Turn signal wiring question

[OakvilleGTR]

Good morning all,

Bit of a random question but figured I’d finally throw it out after wondering for a long while. Before I start, I'm hoping to do this purely out of personal preference. I think it would look better at night, and don't mind at all spending a few hours and dollars to get it done.

I've copied this from a non-Skyline specific forum, so I apologize for the explanation of our headlight switch setup that we all know. Here we go:

Zero lights (switch off) Parking lights (switch position 1) being a rectangular marker on the outside of the housing, my low beam being the projector in the centre (position 2), and a high beam triggered by my turn signal stalk.

Most North American cars I’ve owned of this era have power to the amber corner (turning indicator) light as part of the first switch (parking lights).

I’d love to have these amber corners receive power when the headlights and parking lights are on (headlight switch), yet still blink when using the turn signal which is of course a separate switch.

Hopefully I’ve explained my question correctly. Is anyone aware of a way in which I might be able to achieve this?

Thanks in advance

[GTSBoy]

Indicator bulbs are way too bright to use as a "corner marker" (we call them parking lights too).

Sure. Go ahead and do it. But realise that you wil need to come up with all your own wiring to do it, as no-one will have a standard howto worked out for Skylines.

It's just a matter of abandoning everything that Nissan have done and starting from scratch.

You'd probably be better off retrofitting tailght/brakelight globe bases into the front indicator housings and using the taillight circuit for your corner marker and the brake light as the indicator. You'd need to work out how to kill the marker circuit while the indicator is flashing, otherwise it won't flash on-off, just bright-less bright.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

13 hours ago, OakvilleGTR said:

Hopefully I’ve explained my question correctly. Is anyone aware of a way in which I might be able to achieve this?

Thanks in advance

Convert to dual filament bulb

 

FWIW, it will look odd - I dare say a bit dumb as it looks like your flasher relay has shit the bed.

[MBS206]

Sounds like using one of those configs modern cars use where they turn off the whole headlight these days on the side that the indicator is flashing on.

[r32-25t]

Would require a very smart body control module which these cars are about 20 years to old to have 

[GTSBoy]

1 hour ago, MBS206 said:

Sounds like using one of those configs modern cars use where they turn off the whole headlight these days on the side that the indicator is flashing on.

Not the headlight. It's the DRL that serves double duty as white and amber.

10 minutes ago, r32-25t said:

Would require a very smart body control module which these cars are about 20 years to old to have 

Would be the easiest way to make it happen, if fitting a BCM was in any way an easy thing. Otherwise you'd do it with some relay logic and/or maybe some diodes.

[Duncan]

Yeah it will surely need a diode to stop the headlight turning on when the indicator does, I'm pretty sure all it would need is a wire from the headlight parker wire (via a diode) to the indicator 12v.

Assuming you also convert to LED that is....I'm not sure if the standard wiring will take the load of the extra indicator globes if they are incandescent

[MBS206]

3 hours ago, Duncan said:

Yeah it will surely need a diode to stop the headlight turning on when the indicator does, I'm pretty sure all it would need is a wire from the headlight parker wire (via a diode) to the indicator 12v.

Assuming you also convert to LED that is....I'm not sure if the standard wiring will take the load of the extra indicator globes if they are incandescent

 

I'm not sure the diode only will give the desired result. I'd probably approach it with a couple of relays (And you still might need a diode too!). You need to be able to break the constant feed from the headlight to the orange corner globe when the indicator is flashing.

Not knowing which Skyline we're talking about specifically here too (And it may not matter, but I don't know the R34 column switches) you'd likely need to rewire the stalk, so that the indicator power itself no longer runs through the stalk too, as now you need it able to trigger a relay that will break the constant supply from the headlights to the indicator, then you'll need a separate relay to trigger the indicators to come on (Replacing the internal action of the indicator stalk).

[Duncan]

That may not be so tricky with a changeover relay (again, with LED indicator only to reduce load on existing headlight + source) 

30 to indicator + globe side

86 and 87 to headlight parker +

87a to original indicator + chassis side

85 to chassis/earth

repeat on each corner, sorted, no diode required

[MBS206]

12 hours ago, Duncan said:

That may not be so tricky with a changeover relay (again, with LED indicator only to reduce load on existing headlight + source) 

30 to indicator + globe side

86 and 87 to headlight parker +

87a to original indicator + chassis side

85 to chassis/earth

repeat on each corner, sorted, no diode required

I started with the above in my head too, and I might be reading / thinking about what they want wrong, which is why I complicated it a bit further.

Purpose I'm seeing is for the corner indicator to be on with headlights, and then if the indicator turns on it can still flash.

The relay part above I can see working as required, except in the case of headlight is on, and indicator is on. The change over relay you've wired in would get signal from the indicator, and as it flashes would give power to the globe from the indicator, but as it flashes off, power comes from the headlight, which would cause the indicator to be constantly on when headlight is on, even while indicator change over is flashing.

That is unless we don't care if it flashes or not if the headlight is on? I guess that's an OP clarification.

[GTSBoy]

Yes, multi relays needed, and possibly a diode. I'm not actually going to think about it though.

[Duncan]

On 29/03/2025 at 9:13 AM, MBS206 said:

I started with the above in my head too, and I might be reading / thinking about what they want wrong, which is why I complicated it a bit further.

Purpose I'm seeing is for the corner indicator to be on with headlights, and then if the indicator turns on it can still flash.

The relay part above I can see working as required, except in the case of headlight is on, and indicator is on. The change over relay you've wired in would get signal from the indicator, and as it flashes would give power to the globe from the indicator, but as it flashes off, power comes from the headlight, which would cause the indicator to be constantly on when headlight is on, even while indicator change over is flashing.

That is unless we don't care if it flashes or not if the headlight is on? I guess that's an OP clarification.

Yeah good point, it won't flash on indicator that way, so plan B, just another wire to run from under the dash which makes it a bigger job

30 to indicator + globe side

86 tapped into 12v input to flasher relay under the dash (has 12v when indicators on, nothing when no indicators)

87a to headlight parker +

87 to original indicator + chassis side

85 to chassis/earth

Now it will flash with indicators and be solid on with parkers