Hello everyone I am a Canadian who purchased a 2011 Toyota Sienna limited. I have imported the vehicle into canada but am now struggling to find help on where to go or how to fix drl so they remain permanently in the on position with no alternative to turn them off as mandated by Canadian law.
I purchased the headlamp console stalk from a canadian auto wreckers and had it installed but the problem is the drl can still be turned off manually. Having the ability to turn them off means my vehicle won't pass inspection.😥
Does anyone know how and or where i should look to resolve this as i now only have 40 days left on RIV inspection before my vehicle must be removed from Canada!
Looking forward to any suppotive advice, please & thanks!
I'm not vouching for this product. Just something I found in a search ....
I've been scratching my head on this question for 2 days. I went to Charm to examine the wiring diagram. This circuit has 3 DRL relays working in circuit with the headlight relay. All BCM controlled.
The DRLs are the high beams with one of the relays (a 5 pin relay) that switches the circuit Ground through a resistor to make them into dim DRLs. The idea of using more relays (at least 2) to make this (DRLs always ON) work just seems like it would be a "butcher job". Because you can't have that DRL relay not being energized when you turn on the headlights because they'll be dim.
The headlight switch (stalk) provides Grounds to different input pins on the BCM depending on which switch position is selected.
When a module is looking for a Ground input there has to be tiny voltage being output (so the BCM can see it being pulled to Ground).
OK, school's out.
Why not consider using that tiny voltage output from the BCM to control the DRLs to keep them lit in the Key RUN position but turn them off when the headlights are turned on and that voltage signal gets pulled to Ground? Now you can't use a typical relay at the switch wiring connector (not enough current from the BCM) but you can use a MOSFET transistor.
Here's a partial light switch (stalk) wiring connector diagram.
You want the Black wire (Ground), the Red wire (headlights) and the Violet wire (DRLs)
Go online and buy one of these.
Here's how to splice the terminal legs into the wires going to the light switch. (you can buy the wiring connectors for these wherever you decide to buy them (Amazon, ebay, wherever)
Here's the way you'd splice each terminal of the MOSFET into the wires on the headlight stalk wiring connector:
G (Gate) goes to the Red wire.
D (Drain) goes to the Violet wire.
S (Source) goes to the Black wire.
There you go. The next time you come here with something like this you'd better bring a bottle of Absolut Vodka and a pack of Marlboro lights because that's what I burned through on this one
@jack62 - You definitely get the prize for this one, amazing job!
In order to turn on a 30N06 mosfet, the gate needs to see at least 2.0V . If the stalk is pulling these inputs from floating state to ground, then that may never happen. The tiny current you mention is on the on the order of micro-amps, but regardless, with the red wire grounded the mosfet certainly will be too, and won't turn on.
(to the best of my knowledge!)
Even if it did turn on, that would simply ground the purple DRL circuit, so wouldn't the end result be DRL's switched on any time the HL's are switched on?
the truth table for the logic we're trying to apply looks something like this
that's pretty much an exclusive-or operation (XOR) which built with transistors looks like this...
Not exactly a trivial matter.
never mind, it would actually need to be a NAND gate (only 2 transistors and sprinkle of resistors)
No. Once the headlights are switched ON the Power to the MOSFET Gate leg would be pulled down to Ground and the continuity between the MOSFET Source and Drain would be severed.
DRL "ON" input to the BCM would be gone
That's true , and 'A' would be left floating. Ideally you would want a pull up resistor from A to IGN to make sure you didn't trigger it (which the stalk may be doing internally). Similarly the mosfet gate would need a pull up resistor to make sure it defaulted the conducting state. That still leaves the challenge of disabling the DRL manual function. You could add to the 'A' circuit another transistor to ground that is switched whenever IGN goes high. Though the owner may face issues convincing the inspector to pass a DIY hack.
.
Alternatively , you could take the easy route and let the dealer or tuning shop flash the BCM with Canadian OEM firmware and replace whatever switches needed.
OK. Joe. But I don't see the need for a resistor because the MOFET would get power from the BCM to the headlight input to the switch from the BCM reference voltage and then get "grounded out" to turn the MOFET off when the headlight is turned ON
.
I researched this and it seems that the BCM can't be flashed or reprogrammed for DRLs to be always ON
.
Not saying it can't, just saying Canadians importing these vehicles from the US say that they haven't been able to have the dealer do that
.
You know me. Joe. I'm just offering "my 2 cents". I believe this solution will work.
If anyone has a better fix for this I'd certainly like to hear it
same here, just adding my point of view. Hopefully between all of us we come up with something that works.
.
How would the mosfet get power? Everything you connected it to (HEAD, A, and ground) only ever gets pulled to ground. Unless the BCM has internal pull-ups. It's a possibility. Maybe you read something I didn't.
.
if he couldn't find someone to flash it, he might be able to find a BCM at the pick-n-pull.
before my vehicle must be removed from Canada
Can you remove it from Canada and bring back again when you find a suitable shop?
Can you tell us non-Canadians what drl means?
in Canada it's law that every vehicle must have Daytime Running Lights (DRL) that are automatic.
This surprised me.. If I understood correctly.. the car must have automatic DRL that can't be switched off. and it applies to the tail and side lamps too?
in a nutshell: if you're moving, you have to be lit up
https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2013/tc/T46-56-2013-eng.pdf
@hixster I understood similarly. The link MMJ provided, clarifies all.