What should I do about lights?

[MRX330]

Pretty soon we’ll all be driving at night with welding masks on. Phillips Xtreme vision H11 halogens work fine for me. LED’s in the stock housing are a safety hazard for oncoming drivers. Don’t be a 🤡

 

[Ford ST]

Pretty soon we’ll all be driving at night with welding masks on. Phillips Xtreme vision H11 halogens work fine for me. LED’s in the stock housing are a safety hazard for oncoming drivers. Don’t be a [emoji1782]

I drove a 2019 Cadillac XTS this weekend thst had factory LED headlights. Now they are pretty cool but they have a completely different design and really the low beam wasn't that much better then a good halogen, but the high beam was phenomenal.

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[Von]

Yes, they have a very similar led strip for the DRL. You just move one wire and you can use parking lights setting to illuminate just them. Do a web search for "fiesta european headlights" (nevermind: found a pic, not my car but look the same on mine, I obviously have a magnetic car too), they are an exact replica of the Ford OEM ones so they are just silver internally and the LED DRL strip doesn't look like a single fluorescent light like your pic but the shape/location of the LED strip is the same. They do use an H7 bulb for the low beam and the Katana H7 LED is about $47 on Amazon and is fantastic output, the TechMax in H7 just isn't the same in a projector (vs. reflector).

You can get a little more involved with it as well if you get the DRL relay harness and jumper that Virtual Ronin (I'm sure I butchered that) makes here on the forum. When lights are off or in auto, the LED strips are in high, parking and on they're in low. It involves moving some pins around in your stock harness, but with the correct tools it isn't that bad at all

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[danbfree]

You can get a little more involved with it as well if you get the DRL relay harness and jumper that Virtual Ronin (I'm sure I butchered that) makes here on the forum. When lights are off or in auto, the LED strips are in high, parking and on they're in low. It involves moving some pins around in your stock harness, but with the correct tools it isn't that bad at all

Exactly. After experimenting with the low and high settings I've determined that, for now anyway, moving the pin so it's on high and simply using the light switch manually is what is most efficient for me. At night the DRL on high doesn't create enough glare along with the headlights that it distracts other drivers and looks great using alone during the day. That harness is a bit involved but I may try that in the future, would be nice to be fully automated and working as designed.

 

[Von]

It took a bit of tinkering and moving pins around, but it's pretty good. I like that I don't have to have my brake lights on to use them. I'm sure compared to being the first one to do this with none of the kit he ended up making it couldn't be any easier unless he made jumpers for both sides and had everything gtg from his place. Side note; taking the lights in and out of the car I ended up breaking both of those stupid white plastic clips that lock the lights in on the bottom. Apparently they're made of super glue and used tissue paper

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[danbfree]

It took a bit of tinkering and moving pins around, but it's pretty good. I like that I don't have to have my brake lights on to use them. I'm sure compared to being the first one to do this with none of the kit he ended up making it couldn't be any easier unless he made jumpers for both sides and had everything gtg from his place. Side note; taking the lights in and out of the car I ended up breaking both of those stupid white plastic clips that lock the lights in on the bottom. Apparently they're made of super glue and used tissue paper

Interesting, I've had to yank the headlights out way too many times for various things but no issue with those bottom slot tabs, now you got me worried! LOL

But I have nice bright LED brake light/markers on the rear so I'm not worried about them burning out nor causing much of an electrical drag. Never hurts for visibility either, some people run their full headlights ALL the time anyway, so I think running all but headlights during the day is a nice compromise, but totally to each their own there...

But heck yeah, that PDF he made is absolutely awesome so I think I'll put that on the list as one of my projects to do, but I still gotta get my intercooler going first, finally will be able to order that soon!

 

[danbfree]

Also, I read the review on the other thread and want to stick to his recommendations. Do they still hold up?
Low
High
And I like the Car Rover that he recommended (with the changing color) but they're unavailable. Can you guys think of any equivalent bulbs that work? Also, would headlight eyebrows affect the lighting situation at all? I don't wanna do this work only for it to be negated.

Sorry, just saw this post, but yes, can definitely confirm those bulbs are the recommended way to go for the reflector headlights, just make sure you also get that set of little H1 bulb holders for the high beams that's only $3.09. As for the fogs, yes, any H11 works well there, you have plenty of room for anything, go with what you'd like as far as color changing in H11 there.

 

[danbfree]

Thank you very much to everyone who has helped me out here! I really appreciate it! I like the Depo headlights. Can you tell me if they're worth trying? If I got them, do I just buy the recommended bulbs and then it's plug and play? Or is there more involved?

If they look like this (from another thread) I'll pick them up in a heartbeat.

I think you edited it out because maybe you found them already, but since you asked at one time, HERE is the link to order the Depo's, they are the ones for $139.92 each. With shipping they come out to about $355 (Edit: For BOTH) and when I and others after me ordered they end up asking for another ~$16 for additional shipping (that's included in the $355 total) compared to the shipping cost when you place the order (about $340 both shipped to start). So you may want to include the note in the order, if you can, or reply to their customer service email when you get the order confirmation to say something like "please advise on any additional shipping charges ASAP".. Unfortunately, one side is "special order" now while they still have a number of the other side in stock, so it may be a while until you get both, but I was never able to find them at a better price anywhere else, I think that company really specializes in these, too bad they don't have both sides in stock any more! You might be able to find them on eBay but at a much higher cost most likely.

 

[Von]

Interesting, I've had to yank the headlights out way too many times for various things but no issue with those bottom slot tabs, now you got me worried! LOL

But I have nice bright LED brake light/markers on the rear so I'm not worried about them burning out nor causing much of an electrical drag. Never hurts for visibility either, some people run their full headlights ALL the time anyway, so I think running all but headlights during the day is a nice compromise, but totally to each their own there...

