Will 2013 LED DRL headlights plug and play on a 2011 EX?

[ITEM9]

Originally Posted by CR-Z Canadian

Monster, JeTLiX!

I did get a reply from Paul at College Hills Honda that he could pull up no further wiring information on the 2013's headlights. So any differences must be in the controller thingy.

My guess is that both the low intensity high beams, and the LED's will operate on DRL mode. That's only an un-educated guess, based on my limited understanding of the wiring diagrams. But what do I know.

ITEM9, I don't get the comment about the connectors. What am I missing? What leads you to believe that they are different on the 2013 EX from the 2011-12 EX? Or were you referring to upgrading a Base CR-Z?

Because the 2011-2012 CR-Z DRL is integrated into the high beam circuit there is no separate electrical connector for the DRL on the headlights. The 2013 CR-Zs now have the DRL separate from the high beam circuit, so now there is a separate electrical connector for them. Because front end collisions are common and sometimes may damage the wiring harness, Honda offers the electrical connectors with pigtails to repair the harness instead of buying a whole new one. Normally you can't buy the electrical connectors separate, but in this case you can. Basically, you need these connectors to plug in the LED DRLs if your car wasn't wired for them from the factory ie any 2011-2012 USDM CR-Z.

Anyways, I highly doubt you can can integrated the LED DRLs into the 2011-2012 high beam DRL circuit. I think they work in a completely different way. Basically the high beam DRL circuit switches the bulbs from running in parallel into running them in series, so they will be at 5-6V. The LEDS don't really want to run like that. You can probably wire them up to a separate switch or the ignition instead.

[tntitans21]

They do indeed fit. I haven't got the LEDs wired up yet. 2011 Base

[CR-Z Canadian]

Originally Posted by ITEM9

... You can wire them up to a separate switch or to key on accessory power instead.

Thank you ITEM9 - now I think I get it - Connector 14 x 2. Wait a minute - you said 5 pieces?
And - I followed your linked diagram to the Honda eStore. How the HELL did you figure out that the "Yellow Sub Cord" was part of the equation? Must be ESP or sumpthin'.


Your suggestion ^ about wiring them separately, is probably the way to go. Still wonder why the wiring diagram provided by CH Honda for the 2013's just showed it as an off-branch of the high-beams.

Do you think removing Fuse 15 will kill the low intensity hi-beam DRL only, or also cause an error on the MID? Not sure how easy it would be to re-route the wiring from the back of that fuse to the new DRL, or if that would also cause issues on the MICU? With my car in storage right now, it is hard to look or experiment...

Now, anyone have any idea of what voltage the LED's might run at?

Weird that the HELMS manual doesn't have that for 11/12 - I guess that publication is just for US models. Again, I only got my books last week, so I have not had a chance to study them.

tntitans21, thank you for confirming this. Any idea how you plan to do the connection? Photos when you do!!!!

[tntitans21]

Item9 is correct about the connector. They bolt in exactly like the 2011-12 headlight. They also are the same with your lo beam, hi beam, turn signal, but with the addition of the led connector. The second picture below shows the connector. It has a power and ground wire. I actually found the appropriate connectors on an old honda pilot harness I had laying around. I plan on using them to connect the LEDs to power, but I haven't decided exactly how I'm going to wire them up. I don't see a convenient way to use the old drl/hi beam because of the way its off with lo beam headlights. I do know it provides about 8 volts for drl and around 14 for hi beam. I actually bought the headlights back in mid December from the Honda dealer when I saw another member on the forum with the 2013 diffuser. But since I had a base, I had to deal with sealing and wiring up iJDMTOY HIDs in the 2013 headlight. Therefore I just put them in over the weekend. But they do look awesome. I've seen them lit up. I'll try to take a picture tonight with them lit up.

[OneFitZ]

Hell if it's just a power and ground switch, I'd wire them to come on when the key is in the ignition.

[Velociraptor]

Bear with me if this is a stupid question, as I am an utter moron when it comes to automobile electrics, but would it be possible using the existing connections to set them up to turn on as parking lights (so the LED's come on rather than the turn signals)?

Not the same as DRL's, but at least that way they could be easily switched on at will and also work like the EDM/JDM headlamps do.

[oldfartinalude]

You show a list of connectors in one of your previous replys (can't figure out how to insert it!) that contains the "position" connector and it is connected to the wire harness. This could be the connector for the 2013 LED DRL's. Was that list from the 2013 or 2011/12 CRZ? If it was the 2011/12 then it may just be installed now and all we have to do is find it. It could be like the fog light ckt, already installed wiring- just no lights. This might be the answer to connecting up tntitans21 lights! I will check my Helms book for connector diagrams again also.

Tntitans: does the hi-beam on your new 2013 headlights come on now as the DRL when you release the brake? Same as before? I was thinking that the 2013 MICU must be programed to not use the hi-beams for the DRLs like ours do.

Dam integrated circuit devices! It use to be so easy with just wires and fuses!

[ITEM9]

Originally Posted by oldfartinalude

You show a list of connectors in one of your previous replys (can't figure out how to insert it!) that contains the "position" connector and it is connected to the wire harness. This could be the connector for the 2013 LED DRL's. Was that list from the 2013 or 2011/12 CRZ? If it was the 2011/12 then it may just be installed now and all we have to do is find it. It could be like the fog light ckt, already installed wiring- just no lights. This might be the answer to connecting up tntitans21 lights! I will check my Helms book for connector diagrams again also.

I list the two parts that you need from that chart right above it with part numbers. The chart is for 2013 and you need the position connector number [14] and pigtail number [5]. They come in packs of 5 and 10 respectively; you will only need 2 and 4.

[tntitans21]

Yes, my hi beams still come on. All the wires plugged into the headlights are just providing power. There are no magical circuits in the headlights, although that would be convenient though.

[Ludercrz]

What distributes the power to different lights in my prelude is the Relays (the relays create the conditions and results. i.e. while headlights are on turn this on or off too...) and by splicing them I was able to have the Fogs on while the headlights were not. so if we can get an Understanding of how the Relays work maybe we can splice into the DRL for the LEDs.

and do the fog thing too

I can'T read those diagrams btw. fine print is too smal and if I zoom in it gets all pixelated and definitely cant read it.