LED Headlight Conversions | Page 5 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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The HID (TRS Elite XB35 5.5K) are brighter. I found the LED washed out in the distance. This becomes more apparent in bad weather.

thank you for sharing!

What is the "proper" process for photos is it park on level surface, 20' from wall/garage door etc?

Thought I would try and get some pics of the before and after when I do the LED swap in our headlights.
 






I tried the LMZ 4500lm led headlights from vleds and ended up sending them back. I would say they are slightly better than the halogens but not as good as my current 35w hids.
 






I actually just upgraded to LED. Bought this package:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VNBDOV2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

So far so good; output is better than stock, installation took about 10 minutes. Cutoff is almost perfect, no bleed which is nice not having to worry about people flashing me. Still have to drive it around more at night to really compare but I'm happy so far.

Is this a Low Beam/High Beam Headlight Bulb? Thanks Steve..:salute:
 






If I'm not mistaken, the 2011-2015 uses a single filament bulb and the hi/lo is taken care of with a shutter.
 


















For me the LED bulbs washed out too much. They was O.K., but not great.

I have switched back to HID and did a complete retrofit. I now have EvoX-R projectors (direct bolt-in), Osram CBI bulbs, XB35 Ballasts w/D2S igniters and a HD relay harness. All purchased from www.theretrofitsource.com. (no affiliation) The light output, is vastly superior to the stock halogen, aftermarket LED bulb or drop in HID kit solution. The best thing about my retrofit is the beam is bright and wide. There is a distinct cut off. I know I am not blasting oncoming drivers with glare. It was not a cheap or easy retrofit, but was well worth the expense and effort. I was able to complete the project in about eight hours my myself.

Back to LED... I have read about a few LED projectors available. Koito Bi-LED and a soon to be released M-LED Bifocal LED projector. They are very interesting. However they require a retrofit for installation as they replace the stock projector. These LED projectors are said to rival high end HID solutions. These are worth further research.
 






For me the LED bulbs washed out too much. They was O.K., but not great.

I have switched back to HID and did a complete retrofit. I now have EvoX-R projectors (direct bolt-in), Osram CBI bulbs, XB35 Ballasts w/D2S igniters and a HD relay harness. All purchased from www.theretrofitsource.com. (no affiliation) The light output, is vastly superior to the stock halogen, aftermarket LED bulb or drop in HID kit solution. The best thing about my retrofit is the beam is bright and wide. There is a distinct cut off. I know I am not blasting oncoming drivers with glare. It was not a cheap or easy retrofit, but was well worth the expense and effort. I was able to complete the project in about eight hours my myself.

Back to LED... I have read about a few LED projectors available. Koito Bi-LED and a soon to be released M-LED Bifocal LED projector. They are very interesting. However they require a retrofit for installation as they replace the stock projector. These LED projectors are said to rival high end HID solutions. These are worth further research.
I think you misread his question. He wanted to know why you initially switched to LED from HID.
 






Oh My, I did misread it. Sorry.

Basically the reason I tried the LED bulbs was out of curiosity. Just wanted to see how well they worked.
 






Oh My, I did misread it. Sorry.

Basically the reason I tried the LED bulbs was out of curiosity. Just wanted to see how well they worked.

OoooKyyy.

The LED I used required nothing more then unplug and plug. Reinstall dust covers. Done

Went from 900 Lumens to 2500 lumens.

Can now see the road in the rain.
Can now see the sides of the roads beyond the 70MPH speed likely traveled. More probably.
No need for more. Yes it is a soft light not white bright straight down the road a mile. I will be driving a lot this week coming up and will report any shortcomings.

No ballast problems
No computer problems
no over heating problems

I suspect the OEM projector lens is a focal inadequacy.
 






Howdy
I have a 2014 explorer with halogen headlights. I purchased a kit to upgrade to LED. They work fine, and I love them, but there are wires and connectors that required the rubber "dust" cap to be removed and the extra wiring is secured but outside of the back of the lens assembly. Is there a better way to install these?
Has anyone else done an upgrade to LED headlights?

Thanks
DK
 






Did the swap over the weekend, and installed the OPT7 LED kit a few have recommended on this thread. Install was relatively painless - dust covers would not go back on, but I expected that. Everything else was plug and play. I zip-tied the wiring to clean it up, and I was back on the road. Still need to do more night-driving to get a full sense of the improvement, but based on initial reactions, i'm quite pleased. Definitely a huge improvement over stock.
 






Howdy
I have a 2014 explorer with halogen headlights. I purchased a kit to upgrade to LED. They work fine, and I love them, but there are wires and connectors that required the rubber "dust" cap to be removed and the extra wiring is secured but outside of the back of the lens assembly. Is there a better way to install these?
Has anyone else done an upgrade to LED headlights?

Thanks
DK
Welcome to the Forum.:wave:
Your thread has been merged with this existing one found using the Forum's handy 'Search' function.

Peter
 






Did the swap over the weekend, and installed the OPT7 LED kit a few have recommended on this thread. Install was relatively painless - dust covers would not go back on, but I expected that. Everything else was plug and play. I zip-tied the wiring to clean it up, and I was back on the road. Still need to do more night-driving to get a full sense of the improvement, but based on initial reactions, i'm quite pleased. Definitely a huge improvement over stock.

Thanks, PeterK

Is there any harm of not replacing the rubber dusk covers where they were? like water getting into the lense assembly?

Thanks
DK
 






Thanks, PeterK

Is there any harm of not replacing the rubber dusk covers where they were? like water getting into the lense assembly?

Thanks
DK

You should be fine. All posts on this forum that i've read (along with Amazon reviews of the kit related to the Explorer) suggested that the dust covers will not fit, but that the fan assembly used for the LED kit is water resistant enough. An alternative option that some have done is cutting a hole in the dust cover for the wiring, and then popping it back on....Based on what others have done though, I haven't found cause for concern.
 


















I had grand dreams of how to take multiple before and after photos plus videos, and all sorts of other stuff. In reality I don't have time for all that, so this is what I had to settle for...

Both of these were taken with a Canon T6i with settings of f/8, 1/40 sec shutter, ISO 6400, and focal length of 29 mm. Because the settings on the two photos are identical, the differences in the photos is very similar to what you'd see in person. Both shots are of the low beams. I couldn't get accurate shots of the high beams for reasons not worth elaborating on.

Before
Kw2QSiy.jpg


After
U1mbOxl.jpg


Edit: Removed unnecessary rambling. The difference should be pretty obvious.

BTW, I've just installed these in my garage at 3pm so I don't know about their real world nighttime performance yet. Also, I parked slightly at an angle, so please disregard the fact that the driver's side throws more light on the wall in this photo.

For anyone else who gets these particular lights (OPT7 9005), you just need the little adapters on the top half of the box (no need for the wires in the separate box on bottom). I'd recommend plugging those adapters into your Explorer's harness (mine needed a little extra "oomph" and I dropped one of the LED's once or twice), then connect the LED to the harness. Then it's really just a simple plug-n-play installation.

Happy to answer any questions.
 



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It appears that in the 'After' shot there seems to be more light 'splash' and less focus. I wonder if that is due to an incompatibility with the stock projectors. I know that putting HID's in a Halogen housing will result in the inability to obtain proper focus. I've often wondered about LED's. Other than that, there certainly is a much brighter light.

Peter
 






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