How To: HID Headlight Installation from Drive Bright

[Mikula]

I'm going to run through how to install the DTBL-35W HID Kit on a Gen II. Mine is a 2016 Edge Sport, and although I would assume it is similar across the board for the 2015-2018 model years, I cannot be certain. I purchased mine from drivebright.com

 

A few things to note before I start. I am mechanically inclined. This kit does not require much automotive knowledge, but the basics sure help. This kit can be installed without doing a lot of the things I'll be showing you to do, but I really wanted a clean hidden look. Since I had the tools and know how, I figured I'd post my experience.

 

Tools to help you along the way:

-very sharp razor blade

-Ratchet with 10mm socket

-8mm socket (with extension)

-phillips screwdriver

-cordless drill with phillips bit

-1/4" Drill Bit

 

Some other things you may need:

-Small block of wood

-Zip Ties

- #8 x 1/2" Small self-tapping screws, home depot #21520

- New rubber headlight dust cover (One of mine was dry rotted a bit, which you will see later, so check yours before you start the install, and buy some if needed. They were $9ea at my dealer. Part number for those is 4S4Z13N019AA)

 

 

[Mikula]

First thing I would do, is watch the installation video provided by the man that makes these lights. Unfortunately, his installation is for the previous model, but a lot of the basics still apply. Getting familiar with the procedure in video form is a good idea.

 

 

Next thing I would recommend doing, is check the dust covers on the back of your headlight. This is one of the differences from the video you just watched, and the gen 2 edge. our dust cover is not plastic, but rubber. pull them off and make sure the rubber is not brittle, dry rotted, or cracked. If you find that yours is less than stellar, give your dealer a call and score a couple. at $9 each, they are worth having new to ensure when you're finished no condensation gets into your headlight housing.

 

Ford part number 4S4Z13N019AA

 

When i tried cutting mine (which I will show you later) it cracked and was just not in good shape:

[Mikula]

Remove your negative battery cable. At this point, I started with the passenger side, as there is an extra step coming later. I removed my headlamp assembly. There is a very nice area to hide all the wires and ballast behind it, which is why I went this route.

 

10mm socket will remove the 2 bolts, and a phillips screwdriver for the remaining screw.

 

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by Mikula

[Mikula]

Be sure to remove the main connector to the headlamp assembly.

 

 

The easiest way I've found to remove the headlamp assembly, is by pushing slightly on the part of the lamp closest to the center of the vehicle, while lifting up slightly, on the side that is toward the outside (or toward fender). The headlamp is a bit stiff, as it is pressed down into a sort of friction clamp, so some effort is necessary here.

 

You'll now be free, exposing the area on the rail where we will be mounting the ballast and wires.

 

[Mikula]

Here is a close up of where we will be mounting the hardware from your kit. Rectangles represent the flat areas we will be using, the red circle is where I drilled a 1/4" hole. The hole is not necessary for any other purpose other than to create an area to put a zip tie to keep the wires from bouncing around.

 

 

Close up shot of where I drilled the 1/4" hole

 

 

Next, I attached the mounting bracket to the back of the ballast as instructed in the instructions from drivebright. I did put the head of the bolts on the back side, with the nuts facing up, allowing it to sit a bit flatter.

 

Test fitment of where you would like to mount the ballast. I pushed mine pretty far up into the cavity, leaving just enough room for me to put in the self-tapping screw:

 

 

here is a top view to show how far back I installed it

 

 

 

[Mikula]

Using the supplied 3m tape, I cut it the long way, slightly less than in half. The reason for this was because the flat area left for you to place the "black thing" (as i have no idea what its actually called) isn't very large, and you'll need some of that 3m adhesive later.

 

 

Place the LARGER piece of adhesive on the back of the "black thing" and push it into place. Leave about 1" of clearance as shown in the next photo:

 

 

Cut the remaining piece of adhesive in half, as we will be using it to mount the "silver box"

 

 

remove the plastic from the back side of the silver box, and put the remaining 2 pieces of adhesive on there

 

 

Place this silver box on the plastic piece next to your coolant reservoir, with the 2 wires oriented up toward the sky

 

 

Moving on!

