Highbeam question

[Clcmbtn]

I noticed the other night when I push the stalk for the high beams they do come on. However, if I pull it back the high beams come in and seem brighter. Is this my imagination?

 

[Machine090767]

Pulling back the stalk is what as known as "Flash to pass" it flashes your high beams, but the low beams are still on.
Pushing the stalk forward turns on the high beams and the low beams then go off.

 

[1998Exp]

Pulling back the stalk is what as known as "Flash to pass" it flashes your high beams, but the low beams are still on.
Pushing the stalk forward turns on the high beams and the low beams then go off.

The bean counter who decided to replace the traditional dual headlights with a dual filament bulb in many vehicles of that era is probably responsible for thousands (if not more) deer hits and other night time mishaps. The 2nd generation Explorer high beams are actually weaker than the (very poor) low beams. You can use "flash to pass" to turn on both filaments, but just for a few seconds at a time. Keeping them on longer will melt the socket. Upgrading to reflector lights is pricey, and at least formally, illegal.

 

[Prince_Polaris]

The bean counter who decided to replace the traditional dual headlights with a dual filament bulb in many vehicles of that era is probably responsible for thousands (if not more) deer hits and other night time mishaps. The 2nd generation Explorer high beams are actually weaker than the (very poor) low beams. You can use "flash to pass" to turn on both filaments, but just for a few seconds at a time. Keeping them on longer will melt the socket. Upgrading to reflector lights is pricey, and at least formally, illegal.

I have to disagree here, in my 98 sport the high beams are much brighter than the low beams! Sure, they don't get much of the ground right in front of me, but when I turn them on I can reach pretty far down the road and all the road signs waaaay in the distance light up too. Perhaps your headlights are really fogged up if they're so bad for you? Or ya got some bad lightbulbs in it?

I noticed the other night when I push the stalk for the high beams they do come on. However, if I pull it back the high beams come in and seem brighter. Is this my imagination?

This is cause with locking on the high beams, it disables the low beams and the foglights, when you pull back, it turns on the high beams and keeps the other lights on too, so it looks brighter, but it will hurt the equipment if you keep it like that for too long.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

I've got to agree with @1998Exp, I've got upgraded bulbs and I still manage to not see that well, I drive with my fogs on all the time because you can generally see with those.

 

[Prince_Polaris]

I've got to agree with @1998Exp, I've got upgraded bulbs and I still manage to not see that well, I drive with my fogs on all the time because you can generally see with those.

I have my fogs on all the time too, but they do absolutely nothing

 

[1998Exp]

I have to disagree here, in my 98 sport the high beams are much brighter than the low beams! Sure, they don't get much of the ground right in front of me, but when I turn them on I can reach pretty far down the road and all the road signs waaaay in the distance light up too. Perhaps your headlights are really fogged up if they're so bad for you? Or ya got some bad lightbulbs in it?

You can easily see road signs a couple hundred yards away even with a cheap flashlight. That's because road signs are retroreflective. If you are not familiar with the term, a retroreflector is a kind of mirror or prism that sends light back to where it came from. Road signs (as well as license plates in many states) use a special paint that has tiny glass cubes embedded. Unfortunately, deer don't wear retroflectors (albeit some humans, like traffic cops, truck drivers or cyclists, do).
As for my Explorer headlights, I can probably get a 10% improvement by upgrading the bulbs to latest and greatest "Silverstars" or something like that, even though they had been upgraded at least once already. However, for reference, some years back I converted the silly dual-filament lights in my Crown Vic to HID reflectors. And the difference was - no pun intended - night and day. So why am I not doing this for the Explorer? Several reasons:
1) We own an imported SUV with modern reflector headlights that I prefer to drive (and not just for its much better lights), except when needing to tow something really heavy.
2) The Explorer lamps are very small and there is not enough room in there to fit a decent HID reflector.
3) I don't know what defocusing effect that strange pattern on the lens will have on the reflectors. Lamps with clear lenses are available, but are horribly expensive. Incidentally, if someone converted to reflectors and kept the OEM lenses, I would like to know the result.

 

[Indispensable Explorer]

I agree with that, the headlights are so incredibly bad on my explorer too. Which is why I'm in the market for a set of aux lights. Though the legality of such lights for road use are questionable. I used to drive with both high and low on at the same time... I won't be doing that anymore.

 

[SupaSwope]

Im buying some standard Philips crystal vision headlights "the nice ones" of normal headlights and some new lenses. Has anyone used these and see then performance of them? Is it worth just upgrading to LEDs or HID kits? I want some super bright headlights for better vision on cross country road trips.

 

[Prince_Polaris]

Ooooh, well, I didn't know road signs were so sensitive to light, that's pretty cool. Heh, I might end up upgrading to LED lights, but will those really do well? I've heard that LED ones just kind of throw light everywhere, instead of in front of you... and I would replace the fogs too, probably.

 

[96Green]

I have a set of aftermarket projectors in my Exploder, and although the build quality is a bit "ebay-ish", they are a big improvement over the stock lights. (...and yes, I did take the time to aim them properly).

 

[corkey]

led headlight bulb replacements, and a 30 inch light bar on the roof rack, and done,,,

 

[1998Exp]

I have a set of aftermarket projectors in my Exploder, and although the build quality is a bit "ebay-ish", they are a big improvement over the stock lights. (...and yes, I did take the time to aim them properly).

Is this a custom headlight, or a retrofit? Looks like custom to me.

 

[96Green]

Is this a custom headlight, or a retrofit? Looks like custom to me.

You can get a set here. Not sure I'd specifically recommend these specific ones, as the fitment is a bit crap, and it will take some swearing to install them.

 

[Prince_Polaris]

This is the perfect time to ask, I've been looking at these for a while because I'm pretty sure buying those HID lights mean you need to replace all of them when they burn out, so do these look nice? (Also I think I'd be ticketed for HIDs around here)

https://www.amazon.com/SPPC-Crystal-Headlights-Corner-Explorer/dp/B00JBIB024

 

[Prince_Polaris]

This is the perfect time to ask, I've been looking at these for a while because I'm pretty sure buying those HID lights mean you need to replace all of them when they burn out, so do these look nice? (Also I think I'd be ticketed for HIDs around here)

https://www.amazon.com/SPPC-Crystal-Headlights-Corner-Explorer/dp/B00JBIB024

Oh, and these too https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HH57FNA/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1F86TF7G43XA2