Interceptor amber DRL's on Explorer St

[Mackjames09]

They are two different strips of LEDs. The white has two levels, light and dim. The Amber is only one level. A few people including myself have tried to have the amber come on as parking lights and DRLs, but then you lose the turn signal functionality.

Just to verify as I am new to this, the uppercase XX that are "checksums" you just leave those alone as well correct? Don't really even understand what a checksum is but I at least want to confirm I don't need to change anything with it when making these changes. Thanks in advance and also for figuring this out for everyone.

 

[i8iridium]

Just to verify as I am new to this, the uppercase XX that are "checksums" you just leave those alone as well correct? Don't really even understand what a checksum is but I at least want to confirm I don't need to change anything with it when making these changes. Thanks in advance and also for figuring this out for everyone.

Yes, just leave the XX alone. Checksum is just a way to validate data to ensure it's correct. In this case we know we're entering the wrong data, to provide the result that we want, so we just ignore it.

 

[nzaf985]

Just to clarify this ONLY changes your DRL to amber during the daytime in auto. Nothing changes at night in auto mode (white strip comes on with headlights and amber is off) correct?

Is there any way to have the amber turns be DRL at night?

 

[2020FordRaptor]

Just to clarify this ONLY changes your DRL to amber during the daytime in auto. Nothing changes at night in auto mode (white strip comes on with headlights and amber is off) correct?

Is there any way to have the amber turns be DRL at night?

Correct. No one has found a way to keep it in at night.

 

[Beek33]

First thank you all for the very detailed instructions..... I would love to get my ST setup with the amber DRLs. However, after I made the changes in BCM and BCM (AS BUILT) my headlights and white DRL are on. No Amber DRLs. I have my headlight switch in Auto mode, and the car seems to think its dark outside (even thought its sunny) that it needs headlights (I'm assuming that's why I don't see my amber DRLs). Anybody have any suggestions or things to check if my car wont go into Daytime "mode"?

 

[Cdubya]

Anybody have any suggestions or things to check if my car wont go into Daytime "mode"?

Read post #55 carefully and look at the pic. a flashlight on the light sensor.

https://www.explorerst.org/threads/interceptor-amber-drls-on-explorer-st.1559/page-3#post-69157

 

[Beek33]

[QUOTE="Beek33, post: 77059]Anybody have any suggestions or things to check if my car wont go into Daytime "mode"?

Read post #55 carefully and look at the pic. a flashlight on the light sensor.

https://www.explorerst.org/threads/interceptor-amber-drls-on-explorer-st.1559/page-3#post-69157[/QUOTE]


Ahhh.. Thank you for quick response! The tint was not allowing enough light to the sensory apparently. I got it working!! However, It only works while in drive and during day time. I don't seem to have any front park lights or Amber DRL (turn signals) while in park. Any ideas. "DRL include park lights" is enabled.

 

[2020FordRaptor]

That is because DRL are Daytime Running Lights and only run when the vehicle is moving. So whenever your not in Park.

 

[SFD295]

So there's someone with an Explorer driving around my general area has the PIU marker lights enabled even at night with the headlights. No white LED strip. No big deal, it must be a PIU I thought. Then I got a good look at it the other day. First thing that caught my attention was the chrome "EXPLORER" applique/bar above the license plate. PIU has a black unpainted plastic one with no "EXPLORER" on it. Then I noticed XLT wheels. It doesn't have any badging besides a chrome 4WD emblem in the lower right on the tailgate. I finally got up close and it's a bone stock XLT interior. No PIU display, no center console delete, no column shifter. What the heck? I checked the headlights. Regular XLT headlights. It has out of state commercial tags and the driver is, well, not an obvious public safety kind of person. It's so weird. Not the type of vehicle someone would mess with. And how?

