Interior lights? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Interior lights?

chrisj796

New Member
Joined
July 4, 2017
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
City, State
California
Year, Model & Trim Level
2016 explorer limited
I have a 2016 limited with out sunroof,
Bought led lights an got 4 of the same bulbs. Map lights changed out pretty easy an look great. Rear an third row lights I cannot figure out or find anything on google. Do I have to pull whole assembly from headliner to change bulb? Bulbs are T10 saw a few things on google implying they are not changeable.
 



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!
.





According to your Owner's Manual, the 3rd row is already an LED. There are several threads on changing out the interior lights to LED.
Found those using the 'Search' feature.

Peter
 






3rd row has to be removed and if you want to replace it, well lets just say you're going to be destroying the soldered in LED and soldering a new one in.
 






I have a 2016 limited with out sunroof,
Bought led lights an got 4 of the same bulbs. Map lights changed out pretty easy an look great. Rear an third row lights I cannot figure out or find anything on google. Do I have to pull whole assembly from headliner to change bulb? Bulbs are T10 saw a few things on google implying they are not changeable.

3rd row has to be removed and if you want to replace it, well lets just say you're going to be destroying the soldered in LED and soldering a new one in.

Or you can just do this...easy-peasy. It's what I did.

 






I suspect that someone mislead you about benefits to switch to LED. There is not much light gain at all, unless they end up running so hot that the lifespan is limited. If you really need more light you will need to add your own modules with the heatsinking to run cool enough. If you just think that colder light looks like a cool alien UFO experience, I can't help with that, since I'm not an alien. :)

I am VERY adept at implementing LED lighting, but it is not all it's cracked up to be. It makes very little sense except in scenarios where there is a severe power limit, running on batteries where there isn't an onboard alternator right there to solve that, or in home lighting where there's a very high power consumption for more hours runtime.

You're screwing up a good design, but if you really want to do it right, then do it right. That would be to not use some retrofit LED bulb but instead just cut off the incan bulb receptacles, mount thick sheet/plate aluminum behind that at 90', mount star 3W+ LEDs onto that plate, with a driver circuit. Drop in LED bulbs of same form factor as the originals, have no place in it. More glaring cold color temp light that fails far sooner if it's brighter, is not an upgrade.

If all it took was swapping the bulb, then OEMs would not redesign at all, just do the same thing to put LED bulbs in their same, previously incan housings. They don't.

I hope that you appreciate that I've been through all this many times before. LEDs run cooler but still need a heatsink to perform as well, let alone better, than an incan bulb in the same space unless you want to replace them multiple times as often. Lifespan claims of tens of thousands of hours lifetime are outright lies for drop-in retrofit LED bulbs.

You can get major (bulb manufacturer) brand LED bulbs, that aren't nearly as bright for this reason. They aren't an upgrade except in an extreme vibration environment where an incan bulb filament would be intolerant of the vibration.
 












3rd row has to be removed and if you want to replace it, well lets just say you're going to be destroying the soldered in LED and soldering a new one in.
I suspect that someone mislead you about benefits to switch to LED. There is not much light gain at all, unless they end up running so hot that the lifespan is limited. If you really need more light you will need to add your own modules with the heatsinking to run cool enough. If you just think that colder light looks like a cool alien UFO experience, I can't help with that, since I'm not an alien. :)

I am VERY adept at implementing LED lighting, but it is not all it's cracked up to be. It makes very little sense except in scenarios where there is a severe power limit, running on batteries where there isn't an onboard alternator right there to solve that, or in home lighting where there's a very high power consumption for more hours runtime.

You're screwing up a good design, but if you really want to do it right, then do it right. That would be to not use some retrofit LED bulb but instead just cut off the incan bulb receptacles, mount thick sheet/plate aluminum behind that at 90', mount star 3W+ LEDs onto that plate, with a driver circuit. Drop in LED bulbs of same form factor as the originals, have no place in it. More glaring cold color temp light that fails far sooner if it's brighter, is not an upgrade.

If all it took was swapping the bulb, then OEMs would not redesign at all, just do the same thing to put LED bulbs in their same, previously incan housings. They don't.

I hope that you appreciate that I've been through all this many times before. LEDs run cooler but still need a heatsink to perform as well, let alone better, than an incan bulb in the same space unless you want to replace them multiple times as often. Lifespan claims of tens of thousands of hours lifetime are outright lies for drop-in retrofit LED bulbs.

You can get major (bulb manufacturer) brand LED bulbs, that aren't nearly as bright for this reason. They aren't an upgrade except in an extreme vibration environment where an incan bulb filament would be intolerant of the vibration.

Great...another "you'll shoot your eye out" (as finger wags in face) response that got nowhere near answering his question. This was his question:

Do I have to pull whole assembly from headliner to change bulb?

