DRL Brightness post NTSHA recall with Alpharex Lights

[Ducati1098]

ok, Technical service bulletin and silent recall were always sort of the same to me, but I do apologize for the confusion. So the TSB on the alternator was real and a known problem. I cannot find the DRL notice for the Bronco but did find one for F150s that maybe was what I got as I have one that was affected by that. So, to slightly redirect, some how after being at the dealer for the alternator issue, when I got the Bronco back the DRLs are severely dimmer. Does anyone know who to adjust that in Forscan like you can do on the F150s?

As far as I’m aware, there is no way to change DRL brightness for the bronco like you can for f150 and superduty in forscan. At least not anywhere I’ve seen.

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[BurnR8]

I'm going to get into Forscan on mine this weekend and I will let you know what I find

There is nothing I can find in the BCM, and the BCM As Built is like Greek to me without the correct values to address. That is where I totally fear to tread. Thanks for looking. The F150s were in the 726's but I have no idea if that carries over to a Bronco

 

[Hemisfear]

I really don't think Ford would touch, modify or adjust third party headlights...but the manufacturer might not pass DOT.

 

[pillar406]

I really don't think Ford would touch, modify or adjust third party headlights...but the manufacturer might not pass DOT.

Yeah we wouldn't that's why this makes no sense. I see every recall that Ford has ever made and I cannot find any for the Bronco headlight brightness. I know we had some for the F150 that required the LED and HCM to be updated to the latest software level

 

[JohnnyBronco]

I will have to look it up but I got a recall notice shortly after buying it that mention brightness of DRLs....sort of ignored it and then I had to do an alternator recall because it died and the dealer threw all the recall whammies on me that I had not done. This was one of them. I need not notice for weeks until my wife came to pick me up and I actually saw them from the front and how dim they were. They were awesome when I first installed them but now, not so much. I had another Bronco park next to me and his were almost twice as bright....

So these were not your oem factory installed headlights?

 

[C6ZZGT]

Hello to all, I am new to the forum, but hoping for a little help. I did not ask for the recall to be done but it happened anyway and dealer says it cant be "undone". Basically, I have the Alpharex headlights and they are awesome and crisp both with DRL's and lights themselves, but he recall dimmed the percentage brightness on the DRLs and now they look wimpy now and it is driving me crazy. I am hoping someone knows where I can find the adjustment in Forscan to replace the brightness percentage in the BCM back to stock or possibly brighter. I have looked for posts, checked as built in BCM in Forscan and cannot find any solution anywhere. Any help here is appreciated or if anyone had the same issue with the recall, lmk. Thanks

So we have established that it is neither a recall or TSB. Just post a copy of your work order so we can see what they did.

 

[KABQ]

Is it possible they just messed something up and that was their CYA response, hoping you'd be none the wiser?

 

[cbrenthus]

Gotta be aware of the silent recalls - they fix deadly problems!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

So, to slightly redirect, some how after being at the dealer for the alternator issue, when I got the Bronco back the DRLs are severely dimmer.

I need not notice for weeks until my wife came to pick me up and I actually saw them from the front and how dim they were.

I cannot find the DRL notice for the Bronco but did find one for F150s that maybe was what I got as I have one

So, let us recap the facts....

• You don't actually know when the DRL's dimmed/failed.
• We don't know why the DRL's have dimmed/failed.
• There are no recalls or TSB's on the Bronco DRL's
• You may have confused a TSB for your F150
• The headlight assemblies are aftermarket.

My guess:
The driver for the DRL LED's is on its way out.
When LED drivers fail, they can be "severely dimmed", not work at all or flicker.... other oddities that are not "correct operation".

This isn't the first time I've read about aftermarket lighting failing in short order on this forum.
Could it be the failing alternator spiked and took them out?
Is there a warranty from Alpharex still in place?

Want to troubleshoot the system?
Here's where I'd start :
First , getting the wiring schematics would be nice. Then maybe we can determine exactly how they operate.

We need to find out what voltage SHOULD be present at the DRL driver, THEN test what the voltage IS at the drivers.

We can safely assume the Alpharex headlamps are designed to operate properly at whatever the supplied voltage is SUPPOSED to be.

Then we need to know if there is a dimming circuit for these DRL drivers. If the system is "dimmable" it's a possibility.
If so, how do they operate and at what values?
(example: in LED building lighting, regardless of LED operating voltage, there is a seperate 0 to 10 volt dimming circuit. As you vary the dimming voltage, it tells the drivers to dim or brighten the the LED's. 0 volts is full brightness, 10 volts is full dim, thus no dimming circuit is full brightness)

Do the DRL drivers work in a similar fashion?
Maybe we can just disconnect the dimming circuit and the DRL's will operate back at full brightness?

