Ford Focus DRL

[Paramanic]

Since i got the car I've been looking at alternatives to fords pricey Drls or pricey Drls headlight then there is the Chinese ones that go into your grill I decided to go down a different route .....

 

Will be making a guide in next few days

 

Video here in link below

https://streamable.com/y3ltl

 

 

 

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[michaelburrows]

Is that actually legal?

[Phil21185]

Audi's do it! They're switchbacks. 

No different than having a DRL in your headlight. As long as the DRL dims when main beams are on I think.

That looks sweet. I'd be quite tempted to do this alongside my fang ones...

[Paramanic]

Is that actually legal?

Yes aslong as they dim when headlight is on but mines currently dont as they aren't bright at all so waiting to night till I check I do have a module to add to them to do this but might be dull enough so far but in my guide I will add module for people

Anyway led headlights and hids are legal with good line and focus but mot not friendly but still pass but any additional thing you add to your car from factory isn't exactly legal anyway lol

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[Jonro2009]

12 hours ago, michaelburrows said:

Is that actually legal?

Switchbacks are actually safer than the DRLs that don’t dim when you indicate, and are now on the vast mayority of cars. As above, they should dim when the side lights are illuminated to be MOT compliant. 

 

They look really good, nice little mod! I’m guessing that isn’t your car in the video?

[Paramanic]

Switchbacks are actually safer than the DRLs that don’t dim when you indicate, and are now on the vast mayority of cars. As above, they should dim when the side lights are illuminated to be MOT compliant. 
 
They look really good, nice little mod! I’m guessing that isn’t your car in the video?

Well I checked up on the .gov website to check there legality with retrofit ones and this is what it said


Hey Jonro why wouldn't it be my car? Lol



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[Jonro2009]

I only thought it wasn’t your car in the video because the number plate was visible in the video but you have blanked it off in the picture, no other reason 😁

[Phil21185]

Tbh I stopped blanking my number plate. It's publicly viewable and it's not as though mines an rs. If it was, I'd be likely to have a lot of security mods on it!

[Phil21185]

10 hours ago, Jonro2009 said:

Switchbacks are actually safer than the DRLs that don’t dim when you indicate, and are now on the vast mayority of cars. As above, they should dim when the side lights are illuminated to be MOT compliant. 

 

They look really good, nice little mod! I’m guessing that isn’t your car in the video?

Mine has recently passed (though before mot rules change) while dimming on dipped beam. IMO focus sidelights are so puny that I never use just them on their own anyway...

[Jonro2009]

8 hours ago, Phil21185 said:

Tbh I stopped blanking my number plate. It's publicly viewable and it's not as though mines an rs. If it was, I'd be likely to have a lot of security mods on it!

I blank mine purely out of habit now, it was just with one photo being blanked and the other one not that I thought it might not be the same car. You’re right in saying that the plate is available to anyone passing the car, but the way I look at it is if I was going to clone a car and I had a red 2017 st Line Focus it would be much quicker for me to go online and do a 2 second search and find an image than waiting until I stumble across one in the street. **disclaimer, I am not a cloner lol

8 hours ago, Phil21185 said:

Mine has recently passed (though before mot rules change) while dimming on dipped beam. IMO focus sidelights are so puny that I never use just them on their own anyway...

When I said ‘when side lights activated’ I had meant with dipped beam also, I don’t know anyone who drives around on side lights only. Like you say focus (any) side lights are puny on their own.

[Paramanic]

Just a habit really [emoji23]
And agreed a need to upgrade my lights apart from the usual night breakers and Philips any other ways to get a bright crisp light the issue a have with hids is basically it has no projector so don't want to hinder people with glares

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[Jonro2009]

You could use 100W bulbs, not something I would do personally but I know others have and think it’s perfectly safe. Like I said it’s not something I consider safe though, the wiring most probably isn’t capable of running them and the risk of an electrical fire or the plastic lenses melting is pretty high. I am a fan of the Phillips Xtreme Vison +130%, I favour them over the Osram bulbs as I have found they last a lot longer but are slightly less crisp 

[Phil21185]

I have the Phillips white visions and they don't quote match the DRLs. I can sort of get away with it as my DRLs are in the sails beneath. But with yours being in the headlight (still can't get over how good that looks btw!) You're going to need to match pretty well.