I literally don't see any answer to that question in your response. Sometimes we just want cool **** on our cars that serves no purpose. Let the guy have his LEDs. Sheesh...

Hey @chrisj796 do your thing man. Changing out those bulbs isn't possible becasue they are an integrated assembly. Get the DriveBrite stuff, they are good quality, I've had mine for the 5 years I've owned the car. I did have one puddle light go out about 2 years ago, I called them up and they sent a replacement free of charge...3 years later! I can stand behind customer service like that.

Good luck and happy modding!
 






Great...another "you'll shoot your eye out" (as finger wags in face) response that got nowhere near answering his question.



There are many people who talk of LED retrofits as if it is an upgrade. It is only reasonable to offer a dissenting opinion, and offer the alternative on how to do it better. It can be ignored and I will issue a refund of the money paid for this advice. :)
 






There are many people who talk of LED retrofits as if it is an upgrade. It is only reasonable to offer a dissenting opinion, and offer the alternative on how to do it better. It can be ignored and I will issue a refund of the money paid for this advice. :)

Had to double check and make sure I was posting in the "Tuning & Mods" section and not in the "If Ford thought it was a good idea they would've made it that way" section of the forum...

As for those 2nd and 3rd row dome lights that the OP was referring to, the DriveBrite LEDs ARE actual upgrades. They are redesigned complete LED units using the factory housing and having all those wonderful tech tidbits you were throwing out there.
 






Had to double check and make sure I was posting in the "Tuning & Mods" section and not in the "If Ford thought it was a good idea they would've made it that way" section of the forum...

... and I should double check whether I have freedom of speech or am supposed to not post because you disagree? Differences of opinion, when elaborated upon, are a wonderful way for people to gather more information and choose the best solution.

It's quite possible that DriveBrite does that correctly, though it is not inexpensive to mail them your housings and then $30 +S/H on top of that expense. Let's call that $40 total, for each light? You can DIY with $2 worth of LED(s), a scrap piece of aluminum (or leftover chunk of computer heatsink), and a $2 LED driver if you want more efficiency than a 20 cent power resistor would provide.

It is also possible that DriveBrite does not do it correctly, overdrives the LEDs for the amount of heatsinking so they run hot, are not a lifetime replacement but rather a recurring expense and downtime. What is the warranty? What is the color temperature of the light? The CRI? The LED operating temperature? When you DIY you can choose all these variables.

Having more glaring blue tinted light than needed, at high expense (compared to a 30 cent bulb), and potentially shorter lifespan (if yours are in the '15 you have 6 years at most on them), is not necessarily an upgrade. That does not make it a bad decision per se, but definitely one that is not all roses.
 






... and I should double check whether I have freedom of speech or am supposed to not post because you disagree? Differences of opinion, when elaborated upon, are a wonderful way for people to gather more information and choose the best solution.

It's quite possible that DriveBrite does that correctly, though it is not inexpensive to mail them your housings and then $30 +S/H on top of that expense. Let's call that $40 total, for each light? You can DIY with $2 worth of LED(s), a scrap piece of aluminum (or leftover chunk of computer heatsink), and a $2 LED driver if you want more efficiency than a 20 cent power resistor would provide.

It is also possible that DriveBrite does not do it correctly, overdrives the LEDs for the amount of heatsinking so they run hot, are not a lifetime replacement but rather a recurring expense and downtime. What is the warranty? What is the color temperature of the light? The CRI? The LED operating temperature? When you DIY you can choose all these variables.

Having more glaring blue tinted light than needed, at high expense (compared to a 30 cent bulb), and potentially shorter lifespan (if yours are in the '15 you have 6 years at most on them), is not necessarily an upgrade. That does not make it a bad decision per se, but definitely one that is not all roses.

You're missing my point and you're free to say whatever you'd like. However, my point was, your post, although informative, was OF NO HELP to the OP's question. I get it, you're the smartest guy in the room wherever you go, yay for you.

Ironically, I actually agree with you on the issue of LEDs, but his question had zero bearing on the quality and/or durability of said LEDs. If he had asked about opinions on whether LEDs are worth the investment or not, then I'd say your response was warranted, but that wasn't the case. You just wanted to post so that you looked/sounded intelligent on the subject without actually answering the OPs question and it comes off condescending and patronizing. If I had asked what he asked and you responded to me, I would be thinking "Who the $#@! is this guy? That wasn't even my question."

This is the difficult part of tuning and modding forums in general and it's pretty bad on this site in particular. There's always a nay-sayer...that fuddy-duddy that "doesn't approve" and has to just "let you know". It's one of the reasons I don't post much here and spend way more time on the SHO forums (whom the XSports have much in common) where it is much more lively, interactive and less judgemental on peoples different tastes and styles.

I say, if you don't have a valid answer to a OPs question, just keep your mouth shut. For all you know @chrisj796 is a design engineer at some LED manufacturer and maybe knows more than you on the subject...HE JUST HAD AN INSTALLATION QUESTION....

