Rear Turn signal LED bulb mod for my new 2023 Explorer? Update: installed with video on page 2

[J_C]

I've swapped regular incandescent for LED in my two Explorers (15 and 22) using FORScan and never had any burn out. As you know they are not the usual filaments - as the name says they are light emitting diodes which draw such a small current and they will last a very long time.

That's great, but every year you run them, the clock is ticking. It's better to have a warning when they fail, is all I'm really suggesting.


Even so, that's only part of the issue. If you take a mere 30mA LED, and give it 30mA without proper heatsinking, it will burn out in a few hundred hours or less. It's how hot the die gets, or on those with an integrated driver, also how hot it gets.

In a typical automotive application, the only way to make the LED bulb last longer than the "long life" incandescent equivalent, is to drive it at low enough current that it doesn't produce as much light, or to abandon the stock bulb form factor and connector, hack out a backplate heatsink like OEM LED lights, or use a larger form factor LED bulb and matching socket.

 

[Dale5403]

They're more likely to fail, far sooner, because they try to get the most amount of light possible out of the least # of LEDs, in the form factor small enough to fit where the incan bulb was, so they run the LEDs quite a bit hotter than the typical household LED bulb, plus being sealed in a housing doesn't help at all, nor the extremes of running hotter in summer vs large thermal expansion in winter.

LED retrofit bulbs tend to last less than 1/3rd as long as long life incandescent alternative, sometimes not even 1/10th as long. You can get better results than that, if you stick with a very conservatively designed bulb, say from philips et al major bulb manufacturers.

Then again, back in the day, most of us managed to survive without an indicator telling us our bulbs were bad. We just checked them every now and then, but LED bulbs I trust a lot less than the time tested incan bulbs.

Well I for one think your information is flawed. I could be wrong.

 

[J_C]

^ There are countless reports of people having short life out of their LED retrofits, including some youtube videos. Of course it does matter which you choose, the more janky and generic they look (like the corn cob style), the faster they tend to fail.

If the LED retrofit bulbs didn't have these issues, OEMs wouldn't have spent millions developing integrated LED housings, would instead have just thrown LED retrofit bulbs into their existing housings.

 

[Dale5403]

^ There are countless reports of people having short life out of their LED retrofits, including some youtube videos. Of course it does matter which you choose, the more janky and generic they look (like the corn cob style), the faster they tend to fail.

If the LED retrofit bulbs didn't have these issues, OEMs wouldn't have spent millions developing integrated LED housings, would instead have just thrown LED retrofit bulbs into their existing housings.

Where are you getting your information from? I still call BS.

 

[J_C]

^ Where are you getting your information from? I've never seen any evidence that the LED automotive bulbs last as long, rather reports of early failures. Granted it will take a lot longer on an LED turn signal bulb than others that are lit continuously for several minutes or more at a time.

Typical manufacturer claims of retrofit LED bulb lifespan are outright lies, where they simply copy/pasted the spec from the LED manufacturer datasheet, who made that rating based on specific drive current and running temp, or in the case of generic Chinese LEDs, just pulled a number out of thin air.

Suit yourself... I'm not trying to talk anyone out of anything. Just don't see a good enough reason to not have the bulb failure feature when it's already built in, and not hard to keep it and all the more worthwhile to have once you put in the wrong bulb for the design.

 

[jsgoofn]

I've never had any retrofit LED bulb malfunction or stop working. I've had ones I put in 4 years ago including parking lights not just turns. But as I said, that was my experience only.

 

[J_C]

^ Okay, 4 years... my '98 still has its originals. I'm not suggesting that they fail on a monthly basis (although some that are always on, do fail in that short a period), only that they have a shorter lifespan so what makes sense to have for incan bulb failure, makes even more sense for LED retrofit failure detection.

 

[MikeHTally]

I put LED tails/turns on my Ram when I bought it in '07. When I traded it in '21, the tails/turns were still just fine. You don't "give" 30ma, it draws what it wants, whether at idle or at highway speed.

 

[J_C]

^ The 30mA was just an example about how relative power compared to an incan bulb doesn't matter. That 30mA is just what the typical lowest power, 5mm encapsulated ~100mW LEDs are rated for, but only with good heatsinking will they have a good lifespan.

The example of controlling current is one the designer makes, and in the case of the cheap bulbs, they drive the LEDs at higher current because it's cheaper to do that to achieve any given light output, than to use more of same LEDs at a lower drive current and thus lower thermal density, and also fewer LEDs because it fits in the smaller space needed for many retrofit bulb form factors. That limited available space is one of the biggest challenges.

It doesn't just take what it wants, current is determined in one of two ways. Current limiting resistor in series, or a buck regulator using a reference voltage compared against the Vdrop across current sensing resistor. You're depending on the design and some are better than others. Those that don't try to be the brightest tend to be a better design, all else equal.

 

[ExplorerBMW]

Installed it this morning and no error message. The license plate, rear turn signals and reverse lights are LED. Only the turn signals are CANBUS and everything has worked fine all day and works perfectly.

The video doesn’t do it justice and lights are really bright and sharp.

 

[ExplorerBMW]

I guess I am the only one that prefers LED upgrades, lol

 

[jsgoofn]

I'm right there too. I always upgrade if I can.

 

[peterk9]

I guess I am the only one that prefers LED upgrades, lol

There are many threads about LED upgrades, inside and out, in the 5th gen forum.

Peter

 

[ExplorerBMW]

There are many threads about LED upgrades, inside and out, in the 5th gen forum.

Peter

oops