HID Conversion - 2012 Explorer Base

[Razziel24]

Hi Mike, yes you should change the 3 of them.

 

[russell bruesch]

I recieved an HID light kit plug and play from VLED. The manual shows switching the fuses for the headlamps to 20 amp. I ordered the 35 watt hid lamps . Im wondering if the people who have installed these plug and play kits changed the fuses as recommended in the manual ?

 

[Mike127]

I recieved an HID light kit plug and play from VLED. The manual shows switching the fuses for the headlamps to 20 amp. I ordered the 35 watt hid lamps . Im wondering if the people who have installed these plug and play kits changed the fuses as recommended in the manual ?

Hey Russell,
Me and Razziel have the same kit and we both changed the fuses. I changed the 3 I listed in the earlier post all to 20A fuses.

My cut off lines look very similar to Razziel's but it took a long time to adjust it b/c they are a little difficult to get to lock into place sometimes. Be patient. I also have a bright spot on my driverside headlight like you can see in Razziel's pictures. And my headlights were pointed too low so I raised the beam a little and it help a ton. (The low headlight beam is a noted factory issue)

*3m tape doesn't work alone when attached to the flat horizontal wall of headlight housing. Mine came off after a couple days

Let me know if you have anymore questions, be happy to help if I can

 

[russell bruesch]

Mike thanks for the reply. I did not think i would need to do any headlight adjustment after installing the kit. What do you mean about adjusting the cutoff and positioning. I thought with the projector housings already on the explorer i would get simalar light placement as the stock halogens ? What should i be looking for after installing the kit. I thought this was plug and play without any modifications needed.

Im worried now that i may be in over my head with this purchase. I dont have time to spend dicking around making alot of adjustment through a trial and error process. Maybe i should return the kit and buy HIR bulbs instead ?

Can you give me an explanation on what problems i may run into and how to correct them?
THANKS

 

[Mike127]

No it's not a big deal. The bulb will only lock in to the ballast at certain positions (2 or 3) and you just have to turn it to the one that gives you the best result. Then repeat on the other side. The trick is it takes a little wiggling to get it to lock, it'll feel like it won't but just keep trying and it'll work.

Cut off is just the horziontal line that headlights make. And the only reason it differs depending upon position of the bulb is b/c the "igniter" bar on HID bulbs can produce a shadow. I believe the bar should be towards the bottom.

To make the hole in the dust cap I used a hole saw bit of 1" but then just used scissors on the next one.

Your lights will look kinda dim after installation until you raise the beams a little.

The whole install took me about 2hrs including adjustments. I could do it in 25 mins now if I had to do it again.

I wouldn't return them if I were you

 

[russell bruesch]

I am more confused now. Do we have the same kits ? Mine is the plug and play 35 watt slim ballast 9005- 5000k.
You state the bulb will only lock into the ballast in certain positions 2or3. On my system the bulb is already prewired to connect to the mating connector on the ballast. Two wires are used with matching connectors that are idiot proof design where you cant hook them up incorrectly. {page 4 of the operation manual} Ther is no 2 or 3 multiple positions available. All the plugs and receptacles are keyed so they cant be hooked up backwards.

The igniter bar you are refering to is inside the lamp correct. I need to make sure it is located at the bottom of the bulb when i rotate the bulb into the projector housing, right?

The cutoff or beam height i thought if any thing it would have to be lowered to keep from blinding incomming traffic. You are saying it needs to be raised ?
Would you just raise the passenger side only to direct more light away from the Ex and leave the drivers side the way it is after installation? I thought the standard ford halogen and HID system on our EX was already suppose to have been preset at the factory for the drivers side beam pattern to be lower than the passenger side. It shows this in the manual for the EX.

When you say the lamps will look dim untill you raise them a little you mean raising them with the headlight adjusting screws already on the car right ?

Thanks for the help ,i am wondering if we have the same kit. There is no mention of these issues in the mounting and operating instructions for the lamp kit i have so i am confused still.

 

[bluelion]

yes you have the same kit as them....what he's referring to when he says "raise" them is the "cutoff" was aimed too low from the factory. i still have my halogen bulbs in my housings and they were aimed too low. so i aimed them higher to have better visibility. i'm still not blinding oncoming traffic because they were aimed THAT low.

 

[Mike127]

I am more confused now. Do we have the same kits ? Mine is the plug and play 35 watt slim ballast 9005- 5000k.
You state the bulb will only lock into the ballast in certain positions 2or3. On my system the bulb is already prewired to connect to the mating connector on the ballast. Two wires are used with matching connectors that are idiot proof design where you cant hook them up incorrectly. {page 4 of the operation manual} Ther is no 2 or 3 multiple positions available. All the plugs and receptacles are keyed so they cant be hooked up backwards.

The igniter bar you are refering to is inside the lamp correct. I need to make sure it is located at the bottom of the bulb when i rotate the bulb into the projector housing, right?

The cutoff or beam height i thought if any thing it would have to be lowered to keep from blinding incomming traffic. You are saying it needs to be raised ?
Would you just raise the passenger side only to direct more light away from the Ex and leave the drivers side the way it is after installation? I thought the standard ford halogen and HID system on our EX was already suppose to have been preset at the factory for the drivers side beam pattern to be lower than the passenger side. It shows this in the manual for the EX.

