I don't think the info in drls is quite right.
From what I've heard, it's only cars which had type approval after a certain date (feb 2011) that have to have non switchable drl.
Cars type approved before this date can still be supplied without them, or have switchable ones.
Production date doesn't matter.

Panda was type approved after the date feb 2011, so you can't switch them off.
My old 500 which was built in 2012 was still switchable.

Btw,
Welcome to the forum Dimtrek, great car you have!

:yeahthat: basically.

I wonder if Having DLR lights ON has any impact on fuel MPG

Not enough of an impact that you'll notice or its worth jeopardizing your safety over

I can't work out why people would actively want to make themselves less visible

 

[Moultoneer]

It would have a slight impact as anything else that consumes electrical power, which must be produced by burning fuel.

This is a good reason for using the highest efficiency LED bulbs in DRLs.

I like your reasoning, but AFAIK the CANBUS is set up to check the bulb's
power drain, and if a replacement LED bulb draws much less current than
the normal bulb, an error will be shown on the dashboard display

If there were an easy fix for this, I'd fit LED bulbs. I don't want to add
power-guzzling resistors just to avoid the error detection

Do we have any other options?



Chris

 

[asxetos]

I was not aware of CANBUS monitoring power drain on DRL circuit. Makes sense though.

Then replacement bulbs of different wattage (more efficient) are out of the question as this would generate an error. There might be some tolerance built in the error triggering threshold, but I would leave this circuit alone.

Resistors would work, but using resistors defeats the purpose of having more efficient bulbs, as I would have to aim for same power draw from resistor plus new bulb to match old bulbs' power draw. What's the point in doing that?

 

[Moultoneer]

Any recommendation about suitable replacement led bulbs?

I've just fitted the ones recommended by others in this forum:
(our cr@p postal service took 3 weeks to deliver them )


http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/canbus-380-p21-5w-27-white-smd-led-error-free-bulbs/

They're great and much nicer than the yellowish standard bulbs

I've also replaced the headlight bulbs with Osram Nightbreaker Plus:

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/genuine-osram-h4-12v-55w-night-breaker-plus-90-64193nbp-twin-pack/

And replaced the internal light's festoon bulbs with these:

http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/xtec-c5w-led-canbus-error-free-number-plate-bulbs/

That'll do for now, I might eventually replace a few other bulbs,
but probably only when they fail. I was surprised to find that Fiat
had fitted Osram 'Bilux' German-made headlight bulbs as standard
on my Trekking- expecting to find unbranded cheap items
They'll be fine as running spares.


I hope this info's useful



Chris

 

[deeyup]

This morning on the way to work, I passed a new Mercedes CLA

I was surprised to see it had no DRL's switched on.
So does this blow the theory that all newly type approved cars must have them on at all times that other lights are not on?

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

So does this blow the theory that all newly type approved cars must have them on at all times that other lights are not on?

No, as that's not the requirement. They have to be fitted, nothing about them not being able to be deactivated.

Been the same reg since Feb 2011.

 

[varesecrazy]

This morning on the way to work, I passed a new Mercedes CLA

I was surprised to see it had no DRL's switched on.

they didn't want to be seen in such an UGLeeeY CAR !! :devil:

 

[Demic]

Agreed from the back it looks like it's melting.

You could turn off the DRL's on the A1 I used to have after a bit of a faff with the control stalk.