Edited April 29, 2018 by Mikula

[Mikula]

In the original instruction video, he drilled a 7/8" hole in the back of the dust cover. ours, however aren't plastic, making it much more interesting. could you just cut a slit and feed the wires? sure, but I was concerned with condensation getting into the lens, so i wanted it as air tight as possible.

 

Following his lead, I needed to make a hole in the rubber dust cover somewhere near .875" in diameter, so I started measuring sockets in my tool drawer. well, my 17mm craftsman was just about the closest I could find, and in the end, it was a PERFECT fit at .922

 

 

Next, place your dust cover on a piece of wood, and put your socket in the center, holding it tight while you cut around the socket with a good sharp blade.

 

 

TADA.. a hole

 

 

Feed your wires and grommet through your dust cover and make sure it is a good seal on both sides

 

 

Now would be a good time to mention, that i left the plastic cover over the new HID bulb. You will not be able to get the plastic cover off over the wires without breaking it off with a pair of pliers. it was simple to do, but keep this in mind. You could remove the plastic cover before feeding it through the dust cover.. but just a heads up for you!

 

[Mikula]

Here is where I thought I could improve a little bit. Since we will not be using the "golden harness" as it is called, I stole a few of the rubber insulators off of those connectors, as illustrated in the next few pictures. in my opinion it gave it a better, water tight seal on the connector.

 

first pic is the connector as it comes

 

 

Next is the golden harness, where I robbed the yellow seal off another connector

 

 

and here is the rubber, doubled up onto the original connector

 

 

Connect all harnesses and plugs together and lay them out of the way, making sure you keep them clear of where your headlight is going to be re-installed (i drew a red rectangle of the area to keep clear)

 

 

 

 

[Mikula]

Remove the stock bulb from your headlamp housing. it was easier for me to undo the connector first, then remove the bulb. A 1/4 turn of the bulb should release it from the housing.

 

note: make sure you are removing the correct bulb... I'm an idiot and removed the hi-beam bulb, and then wondered why the connector didn't fit.. Jeesh, what an amateur. The correct bulb is the one toward the outside of the headlamp.

 

 

 

Now replace your headlamp assembly, reversing the previous steps. Be sure to reconnect your main harness to the lamp assembly, or you'll be scratching your head, wondering why it doesn't turn on!

 

For ease of access, and to gain more clearance (clarence) I removed the coolant reservoir. pull off the connector that is attached near the strut tower, then remove the bolt. 8mm socket with extension does the trick here, or a flat head screwdriver will do the job. pull up on the reservoir to remove it from the remaining tab. gently move it out of the way (toward the engine)

 

 

 

[Mikula]

When plugging in the headlight to the harness, there seems to be a trick that worked with me. The original instruction video says attach the side with the red wire, to the side with the brown wire.. well mine are both black. so you have a 50/50 shot of getting the connector correct, as it can be reversed.

 

The trick that worked for me, is on the connector in the headlight housing, put your glasses on (very small) and find the numbers on the connector. #1 side connects to the red wire side, and #2 connects to the black wire side.

 

 

once your headlight bulb is connected, reinstall it into the housing, and replace your dust cover. it may be recommended to reconnect your negative battery terminal, and test to be sure they are working at this point, before buttoning it all back up!

 

put the coolant reservoir back into position and bolt it down. Referencing back to the 1/4" hole i drilled earlier, I slid a zip tie in there and here is what it looks like finished:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mikula]

The driver side is the same procedure, but there is no coolant reservoir in the way. The air box does not need to be removed either. it is a clear shot on the driver side with our edges.

 

For the record, I purchased the 6000k bulbs, and they match the signature lights perfectly. This is exactly what I was hoping for. Special thanks to Dan at bright lites. seems like a great guy, and honestly these were a pretty great price for an HID conversion. really changed the look of the vehicle in the evening hours!

 

Check out the difference from stock, to HID 6000k

 

 

Good shot of the bulb color matching here:

 

[fishx65]

Looks like the color match is pretty good. How's the beam pattern on the 16-Present halogen projectors? Did you have to adjust them down at all?

