How to: Explorer LED Interior swap + Puddle Lamps DIY

[Broheim]

Got the 2nd row done for XLT no sunroof. It's weird though... While the car door is open I can't turn on the 2nd row lights. I can't turn them on until I shut the door and the timing of the other lights turn off. So basically, the only time I can turn on the 2nd row lights now is while the doors are closed :/ I may try ripping it out again and maybe a different combo of + and - will work better? I'll give it a try and let you know what I come up with.

 

[chieftomahawk]

led

Leds only work one way not sure why the board does that I have a moon roof so med 2nd row didnt need modding. I had the same problem with the third row even before I did mod. Im in the process of getting rid of the board and making it more like my 2nd row just working on what all six wires do and which ones I dont need more to follow.

 

[Broheim]

Leds only work one way not sure why the board does that I have a moon roof so med 2nd row didnt need modding. I had the same problem with the third row even before I did mod. Im in the process of getting rid of the board and making it more like my 2nd row just working on what all six wires do and which ones I dont need more to follow.

That would be ideal. If I open the door, the 2nd row flickers for a second like it wants to come on, but doesn't. My 3rd row still works great with the mod. My 2nd row light has 2 leds on the board so maybe that is what complicates things? Would be interested in seeing if your hardwired method works. I'm kind of busy this weekend, but if I get some time I may try messing around with it a bit more. Thanks for all the feedback.

 

[deewan]

I had my explorer at the service shop today for some warranty work. While it was in, I had the service techs take another look at the cargo light. I was flat out told that because of the LED's the cargo light is acting up. Service tech said when he replaced the LED map bulbs with the factory incandescent bulbs, the problem went away. When he put the LEDs back in, the issues started again. Service department said the issue is closed unless I replace the LED bulbs and the issue comes back. They won't trouble shoot anything more with LED bulbs installed. Sooo... looks like I have to come up with some other fix.

 

[chieftomahawk]

service shop

I know for me at least I had this problem before I did the led swap. However it does do it more now that I did the led swap. I think its due to the board on the back still having power in the system like the other bulbs are not drawing enough for it to sense them dimming out kinda like when the old led swaps the lights would stay on real low. What I have figured out its that if you take the board out and hook up a simple 194 socket it will dim out like normal just won't come on yet when I hit interior lights plus no switch yet to turn it on by myself but that's all in the works

 

[deewan]

I agree. I am sure it is because of the lower power draw of the LED's, but I'm not sure that would cause the problem of the light turning on and staying on regardless, or never turning on and being unable to manually turn it on by either opening a door or using the interior light button.

At this point, I'm thinking I may just unhook it all together since I rarely need it and not having a light is better than driving at night with the that light staying on for 2 hours.

 

[Mams-Ex]

well, i can only confirm that the focus interior lights are bright white and not yellowish...my wife got a 2012 focus and i love her interior lights.... when i get a chance to have both vehicles here at home at the same time, i'll try to pick it apart quickly to where she doesn't know..hehe.... also, her license plate lights are the same bright white color....if all the bulbs interchange, i'm definitely hitting up the parts dept.

i will definitely try to do this but no guarantees cause my son has been sick, so someone may end up finding out before i do....

bluelion, did you ever get a chance to try your wife's Focus dome light in your Explorer? I'm interested in giving that a try myself.

 

[chieftomahawk]

board

So I have been messing with my third row light and I figured out a few things. there are four wires one ground two that are constant hot that are yellow and one that is purple that had 5.3 volts until you open a door our unlock the door then it goes to 12 volts. I bypassed the whole circuit board with a switch, a relay that disconnects under power, and a simple 194 socket. Its not pretty but just to see where the problem is coming from once I had it all wired in every function worked I could turn the light on and off and it would come on when the door was open. Best of all it would shut off and not come back on until I wanted it to! So its the board and its over complicated circuits.

 

[Broheim]

So I have been messing with my third row light and I figured out a few things. there are four wires one ground two that are constant hot that are yellow and one that is purple that had 5.3 volts until you open a door our unlock the door then it goes to 12 volts. I bypassed the whole circuit board with a switch, a relay that disconnects under power, and a simple 194 socket. Its not pretty but just to see where the problem is coming from once I had it all wired in every function worked I could turn the light on and off and it would come on when the door was open. Best of all it would shut off and not come back on until I wanted it to! So its the board and its over complicated circuits.

So what do you plan to do permanently? My 3rd row is fine, but my 2nd row (has same housing as 3rd row but has 2 LEDs instead of one) is the problem. Won't turn on with the doors open. I have to wait until the doors are closed and the dimmer shuts the rest of the lights down before I can turn on my 2nd row. I'll need to get this figured out soon... My 1st baby is due in October so I'll need that light in the 2nd row when the doors are open so I can see the baby etc... at night.

 

[chieftomahawk]

light

I'm in the process of changing it to be easier I did it with a relay just cause I had it laying around now i'm ditching the relay cause I finally got to radio shack and picked up a diode to make it simpler now its a matter of mounting it in the original case once I get it worked out I will post pictures.

 

[Mams-Ex]

This fixed the dome light issue for me

It makes sense that replacing the regular bulbs with LED's should require some kind of load change since the LED's are diodes who's resistance changes with the voltage therefore I was going to try Canbus LED's with load-resistors, however I found a link where a guy had added resistors to his LED's and fixed his issue. I tried it and now my 3rd row dome light works normally! He had the same AGT LED's that I was using so it worked out wonderfully.

