Topic: Extra bulb in light housing

[Arthur Dent]

A friend and I were doing some work on the Innocenti (it is a POS) and noticed an extra bulb in the lighting housing. It has the normal high beam/low bulb.



There is a very small extra light under the main light. Seems to be connected to the side markers (that also have bulbs). Precursor to daytime running lights?

[rrocket]

My Lexus GS400 had those too. Was a 194 wedge bulb. They called it a parking light iirc.

[mlin32]

It's a parking light.

Outside Canada and US, parking lights are a low voltage, white light, so usually that is how they used to be done. Even today, a lot of car makers have it that way if no LEDs in the headlamp cluster.

[Arthur Dent]

Thanks. What is the purpose of such a parking light (besides the odd and obvious)?

[mlin32]

Thanks. What is the purpose of such a parking light (besides the odd and obvious)?

Ummm, to be visible on the street when you park or stop your car. After all, in most residental areas, cars are left on street parking and no one wants to come back to a car that's been smashed into. This varies place to place, but in Germany we don't use street lights very much (our autobahn is completely unlit) and many places switch them off after midnight , and it states in the code of the road, that the owner has to make his/her car visible if it obstructs the roadway. Similar when stopped at a level crossing, we are supposed to switch off the motor and main beams, so the parking lights assure that other cars know you're there.

You can see the official text from the StVO (Strassenverkersordnung) here : https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stvo_2013/__17.html

  . You laugh, but this is a recurring possible question on the driving test.

[PJungnitsch]

Yeah a weird European/Japanese twist on parking lights.

https://jalopnik.com/youre-using-your-parking-lights-wrong-1822884831

The aftermarket headlamp unit I put on my TW200 had the parking bulb in yellow, another odd European idea

[rrocket]

Thanks. What is the purpose of such a parking light (besides the odd and obvious)?

Ummm, to be visible on the street when you park or stop your car. After all, in most residental areas, cars are left on street parking and no one wants to come back to a car that's been smashed into. This varies place to place, but in Germany we don't use street lights very much (our autobahn is completely unlit) and many places switch them off after midnight , and it states in the code of the road, that the owner has to make his/her car visible if it obstructs the roadway. Similar when stopped at a level crossing, we are supposed to switch off the motor and main beams, so the parking lights assure that other cars know you're there.

You can see the official text from the StVO (Strassenverkersordnung) here : https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stvo_2013/__17.html

  . You laugh, but this is a recurring possible question on the driving test.

On my 911, when you shut the ignition off, you merely flip the turn signal switch either left or right...and it will light up the parking lights to whichever side faces the road.

[erich]

Isn't this the first position on the light switch, between OFF and full headlights?

[rrocket]

Isn't this the first position on the light switch, between OFF and full headlights?

Yes.  Just the ambers would be on (for most cars).

On my 911, you merely clicked the turn signal up/down for whatever side you wanted the parking lights on.

[mlin32]

On my 911, you merely clicked the turn signal up/down for whatever side you wanted the parking lights on.

The one-sided lighting works for most German cars. My dad's VW Tiguan and all our BMWs worked the same way, click the indicator stalk L/R. Haven't driven an Opel in years but I believe it'd be the same. I use it a few times, but otherwise having both parking lights on isn't that much drain on the battery esp. with newer cars using LEDs.