[Mikula]

Looks like the color match is pretty good. How's the beam pattern on the 16-Present halogen projectors? Did you have to adjust them down at all?

Whoever said light will scatter in these housings is full of it. These projectors must be a different design, because the pattern is no different than the stock bulbs. nice crisp line across the top of the light (when shining on the garage door) no stray beams to blind oncoming traffic.

[TheWizard]

You are quite right... HIDs in halogen projectors generally don't cause a problem because it's the front lens and elliptical reflector at the back of the projector that produce the beam while a movable shield cuts out the upper region light for low beams. Those elements aren't as dependent on the exact positioning of the light source like an older reflector style lamp so there is no perceptible change in beam pattern. Granted, the halogen beam cutoff is often a different shape than an HID one due to different edge cuts on the movable shield but what you end up with is the same pattern as the original halogen (which was always acceptable) only much brighter.

[Nick Halstead]

(when shining on the garage door)

 

 

25-30 ft from wall is correct distance to judge

[Mikula]

27ft was perfect then

[Tightanium]

I’m going to get some now. Looks good. I have heard they take some time to get full brightness. So is it good usable light? Can you see better now?

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Thank you for the writeup hope they provide great service!

[omar302]

Mikula, did you change the DRL or kept it with the Low beams?

[Mikula]

Mikula, did you change the DRL or kept it with the Low beams?

Truthfully, I have my DRL turned off, because i hate the look of them. Plus, with the signature lights always being on, visually i feel other drivers still can see me just as well. Honestly I don't even know which bulb is the DRL. The high beam is the bulb you can clearly see in the center of the housing, if that is the DRL also, then i did not change that bulb out. If I were to turn the high beams on, i would have a yellow "hi-beam" with the now HID outer lights shining. I hope that made sense... Post #9 shows which bulb i changed.

 

 

I’m going to get some now. Looks good. I have heard they take some time to get full brightness. So is it good usable light? Can you see better now?

They certainly do take some time to get up to brightness, as well as whiteness (I had to rhyme there, I always wanted to be a rapper). When I first turned them on, they had a blue hue. a minute later, they were a nice bright white.

 

I never have done much night driving since owning the edge, so truthfully it didn't seem much different to my eyes as far as usable light. We have a dark stretch of road out here and I didn't notice anything better or worse!

Edited April 30, 2018 by Mikula

[Tightanium]

I thought the signature light was the DRL. If they aren’t , then I don’t have them either or it’s not turned on for that mode.

[Mikula]

I thought the signature light was the DRL. If they aren’t , then I don’t have them either or it’s not turned on for that mode.

Don't go confusing me now! the signature lights are the "triangles" in the bumper.

[omar302]

The signature lights are the "triangles" in the bumper. They turn on with ignition or engine & cannot be turned off except by unplugging them. They do dim when the parking lights turn on.

 

The actual DRLs depend. There are "configurable" types & non "configurable".

 

Configurable, which are the default for US models, have a setting in the left instrument cluster to enable /disable. If enabled, DRLs will turn on when the headlight switch is in the "Auto" position with the transmission selector not in Park and there is sufficient ambient light.

 

Non-configurable, are like that, they are either enabled or not from the factory.

 

As for which bulbs act as DRL, if you have factory HID, then the DRLs are the inside bulbs which look like high beams, but they are only for the DRL. For non-HID factory equipped, the DRLs are the low beams with some sort of reduced voltage, which can cause issues with after market HID.

[vexer]

I'm curious how you're still enjoying the lights ?
I'm about to order the same set for my 2013 edge and I believe the 6000K colour should match the LED light strip at the bottom as DRLs, and I hope will work fine with the projector housing ..

 

Any other tips for an older edge?

[onyxbfly]

6000k will match the headlights with the DRLs. I've had them since 2015 in my previous edge. My lady currently enjoys them. Admittedly I neglected to adjust my headlights before doing the install. You might be fine with adjusting the headlights. If not The drivebright lights will sort you out.