whiterice

So I bought a '15 XLT Sport last week, one thing I immediately missed was having HIDs. My Taurus SHO, my Mustang, and my Civic had all had HIDs. So I did some research and bought a highly rated kit. It worked fine during installation and testing, but when the truck is running, the lights will just turn off after a second. I know in the Mustangs there is a light control module that prevents you from using aftermarket HIDs, did Ford sneak this into the F150s as well?

str808F150

mines did that to , i have a 2015 xlt , i found out you need to use the relay harness kit. its the one you have to hook up to battery . That worked out perfect now it doesn't go off with truck running .

jcat

either that or you need error eliminators, basically little resistor boxes that fool the computer into thinking the halogen bulbs are still in there.

If the error eliminators don't work, then yes you need the harness. I've got 2 DDM HID kits on the way with error eliminators so I'll be reporting back whether it works or not. I had DDM kits on an 08 fusion, an 06 MB E500 and a 2014 Ram all of which were can-bus systems and all with error eliminators and rarely had any issues.

FWIW, a typical symptom of needing the harness is not the lights shutting off completely, but rather one or the other going out and requiring you to turn them off and back on to get them working again.

lifted ford

Do you guys have any pics of the install and the end results with the Hid's ?

whiterice

As far as the initial issues I had - the HIDs worked fine when the truck wasn't running, which is why I completed the install thinking it would work. The HIDs would just turn off on me at random intervals while driving, so I removed them the next day and I ordered the relay harness. Once I installed the relay harness, the HIDs have been working great! The only thing I did other than that is to go into the truck menu and turn off the DRLs so I can leave my light switch on auto.

whiterice

Are you looking for pics of the actual installation or just before/after pics of the headlights?

fordworker

after pics

hunter306

I'd be interested in links to the hid kits you guys used as well. Very seriously considering Error-Eliminating Canbus kits for mine, I'm real underwhelmed with the light I'm getting out of the halogens.

dallas150

From previous experience with domestic vehicles that have bulb detection you will probably need a relay harness with load resistors. Basically the resistors are wired in parallel with the coil of the relay which is where your truck harness will plug in. Your truck headlight harness will energize the relay causing your truck to see the load resistor which makes it think there is a bulb there. The HIDs will then be powered through the contacts of the relay from the battery turning them on without shutting them off again. Headlights turn off de-energizing the relay opening the contacts and shutdown the ballasts. This will also override the drl circuit causing the Hids to be on all the time provided you have drl enabled. The DRL is what will cause HIDS to flicker. Hope that's not a to complicated explanation, pretty simple setup but I advise caution when mounting the resistors as they get very hot, don't mount on anything plastic or allow them to touch other wires.

jcat

yes, DRLs are problematic and I'll be disabling that once I get HIDs in.

Aside from that, the auto headlight function can be an issue in some vehicles as well.