2018 Explorer Sport LED lights options

[Magus2727]

I am looking at ways to "improve" my lighting on my 2018 Explorer Sport. I have the LED low beams, LED fog lights, and halogen high beams.

I have read through the light thread in the sticky thread. Well... At least the first few pages.

What I did not see was is there the following options:

1. Is there a way to keep the LED fog lights on when the high beams are on? I don't like loosing all my short feild of view lighting when high beams go on.

2. Also is there a way to keep the low beams also on in a high beams on? Can the wire harness handle the power of both bulbs?

I am looking at installing the HIDextra Pro CANbus 9005 6000k color 55w for the high beams. But would like to see what options there are for the above two options.

Thanks

 

[peterk9]

I am looking at ways to "improve" my lighting on my 2018 Explorer Sport. I have the LED low beams, LED fog lights, and halogen high beams.

I have read through the light thread in the sticky thread. Well... At least the first few pages.

What I did not see was is there the following options:

1. Is there a way to keep the LED fog lights on when the high beams are on? I don't like loosing all my short feild of view lighting when high beams go on.

2. Also is there a way to keep the low beams also on in a high beams on? Can the wire harness handle the power of both bulbs?

I am looking at installing the HIDextra Pro CANbus 9005 6000k color 55w for the high beams. But would like to see what options there are for the above two options.

Thanks

You can program the fog lamps to stay on with the high beams but I believe that in most jurisdictions that would be illegal. You can do it with Forscan and this has been discussed in other threads/posts..
Not sure about the low beams on with the high beams. Again there is a restriction as to the amount of light you are allowed to output to the front.
I travel unlit country roads and find little or no use to have the fogs on with the high or low beams in normal conditions. I find that it is very hard on the eyes at night with the newer vehicles when both lows and fogs are on. Just adds to 'light pollution' in my opinion. Putting HID lights in a reflector housing is not a good idea. HID's have their own housings designed specifically for the HID bulb to allow for precise focusing. Those housings designed for HID are also built of a different material that is able to withstand the higher heat. Lots of discussion on this in several existing threads.

Peter

 

[Magus2727]

If you could reference any of the DOT that indicate it is illegal it would be interesting. All I am finding is that there are maximum distances where you can have you high beams on when on coming traffic or following traffic. and that you have to have a minimum of two. At to protect us from stupidity laws that say don't use high beams in snow, rain, or fog...

I have an example where I have from the factory low beams and high beams on at the same time. I have a 2004 Ford Focus SVT with the HID lights. The HID projectors are the low beams with a Halogen high beam. When I turn the high beams on the low beams also stay on. I am guessing this is due to the ignition and warm up times associated with HID's. So from a stock factor vehicle I have both high beams and low beams on at the same time on my SVT Focus due to the low beams being a HID projector style of light. I would imagine this applies to other vehicles with this set up as you don't want to shut off the HID's due to the ignition and warm up time because as you transition back to them your lighting would be unsafe. Can anyone confirm that have the Explorer also with the HID Low / Halogen High configuration?

I have read through 3-4 pages about using HID's in the 9005 stock halogen location and the general analysis was if your spending approx. $150 or more on the set then its a high quality set and the bulb designs for the "retrofit kits" of those (example specific kits for a 9005 Halogen replacement to a 9005 HID) are designed such to work properly. Also have studied this on other vehicles and other studies about light generation and patterns and such. I feel like the 9005 Halogen to 9005 HID retrofit kit is adequate and a high quality manufacture to work well and not cause problems.

As for the Fog lights I LOVE having my fog lights on as they show me what is on the sides of the road. When you go from low beams and fogs to only high beams I loose visibility for about 100 fee in front of me and 50-100 feet to the sides. The fog lights are designed to be low and spread the high beams are far out and "focused" down the road. When traveling down dark country roads or mountain roads I want to sill light up the forest or fields to be on watch for the dear. With the high beams being illegal to be on with other people around I am trying to understand why they would be illegal also. There is no one else around.... for that reason, I turned off my "auto high beams" and as of now the LED low beams with the LED Fog lights do a better job at lighting up the dark roads than turning on the high beams.

Also confused on the light pollution comment... you are trying to have as much light pollution possible with lights.
Fogs = Low and close in but spread
Low = Mostly focused on the road (for left hand drive) straight and to the right of the vehicle with a pattern below specified feet
High = Spread up high and both lights up and straight ish as you don't "care" about oncoming traffic or people in front of you
When I am driving in clear conditions at night on dark roads with no other drivers I want as much light pollution as possible. Thus why people put 1000w+ LED light bars on trucks and SUV's for off road use. (actually been looking at the grill insert that integrates a mesh wire grill and a curved LED bar if I cant get the factory lights to work "better"*)

This is why I am looking at ways of keeping the fog lights on and running both low beams and high beams at the same time.

* better is of my on opinion and I allow everyone to have their own opinion.

 

[peterk9]

The light pollution I'm taking about refers to oncoming traffic with either HID or LED lights and associated fogs. Many of these are on streets with street lights. Absolutely no need for that unless they have a vision issue. I see very little difference with the fogs on with the low beams. I'm looking for obstacles ahead of me not at the side of the road. If travelling at a moderate speed if your low beams haven't picked up an object in your path the amount of light and spread of the fogs isn't going to help avoid it. I read an article a while ago that stated lately there are more manufacturers deleting fog lights due mainly to improper use. Perhaps part of the issue that as one gets older the sensitivity to light increases. BTW, I'm not the only one in this Forum that reference "light pollution". I'm 71 and have absolutely no need for fogs on the back roads.
As you said, everyone has their own opinions on this and other issues. Good luck.

