LED Headlight Conversions | Page 10 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

I just slit the dust covers (actually a tiny "X") and pushed the wire through.
Honestly, slightly concerned about not have it "vent" (closed headlight fixture) for venting with fan... but so far for 2 years, never had any issues.

On those vehicles that had bulbs close enough to rubber dust covers, I actually trimmed a hole (think turtleneck) around the LED housing, so the fan uses external air for venting.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





a year plus and no-one is changing to LEDs?

As stated the LED have a fan and heat sink, you cannot use the dust coer, put them in your glove box.

How about experiences with light output?

There are lots of different power ratings but that doesnt always mean same light out put 50watt 80 up to 200w bulbs,

experiences???
Have you read post #144? Not sure what type of headlight housing a 2005 Explorer has.

Peter
 






I installed these today. They fit inside the dust cover. They can be adjusted, so if you want the LEDs facing a different way (left & right, vs up & down), you can turn them in the socket.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M049TFK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

View media item 774View media item 773

a year plus and no-one is changing to LEDs?

As stated the LED have a fan and heat sink, you cannot use the dust coer, put them in your glove box.

How about experiences with light output?

There are lots of different power ratings but that doesnt always mean same light out put 50watt 80 up to 200w bulbs,

experiences???

See above. They fit inside the dust covers completely. They're not the only option that do, as I've found others on Amazon.

Also, wanted to ad that I used the 3-sided (triangle shaped) LEDs. IMOHO, do not use the 2-sided "flat" LED headlights. They dont throw the light correctly.
The 3-sided have 2 on top (low beam), and 1 on bottom (high beam). They seem to throw the most light all the time.
The 2-sided, have 2 (or more...) LEDs on top, but the coverage is not good in front of vehicle, and the LEDs on bottom are fine... but again, I like the 3-sided better.

Personally just stuck with good (cheap) company (search) "STARK LED HEADLIGHT" on eBay, for like under $50. They come with 3-sided and fan. have them on 6 vehicles so far.

As you can see in mine, the two sided work just fine. In this case, they're adjustable, and the LEDs are on each side instead of top and bottom.

So, what did you do about the dust covers? And how long have you had those "good cheap" LEDs installed? They look pretty substantial on the Ebay listing. Thanks!

There are several options that fit inside with the dust covers.


I had one of the LEDs on my right headlight go out. I emailed Sirius, on a Sunday, had a response the same day, and they shipped me a replacement, no questions asked.
 






See above. They fit inside the dust covers completely. They're not the only option that do, as I've found others on Amazon.
Thanks!
:salute:


As you can see in mine, the two sided work just fine. In this case, they're adjustable, and the LEDs are on each side instead of top and bottom.



There are several options that fit inside with the dust covers.


I had one of the LEDs on my right headlight go out. I emailed Sirius, on a Sunday, had a response the same day, and they shipped me a replacement, no questions asked.
 






I just slit the dust covers (actually a tiny "X") and pushed the wire through.
Honestly, slightly concerned about not have it "vent" (closed headlight fixture) for venting with fan... but so far for 2 years, never had any issues.

Thanks for the info. Appreciate it!


On those vehicles that had bulbs close enough to rubber dust covers, I actually trimmed a hole (think turtleneck) around the LED housing, so the fan uses external air for venting.
I just slit the dust covers (actually a tiny "X") and pushed the wire through.
Honestly, slightly concerned about not have it "vent" (closed headlight fixture) for venting with fan... but so far for 2 years, never had any issues.

On those vehicles that had bulbs close enough to rubber dust covers, I actually trimmed a hole (think turtleneck) around the LED housing, so the fan uses external air for venting.
 






For those asking for pictures of how the LEDs were installed, here's how we did it on my Ex. we cut a notch in the outer ring of the dust cover to allow the wiring to go through, but that also keeps the dust cap in functional order. Then we simply zip tied the ballast up. We could have cleaned the set up of the ballast up a bit better, but since it's not currently a show car I didn't figure there was much of a need (can always fix it later with a couple of screws.)

Anyway, I hope this helps.

20170809_174245.jpg


20170809_174156.jpg
 






Thanks for the pics - they are very helpful. And since I can't remember anything even from yesterday, what type of LEDs did you put in? I'm too lazy to look it up! Do they have the fan thingy or a heat sink? Thanks....
 






