What is parking lights?
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Forum Name: Car Security and Convenience
Forum Discription: Car Alarms, Keyless Entries, Remote Starters, Immobilizer Bypasses, Sensors, Door Locks, Window Modules, Heated Mirrors, Heated Seats, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=50121
Printed Date: September 14, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Topic: What is parking lights?
Posted By: exsodius
Subject: What is parking lights?
Date Posted: February 14, 2005 at 10:52 PM
I am soo confused. In norway parking lights is 2 little bulbs with white light inside the headlights, and the rear red driving lights. When all these 4 bulbs are lit, we call them parking lights. But i believe more and more that other countries have the side/repeaters indicators (blinking lights left and right) as their parking lights. If this is right, it explains why i have had soooooooo much trouble with wrong wire diagrams. :(
Replies:
Posted By: kgerry
Date Posted: February 15, 2005 at 3:52 PM
most light switches have 3 positions... this applies to both domestic and Euro cars... position 1 is off...position 2 is parking lights... and position 3 is full headlights.... in position 2 the interior dash lights should come on as well as the marker lights on the outside of the vehicle... at least they did on my Mercedes, my BMW and my Volvo..... i presume other Euro cars are the same..... what you are wanting to energize is the marker (parking) lights...... usually the amber / YELLOW lights on the front end ( front or front/side ) of the vehicle.... ------------- Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer
Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979
Posted By: exsodius
Date Posted: February 15, 2005 at 4:28 PM
kgerry wrote:
most light switches have 3 positions... this applies to both domestic and Euro cars... position 1 is off...position 2 is parking lights... and position 3 is full headlights.... in position 2 the interior dash lights should come on as well as the marker lights on the outside of the vehicle... at least they did on my Mercedes, my BMW and my Volvo..... i presume other Euro cars are the same..... what you are wanting to energize is the marker (parking) lights...... usually the amber / YELLOW lights on the front end ( front or front/side ) of the vehicle....
Do you also call marker lights for corner lights in america? This is what happens when i turn on light switch position 2 on my european focus. Marker lights does not come on. two 5 watts bulbs turns on inside the headlights(white light). And Two 5 watts bulbs turns on in the rear(red light). Can you compare this and tell me what happends when you switch on position 2?
Posted By: gus1
Date Posted: February 15, 2005 at 6:08 PM
City lights I believe they are called. You get a low wattage white in the headlamp assembly, and the low watt in the rear.
You should be able to trigger them directly at the switch. The car may have separate left and right wires (IE:VW's), in which case you need to isolate them from each othe when tying into the single wire from the starter or alarm. You can accomplish this in two manners. One method is to use a pair of diodes. Connect one diode to the left wire, one to the right wire, the band facing towards the switch. The non banded end of the diodes get connected together and fed by the aftermarket light wire. This way, when the switch is used, the left and right city light wires won't feed back to each other (band stops the flow of current), and when the aftermarket accessory is feeding the circuit it can feed both wires. I wish I had a picture... it is worth a 1000 words.
Second way is to use a pair of relays to individually supply 12V to each city light wire.
Gus
-------------
Wherever I go, that is where I end up......
Posted By: iskidoo
Date Posted: February 15, 2005 at 9:12 PM
exsodius wrote:
In norway parking lights is 2 little bulbs with white light inside the headlights, and the rear red driving lights. When all these 4 bulbs are lit, we call them parking lights.
In the states the parking lights are usually as kgerry has stated. Basically, it's just lights that can be seen from all four sides of the car. You can use whichever sets of lights you prefer. The advantage of using (US cars) parking lights is to see that the vehicle has responded to your keyless entry/remote start button presses without being too obtrusive. In other words, if your starting your car remotely in your yard early in the morning, you can look out and see that the car is running by seeing that the red or amber lights have turned on. If you were to use your headlights instead, your very bright white headlamp beams could be shining into your neighbor acrossed the street's bedroom window. You can hook up any combination of lights you want but to answer your question...on wiring diagrams refering to American cars, "parking lights" are typically just the 4 red lights on each corner of the car...not the headlights and not the blinking turn signal lights.
Posted By: exsodius
Date Posted: February 15, 2005 at 9:28 PM
iskidoo wrote:
exsodius wrote:
In norway parking lights is 2 little bulbs with white light inside the headlights, and the rear red driving lights. When all these 4 bulbs are lit, we call them parking lights.
In the states the parking lights are usually as kgerry has stated. Basically, it's just lights that can be seen from all four sides of the car. You can use whichever sets of lights you prefer. The advantage of using (US cars) parking lights is to see that the vehicle has responded to your keyless entry/remote start button presses without being too obtrusive. In other words, if your starting your car remotely in your yard early in the morning, you can look out and see that the car is running by seeing that the red or amber lights have turned on. If you were to use your headlights instead, your very bright white headlamp beams could be shining into your neighbor acrossed the street's bedroom window. You can hook up any combination of lights you want but to answer your question...on wiring diagrams refering to American cars, "parking lights" are typically just the 4 red lights on each corner of the car...not the headlights and not the blinking turn signal lights.
There you have it. No wonder why all my american wire diagrams was wrong :) What surprices me is that all your marking lights are red. Thanks for clarifying.
Posted By: gus1
Date Posted: February 16, 2005 at 1:57 PM
Traditionally, Parking lights refer to the rear tail lights, and the front amber corner markers that are on when the switch is turned to the 1st position.
If you have a car with European parts on it (saayy a VW Jetta wagon with HID's or E-Codes), then you also get what we call a "city" light which is a small 5W bulb in the headlight assembly that will light white. Saves wear and tear on HID ballasts.... and is bright enough to be noticable as a daytime running light)
Gus
-------------
Wherever I go, that is where I end up......
Posted By: exsodius
Date Posted: February 16, 2005 at 4:02 PM
gus1]T wrote:
aditionally, Parking lights refer to the rear tail lights, and the front amber corner markers that are on when the switch is turned to the 1st position.
If you have a car with European parts on it (saayy a VW Jetta wagon with HID's or E-Codes), then you also get what we call a "city" light which is a small 5W bulb in the headlight assembly that will light white. Saves wear and tear on HID ballasts.... and is bright enough to be noticable as a daytime running light)
Gus
Thanks Gus Which lights come on when you turn on your parking lights(light switch position 1). Is it red tail lights +marking lights only? So all in all we can say that the only difference from usa to europe is that european cars does not have the marking/corner lights. And usa miss the small 5W bulb in the headlight assembly. Right Gus?
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