On a side note: I drive a PIU at work sometimes. Why someone would ever want to drive one as their personal vehicle is beyond me. The grille is flat out fugly (a pushbar helps hide this a bit) and there are usually zero creature comforts. No thanks. But I do really like the marker lights (and the "ready for the road" package). I've debated trying to swap my headlights for ones from the PIU, especially the HI tier with the warning lights. But I learned finding working ones in good condition for a reasonable price is damn near impossible. And Ford wants crazy money for them new. Apparently they're a PITA to get out and everyone breaks at least one plastic mounting tab. So that feels like a no-go, I don't want broken crap on my vehicle. Might get a messed up one cheap just to play with the pins and see how maybe a wiring harness and some electrical wizardry can get this done. There's a bounty of PIU parts out there from wrecked cruisers. Municipalities don't fix vehicles (most are self-insured). They write them off and buy new ones. A PIU on state bid is a bargain, usually about 20% lower than MSRP. Ours was $44,000 fully outfitted, including options like 76P, 67H, 67U etc. and almost all the warning light options.

Another note: there is an option on the order sheet for "942: Running Lamps, -inc: (Permanently on - cannot be turned off or reprogrammed)". Not entirely sure if they are referring to the amber turn signals. My understanding is that there's no white LED strip on the PIU headlights. Our PIU amber turn signals turn off when in park and the light selector switch is off. I'm guessing that 942 option may disable that. Our vehicle does not have it. Some municipalities may want those on permanently for safety or identification, sort of like what CT State Police do with the cruise lights.

I've been trying to get the marker lights at night for two years now with my vehicle, though I'm no expert. I went from a 2008 Audi A4 to the ST and the technological leap still amazes me. But as an upfitter I'll admit the CAN integration in conjunction with Whelen's WeCanX is a game-changer.

I apologize for my rambling post.

 

[SFD295]

So apparently 942 is a "Fleet Only" option. So this must have been a fleet XLT. Makes sense with the commercial tags. But still...this would mean the white LED strip is still there but inhibited at night. So strictly a DRL. I thought about it and I've never really seen it during daytime. So I'm thinking that it does the standard XLT white DRL strip during the day and the PIU amber markers at night with the DRL strip off. Basically the opposite of what was accomplished here in this thread. Obviously this is software driven, as the headlights appear to be stock XLT. Which is kind of a bummer. I think the way to go from here is the wiring harness route. I'm a little hesitant to screw with that stuff but we'll see. I'll do some more research.

 

[i8iridium]

So apparently 942 is a "Fleet Only" option. So this must have been a fleet XLT. Makes sense with the commercial tags. But still...this would mean the white LED strip is still there but inhibited at night. So strictly a DRL. I thought about it and I've never really seen it during daytime. So I'm thinking that it does the standard XLT white DRL strip during the day and the PIU amber markers at night with the DRL strip off. Basically the opposite of what was accomplished here in this thread. Obviously this is software driven, as the headlights appear to be stock XLT. Which is kind of a bummer. I think the way to go from here is the wiring harness route. I'm a little hesitant to screw with that stuff but we'll see. I'll do some more research.

You need to follow them and get the VIN.

 

[KJRichard3ST]

So apparently 942 is a "Fleet Only" option. So this must have been a fleet XLT. Makes sense with the commercial tags. But still...this would mean the white LED strip is still there but inhibited at night. So strictly a DRL. I thought about it and I've never really seen it during daytime. So I'm thinking that it does the standard XLT white DRL strip during the day and the PIU amber markers at night with the DRL strip off. Basically the opposite of what was accomplished here in this thread. Obviously this is software driven, as the headlights appear to be stock XLT. Which is kind of a bummer. I think the way to go from here is the wiring harness route. I'm a little hesitant to screw with that stuff but we'll see. I'll do some more research.

The base model Explorers also have the Amber DRL and stay on at night. Same as PIU except it’s night “blacked out” on the housing.

 

[SFD295]

The base model Explorers also have the Amber DRL and stay on at night. Same as PIU except it’s night “blacked out” on the housing.

I'm a little confused. It's "blacked out" on the housing? Wouldn't that also "black out" the front turn signals/hazards?

