These Philips LED DRLs are well built, bright, rugged, and the supplied harness and hardware are top notch. Heatsinking is excellent so the LEDs should remain bright for the life of the car. The LEDs on my units are also of matched tint with none appearing particularly warmer or cooler. Overall the tint is a cool white which goes well with HID headlights, but my halogen fogs look very yellow next to these. They are not as surprisingly bright as I was hoping for after reading the reviews here, but isn't that how it always is with high expectations. (EDIT: After 3 weeks in varying weather I can say they are satisfyingly bright. I find myself driving off at night forgetting to turn my headlights on since they do illuminate the road to a degree.)
Hookup is easy 3 wires: battery +/-, and one lead to a parking light. The control module has two excellent waterproof plugs that connect to the lights. The lights have sufficiently long wires with matching plugs at the end. All wire is protected by a gloss black vinyl tubing. The lead to the parking light was not long enough for my installation (control module mounted on center of firewall to left front park light).
The lights function by sensing change in battery load and automatically turn on. When the module senses the battery is in a steady state the lights turn off after ~10 seconds. This works well enough, but has some quirks. My car has delayed-off dome lights. So when I open the door and trigger the dome lights, the module senses the current and the DRLs turn on (no key in ignition). Not quite 10 seconds later the DRLs turn off (meanwhile my dome lights are still on). Then when my dome lights turn off, the module senses another change and turns the DRLs on again for 10 seconds. So while this could seem like a fancy convenience function of the DRLs, it is the consequence of the simplified hookup design. I do not find this objectionable except when the battery is connected to a charger that is cycling on and off and the lights are turning on/off as well. Personally I would have preferred wiring them to the ignition or the option to. As is when I approach the car and unlock the doors with my remote, the DRLs come on and help locate the car as well as illuminate the walk toward it not a bad thing. UPDATE: Upon installing a new battery I found the DRLs no longer turn on when I operate the remote. The old battery was tired and exhibited a larger voltage drop when the dome lights turned on whereas the new battery maintains voltage better and does not trigger the control module. The lights now turn on with the engine, but only with the engine. I believe this is how they were designed to function and my initial experience was due to a weak battery. If the lights begin to operate again with my remote I will know my battery is starting to weaken.
The LEDs dim when the park/headlights are on unless the park light lead is not hooked up. These are bright enough that oncoming drivers will be annoyed if they are not dimmed at night. The control module uses PWM dimming which is basically a superfast strobe. This is noticeable when waving your hand in front of them, but not when driving.
I measured the current to the system and it was 1.25 A on hi, and 110 mA when dimmed which figures to 16 and 1.4 watts. By contrast my two dome light bulbs draw 680 mA each or 17 watts for the pair, more than the DRLs on hi.
Depending on your vehicle, installation may be more involved that the 2 hr. estimate. My car (2003 Audi S6) has lower grilles which are not ideal for directly mounting these. I fabricated some brackets that bolted to the bumper support and secured the lights into openings I cut in the grilles (I uploaded a customer pic of the finished install).
If you do mount as suggested by screwing the frames to the car then snapping the lights into the frames, be advised it will be difficult to remove them. The frames are a strong spring steel and snap securely over the light housings in matching recesses. So once the light is snapped into the frame they are flush, and once in the frames the lights obstruct the mounting screws. Removing the lights would require prying the frames up to free the locking tabs something I'd rather not attempt. There is another suggested mounting option directly bolting them to the car via two M5 tapped holes in the back of the housings and not using the frames, but there are no M5 bolts included in the kit.
My car requires removal of the front end for certain engine maintenance. As such I wish there was also a disconnect plug at the lights and not just at the control box. Removal of the lights would require unplugging at the control box and feeding all the wire back through PITA. I ended up adding disconnects at the lights and making 2-piece mouting brackets so I could remove the lights, their frames, and part of the bracket easily as one unit without having to pry the lights out of the frames. When I added the disconnects I removed most of the excess wire and used some to extend the park light lead which was short.
The only non-OEM quality part in the kit is the connection for the lead to the park lights, a Scotchlok-style tap splice. I've had problems with corrosion over time with these, so I placed a blob of silicone in it before I squeezed it to encapsulate the connection.
Overall I am very satisfied with them and have confidence they will last. I would have liked the ability to disconnect the lights at the housings and a more disassembly-friendly design, but depending on your vehicle these may be non-issues. If you have an easy install or have the means regardless, these exude quality and will not disappoint. I rate it 5 stars for the quality of the components and for what it is a universal kit. Installed on my Audi they look and perform every bit OEM.
Just had these installed in my 2008 Infiniti G37. The lights look good and function more or less as advertised (come on bright, dim when other lights come on), but I also noticed the lights had a blinking duty cycle in dim mode when I stopped after 30 minutes of driving (see video). This is not documented, but is exactly as LAQ described. There must be a reason for this. My lights were professionally installed according to the directions.
