General: Should this be on all the time?

[Hoggy32]

Originally Posted by ITSv40

You need to go through the same sequence that you did to turn them off, to turn them back on again.

On the X40 the so called DRL lights use the dipped beam headlights, so you either have the dipped beams on all the time or off apart from when you turn them on at night. The little side lights are only used for parking.

I did the same to turn it back on, so here is my question.
Am I able to have only halfbeam on when the switch is set to 0 and the car is running?


Currently, the dipped beams are on together with the half beam when it's set to 0.

And if I do that DLR thingy, when on 0, no lights are on.

[ITSv40]

Originally Posted by Hoggy32

I did the same to turn it back on, so here is my question.
Am I able to have only halfbeam on when the switch is set to 0 and the car is running?


Currently, the dipped beams are on together with the half beam when it's set to 0.

And if I do that DLR thingy, when on 0, no lights are on.

That is not how my car works:

The bulb you show as main beam is the dipped beam and the one that comes on when the switch is set for DRL.

The bulb you show as dipped beam is known as the sidelight in the UK. This is used for parking on the road at night - or at least it used to years ago but no one bothers these days.

The bulb you show as high is the main beam and used at night when no one is coming towards you. That is the UK spec, although your countries spec may be different. I'm not sure if the sidelight comes on as well when on DRL, I will check in the morning.

[canis]

Sidelights are required on bus routes (in the UK) at night when parked the wrong way around (on the opposite side of the road) - because the rear has reflectors but the front does not. This also applies to skips, roadworks and other obstacles. You probably remember the lamps people would hang on skips, and drunk students would steal them and take them home.

Anyway, here's what I discovered in my investigations last year sometime:

The sidelights are independant of all other lights, but they are on by default in a Volvo. Traditionally they were held at high brightness, which had the peculiar effect of making them dim when the switch was turned to 'on'. The V40 sidelights are a constant brightness, because it also lights the headlamps.

The running lights are the amber ones in the bumpers. These are not sidelights, but are required in some areas (California, for example) and Volvo like them too. They work when the ignition is switched on.

So that's three circuits in all (excluding beam): Running lights, sidelights and headlamps. They are independant, but usually operate together. The procedure for turning daytime running lights off is dependant on the ECU, and varies by year. My 1998 V40 (Phase 1) doesn't have it. The 1999 V40 (Pahse 1.5) did. The S40 has the two extra lamps in the headlamp cluster, these are controlled by a module unique to the S40, or so the Haynes book claims, personally I've had no experience of them but remain intensely jealous and want them desperately for the V40!

Whether the procedure described in previous posts turns off the headlamps, running lights or both will depend on the car. Me for my part, I wanted the running lights to stay on, but the headlamps to stay off until switched on by the driver (because in my opinion they're stupid) and the procedure for that in a 1998 V40 Phase 1 (no ECU control) I described here.

But by the sounds of it that's not what you wanted. Did you say you wanted the headlamps on but the running lights off? Why?

Anyway, the running lights are fed by a pink wire to each bumper corner. If you want them off, sever that. But be careful, there are other pink wires.