Putco Virtual Blade DRL Light Bar

[landpilot]

The light output is great and it is pretty cool that it lights up the entire honeycomb as opposed to just a bar. That being said there is no way this bar is meant to be used on this grill there is really no good way I was able to find to mount it outside the grill or inside the grill. I have mine attached with 2 zipties on either end nothing in the middle. 1 ziptie holds it up and 1 zipetie holds in the in center on each side. The bar I think is light enough that this should be fine but we will see. Attached is a pic which shows the single ziptie on each side that is around the front of the grill. In my opinion if you dont know exactly where to look you wouldn't even see it.

However like I said they use this truck for the AD for this product but it is in no way for this truck. There is no good way to mount it that I was able to find and the AD video also shows that the DRL's on the truck trigger the stock sequential series and also the Bar goes off with it at the same time. There is actually no way to make that happen without rewiring the whole truck. The DRL's on the truck don't have their own fuse so there is no way to tap without constant power from the headlight fuse. So you have to tap a fuse that only has ignition power or else the bar is always on. Since our stock DRL's on do the sequence when you hit unlock on the fob not when you start the truck these things can't happen at the same time.

That was long winded I hope it makes sense, anyone feel free to DM me with any questions. Overall I like the bar but I feel like most people would probably be unhappy with it for roughly $400.

I too appreciate your honest review. The more I look at the video, the more I actually do like the bar, even though it's kind of expensive (although Amazon has it for $279, but it doesn't say if it includes the remote and it's not sold by Putco).

I wonder if the Putco team could explain how the wired it into the DRLs like that? I think I will reach out to them and ask.

 

[Wildturkey707]

Putco was supposed to call me back and never did to discuss the fact that I believe their video is not possible lol. If you get in touch let me know. The fact is the DRL's don't have their own fuse they are on the headlight fuse and the headlight fuse has power all the time obviously you can have your headlights on without the car running. So if you tap that fuse the Bar stays on 100% of the time. They recommend tapping a fuse that is ignition only and has nothing to do with lights. #92 I believe making their video doctor'd in some way since the way they suggest installing only does the bar start up animation on igntion and the stock DRL's in our truck only do the sequence on non-ignition key fob unlock.

 

[landpilot]

Putco was supposed to call me back and never did to discuss the fact that I believe their video is not possible lol. If you get in touch let me know. The fact is the DRL's don't have their own fuse they are on the headlight fuse and the headlight fuse has power all the time obviously you can have your headlights on without the car running. So if you tap that fuse the Bar stays on 100% of the time. They recommend tapping a fuse that is ignition only and has nothing to do with lights. #92 I believe making their video doctor'd in some way since the way they suggest installing only does the bar start up animation on igntion and the stock DRL's in our truck only do the sequence on non-ignition key fob unlock.

I'm wondering if you could tap one of the DRL wires and make it work... I sent them an inquiry. I'll bulldog them until I get an answer and let you know!

 

[securityguy]

I'm wondering if you could tap one of the DRL wires and make it work... I sent them an inquiry. I'll bulldog them until I get an answer and let you know!

That was my thought as well that I shared with @Wildturkey707 during our phone conversation. However, to get the light you want, PUTCO highly recommends a high power voltage source and the DRL circuit may not provide enough juice to make the bar light at full brightness. Won't know until someone tries it or gets in touch with PUTCO. Fuse 92 is in the engine bay fuse panel at the far bottom right and is the same one recommended for the Freedom Blade install I'll be doing soon on my tailgate.

 

[landpilot]

That makes sense, maybe you could use the DRL to drive a small relay to get full power out of the Blade…

 

[securityguy]

That makes sense, maybe you could use the DRL to drive a small relay to get full power out of the Blade…

Exactly! I would love to hear what PUTCO did in their video.

 

[landpilot]

Exactly! I would love to hear what PUTCO did in their video.

So looking at their site a little more, I'm wondering if you'd need a set of blades for each side... I'm not near my truck, but doesn't the DRL turn amber and flash in the front for the turn signal? If so, you'd need to split the light bar int a set of 2 and tap both sides or the single blade would flash whenever you put the turn signal on... again I'm not near my truck so my memory may be wrong.

 

[landpilot]

Looks like I'm having the same luck as @Wildturkey707 ... No response to my email, no response to my online chat, and when I try to ask a question online, I get an error and it won't let me post it. All-in-all, pretty sh!tty customer service from PUTCO...

I'll keep trying...

 

[landpilot]

So I talked with someone at Putco today. They told me that the Blade is simply wired into a fuse that gets power when the key is turned on. Which, as @Wildturkey707 mentioned, won't sequence the light bar with the DRLs, as they come on without the key when the unlock button is pressed on the remote or the door. I'm not sure if tapping the DRL for a relay will work because the DRLs flash when you put a turn signal on. I'm going to get the Fluke meter out and see if I can find a source that would work with the remote,

 

[rkitz44]

On my 2023 1500 3.0 Duramax I put the fuse tap into #28 Park lamp Mirror/grill lights. Attached videos. Also tinted it with Vivid Dark Smoke Air Tint so it blends in with grill.

 

[mjdZR2]

Really nice job and video's look great.

How did you mount the light bar - with zip ties?