Keifer's last car had osram hyperblues in and in every picture he posted, they matched his DRLs well, together with led sidelights. Not sure about light spread but perhaps less of an issue in light summer evenings?

Still waiting for that guide lol!

[Jonro2009]

The Osram bulbs have been superseded now haven’t they? Plus the blue range in both Osram and Phillips are for styling and not road legal, not that it would bother me so much as long as they didn’t dazzle others. I’ve heard decent thinks about Halfords own brand bulbs but I hate the place so have never tried them lol

[Arwen]

I'd be very interesting in a guide for this! I've been wanting to put DLR on my car for ages, but wanted them in the headlight unit rather than the grill. 

I done similar to my bike... Works a treat and had no issues over the legality of it. 

 

[Paramanic]

On 6/18/2018 at 4:33 PM, Phil21185 said:

I have the Phillips white visions and they don't quote match the DRLs. I can sort of get away with it as my DRLs are in the sails beneath. But with yours being in the headlight (still can't get over how good that looks btw!) You're going to need to match pretty well.

Keifer's last car had osram hyperblues in and in every picture he posted, they matched his DRLs well, together with led sidelights. Not sure about light spread but perhaps less of an issue in light summer evenings?

Still waiting for that guide lol!

Ones I've had before is Osram Intense cool blue am sure they are called probs try these plus give 20% further light too 

On 6/19/2018 at 10:10 PM, Jonro2009 said:

The Osram bulbs have been superseded now haven’t they? Plus the blue range in both Osram and Phillips are for styling and not road legal, not that it would bother me so much as long as they didn’t dazzle others. I’ve heard decent thinks about Halfords own brand bulbs but I hate the place so have never tried them lol

The Osram cool blue or something are road legal and give better light than standard bud but not sure how white compared to these lights a will need to upgrade the 501 bulbs too 

47 minutes ago, Arwen said:

I'd be very interesting in a guide for this! I've been wanting to put DLR on my car for ages, but wanted them in the headlight unit rather than the grill. 

I done similar to my bike... Works a treat and had no issues over the legality of it. 

 

That looks good buddy a like that on your bike bud 

 

Wee update needing to take photos but written part of the guide is done 

 

Issues I have faced with in theory 

On my test bench I have a drl module that dulls down the LEDs white light when you turn on the halogen and easy to add this to the headlights with a spade connector issue I'm having is the LEDs give a very faint flicker but this is on my test bench so currently wired up without drl module I need to add this to the circuit on my car to actually test if it's just my test bench or not or even if you see it when the dripped beams are on so will see this throughout the weekend 

[TomsFocus]

Osram cool blue intense aren't blue at all...they're still yellow.  Very disappointed with mine!  But when you look at the colour temperature, they're only 4200k...which is well in the yellow section.  Not really sure how they get away calling them blue.

One of these is the 'cool blue intense', the other cost £1.50 from Tesco.  Bet you can't tell which is which...

 

Just for reference, this is the same light with Phillips Blue bulbs in, yes they were illegal which is why I've replaced them before MOT lol.  Did look cool though!

[Paramanic]

Osram cool blue intense aren't blue at all...they're still yellow.  Very disappointed with mine!  But when you look at the colour temperature, they're only 4200k...which is well in the yellow section.  Not really sure how they get away calling them blue.
One of these is the 'cool blue intense', the other cost £1.50 from Tesco.  Bet you can't tell which is which...

 
Just for reference, this is the same light with Phillips Blue bulbs in, yes they were illegal which is why I've replaced them before MOT lol.  Did look cool though!

