LED's in Headlamps

Astrand1 said:

So I cut the wire feeding power to the front LEDs

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Which wire was that? Would you be willing to provide the specific details so others could perform this mod?

I was thinking of doing it just so I could insert a voltage-regulator between the 12V source and the eyebrows. I'm sick of the eyebrows randomly flickering (which I would assume is some some voltage instability issues; apparently I'm not the only one who has noticed this).

I heard someone did a similar mod for the rear LED strips (so they, too, would always come on with the car). Anybody have any details for that?

WattsUp said:

Astrand1 said:

So I cut the wire feeding power to the front LEDs

Click to expand...

Which wire was that? Would you be willing to provide the specific details so others could perform this mod?

I was thinking of doing it just so I could insert a voltage-regulator between the 12V source and the eyebrows. I'm sick of the eyebrows randomly flickering (which I would assume is some some voltage instability issues; apparently I'm not the only one who has noticed this).

I heard someone did a similar mod for the rear LED strips (so they, too, would always come on with the car). Anybody have any details for that?

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What about installing aftermarket DRL's, would that cause excess battery drain? I wouldn't think it would but I've seen a lot of complaint about the 12v battery either draining or not charging.

jachady said:

But to answer the question, I cut the wiring. So the wire coming from the fuse block is directly wired solely to the front LED light strips (and the 3 amber LEDS).

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Could you give some details about this?

What steps are required to disconnect the LED eyebrows from their normal circuit and connect them to an always-on accessory circuit (or whatever you wired them to for the DLR behavior).

I would like to pursue this project myself, but don't have enough technical details. I'd even like to configure it with a switch somewhere (could even be under the hood) so I can choose either normal behavior or DLR behavior.

WattsUp said:

What steps are required to disconnect the LED eyebrows from their normal circuit and connect them to an always-on accessory circuit (or whatever you wired them to for the DLR behavior).

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I'd also like the wire up the LED strips in the tail lights to come on separately in DLR mode. Do you know if there is already a separate circuit for these?

Astrand1 said:

So I cut the wire feeding power to the front LEDs, then butt connected power from fuse box and the oem wiring.

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Which wire was that? And how did you determine which wire it was? Do you have schematics?

Astrand1 said:

The diode goes inline with the oem wiring so that when the key on power is applied it cant back feed into the oem wiring and turn on the rear tail lights.

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I'm confused, why would this happen (tail lights come on)? Are the LED eyebrows somehow connected to the tail lights?

WattsUp said:

Could you give some details about this?

What steps are required to disconnect the LED eyebrows from their normal circuit and connect them to an always-on accessory circuit (or whatever you wired them to for the DLR behavior).

I would like to pursue this project myself, but don't have enough technical details. I'd even like to configure it with a switch somewhere (could even be under the hood) so I can choose either normal behavior or DLR behavior.

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Of course, nobody's under any obligation to provide information, and I understand it might take time to document things.

But, isn't anyone who's done this willing to provide some technical details about the modifications?

I'll be performing this mod soon. I can post detailed instructions and pics when it's completed. I helped jachady research how to do his last year.

2008 Escape Hybrid
2014 FFE Tuxedo black
Mods:
Modified rear tail lamps (swapped tail and brake bulbs, looks so much better!)
Tinted windows 20%
Rear bumper Focus applique
Lighted "Electric" sill plates

BOLT said:

I'll be performing this mod soon. I can post detailed instructions and pics when it's completed. I helped jachady research how to do his last year.

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Awesome, looking forward to it. Thanks!

BOLT said:

I'll be performing this mod soon. I can post detailed instructions and pics when it's completed. I helped jachady research how to do his last year.

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I'm looking forward to it too. This is one mod I would consider on our leased car since it's not likely to be an issue when the vehicle is turned in.

Ok guys. So I performed the headlamp mod this weekend and it turned out great. I sent the pics to jachady to load, as I could not get them to load. I checked the circuit in the fuse box that we're using, and it is fused at another point at 100A, which is way too high for this circuit. I will add an inline fuse soon; probalby 5A. Another thought about the mod; you could just add a fused wire with a diode from this circuit to the left front headlamp, and it would turn on all of the parking lights anytime the car is on. If I were to do this, I would change the tail lamp bulbs to LED bulbs. While I was working on mine, another FFE driver came in the shop and I modified his tail lights quickly. Again, jachady has the pics, and I will have him post them. I have another idea for a cool mod: LED puddle lights with the EV logo, or similar! There are plenty available on Ebay, and you can customize them.

