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2016 Edge SEL dim headlights


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I too am in Canada where the H11 lowbeams are also the DRL's, but with reduced voltage. That kind of limits my choice to a halogen replacement bulb instead of HID or LED's. There's an option to convert H9 bulbs to replace the H11's that I'm thinking of trying. The H9's supposedly give a bit more light without the risk of melting the wiring etc. Anyone done this yet? Or run HID or LED's with DRL's?

Can anyone advise me what type of replacement bulb I would need to make the headlights brighter? WE are finding they are not quite as bright as could be especially lighting road side.

2016 SEL.

 

Thanks

Edited by Ricktye
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I too am in Canada where the H11 lowbeams are also the DRL's, but with reduced voltage. That kind of limits my choice to a halogen replacement bulb instead of HID or LED's. There's an option to convert H9 bulbs to replace the H11's that I'm thinking of trying. The H9's supposedly give a bit more light without the risk of melting the wiring etc. Anyone done this yet? Or run HID or LED's with DRL's?

Yes for months, no issues other than brighter more usable light. The tips of the stock h11 bulbs have a coating on it that doesn't put out nearly as much light as the H9's. The H9's don't have the coating & produce more light. I'd be interested to see what the lumen ratings are between the two. The stock bulbs are also Long Life so they also don't put out nearly as much light as a normal H11

 

Are they comparable to HID's? No. But they are a lot cheaper & with a few modifications, fit into the stock housing. Best mod for the money!

Edited by lildisco
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http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/bulb_types/bulb_types.html

 

H11 runs 55 watts with 1250 lumens

H9 runs 65 watts with 2100 lumens

 

As stated above, there is noticeable difference in output, but H9 do have a shorter life span.

Awesome, thanks. I'd imagine that the Long Life Bulbs don't put out what is posted above, but that's still a drastic improvement

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When you changed out your bulbs, did you find it easier to remove the headlight assembly to get at the bulb or the other stuff surrounding the rear of the light assembly?

 

Thanks

 

Yes for months, no issues other than brighter more usable light. The tips of the stock h11 bulbs have a coating on it that doesn't put out nearly as much light as the H9's. The H9's don't have the coating & produce more light. I'd be interested to see what the lumen ratings are between the two. The stock bulbs are also Long Life so they also don't put out nearly as much light as a normal H11

Are they comparable to HID's? No. But they are a lot cheaper & with a few modifications, fit into the stock housing. Best mod for the money!

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When you changed out your bulbs, did you find it easier to remove the headlight assembly to get at the bulb or the other stuff surrounding the rear of the light assembly?

 

Thanks

 

No need to remove the headlight. The bulb comes out with a rubber cover protector & a twist. Then remove the bulb from the connector. Should only take a minute or 2 to remove the bulb from the headlight & connector

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http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/bulb_types/bulb_types.html

 

H11 runs 55 watts with 1250 lumens

H9 runs 65 watts with 2100 lumens

 

As stated above, there is noticeable difference in output, but H9 do have a shorter life span.

Not to mention higher temperatures. Wonder if the H9 bulbs would burn the sockets or glass over the plastic lens sooner?

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No need to remove the headlight. The bulb comes out with a rubber cover protector & a twist. Then remove the bulb from the connector. Should only take a minute or 2 to remove the bulb from the headlight & connector

HA! I've got an 09 MKX that will kick your a¤¤ and spit you out sideways.

Took me 1/2 hour to remove the driver's side. Some jerk on the Lincoln design team decided that 1-1/2" was plenty of room to change that bulb. Can't even get your hand on the back of the socket; had to use a crow's foot socket to loosen the lock ring.

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For those of you that have done the H9 mod, how did you remove the extra "tab" in the bulb socket? Break it off, grind it with Dremel etc?

 

TIA

 

 

I used a chisel and a razor blade on the plastic. Just clipped off the metal with wire clippers.

 

Or you can get adapter plugs off of Amazon or eBay. Usually people will go an extra step and waterproof these with some silicon caulk or some dielectric grease.

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Christ I didn't realize how bad the lights were until the other night I was coming home from work and it was raining hard and dark. I couldn't see anything! Now I know what everyone is taking about. They look plenty bright when you're parked and look at them from the outside but wow the ground coverage is brutal.

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I've found that in heavy rain I usually travel a lot slower. Under these conditions, turning on the fog lamps will help identify the Edge of the roadway and partly make up for the difficulty in seeing. There are some nights where the seeing conditions makes it appear that you don have any headlights at all.

 

I remember reading where the AMA tested car headlights and reported that 80% were considered unacceptable.

 

Also read where several people reported that their HIDs gave poorer performance in rain than there Halogen bulbs because the intense beam reflected off the rain more and back to their eyes. Several stated they preferred the yellow Halogen color to the bright white of the HID in heavy rain. (I've driven with HID, but never in heavy rain, so can't state any opinion on this.)

Edited by enigma-2
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  • 4 weeks later...

I just switched mine to HIDs as well. It's a Morimoto 6k kit and I used the halogen projectors. Had to add capacitors because of the day time running lights in Canada. I drove in front of my car and did a couple of oncoming runs using my wife's car, and they are not blinding at all (part of the reason I went with 6k versus the 4300k the OEM ones are. Very happy with the results!

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Can you provide me with a bit more info on this "upgrade"? I've been considering either HID's or LED's but being the DRL's are tied in, I've been hesitant to move forward with it...

 

Thanks

 

 

I just switched mine to HIDs as well. It's a Morimoto 6k kit and I used the halogen projectors. Had to add capacitors because of the day time running lights in Canada. I drove in front of my car and did a couple of oncoming runs using my wife's car, and they are not blinding at all (part of the reason I went with 6k versus the 4300k the OEM ones are. Very happy with the results!

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Can you provide me with a bit more info on this "upgrade"? I've been considering either HID's or LED's but being the DRL's are tied in, I've been hesitant to move forward with it...

 

Thanks

 

 

Are you in the US or Canada? In the US you have the option to disable your DRL in the left menu on your gauges. If you're in Canada DRL are mandatory so that function is not available. Because our projectors act as both the low beam and DRL, you will need capacitors to prevent flickering and to prevent the pulse voltage which will make your DRL not work. The capacitors make your computer believe there is a halogen bulb in the housing and won't cut off power.
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