Retrofitting MY2020 Standard LED Headlights on Halogen Model

[mikerelvas]

Hello everyone,

 

As many of you may know, the headlights on the MY2020 Focus now have LED dipped beams as standard. Mine was built in September 2019 - the update was issued on cars built from as early as October 2019 - so I had really bad timing, although Ford's website mentions my car is a 2020 model.

 

Fitting aftermarket LED Bulbs is not an option for me as they are expensive for what they're worth and, above all, they're illegal. I am considering retrofitting the new headlight units (MX7B-13E014-CC and MX7B-13E014-CE for LHD variants), but I don't know if the installation is plug & play or if it needs coding through Forscan.

 

Until now I haven't found these new units for sale online, at least for LHD models. But if someone has done this modification sucessfully and could clarify if it is a straight fit or not, I would really appreciate it.

 

Kind regards,

 

Miguel

[Jonro2009]

You may find they require to be connected to sensors on the suspension to level them, they should also have washers - although you would get away without them. 

Have you looked at Gala motors, they are a ford scrapyard, last week they had a 2020 fiesta in that had flood damage so all the parts where available apart from the carpets. You might get lucky and find a 2020 focus with rear damage etc. 

You will find a huge debate over the legalities of LED lamps and it depends who you speak to. If you have projector units then you would have no issues with MOT at all, and as the MOT isn't due for over 2years it wouldn't be a worry. If you have reflector units then it's a straight no from the off. I'm surprised to hear you say they are expensive for what they are worth, what do you mean? You can get a decent set for less than £50 (£29.99 for nighteye ones).

Do you find the standard halogen ones poor or is it the colour you don't like? There are good aftermarket halogen lamps available - Phillips Xtreme Vision and Osram Nightbreaker range. Both 55w but emit a light closer to the colour of LED

[DaveT70]

Just fit the LED H7 bulbs that Ford fit to the latest Halogen models.

Fitting factory fixed LED lamps to a halogen model is doable but not easy (mainly due to harness changes if you manage to get hold of the wiring diagrams)

[Frowma]

The link below looks like the headlight I have in my 2019 STLX that has LEDs (yes I know it's a RHD but I'm sure the lights are universal and you select LHD or RHD in the menu), it also has the adaptive lights with auto high beam. You may find that swapping halogens for LEDs requires more than just bolting the new lights in, the connectors could be different and software modules may need turning on to activate the full functionality of the light units. The silver box on the side of the headlight unit is the LED voltage controller.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-FOCUS-HEADLIGHT-LEFT-2018-ON/174359086826

As the others have already said if you just want to get away from the yellow tinge to the lights I'd say the cheapest option would be to go for some uprated halogens like the Osram Nightbreaker lasers,I had these in my previous car and the difference over the bog standard halogens was really marked. A nice white output and much better distance and coverage.

[Daz19]

I changed the halogen headlight units on my 2019 ST line x for the 2020 LED dipped beam reflectors they now fit as standard. They are a straight swap, same harness, no coding needed. They are coming up on eBay quite frequently now but watch out for examples with damage to the attachment brackets. 

[Giannis82]

I changed the halogen headlight units on my 2019 ST line x for the 2020 LED dipped beam reflectors they now fit as standard. They are a straight swap, same harness, no coding needed. They are coming up on eBay quite frequently now but watch out for examples with damage to the attachment brackets. 

Hello. Do you know the part numbers of the 2020 dipped beam lights? If it’s a straight swap I’m interested in upgrading my halogen headlights.


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[mikerelvas]

I appreciate everyone's insight,

 

To answer a few of the comments, I'm sorry if I didn't come across very clear:

On 9/21/2020 at 12:19 AM, Jonro2009 said:

You may find they require to be connected to sensors on the suspension to level them, they should also have washers - although you would get away without them. 

Have you looked at Gala motors, they are a ford scrapyard, last week they had a 2020 fiesta in that had flood damage so all the parts where available apart from the carpets. You might get lucky and find a 2020 focus with rear damage etc. 

You will find a huge debate over the legalities of LED lamps and it depends who you speak to. If you have projector units then you would have no issues with MOT at all, and as the MOT isn't due for over 2years it wouldn't be a worry. If you have reflector units then it's a straight no from the off. I'm surprised to hear you say they are expensive for what they are worth, what do you mean? You can get a decent set for less than £50 (£29.99 for nighteye ones).

Do you find the standard halogen ones poor or is it the colour you don't like? There are good aftermarket halogen lamps available - Phillips Xtreme Vision and Osram Nightbreaker range. Both 55w but emit a light closer to the colour of LED

The ones that need the suspension leveling sensors and washers are the full-LED and iLED units, not the standard LED units. The latter are the equivalent to the bog standard halogen units, but Ford decided to fit LED dipped beams on the 2020 models. They're still on reflectors, but it's a different type of reflector design and the bulb is hidden away on the top.