Here's the link: http://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-guide-43/194-ebay-led-load-resistors-237103/

I may try and replace the yellowish LED in the OEM 3rd row light with a bright white one just as Chieftomahawk did, then everything will match. Nice job by the way.

 

[deewan]

It makes sense that replacing the regular bulbs with LED's should require some kind of load change since the LED's are diodes who's resistance changes with the voltage therefore I was going to try Canbus LED's with load-resistors, however I found a link where a guy had added resistors to his LED's and fixed his issue. I tried it and now my 3rd row dome light works normally! He had the same AGT LED's that I was using so it worked out wonderfully.

Here's the link: http://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-guide-43/194-ebay-led-load-resistors-237103/

I may try and replace the yellowish LED in the OEM 3rd row light with a bright white one just as Chieftomahawk did, then everything will match. Nice job by the way.

GREAT FIND and seems like a simple fix. I still have my soldering iron out from some speaker crossover work I was doing. I'll try and run to radio shack tomorrow and give this a try. I'll report back as well on my findings.

 

[Broheim]

GREAT FIND and seems like a simple fix. I still have my soldering iron out from some speaker crossover work I was doing. I'll try and run to radio shack tomorrow and give this a try. I'll report back as well on my findings.

Very cool. Let us know if it works for you too. I may have to take a trip to Radio Shack soon.

 

[chieftomahawk]

awesome

I will try this out seems simple enough. I also recently went to my dealership and looked at the focus lights and the will work. There are a few differences if you get the focus back light it has no on off. If you get the front one it has three different buttons for light selection. The best thing about the focus lights is that it has removable light bulbs for easy led swap. Lastly if you get the front light and just put the circuit board into your housing you will hide the other two buttons and simplify it lol

 

[Broheim]

I will try this out seems simple enough. I also recently went to my dealership and looked at the focus lights and the will work. There are a few differences if you get the focus back light it has no on off. If you get the front one it has three different buttons for light selection. The best thing about the focus lights is that it has removable light bulbs for easy led swap. Lastly if you get the front light and just put the circuit board into your housing you will hide the other two buttons and simplify it lol

Any chance you have the exact part #? I ordered a Focus light a couple of weeks ago. The parts guy obviously had no idea what he was doing... He said there was no way for him to tell what exactly he was ordering just by looking in the computer. He made his best guess and ordered me one... The size of the housing is fine since it fits up into the ceiling perfectly. However, the LED is part of the circuit board and is the same color as the stock EX Also, the housing color he ordered me was tan instead of black. I think he ordered me the 2nd row dome instead of the front one like you ordered.

 

[Mams-Ex]

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Any chance you have the exact part #? I ordered a Focus light a couple of weeks ago. The parts guy obviously had no idea what he was doing... He said there was no way for him to tell what exactly he was ordering just by looking in the computer. He made his best guess and ordered me one... The size of the housing is fine since it fits up into the ceiling perfectly. However, the LED is part of the circuit board and is the same color as the stock EX Also, the housing color he ordered me was tan instead of black. I think he ordered me the 2nd row dome instead of the front one like you ordered.

I bought the Front Ford Focus Interior LED Lamp Assy. PN- AM5Z-13776-GA, which is the 3 button version, for $20 plus shipping off EBay. It works fine and yes you can swap the outer housing with the one in your vehicle to get a color match and cover the extra lighted switches. In the end I went back and just did the LED swap mod of adding a 5-bulb 194 AGT LED that Chieftomahawk came up with in this thread as it's much brighter. I also didn't like the idea of having the Focus button lights shinning through the housing. Again, no problems after adding the load resistors.

 

[Mams-Ex]

Finally got around to replacing the puddle lamps with LED's. It's very simple if you have a Dremel tool with a platter bit and some adhesive. The entire assembly simply pulls out the bottom of the mirror when the tab is released with a small flat blade screw driver. It is has 2 wires that are attached with friction connectors. Undo the wires and remove the puddle light. With the puddle assembly in hand simply cut underneath the clear lens all the way around except where the black tab slots into the clear lens, then wiggle the lens out of the black housing to gain access to the bulb. It's a festoon type 30mm and should be easy to find an LED version on Amazon or EBay. Once the LED bulb is installed, slide the clear lens back onto the black housing and apply a small amount of good adhesive around the lens and assembly then reinstall into the mirror.

 

[VinceL]

Cool. Thanks for the write-up. How is the brightness compared to the old bulbs? How many LED's did your replacements have? I see 2, but didn't know if there were more on the other side

 

[deewan]

Adding on to VinceL's, thanks for the writeup. I had wanted to upgrade the puddle lights with LED's and heard it could be done, but wasn't exactly sure how what steps were needed. Your post has made things very clear.

VinceL, I believe there are only 2 LED's, the two you see. There are none on the other side.

 

[Mams-Ex]

Cool. Thanks for the write-up. How is the brightness compared to the old bulbs? How many LED's did your replacements have? I see 2, but didn't know if there were more on the other side

Thanks. Yes the LED's that I used were Festoon directional (LED's only on one side). Basically any 30-31mm Festoon type LED should work fine. Even with just 2-LED's per bulb they are brighter than the stock bulbs and have the nice bright white w/blueish tint glow. Obviously, a 4 or 6 LED bulb would be brighter and I might swap them out for those down the road.