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After flattening my battery twice in the last month due to leaving the lights on, I decided it was time to make a lights-on reminder.

I scoured google and found a good one from some overseas hilux forum I think, then headed to Jaycar and got a few bits and made it for $4.45 and 20 mins of my time...

1x 12v (5-16v) piezo buzzer;
1x 1N4007 diode; and
about 10cm of wire.

Lights (+) > diode (the end without the stripe) > buzzer (+) > ignition (+)

So I soldered the stripe end of the diode to the + of the buzzer then added a bit of wire to the other end of the diode.
I then opened the corner of the dash (L series) to get to the light switch and connected the wire I soldered to the diode onto the red-with-white-stripe connection which showed to only activate with lights on.
Then I needed to find a wire that was off without the key but on when it was at the first stop (like the wire that turns on the clock on the radio) - there was a stray connector just behind the lights which happened to have just the thing I was looking for so I hacked a crimp connector to fit then attached the wire and tested it a few times, then put eleccy tape over the buzzer cos its so damn loud.

It works and I'm proud

Neat trick, L series you say? I thought they all went lights off when you kill the engine

Im assuming you have a pre 87 subaru?

If it were me I would have wired a relay so that the lights turn off when the ignition is turned off

Good effort none-the-less

yeah its an 85. I did see a couple of diagrams with relays but that fell in to the too hard basket since I wouldn't want the lights coming on while trying to start the car and 2 wires are easier to connect than 4...

keep your receipt for that piezo buzzer. Mine fitted to my ebay temp alert stopped alerting within weeks, no keepy the docket !
Top idea too, making your own. I have bought one for about same money and it too died too soon. Also had one in a car I bought 20 years ago and they used a diode and green light - assuming they were deaf! Fortunately, the other unit I bought for about 12 bucks and soldered in at the back of my Brumbys gauge pod still screams away many years later if I leave the lights on and switch off.