Thanks for the pics - they are very helpful. And since I can't remember anything even from yesterday, what type of LEDs did you put in? I'm too lazy to look it up! Do they have the fan thingy or a heat sink? Thanks....
They have the fan. The same ones that @Fentress24 used on his. No issues with putting the dust cap back on (hitting the fan, I mean.) I probably could have got the ballast into the light opening if I had the patience, but it was a tight fit for my hands and this seemed like a much easier solution. Not overly concerned about overheating as most of the time I use the low beams, anyway.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017M57DJG/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I2QRECU11QYEN6&colid=3AFC7KIO868V5
 






As usual, thanks for the great info!
e44328934c9037a111ff6ba60294f347--send-a-card-thank-you-cards.jpg
 






checking on the flee bay, not only are there two and three sided, there are 4 sided too.
Watt rating 50 - 300, and lumens ranging same.

for those that love what they got - what were the ratings and suppliers?
 






SuprSquirrel:
When I inquired with Precision LED about my LED headlight installation and the dust covers, I was told to leave the dust covers off because the LED bulbs created so much heat; that the dust cover would block the heat being pushed out by the fan in the LED bulb assembly.
Concerned that you might get short life span on you LEDs with the dust covers on.
 






Having designed lamps
I agree

Need that 20000 rpm fan to spin and flow heat out of there

Fan failures I've seen are tied to subsequent bulb failing. I just got 84000 lumens supposedly across four lamps

Install next Monday
 






SuprSquirrel:
When I inquired with Precision LED about my LED headlight installation and the dust covers, I was told to leave the dust covers off because the LED bulbs created so much heat; that the dust cover would block the heat being pushed out by the fan in the LED bulb assembly.
Concerned that you might get short life span on you LEDs with the dust covers on.
It's fair to be worried about, to be sure. Basically you have to weigh what you're more concerned with: shorter LED life thanks to extra heat or the possibility of increased moisture in the light housing due to the removal of the dust covers. Ultimately the possibility of reduced life seemed the lesser of two evils to me. Most of the time my high beams are on for no more than five or ten minutes at a time. We live about two minutes off a state highway and my in-laws another ten minutes off of that. And our road is a somewhat busy road as well so the brights are rarely on the entire time.

*shrugs*

If they die in three or four years and we still own the vehicle I'll just spend another $40ish dollars and replace them. :)
 






They have the fan. The same ones that @Fentress24 used on his. No issues with putting the dust cap back on (hitting the fan, I mean.) I probably could have got the ballast into the light opening if I had the patience, but it was a tight fit for my hands and this seemed like a much easier solution. Not overly concerned about overheating as most of the time I use the low beams, anyway.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017M57DJG/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I2QRECU11QYEN6&colid=3AFC7KIO868V5

Tell me about it! The worst part of this Mod was by far the cuts and scratches on my hands from trying to fit into that small opening on the driver side.
 












Tell me about it! The worst part of this Mod was by far the cuts and scratches on my hands from trying to fit into that small opening on the driver side.

Fingers crossed! I just ordered the "Evitek LED Headlight Bulbs 9005 HB3 for Cars- Plug n Play Headlight Kit, 30W 6500K Pure White OSRAM Chip LED Bulbs" as well!

Good price and the reviews on here tipped the scale for me!
 






Fingers crossed! I just ordered the "Evitek LED Headlight Bulbs 9005 HB3 for Cars- Plug n Play Headlight Kit, 30W 6500K Pure White OSRAM Chip LED Bulbs" as well!

Good price and the reviews on here tipped the scale for me!
Welcome to the Forum Steve.:wave:

Peter
 






Hi guys. I have a 13 limited woth hid. I read someone changed hids to leds. And my question is hids have their own ballasts to run them and with the conversion of the stock hids to led, did you jave to unplug the hid ballast connectors? Thanks in advance.
 






Hi guys. I have a 13 limited woth hid. I read someone changed hids to leds. And my question is hids have their own ballasts to run them and with the conversion of the stock hids to led, did you jave to unplug the hid ballast connectors? Thanks in advance.
I think you're likely better off with the HID. https://www.angieslist.com/articles/which-headlights-shine-best-halogen-hid-or-led.htm
Also, LED reflectors are made of a higher quality material in order to withstand the significant amount of heat the bulb produces.

Peter
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





just put 4 sided LED 330w each in the 2005 Gen 3 EX, that after having the brightest AZ Osram available - incredibly bright, white light - fog laps next!
 






Back
Top