Anyway, I'll just go back to posting how to actually do stuff to these vehicles and answering questions that I may have an actual answer to...but feel free to have the last word....
 






^ You seem VERY defensive. There is no harm in providing information that anyone can use or ignore as they see fit. Often people do not realize there are other alternatives or how to make them work, instead putting too much trust in aftermarket marketing claims, particularly with the majority of LED retrofits being generic Chinese garbage.

I say, if you don't have a valid answer to a OPs question, just keep your mouth shut.

I don't see anything in your last post that was furthering an answer to the OP's question so it seems that if you want to take this philosophy, you should lead by example. Remember that if you hadn't gotten all upset about a post you could have ignored, that would've been just another point of info that again, anyone can use or ignore as they choose.

This is the difficult part of tuning and modding forums in general and it's pretty bad on this site in particular. There's always a nay-sayer...that fuddy-duddy that "doesn't approve" and has to just "let you know". It's one of the reasons I don't post much here and spend way more time on the SHO forums (whom the XSports have much in common) where it is much more lively, interactive and less judgemental on peoples different tastes and styles.

I don't recall ever making any other posts in this forum, having been on the site a fairly long time, so it might be that if people frequently disagree with you, that it's you, not them. ;)
 






^ You seem VERY defensive. There is no harm in providing information that anyone can use or ignore as they see fit. Often people do not realize there are other alternatives or how to make them work, instead putting too much trust in aftermarket marketing claims, particularly with the majority of LED retrofits being generic Chinese garbage.



I don't see anything in your last post that was furthering an answer to the OP's question so it seems that if you want to take this philosophy, you should lead by example. Remember that if you hadn't gotten all upset about a post you could have ignored, that would've been just another point of info that again, anyone can use or ignore as they choose.



I don't recall ever making any other posts in this forum, having been on the site a fairly long time, so it might be that if people frequently disagree with you, that it's you, not them. ;)



Hmm very interesting..actually my response to the OP did in fact give him some answers to his question...a solution to a replacement that would ease his installation concerns...go back and read it my friend.

Again, you're missing my point entirely. It's got nothing to do with agreeing or disagreeing...it's about posting relevant information, which you provided none. Ask yourself this...did you, in fact, answer his actual question? Nope, you decided to be the "get off my lawn" guy and show your disapproval of his modification by looking smart (which I'm now having my doubts) and posting just for the sake of posting. You're not the only one on here that does that...posting nonsensical responses that never really help anybody to simply boost your ego.

And the few times I post here, I rarely get disagreed with, as I know what I'm talking about. And if I don't, I just keep my mouth shut. It's not rocket science. I suggest you stick to the "Keep your car stock" section of the forum, and leave this modding business to the grown folks. Check yourself, buddy. ;) Right back atcha...
 






Again, you're missing my point entirely.

No I understand completely. You are ignorant of the tech and spent a lot of money on something that's vanity rather than a clear cut upgrade, and want to defend that position while selectively ignoring the downsides.

It is insane not to accept the truth about trade offs with any change like this. There are pros and cons. You can't wish the cons away with any amount of excessive spending.


It's got nothing to do with agreeing or disagreeing...it's about posting relevant information, which you provided none.

You need to read more carefully. I did in fact, provide multiple points of relevant information. Would you care to re-read this topic? If I have to go back and do it point by point, you are going to look very deceptive. I posted, reasons, and alternatives, both relevant to the goal. If you think the goal is just "change bulbs to LED no matter what reason or cost or outcome", that is delusional.

Ask yourself this...did you, in fact, answer his actual question? Nope, you decided to be the "get off my lawn" guy and show your disapproval of his modification by looking smart (which I'm now having my doubts) and posting just for the sake of posting. You're not the only one on here that does that...posting nonsensical responses that never really help anybody to simply boost your ego.

This is laughable. I have no ego improvement by spending my time to provide alternate solutions. This is like my going back to rudimentary electronic components that I find boring except for this nonsense you wrote. LEDs are very simple to implement correctly, opposed to trying to make most light as cheap as possible without regard for the result. It is not nonsensical at all to show that you can get a better result for far less money and that spending too little time or money may result in a worse outcome than the stock bulbs.

I don't have to "look smart", just provide info and let people decide for themselves what to do. More info is a good thing, trying to censor and suppress info is not. You utterly fail at any rational discussion where everyone participates instead of just some pretend-bully. That attitude does not work well. Suppression of information is not tolerable.

And the few times I post here, I rarely get disagreed with, as I know what I'm talking about.

That does not seem likely at all or else you wouldn't have whined about it already. "I know what I'm talking about" is ego. If you are right, then you can accept dissenting points of view without trying to argue that people shouldn't express them.

And if I don't, I just keep my mouth shut.

