I have a honda fit 2009 and changed the stock halogen headlights to led ( ). After the change, the DRL light on the dashboard came on. Is there a way to fix this or do I need a different headlight that's more compatible?

 

You have a couple of options.

- Pull the DRL fuse, which disables both the DRL function and warning light.

- Add a resistor pack that ups the current draw while in DRL mode. I don't know much about them, but I did try one with a LED set I had, but it basically activated low beam at ALL times. Even when I flipped to high beam, the low beam was still going at the same time. While I don't mind that combined beam, there's a difference between DRL and low beam. DRL is basically weak high beam to get the other driver's attention. Low beam is designed to light up the road and avoid blinding oncoming drivers (minimal upwards lighting). So, the bottom portion is brighter, but the upper portion is even dimmer... might as well save your money and just use low beam on your own.

- Find a different LED setup. Unfortunately, that option is a bit messy. As I mentioned above, DRL is basically "weak high beam." That means it outputs an overall weak voltage to the bulbs (achievable via low constant voltage or "alternating" between zero and high voltage, aka duty cycle which is what most accept as being used in our Fits). Some bulbs won't work at all at too low a voltage. Some don't work with duty cycles. Some that DO work, use too little current (since LEDs by nature, consume less power) and that makes the ECU think there's a failed bulb. There are some that use resistor packs to "fix" the issue... but if your goal is to reduce power usage, then this won't help either.

The latest LED set I have actually sits right on that threshold. Immediately after switching off my headlights into DRL mode, the warning light will come on most of the time. Then, it goes away after a few seconds. I had another set that seemed to work better with DRL mode, but that one one of the two bulbs burnt out within a week of buying it, and again, (the other?) within a week of getting the warranty replacement for the first. I had two other LED sets that didn't work with DRL at all, so they're not useful in this topic.

 

Thanks for your input. I will probably leave it as it is assuming there's no harm or I might consider taking out the DRL fuse.