Recently installed LED headlights and Fog lights in my 2005 F-150 FX4. Love them great pattern and very bright. Having an issue with something possible ground or feedback issue. When the headlights are on by them selves all is well. If I turn on the fog lights though my highbeam indicator in the dash comes on dimly lit. I saw something search the internet and said it could be a relay ground issue. The lights are all from OPT-7 lighting and they state that if the lights flicker they may require a capacitor so I emailed them waiting to hear back. Thought I would ask here and see if I can go another route. Also if fogs are on without headlights same issue with dash indicator light plus one headlight flickers. Any help would be great. Thank you

 

I'll just offer my opinion until one of the other experts here chime in. The newer vehicles from all manufacturers all use some form of lighting control module (computer) to control and monitor all vehicle lighting. These controllers are much less tolerant of changes to the vehicle's lighting (such as adding LED bulbs) than older vehicles. The big difference? LEDs draw far less current.

Many vehicles read low current as a burned out bulb. (This is what leads to "hyperflash" when you add LEDs to your parking lights / turn signals.) Adding a resistor to the circuit adds resistance back in and the computer thinks all is well again.

Why do I bring this all up? Because you've made significant changes to your truck's lighting. I'm betting that the controller doesn't like what it's seeing and is throwing a digital hissy fit. (And don't ask me how one calms one of those down.)

One last thought. Be careful on not only what you change on your truck's lighting, but how you do it too. Some dealers will use any excuse they can find to void your warranty. And based on some of the hack jobs I've seen lately, I can't say as I blame them.

 

2stroked. I can agree with what you are saying and that's where I am stumped. There has to be a way to tie in resistance so that everything comes out happy and plays well together if you will. And luckily everything I have purchased and installed is 100% plug and play no cutting splicing or modifying required so if all fails I can revert back to halogens. Thanks for the input hopefully someone has a solution for me.

 

Nice post, 2stroked! Very well stated.

I think we're rapidly approaching a point at which we won't be able to reliably make modifications to the electrical circuits in our vehicles.

Maybe it's a good thing, looking at some of the crappy HID mods I've seen. I have no idea if the LED headlight mods are any good in general, but I'm sure there are some bad ones out there.

Edit: dpfist, I just reread your post. Are you trying to turn the fog lights on with the headlights on bright? I'm pretty sure the electronics in that model year truck only allow the fogs to be on with your Low Beams. And, I have no idea why turning the fogs on by themselves would cause a headlight to flicker on. Possibly a problem with the "auto" lighting control?

- Jack

 

JackandJanet
No I am not. The problem occurs with the fog lights powered to on in both the auto position with headlights on low beam as well as when I power the foglights to on with out the headlights on. In the later "not on auto position" just fog lights and park/marker lights on is when I get a headlight flicker in addition to the highbeam indicator being dimly lit, and its only one headlight that will flicker which to me is odd.

 

Thank you for the clarification, dpfist. I have to plead complete ignorance where your difficulties are concerned, and, I used to think I had a pretty good understanding of electrical and electronic circuits!

The low current flows have to be responsible somehow, but it seems rather counterproductive to have to "trick" the systems with resistors to increase current draw. And, I can't see how capacitors would help at all.

It's pretty clear to me the best solution is a system that's designed from the ground up to work with LEDs. I'm not convinced there's a way to get that using retrofit systems.

- Jack

 

Pretty much the same thing that happens when you do HIDs with a relay harness, you get bleed back. Going to need to do the Bambi mod. FYI if your using the same opti-7 lights my buddy bought idk how you can see cause his were dimmer than his OEM halogens..

 

thelariat02
How do I accomplish this bambi mod you speak of ?? And the led headlights I got seem to be working well very bright but have driven in the dead of night yet so far I like them though.

 

It's easy to do. There is a couple of videos on YouTube. Try search Bambi mod.
I did it. Takes less then 20 mins.