But heck yeah, that PDF he made is absolutely awesome so I think I'll put that on the list as one of my projects to do, but I still gotta get my intercooler going first, finally will be able to order that soon!

I have led all the way around too. One thing that bummed me out with the depo lights is the different turn marker. No switchback options for this oddball size. I've seen some things about filing one of the little buttons off to get it to fit, but who knows if the dual voltage works

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[Hypergram]

Yes, they have a very similar led strip for the DRL. You just move one wire and you can use parking lights setting to illuminate just them. Do a web search for "fiesta european headlights" (nevermind: found a pic, not my car but look the same on mine, I obviously have a magnetic car too), they are an exact replica of the Ford OEM ones so they are just silver internally and the LED DRL strip doesn't look like a single fluorescent light like your pic but the shape/location of the LED strip is the same. They do use an H7 bulb for the low beam and the Katana H7 LED is about $47 on Amazon and is fantastic output, the TechMax in H7 just isn't the same in a projector (vs. reflector).

I would get those, but they're $800 and way out of my budget

 

[MRX330]

I drove a 2019 Cadillac XTS this weekend thst had factory LED headlights. Now they are pretty cool but they have a completely different design and really the low beam wasn't that much better then a good halogen, but the high beam was phenomenal.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

No glare then I don’t care 👍

 

[Hypergram]

Well I'm probably gonna stick with the stock lamps and the upgraded bulbs. I feel like I'll screw up the Depo's somehow, plus I should be saving my money when I go back to university next fall. But again, will eyebrows mess anything up?

 

[MRX330]

Well I'm probably gonna stick with the stock lamps and the upgraded bulbs. I feel like I'll screw up the Depo's somehow, plus I should be saving my money when I go back to university next fall. But again, will eyebrows mess anything up?

Not if you pluck them

 

[Hypergram]

Not if you pluck them

Pluck?

 

[danbfree]

I have led all the way around too. One thing that bummed me out with the depo lights is the different turn marker. No switchback options for this oddball size. I've seen some things about filing one of the little buttons off to get it to fit, but who knows if the dual voltage works

Wait a sec, you don't use switchbacks literally because the LED brow is now the marker and turn signal is separate, that's one of the major benefits to having the Euro's in the first place. Switchbacks are a band-aid solution for the marker/blinker combo on the reflectors to at least have a decent LED marker. And yes, it is $2 each for the new blinker bulb for generic ones from the parts store, but it's nice to just flip the switch to P for the LED markers or if you do the harness it's all automatic of course.

 

[danbfree]

I would get those, but they're $800 and way out of my budget

Did you miss my whole reply above directly to you where I link to the Depo's at $355 shipped for the pair? I mean, you *did* click "like", LOL.
And to add, they *are* exact replicas of the Ford OEM ones that are indeed $800, but the quality is still surprisingly excellent!

 

[Hypergram]

Did you miss my whole reply above directly to you where I link to the Depo's at $355 shipped for the pair? I mean, you *did* click "like", LOL.
And to add, they *are* exact replicas of the Ford OEM ones that are indeed $800, but the quality is still surprisingly excellent!

No no I did look at it. I was just saying the Euro one's are too expensive. The Depo's are much more reasonable. I still have to buy the bulbs though, correct? Other than that, is it just plug and play and the LED strip will work (or do I have to buy those too), or is there some wiring to do?

 

[danbfree]

No no I did look at it. I was just saying the Euro one's are too expensive. The Depo's are much more reasonable. I still have to buy the bulbs though, correct? Other than that, is it just plug and play and the LED strip will work (or do I have to buy those too), or is there some wiring to do?

Yes, as exact copies of the Ford OEM Euro's they take the same bulbs as those: H7 for low beam (Katana by far best for the money, nearly period, for the projector there), H1 (same as our stock reflectors, the Aukee best there) and I believe 7507 blinker bulbs (they aren't combo bulbs like the stock reflectors). But you can get all of those for about $80, if you don't use high beams much or care about LED's there you can re-use your stock ones and save the $30 for the Aukee's and bulb holders. Technically you can use halogen H7 for the projector but that would be a travesty in actual lighting performance. You'd still get the clean projection line but output would extremely mediocre.

 

[Hypergram]

Yes, as exact copies of the Ford OEM Euro's they take the same bulbs as those: H7 for low beam (Katana by far best for the money, nearly period, for the projector there), H1 (same as our stock reflectors, the Aukee best there) and I believe 7507 blinker bulbs (they aren't combo bulbs like the stock reflectors). But you can get all of those for about $80, if you don't use high beams much or care about LED's there you can re-use your stock ones and save the $30 for the Aukee's and bulb holders. Technically you can use halogen H7 for the projector but that would be a travesty in actual lighting performance. You'd still get the clean projection line but output would extremely mediocre.

Thank you. So I have to buy blinker blubs too? Do you have a link to the best ones for those? I'll probably get the high beams too though.

 

[danbfree]

Thank you. So I have to buy blinker blubs too? Do you have a link to the best ones for those? I'll probably get the high beams too though.

I just got generic regular blinkers from the parts store for $2 each (7507, also called PY21W but parts stores seem to know them by 7507). I don't mess with LED's for blinkers because they are the least important to look good and require resistors to avoid hyperflash. Another thing to note, the Euro's (OEM or replica) also support electronic leveling but it's all but impossible to get that to work since our harness and actual switch doesn't support them, they still have a bit of gravity/g-force leveling. So as a bonus to having the Euro's even in our cars, when you hit bumps the low beam doesn't shake up and down all rigidly, but has a bit of soft return that adds to the modern look and projector effect as well.