 

Most new cars with LED headlights are still on reflectors, but you'll notice the bulbs aren't visible. LED Bulbs fitted on reflector housings need to shine the light indirectly due to the high output, hence why they're not mounted at the center of the reflector like traditional halogen bulbs.

 

I'm not going to fit LED Bulbs on my car as it has reflectors. They're illegal and a real faf to fit on the MK4 Focus because the housing is very narrow for most bulbs - currently Autobeam UK is the only company who makes straight-fit LED conversion kits for the MK4 Focus, but they're extremely expensive especially if you're not from the UK.

 

I dislike halogens for several reasons. First, I do a lot of driving at night and the yellow shine is very mellow on the road. When cars with LED headlights are on the road, it's almost as if it becomes daylight. Second, they don't look appropriate on a car this new and modern. They spoil the looks of what is otherwise a very pretty machine. On the other hand, though, they're inexpensive to replace.

[mikerelvas]

On 9/22/2020 at 8:25 AM, DaveT70 said:

Just fit the LED H7 bulbs that Ford fit to the latest Halogen models.

Fitting factory fixed LED lamps to a halogen model is doable but not easy (mainly due to harness changes if you manage to get hold of the wiring diagrams)

Ford didn't just fit LED Bulbs on the 2020 models mate. The whole headlight unit is different. If you compare them you'll notice the bulb is now mounted at the top of the reflector and not the center, not to mention the reflector is different as well. Instead of the vertical "veins", they are now horizontal.

 

The full-LED and iLED are pretty much impossible to retrofit due to the necessary sensors and modules that need to come fitted in the car. But the new standard LED units seem to be a straight fit. I just need confirmation on this.

[mikerelvas]

On 10/3/2020 at 3:00 AM, Daz19 said:

I changed the halogen headlight units on my 2019 ST line x for the 2020 LED dipped beam reflectors they now fit as standard. They are a straight swap, same harness, no coding needed. They are coming up on eBay quite frequently now but watch out for examples with damage to the attachment brackets. 

That's what I wanted to know! You didn't get any errors or flickering on the LEDs? I've heard a lot about that.

 

Usually eBay will have a lot of RHD variants, not so much LHD. But I'll keep an eye out!

 

Do you mind me asking how much the investment was worth?

 

Cheers.

[mikerelvas]

On 10/8/2020 at 6:44 PM, Giannis82 said:

Hello. Do you know the part numbers of the 2020 dipped beam lights? If it’s a straight swap I’m interested in upgrading my halogen headlights.


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I mentioned that on the

 

On 9/22/2020 at 4:57 PM, Frowma said:

The link below looks like the headlight I have in my 2019 STLX that has LEDs (yes I know it's a RHD but I'm sure the lights are universal and you select LHD or RHD in the menu), it also has the adaptive lights with auto high beam. You may find that swapping halogens for LEDs requires more than just bolting the new lights in, the connectors could be different and software modules may need turning on to activate the full functionality of the light units. The silver box on the side of the headlight unit is the LED voltage controller.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-FOCUS-HEADLIGHT-LEFT-2018-ON/174359086826

As the others have already said if you just want to get away from the yellow tinge to the lights I'd say the cheapest option would be to go for some uprated halogens like the Osram Nightbreaker lasers,I had these in my previous car and the difference over the bog standard halogens was really marked. A nice white output and much better distance and coverage.

Those are the iLED units - pretty much impossible to retrofit on cars with the standard halogen units. I'm looking for the standard LED units only, and apparently they are a straight fit as mentioned by one of the members in this post.

 

Thanks for the help!

[DaveT70]

18 hours ago, mikerelvas said:

Ford didn't just fit LED bulbs on the 2020 models mate. The whole headlight unit is different. If you compare them you'll notice the bulb is now mounted at the top of the reflector and not the center, not to mention the reflector is different as well. Instead of the vertical "veins", they are now horizontal.

 

The full-LED and iLED are pretty much impossible to retrofit due to the necessary sensors and modules that need to come fitted in the car. But the new standard LED units seem to be a straight fit. I just need confirmation on this.

Yes, you are correct, I was looking at one the other day, got blue tinted high beam bulbs now too.

Apparently these are straight swap, no wiring or config needed.

I wonder what they have used on the current Fiesta then as these are LED now too but still physically the same headlamp

[farrells]

On 10/8/2020 at 6:44 PM, Giannis82 said:

Hello. Do you know the part numbers of the 2020 dipped beam lights? If it’s a straight swap I’m interested in upgrading my halogen headlights.


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Hi,

Think this might be what your looking for:

Reflector LED Headlights for RHD 2020 Ford Focus:

Driver - MX7B-13E014-DC

Passenger - MX7B-13015-DC

Really hope these are a straight swap (Plug and play) would be great as im looking to swap to LED's as well. I just wondering if the light output of these is better than halogens? Would anybody know.

