HID/XENON Upgrade on Halogens (NOT LED) - anyone?

[1111ExpyEL1111]

daniel -

thanks for the info - on your morimoto kit:

was it the 2.0 elite kit or the older style?

did you go with standalone canbus connection, or direct battery connection route?

did you need to use the add-on anti-flicker capacitor on your 2018?

1111expy: great question, not off topic at all - that very subject is no small part of the reason i'm leaning towards an HID kit or a ++halogen bulb upgrade on the projectors instead -

i'm sure i'll get flak from the LED people, as i'm sure some folks are super happy with their LED's... and we can all agree that the stock halogen "long life bulbs" are pathetic in every way, so anything is an upgrade to be honest... there's no argument there.

apologies about the essay but -

you are correct in what you've heard, the lighting guru's have recommended NOT to use LED bulbs in projector housing... according to the "deep tech" of the halogen projector design, all LED diodes are technically "too large" to maximize the insanely small focal point of the projector, and thus does not provide a "downroad hotspot" as good as a halogen style bulb that has a super small element / surface area for the projector to focus on... even with advances in LED technology in this area, unfortunately the diode size cannot be made smaller, and only makes for a great "wash" light - but not an optimal downroad hotspot.

most LED drivers may not even notice this due to how bright their new "6k color" bulbs are in general, but i've tried them for comparison and immediately noticed the lack of hotspot & downroad distance focal point - most notable on wet or adverse weather conditions. that's one of the reasons why i pulled them out & am avoiding them, personally. (the other reason i'm staying away from them is inflexible color temp - scientifically speaking, 4300k is optimal color frequency for the human eye in general & is superior to cut through precipitation & reduce "reflection". plus my eyes can't take the 6k blue for super long night drives.)

I tried LED's and while I loved the white color, the download light throw of the LED's was abysmal. I would have had to modify the headlight housing to accept a LED in the high beam and didn't want to do it.

But the stock halogens are awful. My wife is the main driver of this Expy (we have 2) and she doesnt care either way. We live in the country so good nighttime vision is a must.

I need to do something...and soon.

 

[sjwhiteley]

... I would have had to modify the headlight housing to accept a LED in the high beam and didn't want to do it.
...

Not sure what you mean by this: what kind of modifications? Everyone else seems to be able to fit LED in the high beam location without issues.

As an aside, most new design LEDs work fine in the projector-style lamps, that the non-LED expedition has. Some have reported 'dead spots', I believe, but nothing critical.

I have LEDs in low, high and fog, and the combination works great. I had investigated HID, but for the simplicity and low cost of the LEDs, it's a good step.

If the low beam you feel isn't up to the task with LED, I see no reason the HID shouldn't work; the ballast mounting can be an issue but there's space to mount it up under there. The only question I'd have is getting through the rubber grommet that seals the bulb housing area.

 

[wakeboarder]

Not sure what you mean by this: what kind of modifications? Everyone else seems to be able to fit LED in the high beam location without issues.

As an aside, most new design LEDs work fine in the projector-style lamps, that the non-LED expedition has. Some have reported 'dead spots', I believe, but nothing critical.

I have LEDs in low, high and fog, and the combination works great. I had investigated HID, but for the simplicity and low cost of the LEDs, it's a good step.

If the low beam you feel isn't up to the task with LED, I see no reason the HID shouldn't work; the ballast mounting can be an issue but there's space to mount it up under there. The only question I'd have is getting through the rubber grommet that seals the bulb housing area.

You made me think of a couple points to consider before going HID.

1. Is there a large inrush current? If so, can the Ford BCM handle the inrush. It isn’t powered from a relay. It is powered from a mosfett inside the BCM. If something fails, you may be replacing the whole BCM.
2. How do the HID respond to lower voltage? The low beams are also the daytime running lamps. I believe they accomplish this by PWM through the Mosfett. This effectively lowers the voltage to the bulb making it dimmer.

 

[1111ExpyEL1111]

Not sure what you mean by this: what kind of modifications? Everyone else seems to be able to fit LED in the high beam location without issues.

