New member - No auto lights with TRS harness?

[RACol]

Hi guys, 2012 Explorer XLT, I just joined and did a lot of reading prior to ordering a Morimoto 9005 kit with the wiring harness like many of you have suggested. I opted for the XB35 4300 kit as I was concerned about too much heat in the projectors and wrecking the reflectors, as I have read about here and on other forums. The kit seems great based on my limited experience. I did however have two issues, one of the igniters had a weak / broken retaining clip and one of the lights did not have the wire properly seated in the clip (it pulled out on me). I have glued both with super glue and contacted TRS....hopefully they will send me new parts as they did not put a lot of packing material in the package and the wiring should be solid when you pay for a premium kit IMHO .

At any rate, I wanted to start out by thanking you guys for all the good discussion and advise in this forum, it was invaluable! I now have much brighter lights and the cut-offs are just as good as the Halogens were IMHO (let me note that no one has flashed us yet)! Plus they are brighter and whiter, making it easier for my wife to see at night when transporting the kids on the secondary highways at night (at least twice a weak), so that is some piece of mind!

I do still have an issue though; that I am hoping you guys might be able to help with....The kit works perfectly when manually turning the lights off and on, it fires up very quickly, no flickering ever, and shuts down instantly. There is no buzz from the kit, and no radio interference. I have everything grounded to factory grounds, and I have taped up the one extra factory input lead to prevent inadvertent grounding of hot leads. However when I put the lights on auto... the kit fires up perfectly as expected and appears to be working correctly, if the truck remains in the garage. However, if I put the truck in reverse and back down the driveway the lights flicker and go out (this does not happen if the lights are set to on), they will not restart unless I turn the truck off and then on again? At first I thought perhaps this was due to the day time running lights (Canadian) cutting the voltage to the relays, to a point that they would not flip open, but I tested again last night and got the same problem? Does anyone have any idea what to do we really like the auto lights feature ?

Thanks in advance,

RACol

Sorry late amendment: driving around today... there is some static on the speakers...but only if the lights are off and the vehicle is in drive....it seems that this causes the DRLs to turn on and there is not enough power from the DRL module to turn over the relays and hold them open (hence the flickering)? It also appears that this is causing static interference to be output to the car radio? Does this make sense to anyone else? Have any of you seen anything similar to this or had the same trouble?

 

[RACol]

Here are some pics, I will try to get better ones of the light output one night soon! But they seem to be 2-3 times as bright stock, as advertised!

 

[RACol]

It would appear that I can not upload directly from my PC? I will look into image hosting I guess, is there a good / preffered choice you guys use? I am a little concerned about privacy so suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[adamantium]

I have the relayed harness from TRS and never had a problem with auto. I think I remember something about deactivating DRL's on Canadian explorers for HIDs. Might very well be your problem. Good luck

 

[RACol]

Thanks adamantium I will keep looking into things, I might have trouble with that as DRLs are technically a legal requirement up here if I recall? I also understand that retrofitting might be technically illegal up here (although many do it and the cops tend to look the other way on this one if your not being an idiot about it or giving them another reason to come down on you..)

 

[RACol]

I have the relayed harness from TRS and never had a problem with auto. I think I remember something about deactivating DRL's on Canadian explorers for HIDs. Might very well be your problem. Good luck

Thanks Adamantium, it appears the problem is the DRL, they do not produce enough power and it appears that the harness does not like this (a little further testing is required to confirm 100% the issue is in the harness). I am now debating pulling the DRLs like you mentioned, or altering the harness...

 

[peterk9]

I have the relayed harness from TRS and never had a problem with auto. I think I remember something about deactivating DRL's on Canadian explorers for HIDs. Might very well be your problem. Good luck

On the Canadian Explorer Limited which comes standard with HID headlamps, the DRL is on the amber lights.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

It would appear that I can not upload directly from my PC? I will look into image hosting I guess, is there a good / preffered choice you guys use? I am a little concerned about privacy so suggestions would be appreciated!

To upload from your computer you have to have an Elite membership ($20) which also goes to help support this site.
There is a thread in the 'Sticky' section of New Members Introductions on how to post otherwise. Keep in mind that using a 3rd party site does not guaranty the pictures will stay for any length of time. I've come across many older threads where the pictures have disappeared. Using the 'Manage Attachments' program put them on our servers where they will remain.

Peter

 

[RACol]

Sorry for the delay if anyone else is watching this thread, it is hard to find time for this with 3 kids in tow. I have done some further testing. There is not enough power from the DRL module to fully engage the relays and they strobe until the ballasts say enough and stop trying to turn on (fail safe?). I can hear this and feel the relays continue to try to engage even after the ballasts have stopped trying to turn on.

I found the following thread regarding the DRLs, I think that iether changing the DRLs to the marker lights seems to be the best answer and either should be relatively cheap if you can find a dealer who is willing to do this....or are willing to pull apart your harness!

"Installing or Programming Daytime Running lights (DRL)":
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=322848

Thanks very much to all who have contributed here and in the forum. I will upload some pictures as soon as I get a chance!

 

[RACol]

To upload from your computer you have to have an Elite membership ($20) which also goes to help support this site.
There is a thread in the 'Sticky' section of New Members Introductions on how to post otherwise. Keep in mind that using a 3rd party site does not guaranty the pictures will stay for any length of time. I've come across many older threads where the pictures have disappeared. Using the 'Manage Attachments' program put them on our servers where they will remain.

Peter

Thanks Peter!

 

[RACol]

I can confirm the instructions on the post I noted above work, I now have the marker lights set up as my DRLs and all of the problems I was having with the HIDs has gone away!

Canadian Explorer owners, this is the best option for installing aftermarket HIDs. It cost me 1/2 hour of shop time (~$90), but well worth it, everything now works perfectly, and the DRLs are no longer running my HIDs 24-7 and shortening their life (marker light bulbs are only like $5-10)!