 

Thanks 07massHD I found a site that offers an inline resistor harness to cure the issue when installing HIDS and or LED lights. Not sure which route to head yet thanks for the info though.

 

First let me apologize for the length of this post but I want to include all of my experiences with LED bulbs for others to read.

I had a 2011 Supercab in which I installed LED headlights and fog lights and they worked great with no problems. I traded the 2011 in for a 2015 Supercrew and installed LED headlight lamps, fog lights and a pair of switchback front turn signal/running light bulbs. The 2015 came with LED rear lights as it also has the blindspot radar system. The switchback bulbs caused hyperflash at the dash turn indicators but the front turn signals did not work nor did I have the white function of the switchback bulb when it should have been in a running light mode. The rear turn signals continued to work fine though. I also had an issue with one low-beam headlight going out after several minutes but it would come back on again when I cycled through the light switch from autolight to the headlights 'always on' position. The fog lights and high-beams always worked fine AND if the truck was not running but the ignition was on everything worked perfectly. The problems existed only when the truck was running and the vehicle's computer was operating.

I installed resistors on the turn signal circuit wires and this cured the problem of the hyperflash at the dash turn indicators but the front turn signals STILL did not work. I also still did not have the white function of the switchback LED bulb in the running light mode and the low-beam headlight would still go out after a few minutes. I put resistors inline of the running lights and also installed plug-in resistor harnesses for the low-beam headlights. The front turn signal/parking lights still did not work with the vehicle running although the low-beam headlights did work for a longer period of time before the one headlight would turn off.

While rersearching this problem I read online that Ford had a recommended service bulletin that stated that the 'lamp out' function of the Body Control Module could be programmed to 'off' and that did solve the online poster's issue of wacky problems when using LED lights in his vehicle. I went to the dealer where I bought my truck and showed them the bulletin. They accessed the Body Control Module but there was no 'lamp-out' function on the 2015 F150 in the computer setup so there was nothing to turn off to solve the problems with using LED lights.

I have since removed the turn signal/running light switchback LED bulbs and their resistors and reinstalled the old incandescant bulbs. But, not willing to give up the brightness and improved lighting qualities of the LED headlights I am still trying to find a solution to the one low-beam headlight going out after about 15 minutes of driving.

Since electrical current is at it's strongest in colder weather I am expecting that once warm weather comes around and the current drops there will be no problem with the computer shutting down the one LED low-beam headlight but that just doesn't cut it for right now when you need both headlights in the Winter weather.

There HAS to be a solution to all of this since emergency and police vehicles use a lot of LED lights and they function correctly...

So, has anyone got any ideas?

 

As far as the switchbacks not working, what are the bulbs and where did you get them? There's a lot of cheap Chinese junk out there that just doesn't work at all.

While I've swapped a lot of bulbs in my truck from incandescent to led, the headlights are one that I will not even think about. At least, not until they really make something that's been proven. I've only read bad stories about led headlights. Someone installs, is super psyched, and a week later, back in the incandescents go due to some issue or another.

The only LEDs I'd trust as headlights are the oem ones in the 2015/16. They're made by sylvania.

 

The Switchbacks were 7443's which I bought from Superbrightleds.com as were the headlight LEDS also. I don't think it's a problem with cheap bulbs since everything works fine with the engine/computer off, and these were the same LEDs which I put in my 2011 before I traded it in and they worked fine.

I believe it is more of a problem with the voltage controlled through the vehicle's computer, in which there should be a way to re-program it to compensate for the lower draw of the LEDS, especially since LED headlights are an option and they work fine.

I can live without the switchback turn signal/running light lamps but I don't want to give up the LED headlights unless I just can't find a way to make these work.

 

Putting PnP LED or HID in a Halogen housing is a bad idea. You're creating a ton of glare for oncoming drivers.


FWIW I built my own headlights (HID Projectors and LED projectors) and built my own relay harness. Everything works seamlessly with the factory harness/computer

 

Thought about being that guy, but decided against it. Glad you decided to be that guy haha