Philips Automotive (248-553-9080) first advised the blinking was because the 3rd wire to enable dimming is connected to a circuit that has auto-on capability (my marker light, parking light or city light whatever you want to call it). Most modern vehicles have sensors to automatically turn on lights at night or in tunnels. Philip's advised this capability conflicts with the DRL's auto-dimming function; even during the daytime when the headlights don't come on! One or the other must be disabled. I removed this 3rd wire on the DRL leaving the DRL's permanently in their bright mode. UPDATE: Cutting the wire to the parking light had no effect the lights still blinked. After further discussion with Philips, they commented the Daylight 8 LEDs are designed in Europe and when installed on many North American vehicles the (voltage?) tolerances are not the same. They sent me a new control module (Alternative Control box ACC/KL15 starter)with one additional wire to a fuse box. Once installed again, the lights performed as advertised. I downgraded my rating from 4 stars to 3 stars as this issue was not documented and I was given incorrect advice the first time. Philips is not only aware, they have an alternate module ready this situation should be both documented and a warning to clients. I had to pay twice for the 2 installations and a lot of lost time debugging a known issue.
Philips attempted to make the connections idiot proof by utilizing a 2-wire control module with a voltage sensor to determine when the lights should change modes. Unfortunately it doesn't work for all vehicles so be forewarned. In my opinion, the traditional 3-wire connections to a fused relay is more complicated to install but gives predictable results.
I also note the lights are quite directional. Mine were installed to match the shape of the bumper which has a slight curve where mounted. Consequently they point a little bit to the side, perhaps 10 degrees. I don't consider this an issue as they are not the primary source of illuminating the road ahead of the vehicle. In fact it could be beneficial as they complement the front pointing projection lights.
They are bright and slim providing an even more modern look to my car.
Buy Philips 12824WLEDX1 DayLight 8 High Powered Luxeon LED Daytime Running Light Now
Based upon the glowing reviews for this product, I decided to make the investment in the LED DayLight 8 running lights for my new F-150 King Ranch. The product is well-made, lives up to all of the reviews, and the shipment was prompt and problem-free. Installation was relatively straight-forward, although the instructions for the wiring sequence were a little confusing and I hadn't anticipated the need to remove the entire headlight assembly to access the wire to the parking light. I was very pleased with the end result, until a few days later when someone on the street pointed out that the running lights were flashing on and off. It seems that after the vehicle runs about a minute, the running lights begin flashing...5 seconds on and 2 seconds off. It appears the control box may be overheating....which seems further supported by the fact that the flashing stops when the running lights are in "dim mode" when the headlights are on. Convinced a replacement control box would fix the problem, I called the Philips support number that is listed on the instructions and on the box the running lights came in. This phone number is for the household lighting division, which is totally unfamiliar with this product. They transferred me to the automotive division...which appears to only be able to help consumers identify which replacement light bulbs to buy for their vehicles. After several circular conversations it became evident that Philips was unable / unwilling to help me....to the point that it seemed they had never heard of this product. These results are very disappointing. The LED Daylight 8 running lights were a great addition to my truck and I am very frustrated that after spending over 2 hours to install them, I now have to uninstall them tonight so that UPS can pick them up tomorrow to return Amazon. Since I'm not willing to invest the time for another installation with potentially similar results, I didn't request a replacement set.
Read Best Reviews of Philips 12824WLEDX1 DayLight 8 High Powered Luxeon LED Daytime Running Light Here
This product is indeed of the highest quality. The frame is (as far as I can tell) aluminium, the lens is glass, and has the DOT mark. The light pattern from each of the eight LEDs is designed well, projecting the light forward in a narrow beam as viewed from the top, yet projecting a very tall beam as viewed from the side. The mounting brackets appear to be high strength, hardenned steel very rugged. The electronics work perfectly, just as advertised and are encased in a steel box (looks water tight as well). As soon as the car turns on, the DRL come on. When you turn on the car's running lights, the DRL immediately dim. When you turn off the car, the DRL waits about 20 seconds and then turns off. I'm quite sure the LED's are pulse width controlled, meaning the control box is more complex than just a relay switch, and I'm sure this contributes to both the brighness and longevity of the DRL.
The other great attribute of this product is its slim profile. The DRL is ~17mm high ( less than 3/4"). Compared with all the other DRL I saw on the market, this seems to be the thinnest.
The lights themselves are *very* bright, easily seen in broad daylight. Phillips clims a 10000hr liftime which is way beyond the life of the car assuming an average speed of 30mi/hr, the DRL should last 300,000 miles.
Bottom line: I'm happy with the product, it was well worth the premium over other products available in the market.
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Had these lights installed last week on my 2011 Infiniti g 25. They installed in about 1 hour, simple and easy to do for most people. I had purchased a diffenent brand in October and after the first storm had water and condensation behind the lens. These Phillips lights are real quality and I have had lots of comments form friends and the sales person where I purchase the car, infact they will probably purchase the same light themselves. They are much brighter then I thought they would, very visable in daylight and they dim to a beautiful accent light when I turn on the headlights. I did a lot of research before I finally settled on these lights and it paid off. Don't buy the cheaper lights out there or imitations because you will just have to replace them quickly and sooner then you want. These are quaility, bright, and easy to install. Highly recommended
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