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