[FrostZ]

I have these on my 19Z and love them! They are a huge improvement in output over stock HID in my opinion you don’t just have the light aim higher it is actually two separate sets of LED’s for high and low beams. Overall the install isn’t awful you just remove the bumper, remove and install the headlights then bumper goes back on. It’s more tedious than anything really, one note is the DRL is always in dim mode from their setup. I modified their conversion harness for halogen equipped cars to my needs such that it now allows the DRL within the headlights to match those in the bumper. Overall they are an amazing product for the light output with only the one small issue.

[Jarek]

Originally Posted by FrostZ

I modified their conversion harness for halogen equipped cars to my needs such that it now allows the DRL within the headlights to match those in the bumper.

Thank you FrostZ - you convinced me
Please tell me a bit more about that needed harness modification to keep DRLs bright. Do I need to buy a different harness or just modify the existing one?
By "halogen equipped cars" you mean models without HID, right?

BR,
Jarek

[FrostZ]

You won’t regret it! The headlights come with three total add on harnesses, two are clones of each other, which is a harness to convert the headlights to function on cars that did not come equipped with HID and a third harness that is a Add A Fuse. Across different directions from different distributors the Add A fuse is sometimes required per their instructions sometimes it’s not. In my case when I installed the lights the headlight DRL was always in dim mode no matter what when the add a fuse harness was disconnected. The only thing the add a fuse harness did was cause them to go into bright mode when the car is in park during the day, which per the OEM function they should be off entirely. During the day they should be bright, then with either headlights on or parking lights they dim. Instead they stayed dim within the headlights even during the day. My solution was to create a custom wire harness using parts of the add a fuse harness and parts of the harness included for the halogen equipped cars. Following some testing I found that the add a fuse plug was the only way I could engage bright mode with the main harness to the headlight disconnected, so I did the following. After determining the pinout of the OEM connector I was able to route the wire that was formally controlling the DRL within the headlight to the plug formally used by the add a fuse by cutting the plugs off the add a fuse harness with a foot or two of wire, pinning said wire, and inserting them into the connector on the halogen conversion harness that went to the body harness in the location of the DRL pin. I then rearranged the pins within the halogen to up level style harness to just pass the high and low beam pins and grounds straight through. Lastly I placed the two small connectors inline with the side markers to tap the power coming from them that only comes on with the headlights or parking lights on. I then routed that pin from the side marker tap to the location of the DRL control pin on the headlight side. This would allow bright mode to be engaged as power was always coming from the body harness and into the former add a fuse plug thus enabling bright mode, when the parking lights or headlights turned on power from the side marker tap would come into the DRL pin on the headlight, thus overriding the former add a fuse plug and enabling dim mode. This created the desired full OEM function that I wanted, this was all done on a 19 ZL1 so your mileage may vary but I hope this helps!

[Jarek]

Thank you for the explanation.
Looks like we have a fellow electrical engineer here

Once I will have the lamps arranged and then connected and the same problem will appear for sure I will reach out for some kind of diagram of this connection fix.
Or maybe you have it ready at this point and can share?

On the other hand you are right - '17 SS and '19 ZL1 may have different electrical circuits (yours is after the face-lift, right?) and this issue may not appear or fix may be entirely different.

BR,
Jarek

[FrostZ]

You’d actually be correct an electrical engineer at your aid haha. I don’t currently have a diagram on hand but I’m sure I could whip one up when the time comes for your install. I do on the other hand have a single picture of the solution that I can link for now. From what I’ve seen the same issue appears in the pre face lift cars and the pin out on the two cars are the same. In theory they should be fixed with the same solution!

[Jarek]

Originally Posted by FrostZ

You’d actually be correct an electrical engineer at your aid haha.

Takes one to know one
I simply recognized the specific "language" and vocabulary that I sometimes use myself.
And more to the point I understood what you have written

Originally Posted by FrostZ

I don’t currently have a diagram on hand but I’m sure I could whip one up when the time comes for your install. I do on the other hand have a single picture of the solution that I can link for now. From what I’ve seen the same issue appears in the pre face lift cars and the pin out on the two cars are the same. In theory they should be fixed with the same solution!

Thank you - this gives a bit of a hint how to do that.
Anyway I reach out once I actually have lamps with me - this is quite a project to get them to PL without paying a double price (duty/taxes etc) (possibly vacation in US with car parts as souvenirs ).

BR,
Jarek

[FrostZ]

I know the feeling well haha. Once you receive the lights feel free to come with any questions. My car is in storage right now as the winter fades in my parts of the world. Once I check in on the car I will make a detailed diagram for you of the pin out of all the connections!

[Jarek]

Thank you.
Looking forward to that.
I plan to use mine all-year-round like I did with my previous Saab 9-3 'vert.

BR,
Jarek

[FrostZ]

So I found the pin out chart that Gen 5 DIY graciously provided when I had questions during my own R&D process. I created the harness to pass pins 1-3 / 6 straight into the new unit on each side. For pin 8 I cut a 6in section of the add a fuse connector with the headlight connector still attached, pinned it and placed that in the socket going to the main body harness on each side. This provides power to the former add a fuse socket at all times the car is in drive or when the parking or headlights are on. For Pin 8 on the side going to the new unit I placed the wire from the socket tapping power inline from the side marker, in my case the white wire. Pin 7 I placed the ground wire comes from the inline tap of the side marker. This allows electricity to flow when the parking lights or headlights come on the the DRL pin in the headlights, which overrides the former add a fuse socket which has constant power and places the DRL in dim mode. Thus creating the desired OEM effect. Once I see the car again I will provide detailed pictures of the wiring.

[Jarek]

A bit hard to imagine without the diagram, but I understand that for PINs 1-3 is a pass-though (controls for High/Low beam - no change here) and then you were making changes to the PIN 8 (DRL control) and PIN 7 (Ground) - some part of add a fuse connector and power from side marker. Got a bit lost over here, but no worries connection diagram should explain everything

BR,
Jarek

[Jarek]

Hi FrostZ

I hope that you have managed to get you machine rolling after long winter
Any luck with that diagram?

BR,
Jarek

[FrostZ]

I actually can do you one better, I have photos of a harness I'm working on for another Camaro owner upgrading to these as well and had the same issue I did. The photos show the proper arrangement of the wires on the male plug, this only shows the 4 wires that come in the harness originally. The red, brown, grey, and black in the photo with the plug are the proper arrangement and orientation within the male socket shown. The only thing not included is wire you need to cut off the add a fuse harness. This wire should be cut about a foot behind the plug for each headlight and pinned to match the male pins in the housing and placed in pin location 8. This would be the bottom right hole in the socket and weather sleeve. That's the only wire that has to be cut and pinned per side, the entire female socket is already properly pinned. I hope this helps!

[Jarek]

Thank you FrostZ.
Trying to imagine how it should be connected but not sure if I can without even the rough diagram just to see which wire goes where
Is it possible just to draw a quick simple one?

BR,
Jarek

[FrostZ]

Hope these clear things up!