Aye ano bud seen they white vision by Philips apparently there okay


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[Paramanic]

Aye ano bud seen they white vision by Philips apparently there okay


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Anyone use the adapter clips for the focus?

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[zain611]

I'd of thought the bulbs just clip in and you wouldn't need brackets. I have autobeams halo indicator kit which is like yours however its halos. Yeah I'm in the middle about the brightness. There not really bright but to me they are on the limit of being really bright in the dark. 

@TomsFocus yeah try out philips white vision. Says gives out whiter light however not the longest distance compared to xtreme vision. Something I might of gotten if my car didn't come with HIDs. 4300k to me would be xenon white but because the bulb is lighting up a large area the colour would look different. With my lights it says 6000k so that's white moving slightly towards ice blue. In the day the lights appear to be a light blue colour but in the night a white colour. If you put those bulbs in a projector the colour most likely will appear in its claimed kelvin rating as its lighting up a small area. 

[TomsFocus]

19 minutes ago, zain611 said:

I'd of thought the bulbs just clip in and you wouldn't need brackets. I have autobeams halo indicator kit which is like yours however its halos. Yeah I'm in the middle about the brightness. There not really bright but to me they are on the limit of being really bright in the dark. 

@TomsFocus yeah try out philips white vision. Says gives out whiter light however not the longest distance compared to xtreme vision. Something I might of gotten if my car didn't come with HIDs. 4300k to me would be xenon white but because the bulb is lighting up a large area the colour would look different. With my lights it says 6000k so that's white moving slightly towards ice blue. In the day the lights appear to be a light blue colour but in the night a white colour. If you put those bulbs in a projector the colour most likely will appear in its claimed kelvin rating as its lighting up a small area. 

Have you got HIDs in a reflector housing currently?  They'll fail MOT under the new regs if so. 

I had some Phillips bulbs (cant remember which!) as sidelights in the Mk2 which were much whiter, though still yellowish compared to the HIDs.  The Osrams were very cheap though which is why I gave them a go this time, I'll stick with Phillips in future lol.

[Phil21185]

I think there's a pic on my build thread of my car at night (I think it's the one where I've changed my front fogs to led) I've got white visions in that picture so will show you how they look compared to led...

[DJ_Andy_M]

On 6/15/2018 at 8:47 PM, Paramanic said:

Anyway led headlights and hids are legal with good line and focus but mot not friendly but still pass but any additional thing you add to your car from factory isn't exactly legal anyway lol

 

Replacing your factory fitted headlight bulbs with LED or HID without the appropriate washers, projectors and levelling is not legal by any stretch of the imagination. However as you say, additional stuff isn't checked. It's how I got away with my USDM style sidelights/indicators. As long as my original white sidelights were still in tact, they passed it.

[Paramanic]

Replacing your factory fitted headlight bulbs with LED or HID without the appropriate washers, projectors and levelling is not legal by any stretch of the imagination. However as you say, additional stuff isn't checked. It's how I got away with my USDM style sidelights/indicators. As long as my original white sidelights were still in tact, they passed it.

I passed my last 2 MOTs with hids fitted but the fiesta has a projector and 1 mot before with LEDs passed no issues they don't all need washers etc fitted that's and older thing which changed to aslong as the beam pattern isn't changed and aslong as it's yellow or white but new mot has zero tolerance so anything other than a halogen bulb or whatever it came from factory it will fail

But again the not hasn't changed as my mot mate told me the rules are still the same there just been told to be stricter as they haven't changed as if you look at previous mot rules the wording hasn't changed only diesels changed this year

Changing anything from standard on your car should fail mot too as in red tail led light etc as it's a change to manafacturers car it's meant to be a fail but due to the vage-ness they are leanient that's why you don't see that coming up on pages much

But back to subject am just looking for best Inbetween light you can get from looks and nice output too but both have trade offs

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[Danmabby]

Hi do you have a link to the switchback drl you fitted to the focus thanks