 

[SFD295]

I'm a little confused. It's "blacked out" on the housing? Wouldn't that also "black out" the front turn signals/hazards?

So I did some research. You're somewhat correct. The base model Explorer has the amber DRL. They are not blacked out. However, it appears the white LED DRL strip doesn't exist. The headlight housing is a tad different, covering where the LED strip would have been. I can't say definitively that it's not there, but that would be pointless if it was. Not including it saves cost, and the base is certainly built to a price, about half what our ST's cost. So they use the amber LED's for DRL, since they're already there and obviously are DOT required. DRL's are not federally mandated (yet), but it's pretty standard practice these days with the wide incorporation of LED's in vehicle lighting. Running HID's or even halogen bulbs at lower voltage to achieve DRL can be problematic (or downright impossible with HID lamps). I used to fix a good number of vehicles in the early 2000's that had a bad high beam lamp due to running it at low voltage. The filaments would often disintegrate faster and even leave brownish deposits on the bulb glass. Toyotas were notorious for this. We saw so many RX300's with this issue. But LED's? No problem. They do pretty well when run under voltage with DC. AC not as much, as most dimmers just "chop" parts of the AC waveform away until you get what you want. This caused older LED's to flash (well technically they always flash, just at a faster frequency than our eyes can interpret as an on/off cycle). Anyway, off topic.

Thanks for the heads up on this @KJRichard3ST. I must never see base models really. It's not surprising. They are really stripped down, even worse than the PIU. Anyone have the as-built from a base model? I still wonder if it's software or hardware controlled. Now I have to find a wrecked PIU and base headlamp to do some poking around.

Final note: There's a guy out of GA who makes custom wiring harnesses. He seems pretty legit. I ordered a harness to flash my fogs, DRL, and low beam with my Whelen Core system. When asked he seemed to indicate he could make a harness to have the amber LED's act like a PIU. If you have a Core system they can be controlled and even tied to a photocell, parking brake, timer, etc. Whatever your heart desires. I didn't get too deep into it with him, but it sounded like he knew how to do it. If this first harness works out well I may give it a go, along with something similar to flash the rear vehicle lights.
I believe his name is Jeremy. It's not cheap but it's reasonable as far as I am concerned. There's not much else out there and the harnesses look well constructed. My front harness ran around $300 all-in. https://ginnwire.com/ or he's on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ginnwire/. I'll let you know how it goes. Lead time given was 3-4 weeks, but that included all the holidays. I'm at 3 weeks tomorrow.

2021 Explorer Base

 

[SFD295]

Can't believe I never noticed this before today. In photos the chrome strip almost makes it look like the DRL is on.

 

[2020FordRaptor]

I'm a little confused. It's "blacked out" on the housing? Wouldn't that also "black out" the front turn signals/hazards?

The chrome is painted black inside the taillights.

 

[EDWYER]

For those seeking to modify the DRL

Looks good

 

[Computer User]

Thank you !

 

[TLST22]

For those seeking to modify the DRL (white band strip) from the 2020 + explorers try this method using Forscan. I was able to disable it and turn on my headlamp switch to find it off. After going over the spreadsheet someone posted in this forum this is what I did. The amber turn signal lamp stays on in lieu of the white strip during Daytime using someone else’s method they posted on here, and the ambers stay on when the headlights are on, my vehicle is an XLT 2020 Civillian model as evidenced by the silver accent marks on the grill

So if I'm reading this correctly, this will enable the amber to remain on and turn off the white strip when the headlights are on? Is there a slight delay like there us for the mod in the daytime?

 

[TLST22]

Yes, doing this on Forscan will keep the ambers on when the headlights turn on, using the prior method from (i8iridium) from this thread. However I’m not sure about the delay by doing this. My front ambers turn on immediately when I turn them on. But using this method in Forscan will completely turn off those ugly white DRL borders on the 2020+ explorers, by doing this you have access to control the brightness on it, from high or low, I turned mines off to show no light.

Perfect, I'll have to give this a shot sooner than later. Appreciate it man!