No, you don't. You clearly don't have the knowledge about LEDs that I did 20 years ago and kept up on and developed solutions, and researched available products, and ultimately your solution is just spend a lot more money and hope you weren't robbed, and yet you still end up with a poor result from a cold color temperature, low CRI product.

You really don't get it do you? I did not write what I did on a whim. It was based on (obviously) far more experience in LED lighting than you have. Regardless, if you choose to ignore that, and live in ignorant bliss, then your happiness is most important to you. At the same time, that vanity does not make it reasonable to put blinders on and pretend that everyone else should ignore the details.

It's not rocket science. I suggest you stick to the "Keep your car stock" section of the forum, and leave this modding business to the grown folks. Check yourself, buddy. ;) Right back atcha...

You are an ignorant person who pretends that money buys knowledge. It only does if you study that in school. Otherwise, I am more than willing to go head to head with you arguing about led efficiency, lifespan, heat, color temperature, CRI, pretty much EVERY aspect of LED lighting then let's see who knows what.

You should stick to things you know. Your solution as posted previously is a crap result compared to what I could achieve for a fraction of the cost. If you don't want to spend the time thinking about it, that's the normal consumer way to pay someone else to do that for you, but to rebel against info out of vanity and argue against it, is madness.

I want you to spend a few months learning and testing and come back and tell me what you learned. It won't bring you up to speed but at least you will probably have some inkling what I'm talking about.
 






No I understand completely. You are ignorant of the tech and spent a lot of money on something that's vanity rather than a clear cut upgrade, and want to defend that position while selectively ignoring the downsides.

It is insane not to accept the truth about trade offs with any change like this. There are pros and cons. You can't wish the cons away with any amount of excessive spending.




You need to read more carefully. I did in fact, provide multiple points of relevant information. Would you care to re-read this topic? If I have to go back and do it point by point, you are going to look very deceptive. I posted, reasons, and alternatives, both relevant to the goal. If you think the goal is just "change bulbs to LED no matter what reason or cost or outcome", that is delusional.



This is laughable. I have no ego improvement by spending my time to provide alternate solutions. This is like my going back to rudimentary electronic components that I find boring except for this nonsense you wrote. LEDs are very simple to implement correctly, opposed to trying to make most light as cheap as possible without regard for the result. It is not nonsensical at all to show that you can get a better result for far less money and that spending too little time or money may result in a worse outcome than the stock bulbs.

I don't have to "look smart", just provide info and let people decide for themselves what to do. More info is a good thing, trying to censor and suppress info is not. You utterly fail at any rational discussion where everyone participates instead of just some pretend-bully. That attitude does not work well. Suppression of information is not tolerable.



That does not seem likely at all or else you wouldn't have whined about it already. "I know what I'm talking about" is ego. If you are right, then you can accept dissenting points of view without trying to argue that people shouldn't express them.



No, you don't. You clearly don't have the knowledge about LEDs that I did 20 years ago and kept up on and developed solutions, and researched available products, and ultimately your solution is just spend a lot more money and hope you weren't robbed, and yet you still end up with a poor result from a cold color temperature, low CRI product.

You really don't get it do you? I did not write what I did on a whim. It was based on (obviously) far more experience in LED lighting than you have. Regardless, if you choose to ignore that, and live in ignorant bliss, then your happiness is most important to you. At the same time, that vanity does not make it reasonable to put blinders on and pretend that everyone else should ignore the details.



You are an ignorant person who pretends that money buys knowledge. It only does if you study that in school. Otherwise, I am more than willing to go head to head with you arguing about led efficiency, lifespan, heat, color temperature, CRI, pretty much EVERY aspect of LED lighting then let's see who knows what.

You should stick to things you know. Your solution as posted previously is a crap result compared to what I could achieve for a fraction of the cost. If you don't want to spend the time thinking about it, that's the normal consumer way to pay someone else to do that for you, but to rebel against info out of vanity and argue against it, is madness.

I want you to spend a few months learning and testing and come back and tell me what you learned. It won't bring you up to speed but at least you will probably have some inkling what I'm talking about.

Picard.png
 






Conceded defeat? I don't want that. It was never a battle, just getting info out there. You have an interest in the topic so it is a good area for you to expand, not give up. Do the work instead of posting memes. You just spent time on your ego when you could have spent that time learning about the topic. That makes no sense.

LED lighting is not going away. It is well worth the bother to get deep into the details. I'm not against it, just against doing it wrong.
 






Okay, gentlemen. You've both had your say so why not just agree to disagree, so to speak, and move on. This back and forth bantering isn't helping anyone and won't solve anything.

Peter
 






Okay, gentlemen. You've both had your say so why not just agree to disagree, so to speak, and move on. This back and forth bantering isn't helping anyone and won't solve anything.

Peter

Amen...
 









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!
.











Back
Top