When you say the lamps will look dim untill you raise them a little you mean raising them with the headlight adjusting screws already on the car right ?

Thanks for the help ,i am wondering if we have the same kit. There is no mention of these issues in the mounting and operating instructions for the lamp kit i have so i am confused still.

Bluelion is exactly correct about my meaning in regards to raising the headlight beam. Yes, by raising them I meant with the screw driver adjustment screws that are built into the headlight housing. If you don't raise it you will only be able to see like 20ft in front of the car.

We have the same kit. It is plug and play.
BUT,... when you put the light into the housing, the light bulb and it's plug and play mount, will be able to lock into the housing at two or three different positions. Imagine you are looking at the light bulb standing in front of the front bumper. The metal "igniter" is the only thing that changes the shape of your light output. To maximize light output you just make it so the "igniter" is as close to the 6 o'clock position as possible. If you lock the light in and it's at say 12 o'clock then it won't put out as much light and the shape will be weird b/c of the shadow cast by the "igniter"

The install of the light is very straight forward, but after you get the bulb in you may not like the what you see as far as light output or brightness. That's when these adjustments come into play. Don't panic, you can't mess it up, after all, it's "plug and play" right?

 

[russell bruesch]

When you say you aimed the cutoff higher what adjustment are you referring to. Is the adjustment for the position for the cutoff the same as adjusting the height of the beam pattern as desribed in the EXs owner manual ? In the EXs manual it shows a single phillips screw that i assume tilts the headlamp assembly up or down. Is the actual cutoff shield on the lens adjustable also ? I have not looked at the lamp housing yet to know what you are describing. I did not want to mess with it untill i install the HID kit.

 

[bluelion]

yes, the beam pattern and cutoff is the same thing.

 

[EKY]

Is there any lights out error messages when adding an HID kit?

 

[Mike127]

When you say you aimed the cutoff higher what adjustment are you referring to. Is the adjustment for the position for the cutoff the same as adjusting the height of the beam pattern as desribed in the EXs owner manual ? In the EXs manual it shows a single phillips screw that i assume tilts the headlamp assembly up or down. Is the actual cutoff shield on the lens adjustable also ? I have not looked at the lamp housing yet to know what you are describing. I did not want to mess with it untill i install the HID kit.

Is the actual cutoff shield on the lens adjustable also ?
-I don't know

I'm using the single phillips head screw to make the adjustment

 

[bluebora]

When adding this kit does the auto on feature still work? Also can you run the 55W kit? The Oem hid's are 55W so I dont see why not.

 

[Alienman8]

When adding this kit does the auto on feature still work? Also can you run the 55W kit? The Oem hid's are 55W so I dont see why not.

I have a '07 so I'm not sure about the auto-on, but in terms of the 55w vs 35w:
While it is true that a 55w HID kit will draw less power than a 55w Halogen bulb once it is warmed up and on, it draws significantly more power on start up to get the bulb on. So while you **SHOULD** be ok with a 55w kit on stock wiring, it is HIGHLY recommended to run it off of a harness that supplies the power.

Think of it this way, why risk a major repair (re-running all your headlight wires) when a 35$ harness can prevent all the problems.

The other thing to consider, (unless you have the 2011+ with HID headlights, which I doubt) is that even tho the 11+ has projectors, they are designed for halogens not for HIDs. While you won't be glaring every single person on the road, it isn't optimal. That is why in my '03 with halogen projectors I chose to go with a 35w kit, while it is no where near my retrofitted '07's performance it is better than halogens and doesn't blind every driver on the road.

Also, a word of advice, DO NOT go above 6000K in color temperature, you will actually receive less usable light that your halogens would provide. Unlike a **LOT** of the people on this form that think the deep blue headlights are the coolest thing since sliced bread, they are actually worse than halogens, and every time I see one on the road I flip my highs at em, and laugh at how ridiculous they look.

 

[bluelion]

yes, the auto on/off feature will still work.

 

[Razziel24]

Weird, vleds wont sell me more HID kits, they say since im not a US customer, they cant ship to my cargo forwarder located in Miami :fire::frustrate
They did in the past, to the very same address in Florida, so their argument, to me its not valid at all.

Do you guys have another source for HID kits ?

 

[bluelion]

theretrofitsource.com , DDmtuning.com to name a couple popular ones.

 

[entra6]

HI guys i need your Help or steps to install Hid Kit for my Explorer 2011 Xlt
i have some questions ?

1- auto light is working and delay light
2- its blug and play .. no need to change any thing like fuse or somthing else
3- is it brightness than holegne in dark road . thanks

 

[Rafarios]

Weere you able to use High and Low? I am asking because I got a kit from Kensun and the light output was less bright than the OEM

 

[Broheim]

Weere you able to use High and Low? I am asking because I got a kit from Kensun and the light output was less bright than the OEM

The high/low has nothing to do with the kit, bulb, etc... It's just a shutter built into the headlight housing that raises and lowers for high/low.