As an aside, most new design LEDs work fine in the projector-style lamps, that the non-LED expedition has. Some have reported 'dead spots', I believe, but nothing critical.

I have LEDs in low, high and fog, and the combination works great. I had investigated HID, but for the simplicity and low cost of the LEDs, it's a good step.

If the low beam you feel isn't up to the task with LED, I see no reason the HID shouldn't work; the ballast mounting can be an issue but there's space to mount it up under there. The only question I'd have is getting through the rubber grommet that seals the bulb housing area.

I dont remember what exactly held me back. I have the useless fog "bar" on our 2016 which are already LED.

 

[Grover6]

I think the issue with LED bulbs is with the reflector style housing, which does not allow the beam to be focused properly and results in the bulb acting as a flood light, which looks bright when you see the vehicle coming at you but doesn't allow the beam to throw light down the road which is what you need.

I have the projector style, which looks like a robot eye, and these are what is needed to use HID or LED bulbs properly, as they focus the light and give you that nice sharp cutoff line at the top of the light pattern. However, from my research you cant just slap any old LED in there and have it work well. The diode needs to be as close to the position of the halogen filament as possible, and yes this is tricky because LED diodes are larger.

After much learning, I went with the Diode Dynamics SL1, in both low and high beam positions. As I mentioned in my earlier post, they are significantly better than the brightest halogen I tried, but not as clean a pattern or as bright as the HIDs I had.

Also mentioned above is the issue of dead spots in the LED beam and yes that is a thing. but the overall pattern is bright enough that it is not an deal breaker for me.

As an aside I was replacing halogen bulbs about once a year, and i ran my HIDs for about a year and a half before a ballast went. I have had my LEDs in now for almost 2 years without issue.

All that being said, HIDs are still the best for overall light production, and if you spend the money on a quality set you should be good.

 

[Anthony DeVor]

Not true with reflectors my jeep had reflectors and the bulbs i had in it had a nice definitive cut off line but they were h13 unlike our h11 & 9005’s


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[sjwhiteley]

You made me think of a couple points to consider before going HID.

1. Is there a large inrush current? If so, can the Ford BCM handle the inrush. It isn’t powered from a relay. It is powered from a mosfett inside the BCM. If something fails, you may be replacing the whole BCM.
2. How do the HID respond to lower voltage? The low beams are also the daytime running lamps. I believe they accomplish this by PWM through the Mosfett. This effectively lowers the voltage to the bulb making it dimmer.

Both good points. Don't know about the inrush.

As far as the low beams being DRL: I used Forscan to use only the 'turn signals' as DRL - these I replaced with switchback LED and have a really nice bright white light, but not enough to blind anyone.

 

[DWs-TTEB]

^I did the same with my DRL. Switchbacks are nice!

 

[lv2drive]

You made me think of a couple points to consider before going HID.

1. Is there a large inrush current? If so, can the Ford BCM handle the inrush. It isn’t powered from a relay. It is powered from a mosfett inside the BCM. If something fails, you may be replacing the whole BCM.
2. How do the HID respond to lower voltage? The low beams are also the daytime running lamps. I believe they accomplish this by PWM through the Mosfett. This effectively lowers the voltage to the bulb making it dimmer.

huh - odd, my cpo ‘19 doesn’t have DRL at all - i just assumed the halogen rigs did not have, and i don’t seem to find any menus settings anywhere. does that mean it was turned off on forscan by previous owner? either way - i guess i won’t have to worry about that -

as far as the inrush voltage - you mean the traditional HID power draw “spike” at lighting startup? i wondered the same thing also - whether the ballasts smooth that out in terms of actual startup power draw -

 

[Ron Large]

No offense but hid is 10 year old technology Led is the only smart way to go. I can offer you good led brand options not hid sorry. To me hid sucks worse than halogen


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Anthony, I purchased a 2014 Expy with LED lights and they flood the road but not much difference between low beam and high beam for down road. What LED brand do you recommend?