Add DRLs to '07 Ford Super Duty

ken garchow

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i would like to add some extra lighting to my 2007 ford super duty. rather than mount lights on something i was wondering if there was an in bumper light that might work. would need to be adjustable for aiming. would be nice if had a bezel that would trim out th hole one would cut in the bumper. there is good room behind the bumper for the housings.

thanks
 

Alaric Darconville

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Re: flush mount in front bumper auxiliary driving light options?

i would like to add some extra lighting to my 2007 ford super duty. rather than mount lights on something i was wondering if there was an in bumper light that might work. would need to be adjustable for aiming. would be nice if had a bezel that would trim out th hole one would cut in the bumper. there is good room behind the bumper for the housings.

thanks

Bumpers, even on a vehicle such as an '07 Super Duty, are too low to reliably have any other lamp than a fog lamp built into them.

You *might* be able to use auxiliary low beams in that position (but aimed and used as auxiliary low beams), but even that is a pretty low height. Auxiliary high beams (the colloquial "driving light") with their vertical center below the top of your bumper just wouldn't work well at all-- the low height means your useful distance is limited, and you'll get a bunch of foreground light, which also limits your distance vision.
 
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ken garchow

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Re: flush mount in front bumper auxiliary driving light options?

how about using it as a DRL/fog light?
 

Alaric Darconville

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Re: flush mount in front bumper auxiliary driving light options?

how about using it as a DRL/fog light?
Fog lamps do not make good DRLs; DRLs do not make good fog lamps. Neither one is a "driving light"-- that is an auxiliary high beam.

Are you collecting lights or is there a need you must fulfill? Figure out what lights will benefit you the most, and go from there.
 
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Sadden

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Re: flush mount in front bumper auxiliary driving light options?

the low height means your useful distance is limited, and you'll get a bunch of foreground light, which also limits your distance vision

A lesson that I learned the hard way on my Grand Prix, I mounted a 20" rigid between the two fogs in the lower grille. Practically useless....
 

ken garchow

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Re: flush mount in front bumper auxiliary driving light options?

guys mostly tired of the look of the OEM fogs that are mounted close together in the bumper opening.
have noticed mast cars have the extra lights under the headlights so wanted to add some there and remove the originals

we don't have fog and i don't nee extra driving lights as don't go on dark roads that much.

mostly wanted to add something for daytime visibility as we have lots of gray days and as i drive around i notice the cars with lights much easier than ones with no lights.

thanks
 
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-Virgil-

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Re: flush mount in front bumper auxiliary driving light options?

Wait a sec. You started this thread asking for "driving lights", and now -- whether or not you realize it -- you're talking about daytime running lights. Those two functions aren't even close to the same, and while there are numerous acceptable ways of adding daytime running lights to a vehicle that didn't come with them, it can't (safely and legally) be done with "driving lights", which are auxiliary high beams. You cannot just slap on any ol' set of lights you happen to like and say "Those are my daytime running lights".

You're right that daytime running lights make the vehicle easier for others to see. One of the easier and more cost-effective ways of adding daytime running lights is described here, and it eliminates the objection you have to adding clunky add-on lights.
 

ken garchow

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Re: flush mount in front bumper auxiliary driving light options?

thanksi don't recall mentioning "driving lights"also was wondering why fogs lights aren't good to also serve as DRLs during the day
 

Sadden

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Re: flush mount in front bumper auxiliary driving light options?

thanksi don't recall mentioning "driving lights"also was wondering why fogs lights aren't good to also serve as DRLs during the day

Kinda in the title of the thread....
 

ken garchow

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sadden and virgil
sorry i re read that post three times and didn't notice that in the title
lets scratch the driving lights part in the title

and thanks i have used the DRL1 mod in cars before but the 99-07 ford SD trucks use a 1157 park/turn bulb so if i run my parking lights ill have amber DRL's so to speak already. but to me not real visible, guess I'm use to the amber
 
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Alaric Darconville

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and thanks i have used the DRL1 mod in cars before but the 99-07 ford SD trucks use a 1157 park/turn bulb so if i run my parking lights ill have amber DRL's so to speak already.
No, if you use your parking lights you'll have front position lights, not DRLs. There's no "so to speak" about this. It's a fact.

but to me not real visible, guess I'm use to the amber
It's "not real visible" because it's the minor filament, not because it's amber.

The minor filament in that 1157 is only for a position light/sidemarker function. The major filament is for the turn signal function-- the DRL uses the front turn signal in a steady-burning configuration.
 
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-Virgil-

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Alaric's right. The parking lights you're thinking of, the minor (dim) filament, are way too dim for effective DRLs. The major (bright) filament is plenty bright enough, both technically and legally.

Also, it's not an 1157, which means along with the DRL module already linked, you can swap in extra-super-long-life front turn signal bulbs rated for DRL service, that's this bulb (amber bulb for use with clear lenses) or this bulb (clear bulb for use with amber lenses).
 
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jzchen

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I wonder if there might be a hidden setting for DRLs in the Central Configuration. Could try a software like FORScan with a modified ELM327 or ELS27 to try to turn them on if DRLs were an available option that model year. (I am able to turn them on and off, at least one of the two possible DRL modes, on my wife's '13 C-MAX Energi).
 

Alaric Darconville

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I wonder if there might be a hidden setting for DRLs in the Central Configuration. Could try a software like FORScan with a modified ELM327 or ELS27 to try to turn them on if DRLs were an available option that model year. (I am able to turn them on and off, at least one of the two possible DRL modes, on my wife's '13 C-MAX Energi).

Or a dealership could turn it on, as well. If that model was sold in Canada, it would have to have DRLs equipped. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if it required additional relays and fuses to enable them.
 

-Virgil-

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Ford Module Programming had no DRL setting to set when I subscribed, but definitely better than buying equipment you don't need otherwise if the dealer can set it for you.

Easier, yes, but not necessarily better.
 
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