I also think that a lot of people confuse their
park lights or even the
low-beam lights with daytime running lights.
With your park lights, a peanut bulb in front & your rear lamps are on.
With you low-beam lights, the peanut bulb, low-beam lamp & rear lamps are on.
With daytime running lights, it uses either a park light or a low-watt (around 20W) forward light (and not the low-beam) and there is no rear light on.
Here's the problem with using your park / low-beam lights as a pseudo-DRL:
1. Your rear lamps stay on... if you don't have a 3rd brake lamp or have a relatively weak taillamp or have an el-cheapo LED taillamp (like the one used in the Corolla) - other drivers will have a hard time distinguishing if you're braking or not.
2. As mentioned by mbiege, the instrument cluster also gets light. This is no problem if you have an light output adjuster (like in the Rav) or have an optitron gauge - but the vehicles equipped with these are in minority.
3. You produce
unnecessary glare and distraction if you insist on using your low-beam headlamps... that is why other drivers are signaling / flashing you. That's why DRLs have half the output of regular low-beam lamps.
Hopefully this clarifies the confusion with using DRLs since most vehicles being sold here in the Philippines
are not equipped with the said feature.
If you still insist on using your park/low-beam lights as a pseudo-DRL device...