 

[Giannis82]

Hi,
Think this might be what your looking for:
Reflector LED Headlights for RHD 2020 Ford Focus:
Driver - MX7B-13E014-DC
Passenger - MX7B-13015-DC
Really hope these are a straight swap (Plug and play) would be great as im looking to swap to LED's as well. I just wondering if the light output of these is better than halogens? Would anybody know.
 

I believe that anything is better than halogens. I have to make some research, if those parts are the same for LHD and if they are really a straight swap. And after all that I have to look for them on eBay. Thanks for the info!


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[farrells]

8 minutes ago, Giannis82 said:

I believe that anything is better than halogens. I have to make some research, if those parts are the same for LHD and if they are really a straight swap. And after all that I have to look for them on eBay. Thanks for the info!


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I just did a quick check on internet and think the LHD version of these is same part number but -CC at the end.

Found this on a German site

[farrells]

Hi Guys,

Just thought I'd update. A week ago I found a listing on eBay for LED Reflector Headlights (as per the RHD Part Numbers above) going really cheap for the pair, probably becase all the tabs were broken! but that doesent matter to me as I can fix them 🙂

So I decided to take the chance and bought them.

I have just received delivery of my replacment LED Reflector Headlights today.

I will post an update here as soon as I get a chance to try them out and see if they work without any modification to the wiring or reprogramming.

Heres Hoping!

[farrells]

Sucess!

Test fitting the led reflector headlight in the passenger side tonight and works a treat without any issues.

Pics attached - Driver side is still on original halogen, Passenger side is new reflector led

All I need to do now is fix the tabs! Will give me something to do over the weekend now that were on a 6 week lockdown here!

Hope this helps others

[Giannis82]

Just plug and play? No other issues? The result looks great. Any tips about installing them?


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[farrells]

12 hours ago, Giannis82 said:

Just plug and play? No other issues? The result looks great. Any tips about installing them?


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Yes, I just plugged it in, no modifications at all. The only thing I wasnt able to test was the high beam & indicators as there is no bulbs in the headlight at the moment. Dipped Beam working fine, there is a nice colour shift to white light from the led compared to the halogen and the beam pattern looks good too. DRL's are perfect match as well so I can only assume the high beam and indicators will be fine.

I would advise to be very careful removing your halogen headlights (Especially if you plan on keeping\selling them) as the tab on the front bumper is really easy to break! (yes, I broke mine last night, but it was a clean break so plastic welding works fine, if not stronger).

As I bought the reflector leds with all broken tabs, im going to buy 2 sheets of plastic (3mm and 5mm), cut out the shape of the tabs using my original headlight as a template and then plastic weld new tabs on, lots of video's on youtube.

Hope to get this done in the next week or two and will post up some more pics when its all done and dusted

 

[Giannis82]

Thanks for the info. Keep us updated and post some more pics when you’re done with the project.


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[fgservo]

Hello, what about change to this?

Full Led

[FordGolfer1991]

On 10/23/2020 at 8:56 PM, farrells said:

Sucess!

Test fitting the led reflector headlight in the passenger side tonight and works a treat without any issues.

Pics attached - Driver side is still on original halogen, Passenger side is new reflector led

All I need to do now is fix the tabs! Will give me something to do over the weekend now that were on a 6 week lockdown here!

Hope this helps others

Nicely done the difference looks great! The 2020 St-Line / pre 2020 St Line X all come with LED reflector headlights, I think like the one you have fitted to the left side? 
 

What I’m trying to figure out are if these LED reflector headlights are still halogens?

[farrells]

Hi, Just wanted to post an upate after a while of using the Reflector LED's that I fitted. I repaired the LED reflector headlights I bought on eBay using FORD repair tabs so they were perfect fit and had these fitted over the last few months. I have recently removed them and gone back to Halogen bulbs as I noticed something that has been annoying me.

Issue 1 - I found the light output was not as much as halogens. Yes, thats right, the light from the LED is cleaner but its not as "illuminating" as a good (osram night breaker laser) bulb. The halogen gives more light coverage on the road, yes its yellower but it illuminates more of the road, from edge to edge I can see more. I had to keep turning on the fog lights with the reflector leds to get a good light coverage on some (especially unlit) roads. Visually, the LED do look better, but, I personally found that the light coverage on the road was not as good\much as a halogen bulb. I checked the alignment of the leds v's the halogens and both are next to identical. 

Issue 2 - When the stop start system was engaged and the engine stopped (at traffic lights), after a few seconds of the engine stopping, the LEDs would actually get brighter by approx 10%, then, when the engine restarts, after approx 5 seconds, the leds would then dim back down about 10%. I have this on camera and can replicate every time. I've no idea what causes the issue or why it does this, I would have expected it to be the opposite (brighter with the engine running!). Maybe its a coding thing?.