Peter

 

[Magus2727]

Thanks for the comments. The first time I have head of the term and use of Light Pollution and having an issue with to much light or the spread of the light was adverse.

I agree that there is minimal and no time to react to anything you see at fog lights however I have found it makes you more aware still with your peripheral vision. If I see animal eyes reflect out the corner of my eye that the low beams did not catch I may preemptively slow down more as I know there are deer in the area and in the close area. I don't use it to expect I can stop with in 10 feet of my reaction time to not hit it but again helps know the general area.

I also find that since it puts more light close down when looking at the paved surface I can better tell if its dry or wet or where the "path most driven" is.

 

[bigtexan99]

I drive 100% of the time with my LED fogs on. Love it! Don't care for my halogen high beams, but I almost never use it.

 

[Magus2727]

^^^ that is why I am looking at trying to improve the High beams on the vehicle. I turned off the auto high beams as it was just obnoxious and again found that I had better lighting with the factory LED fogs and low beams on then just the halogen high beams.

Since its for the high beams it will only be used when no one else is in front of me (oncoming traffic or same direction) so the whole "only A** H****" use HID's in Halogen housings would never be a problem as no one will ever be subject to it. only the animals and plants of this world. and if bright enough I suppose other worlds... I agree for low beams.

Wonder if they will have an option (likely aftermarket) to swap out the LED fog lights with LED ones that are more in the 3000k color temp as you want a more yellow light for fog and snow. Guess that's another discussion and thread.

 

[chartquist]

Agree the halogen high beams are weak, and would love the low beam LEDs to stay on with the highs. I find it jarring when both the beam pattern and color temperature changes when switching to highs, and IMO ideally we'd have a brighter high beam in the same color added to the lows.

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a direct replacement halogen bulb that is in the 4K kelvin range and puts out significantly more lumens? Based on my research, the Sylvania silverstar bulbs are a good option, but the downside is that they run hot and don't last long. Might be OK considering high beams typically aren't used much.

 

[Magus2727]

I think you will have that problem if you stay halogen. No way to fake a hallogen to provide more output without running hotter which drops the life.

 

[bigtexan99]

OMG, I'm in a loaner 2018 F150 XLT with no LED lights and its horrible! So dim and yellow. Can't wait to get my Sport back from service.

 

[Sgt1411]

OMG, I'm in a loaner 2018 F150 XLT with no LED lights and its horrible! So dim and yellow. Can't wait to get my Sport back from service.

Too funny you say that Im driving a 2018 F150 XLT at work with same poor headlights and we were just talking about how bad they were.

I was trying to use my old Diode Dynamics HID headlight kit to see if I could adapt it to the F150.

Pretty bad in the 18 model year they haven't gone all LED.

 

[metroplex]

This is a very old thread but it came up in a search. IIHS actually publishes headlight data for a lot of the newer vehicles. You will find the 2016-2019 Explorer LED low beams to be extremely good in comparison to the majority of the vehicles on the market. The high beams don't have enough power though. But the 2020 Explorer LED low beams aren't as good as the 2016-2019 LED low beams!

The F-150s also have terrible headlights unless you upgrade to the Lariat w/ 502A to get the LED headlights which are better. So basically if you upgrade to a 2020 Explorer, you will have inferior low beams to the 2016-2019 Explorer.

I also found out that most of Hyundai and Kia's offerings at the highest trims offer very good LED low/high beam performance. The 2020 Escape Titanium LED low/high beams are also just as good or better than the 2016-2019 Explorer. It is making me not want to get the 2020+ Explorer ST, and just go with a 2020+ Escape Titanium and tune it.

Headlight performance is a high priority for me, as I do a lot of driving in the dark. I've also worked on photometrics testing for vehicles using FMVSS Section 108 and UNECE as requirements, and you'd be amazed at how horrible FMVSS Section 108 is - as it allows unsafe headlights to be considered "safe" or within spec. FMVSS doesn't require headlight washers either, even though UNECE requires washers for projector headlights (whether halogen, HID, LED, or laser) to prevent/reduce glare.

 

[peterk9]

I do quite a bit of country driving in the Winter and I can honestly say that I never had any visibility issues with the headlights on my 2017 Platinum.

Peter

 

[metroplex]

I do quite a bit of country driving in the Winter and I can honestly say that I never had any visibility issues with the headlights on my 2017 Platinum.

Peter

Thats because the LED low beams are really good on 16-19 Explorers. They glare other drivers big time, but they have great distance and peripheral lighting. I don't even have the fog lights on my 2018 and the low beams themselves are really good. They put the factory LEDs on my 2017 Fusion Sport to shame.

 

[metroplex]

I do quite a bit of country driving in the Winter and I can honestly say that I never had any visibility issues with the headlights on my 2017 Platinum.

Peter

Also, it seems you have the Reserve with Reserve 2 package on your 2020 Aviator. Those LED projectors show much better lighting than the LEDs on the 2020 Explorer ST. As far as I can tell, those upgraded Aviator headlights are not available on the Explorers. The regulator Aviator LED reflectors aren't as good, and show data similar to the 2020 Explorer headlights