LED conversion progress

[zuke24]

Upgraded my interior lights (and my entry lights in my side view mirrors). Now for next steps and questions.

Dim:
-headlight selector
-rear wiper control
-defrost
-fog light
-window controls (both sides)

Not lit up at all?
-4x4 selector
-cruise control
-dimmer wheel
-door code key pad
-side mirror control

Needs rebuild
-dome light

Some of these are obviously supposed to light up and have just burned out. Others I'm not sure were ever supposed to. Can you guys give me a heads up on them?

Edited to add side mirrors

 

[toobladink]

off the top of my head, i think everything you listed that is unlit was never intended to light up. i can check mine later and who knows, maybe we both have those lights burnt out?

also i love how yours looks right now, i only have the instrument panel as LEDs but i want to do the rest really bad

 

[Fix4Dirt]

cruise and dimmer should light up. i think 4wd too but that one im not 100% sure on.

 

[toobladink]

cruise and dimmer should light up. i think 4wd too but that one im not 100% sure on.

yeah 4WD does and so does cruise control - unfortunate to hear that my dimmer doesn't work when it should

 

[dvdswan]

Not lit up at all?
-4x4 selector - yes should light up. bulb is part of switch.
-cruise control - yes should light up. bulb is part of switch.
-dimmer wheel - yes should light up. bulb is part of switch.
-door code key pad - yes should light up. bulb is part of switch.
-side mirror control - no bulb in unit.

 

[J_C]

Just point a flashlight at anything in question, as anything that was supposed to light up, as a semi-transparent marking on it rather than printing on top.

A lot of these items, what makes you think this is an "upgrade"? Many of them, brighter will only detract from your night vision while driving. The power draw difference is negligible, and often contrary to internet folklore, the LED retrofit bulbs often burn out or at least get permanent brightness degradation sooner, because they are driven too hard with insufficient heatsinking.

IMO, changing to LED is a downgrade for anything but the overhead and glovebox lights. The rest, it's not like the incans typically burn out in only a handful of years. Most people replacing bulbs will never have to do it again before the vehicle dies of old age.

However, a couple of these issues can be addressed if you want to (and the design allows) swap higher ohm resistors into the LED retrofit bulbs, so they aren't too bright and run at lower current and cooler. By cooler I mean the LED die itself, can still run too hot for good lifespan even if the exterior is far cooler running than an incan bulb would be.

 

[zuke24]

I dunno man, maybe just being able to see them at all in the dark? Having a switch where the light has already burnt out seems like an upgrade to replace the light at all. My control cluster was nearly unreadable before I swapped to LED's. And the dimmer works for all LED's too so I can always turn them down.

 

[J_C]

I didn't state that LEDs can't work, just that they aren't necessarily an upgrade. If a bulb is burnt out, of course replace it. That doesn't necessarily mean it is an upgrade to replace with LED. Often it is not, and the cheap ones just burn out again, sooner. That doesn't mean you couldn't get a few years of use, since the vehicle is so old anyway.

My control cluster was nearly unreadable before I swapped to LED's.

Either you had some electrical problem dropping voltage to the bulbs (could even be bulb socket itself has corrosion), or bulbs were nearly at end of life so dim due to that and just needed replaced, or (no offense intended) your vision is not good enough to drive at night.

I still have all my factory bulbs and run them at roughly half brightness because simply too bright otherwise.

If on the other hand, you put excessively bright lights on your gauge, and that ruins your night vision, sure then it's going to be harder to see all the rest of them, but then you upgrade the rest and it ruins your night vision even more, from more total light in the cabin.

Using the dimmer wheel often does not work correctly once you start swapping in different bulbs. LEDs and incans don't usually dim linearly (equal to each other) given same voltage input, and Ford chose the bulb wattage to strike a balance between them so when you dim them, they all change a similar %. Even going all LED with different bulb form factors or manufacturers, this is usually not going to be the same %. They will dim but won't be the right balance of brightness between the different bulbs.

 

[toobladink]

all these complicated reasons... i like my LEDs because it makes me feel like i'm driving a spaceship from the late 90s

 

[zuke24]

Good Lorn man. Are you really butthurt that I replaced dead or dying lights with LEDs? I do that in my home too, is that ok? I'm so very happy that your Explorer is so much better than mine that you can still run your original factory bulbs and your God-level vision is such that you need to keep them at half brightness. And as for Ford knowing what's best, that was probably true in 2000 when this thing was built. Of course the original bulbs in my domes actually melted the wiring in there so maybe things need an upgrade or refresh from time to time?

Thanks to everyone else in the thread who actually contributed on what lights were supposed to be lit up and which ones weren't. I didn't even think to look at my glovebox so that will probably be next.

 

[J_C]

Good Lorn man. Are you really butthurt that I replaced dead or dying lights with LEDs? I do that in my home too, is that ok?

Why would I be? I'm not driving it.

I'm so very happy that your Explorer is so much better than mine that you can still run your original factory bulbs and your God-level vision is such that you need to keep them at half brightness.

It's more like, another way to address the problem instead of potentially introducing more issues. For example if you have some electrical problem dropping voltage to the bulbs, swapping them to LED doesn't magically fix that. It's possible that you have the same dimmer control issue that many of us have had, if not some other issue. If you have not yet pulled your dimmer module and cleaned the oxidation off, IIRC there is a sticky topic about it with good pics too.

And as for Ford knowing what's best, that was probably true in 2000 when this thing was built. Of course the original bulbs in my domes actually melted the wiring in there so maybe things need an upgrade or refresh from time to time?

It's not a question of Ford knowing best with LED vs incan. It's a question of addressing what is really wrong and having balanced lighting without blinding your night vision. That can be done with LEDs but it's not just a matter of finding random bulbs that fit the sockets if you want a good result that isn't inferior to just replacing the bulbs and if that alone doesn't fix the brightness issue, also finding the cause of the lack of brightness.

You concede it yourself when you wrote melted the wiring - that isn't merely due to running factory bulbs, not at all. You had some other problem that swapping to LED bulbs, does not fix.

Thanks to everyone else in the thread who actually contributed on what lights were supposed to be lit up and which ones weren't. I didn't even think to look at my glovebox so that will probably be next.

Glovebox is actually one where there's almost no negatives to swapping to LED, as long as it's not a dodgy generic that runs too hot, but then most people don't have their glovebox open a long time so in that case it matters less, and also that glovebox light isn't likely to present any safety issues driving.

Sorry if I rubbed you the wrong way, feel free to ignore my posts but as already stated, I'm not the one driving it...