This was something that just kept getting under my skin, especially, issue 1 which is why I've removed and reinstalled my original halogens. I really think these LED headlights look nice but could have been soo much better had they had 2 or 3 leds fitted. 

[Monks600]

On 10/11/2021 at 5:02 PM, farrells said:

Hi, Just wanted to post an upate after a while of using the Reflector LED's that I fitted. I repaired the LED reflector headlights I bought on ebay using FORD repair tabs so they were perfect fit and had these fitted over the last few months. I have recently removed them and gone back to Halogen bulbs as I noticed something that has been annoying me.

Issue 1 - I found the light output was not as much as halogens. Yes, thats right, the light from the LED is cleaner but its not as "illuminating" as a good (osram night breaker laser) bulb. The halogen gives more light coverage on the road, yes its yellower but it illuminates more of the road, from edge to edge I can see more. I had to keep turning on the fog lights with the reflector leds to get a good light coverage on some (especially unlit) roads. Visually, the LED do look better, but, I personally found that the light coverage on the road was not as good\much as a halogen bulb. I checked the alignment of the leds v's the halogens and both are next to identical. 

Issue 2 - When the stop start system was engaged and the engine stopped (at traffic lights), after a few seconds of the engine stopping, the LEDs would actually get brighter by approx 10%, then, when the engine restarts, after approx 5 seconds, the leds would then dim back down about 10%. I have this on camera and can replicate every time. I've no idea what causes the issue or why it does this, I would have expected it to be the opposite (brighter with the engine running!). Maybe its a coding thing?.

This was something that just kept getting under my skin, especially, issue 1 which is why I've removed and reinstalled my original halogens. I really think these LED headlights look nice but could have been soo much better had they had 2 or 3 leds fitted. 

I have the same issue with the headlights becoming brighter when the engine turns off with stop start and then dims again after about 5 seconds from the engine starting again. Just posted on the forscan forums and no really knows a fix or any option to change.

 

What I’d love to know, does this also happen on the vehicles with them as standard? You’d think it would be the other way round… brighter at idle and dimmer on the battery? 

 

As for the brightness and light spread, mine seem to be much better than what you’re describing. Much better spread and coverage that my old osram night breakers. Honestly, best upgrade I’ve done yet. May be worth checking the left and right alignment of the headlights as they could be pointing directly in front or too close side by side. 
The spread from mine and cut off is amazing. Road signs lights up and no glare for on coming drivers either… been doing a few trips on dark stretches of the M56 and there a massive improvement.

[Monks600]

On 10/28/2021 at 6:30 PM, Monks600 said:

I have the same issue with the headlights becoming brighter when the engine turns off with stop start and then dims again after about 5 seconds from the engine starting again. Just posted on the forscan forums and no really knows a fix or any option to change.

 

What I’d love to know, does this also happen on the vehicles with them as standard? You’d think it would be the other way round… brighter at idle and dimmer on the battery? 

 

As for the brightness and light spread, mine seem to be much better than what you’re describing. Much better spread and coverage that my old osram night breakers. Honestly, best upgrade I’ve done yet. May be worth checking the left and right alignment of the headlights as they could be pointing directly in front or too close side by side. 
The spread from mine and cut off is amazing. Road signs lights up and no glare for on coming drivers either… been doing a few trips on dark stretches of the M56 and there a massive improvement.

Update: you can easily stop the dimming by 10% using a 2200uf 25v capacitor on each of the dipped beam power feeds.

 

the reason the headlights dim is due to the bcm giving out a pwm signal instead of a solid 12v. Hence why when you turn the engine on, PWM kicks in and the LEDs will sim by 10%. Engine off and you’re reviewing 12v direct and therefor have 100% brightness.

 

if you were retrofitting the full led matrix lights, they would actually flicker and not dim. Fitting a 2200uf 25v to the feeds resolves this also. 
 

hope this helps someone! 

[piotrmod]

2 hours ago, Monks600 said:

if you were retrofitting the full led matrix lights, they would actually flicker and not dim. Fitting a 2200uf 25v to the feeds resolves this also.

 

It is different when retrofitting static or dynamic full LEDs. In this case, high-beam line works as power supply and low-beam line is used as a voltage signal. Therefore, low-beam line requires 1 ... 2uF capacitor!!! Also turn signal needs a capacitor, 220uF is perfect.

If someone is so desperate as I was to retrofit static LEDs, please find my instruction. https://www.formod.eu/ledheadlamps.html

I have failed in solving "flickering" issue. I still think about the factory way to disable PWM voltage stabilisation. I am 100% sure it is not in BCM. It must be PCM (which is taking care about battery charging voltage regulation) or BMS, that is voltage sensor. BMS might be different and send different signal, I'll check this soon.