Disable DRL's

Sonders · January 24, 2022

I might catch some flack for this but I'd like to disable the Daytime running lights on my 22' Custom with crappy Halogens. I'm ordering led bulbs soon, but want to ditch the DRL's to cut down on the led's kicking on and off. I checked the fuse boxes (all 3) and I don't see any fuses or relays for DRL. Have they now made it so that we're unable to do this?

newdude · January 24, 2022

Turn the headlight switch to the left upon start up. The dash will display "automatic lamps off" or something like that. That will disable the DRLs when the truck is on, you will have to do it each time you start the truck. This way has been a thing since at least 2004 on the pickups and still is.

No fuses, its all BCM controlled.

The only other option is custom BCM programming from WAMS, but its $300 where turning the switch to the left is free from GM - 2019-2022 T1 Pickup Custom BCM Programming - White Automotive & Media Services (whiteautoandmedia.com)

Edited January 24, 2022 by newdude

Sonders · January 24, 2022

right, I know about flipping the headlight switch, was hoping for a permanent solution. When my wife drives the truck she never remembers to flip the switch. I saw Gen 5 DIY has a harness that converts the dRL's to the marker lights. That seems like about the best alternative besides what you mentioned newdude.

kickass audio · January 25, 2022

Are the headlights setup with wires going into them that are controlled for the parking lights along with the low/high beam light wire? If so I can share my experience with changing this in my 2014 headlights that had the crap halogen lights.

My goal was to not have DRL's but retain automatic headlights/parking lights when it gets dark out or when the wipers are on.

What I did was probe the wires going into the headlight harness to find which one is the parking light wire (it will only have +12v constant when the parking lights are on, 0v when the parking lights are off and 0v so long as the turn signals are not on and the high beam wire is not on. Also, the parking light wire will also not have a PWM signal when your daylight sensor bulb in the dash is detecting sunlight.

Once you find that wire you can either take the current low beam + wire and cut it and splice it into the parking light wire or you can use the parking light wire as a trigger to an external relay as I did for my HID's. You don't want to connect the relay directly to the low beam or DRL circuit since they will have a pulse width modulation signal and it will fry your aftermarket lights.