Switchback and DTRL

K

kickool

Member
Location
Vancouver
Car
2004 FX35 AWD
Just thinking of putting in a 7443 switchback LED into the turn signal and mod it so that the original DTRL and the turn signal side both stay on as day time running light. I've read about DTRL/turn signal swap but I don't want to go that route. With switchback LED, I want the actual turn signal side to act as turn signal (as amber) but also stay on (as white) with the other existing DTRL.

My question is what needs to be done? I don't know anything about wiring but assuming that the signal needs to be connected between the DTRL bulb and the turn signal bulb. How hard would the wiring be? Would you need to remove the bumper for this wiring?

Thanks a lot.
Shawn
 
Last edited:
You will need to make sure the switchback bulbs have a wire sticking out of it, like this:

///9282[/ATTACH]

Afterwards its relatively straight forward. You tap that wire sticking out of the switchbacks into the POWER wire in the DTRL bulb harness. Not sure of the coloring but a multimeter will easliy tell you. The switchback will now turn on whenever your DTRL is on.

No need to remove bumper as there should be sufficient space to do the wiring.
 
Oh just one more question. Do I have to get 7440 switchback or 7443 switchback or it doesn't matter?
I know that the turn signal socket is for 7440 but some people told me that 7443 will work too.. not sure if that's true.
 
I think both should work, but am hoping someone else can chime in to confirm.

I've used 7440 & 7443 in my turn signals before but it wasn't a switchback.

Something else to keep in mind is that you will need resistors to prevent the LEDs from hyper blinking. Might be a good idea to wire these in at the same time
 
The dtrl are 7443. I think the difference is the 7440 is a "single filament" and the 7443 is a "dual filament" so kind of like a high/low beam. the connectors will have 4 leads instead of 2 in the 7440.

Depending on how you do your DTRL there are 2 signals sent to the DTRL bulb. the low beam is on with the headlights. and the high beam when you connect the DTRL mod. So if you did the simple DTRL mod from the .org writeup, the high beam will be activated when ever your ignition is on. Depending on the brightness of the DTRL bulb people may high beam you because they think your brights are on.

This Switchback led seems cool, does it turn off the white color when the amber turn signal is activated?

Does the 7443 switchback bulb have the low and high beam outside leads, or low and high turn signal connectors?
 
tomwetherald said:
This Switchback led seems cool, does it turn off the white color when the amber turn signal is activated?

Does the 7443 switchback bulb have the low and high beam outside leads, or low and high turn signal connectors?
Click to expand...

Yup so you have both amber and white leds within the LED bulb and white totally turns off when amber is flashing as your turn signal, then white comes back and stays solid once the amber turns off - pretty cool indeed.

As for your other question, I'm also interested in finding out the answer. Maybe someone else can shed some lights.

--------------------------------------------------------

Actually now that I think about it again, I don't think 7443 switchbacks have low or high beam connections because it's used as DTRL/turn signal so no need for low or high beam feature. so it's either solid DTRL light or amber turn signal you get.. no low or high.. but I could be wrong.

I'm guessing both 7440 and 7443 switchbacks all look like what the above picture shows.
 
Last edited:
I have another car that uses 7443 as brake and light. so the 2 brightnesses for that. I would guess youre right about the 7443 switchback would have 2 brightness of the main color. and the one DTRL brightness.

To connect the lead to your DTRL line you can either run a line to where you did the DTRL mod directly. or connect at the bulb connector itself.

If you connect at the connector, I would recommend doing a non cut splice with a shielded quick connector. So you remove some of the plastic covering the wire, make a fold and pinch on a quick connector. That way you're not cutting the wire.
 
I want to do exactly what kickool is saying. However I have some trouble finding these 7440/7443 switchback leds with a wire coming out of it.

I bought 7443 Cree led switchbacks thinking they were just plug and play into turn signal but that is not the case. The leds only shine amber when turn signal is on, but not on with dtrl. Where can I find switchback bulbs with wires or what can I do to my own? Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top