Phillips HU-LED - 1997 Ford E350

[Bikersmurf]

Installed in Hella E- rectangular headlights.
Initial Trials on low beams at dawn...

H4 Halogen - Left side


H4 XU LED - Right side


Both Headlights Halogen & LED

So obviously they are way brighter than Hella Halogen H4 bulbs.

Now to the problem

High/Low beams & extra driving lights all work as designed until the engine is started.

As soon as the ignition is turned on the lights turn off. Once running the low beam position seems to have Daytime Running Lights (DRL) on, and high beam position looks like High Beams (but the high beam indicator is off). The driving lights don’t turn on with the high beams... until the engine is shut off.

With Halogen bulbs everything works right. With LED headlight bulbs no go.

It’s a Crestline ambulance... but I’m thinking this is Ford wiring issue.

Anyone have experience with this problem?

My thoughts are:

Not enough load @ 25W per bulb.
Floating ground / bad ground somewhere.
LEDs are a diode that’s polarity sensitive... may be a piece of the puzzle.

Now my plan is to document the solution. If it’s easy and someone has the solution already then this thread will be very short. Otherwise, I’ll start testing and see where it leads me... until I find a solution that works.

To answer what is likely the first question... I’ve not started testing/checking... just gathering my thoughts on where to begin.

 

[Bikersmurf]

After some testing I found out the problem. If your van is equipped with daytime running lights, the module gets unhappy if there’s not enough load on the headlight circuit. It decides your low beams are burnt out and switches to DRL.

Without the Can-bus adapter the DRL flicker and the high beam indicator doesn’t work. Low beam lights shut off when the van is started and the DRL come on.

Solution... a Philip’s Can-bus adapter on one side plugged in between the OEM harness and the LED headlight. Problem solved.