Contact Alpharex.
They may know the answers to all of this including how the systems is supposed to work and what issues or settings may cause the dim DRL's.
You'd think they have all of this info if they designed a $1600 light to work on this system.
They may just have you send them back for replacements.
Who knows?

 

[BurnR8]

So, let us recap the facts....

• You don't actually know when the DRL's dimmed/failed.
• We don't know why the DRL's have dimmed/failed.
• There are no recalls or TSB's on the Bronco DRL's
• You may have confused a TSB for your F150
• The headlight assemblies are aftermarket.

My guess:
The driver for the DRL LED's is on its way out.
When LED drivers fail, they can be "severely dimmed", not work at all or flicker.... other oddities that are not "correct operation".

This isn't the first time I've read about aftermarket lighting failing in short order on this forum.
Could it be the failing alternator spiked and took them out?
Is there a warranty from Alpharex still in place?

Want to troubleshoot the system?
Here's where I'd start :
First , getting the wiring schematics would be nice. Then maybe we can determine exactly how they operate.

We need to find out what voltage SHOULD be present at the DRL driver, THEN test what the voltage IS at the drivers.

We can safely assume the Alpharex headlamps are designed to operate properly at whatever the supplied voltage is SUPPOSED to be.

Then we need to know if there is a dimming circuit for these DRL drivers. If the system is "dimmable" it's a possibility.
If so, how do they operate and at what values?
(example: in LED building lighting, regardless of LED operating voltage, there is a seperate 0 to 10 volt dimming circuit. As you vary the dimming voltage, it tells the drivers to dim or brighten the the LED's. 0 volts is full brightness, 10 volts is full dim, thus no dimming circuit is full brightness)

Do the DRL drivers work in a similar fashion?
Maybe we can just disconnect the dimming circuit and the DRL's will operate back at full brightness?

Contact Alpharex.
They may know the answers to all of this including how the systems is supposed to work and what issues or settings may cause the dim DRL's.
You'd think they have all of this info if they designed a $1600 light to work on this system.
They may just have you send them back for replacements.
Who knows?

I think you might be on to something. It could be a driver issues...including ME as the driver. I never thought the lights would have an issue themselves as they both suffer at the same level. The alternator issue had me charging at 11.7 while car was running and threw the codes. I drove straight home (11 miles) and Ford picked it up on a wrecker, so sometime at negative 12v but not a lot. I actually sent Alpharex an email yesterday when I began to realized this is a ME problem and not something anyone else has experienced. When I put them in both lights and DRLs were awesome and I loved the headlights. The headlights themselves are fine, but the DRLs sure are not what they used to be.

Thanks Hoosier for the detailed response and analytics. This is frustrating, but a mystery still. I guess what is bugging me the most is that I know you can adjust the values in Forscan for F150s so I just assumed the Bronco would afford the same opportunity.

 

[RimrockPaul]

Hello to all, I am new to the forum, but hoping for a little help. I did not ask for the recall to be done but it happened anyway and dealer says it cant be "undone". Basically, I have the Alpharex headlights and they are awesome and crisp both with DRL's and lights themselves, but he recall dimmed the percentage brightness on the DRLs and now they look wimpy now and it is driving me crazy. I am hoping someone knows where I can find the adjustment in Forscan to replace the brightness percentage in the BCM back to stock or possibly brighter. I have looked for posts, checked as built in BCM in Forscan and cannot find any solution anywhere. Any help here is appreciated or if anyone had the same issue with the recall, lmk. Thanks

I really wish I knew wtf you're talking about so I could intelligently respond.
I think I'll load up the Bronco and go for a ride and not worry about stuff like this.
Paul.

 

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

Never heard of this either

 

[C6ZZGT]

I think you might be on to something. It could be a driver issues...including ME as the driver. I never thought the lights would have an issue themselves as they both suffer at the same level. The alternator issue had me charging at 11.7 while car was running and threw the codes. I drove straight home (11 miles) and Ford picked it up on a wrecker, so sometime at negative 12v but not a lot. I actually sent Alpharex an email yesterday when I began to realized this is a ME problem and not something anyone else has experienced. When I put them in both lights and DRLs were awesome and I loved the headlights. The headlights themselves are fine, but the DRLs sure are not what they used to be.

Thanks Hoosier for the detailed response and analytics. This is frustrating, but a mystery still. I guess what is bugging me the most is that I know you can adjust the values in Forscan for F150s so I just assumed the Bronco would afford the same opportunity.

Still haven't seen a copy of your RO.

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