BOLT said:

I have another idea for a cool mod: LED puddle lights with the EV logo, or similar! There are plenty available on Ebay, and you can customize them.

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Neat idea, but not sure this would work. I assume what you're talking about is some kind of mini "projected" image? On the FFE, the puddle lights are behind a diffuser, which would obscure the image.

BOLT said:

Ok guys. So I performed the headlamp mod this weekend and it turned out great. I sent the pics to jachady to load, as I could not get them to load.

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Thanks, looking forward to this. Will the pictures (or perhaps an accompanying write-up) demonstrate how to re-wire the LED eyebrow strips and/or rear LED strips?

I want the LED strips in the tail lights to come on separately too. Though, I'm not sure if they are wired separately from the incandescent tail lights. Does anyone know?

UGH. I just spent too much time typing up all the details, only to lose it when I stepped away from my desk for a minute. Here goes again.

6 steps for the eyebrow LED lamp mod:

1. Remove both headlamps. 2 screws in each, use a flat-blade screwdriver.
2. Locate the wires for the LED lamps and cut them.
a. Right headlamp: brown/yellow
b. Left headlamp: yellow/blue
3. Use solder or a sturdy butt connector, with heat shrink tubing on all connections. Seal off harness side of cut connections. Connect a wire from the pass side LED wire to the drivers side LED wire, to the underhood fuse box.
4. Cut a relief into the edge of the fuse box to keep the wire from pinching and route to fuse 45, as this is powered at all times with the key on, and not used on the FFE.
5. Install a 5A in-line fuse and small spade connector.
6. Connect headlamps, install wire and check operation. Happy motoring!

As for the LED tail lamps. There is no power source in the rear, that I'm aware of, to power these all the time. So, unless you plan on runing a wire all the way to the back, I do not recommend trying it.

However!....

To make your LED tail lamps stand out more, try removing the tail lamps, take out the top (brake) and bottom (tail) bulbs. Cut the single, straight locating tabs off on both sockets and swap the holes. Now your top lamp is the tail, separated from the LED strip by the turn bulb, and the bottom is the brake bulb. It looks much cooler!

Thanks for the write up!

BOLT said:

Connect a wire from the pass side LED wire to the drivers side LED wire, to the underhood fuse box.

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This means all these points are to be connected together, correct? That is, the brown/yellow and yellow/blue wires (LED eyebrows) are connected, and then both are connected (using a single wire, from either lamp) to fuse 45.

I would assume it is probably best to route the shared power wire to the fuse box from the driver's side lamp and via the driver's side (since the fuse box is closer). Alternately, each lamp could be wired separately to fuse 45 with its own wire, correct?

BOLT said:

As for the LED tail lamps. There is no power source in the rear, that I'm aware of, to power these all the time. So, unless you plan on runing a wire all the way to the back, I do not recommend trying it.

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Well, there is a fuse box back there (driver's side). One of the circuits probably turns on with the ignition. Or, have you already determined there are none?

BOLT said:

To make your LED tail lamps stand out more, try removing the tail lamps, take out the top (brake) and bottom (tail) bulbs.

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Interesting, and certainly easy.

Yes, use a single wire to fuse 45. As an alternative, like I stated earlier, you could install a diode and only connect to they drivers side lamp (yellow/blue) and power the entire marker lamp circuit. Not sure if a 5A fuse would be enough in this scenario, however.

I have not checked the fuse box in the rear. I did see it on the drivers side, but, honestly, I forgot it was there.

Sorry in advance for this being another Tesla story. Here are the details somebody used to install one of those logo projectors in puddle lights.

http://teslatap.com/modifications/projector-logo-lights/

There is a link for the company that sells the projectors. They weren't very expensive.

I can't remember the direction of the socket in the outside rear view mirror - if it is pointing straight down. It wouldn't be too terribly hard to follow a similar path (drill a hole in the plastic lens) to put the Ford logo in the rear view mirror puddle light.

Not sure if this will work, but here are the photos I took for this mod, copy and paste if you need.

https://plus.google.com/_/notificat...UFWDzssWf1kQ_wt3Yhci98&dt=1416319615939&uob=8

BOLT said:

Not sure if this will work, but here are the photos I took for this mod

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Worked fine. These are great... thanks very much!

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PS: You can use the tag to give your link a nice name ...l goes here>[b]][/b]<short name goes here>[b][/b]