Ok... the last of my Christmas jobs list is driving me absolutely crazy! Despite the best efforts of Epic and others... I am absolutely frustrated.

It has been pretty cold here so I decided I would only tackle the fogs at this point (about all a man of my age can bear laying on ice cold ground). After getting the H10 bulbs needed and reading posts from some folks who said you do not need the provided harness, I installed one lamp. The DDM instructions appear straightfoward: https://www.ddmtuning.com/support/in...emid=2&nav=0,1

I installed one lamp per these instructions and went to see if it would light. It did not. Do both lamps need to be installed for the HID bulb to light? The factory fog came on, but not the HID. Any thoughts?

Since I didn't know how long these bulbs would last, I decided to order a second set of both the H10s and the H13 Hi/Los. Guess what, the bulbs came with another H13 wiring harness. This new harness has a new connector for the hi/lo option AND the H13 hi/lo bulb set also has this new connector. Do they really expect to me to rewire the lights if the first bulb dies??!!

 

Hey Marauder,

Sorry this is being such a pain. I know we've been over the instructions and videos and something just isn't clicking. Maybe a new pair of eyes would help? I don't mean yours, lol, but maybe someone else who has a warm garage and can look at the whole thing from a new perspective. I know how these things go, most times a piece of cake and sometimes a son-of-a-gun. I know this isn't helpful, but it shouldn't be that hard. The DDM pdf's are really good. It must just be something you're missing.

Epic

 

I agree Epic that this should not be that complicated. I managed to pull apart my dash twice, removed the radio and wired up the Ford LockPick as well as installing the extended range remote (which I absolutely love!). And I have done a number of much more complicated electrical connections in vehicles over the years. For some reason, this one is just getting under my skin...

I think my fog lamp issue is a bad ballast. The other thing that gets me is that out of the 5 cables (yes -- 5!) that were sent to me, there are differences between them. It almost looks like they were made by different people! Not that the wiring is bad, just that some are covered completely with shrink wrap, some are covered in a mesh and one (the new H13 cable) has a split conduit on it. And some of the connectors are different. It's like they can't make up their mind what to use! And then couple that with the PDF pictures that don't match, it has become way too complicated.

The H10s came with 3 and some people say you don't need to use them, others say the F350 wiring is not the proper gauge (even for the 35W) and you need to use them.

Now throw in the H13 hi/lo relay connector change and I beginning to wonder if all of this is worth it. I will now need to return the H13 bulbs I bought in December if I want to use them with the new connector. The other option is to cut the ends of any bulb change I do in the future. Here is the picture of the new connector. You will need to deal with this as well when you change a bulb:

 

I had a bad hi/low relay a few years ago on my Excursion. Made me scratch my head and think I was doing something wrong as well. DDM switched it out and all was well.

btw - you'll have to give your review of the lock pick. I'm definitely going to do it when they figure out how to add multiple cameras to the factory navigation screen.

 

Murauder, I baught the DDM kit awhile back and had the drivers side go bad on me. I didn't want to mess with trying to go thru the warranty and decided to just order a new kit. I figured I would have spare parts for the next time they went down. Low and behold I couldn't just put in the new bulb, the plugins were different for the hi-low part just like your pictures show. My only guess is that at some point they changed the style and you happened to get one of each. Kinda sucks that they did this. I am glad that I baught a whole new kit because if I would have went thru the warranty process I would have gotten the wrong bulbs and been a return nightmare. Why can't stuff just work!

 

I guess this will be a fact of life when you are dealing with a smaller company. A larger company might offer a retro fit kit that would not require you to change out the harness or make up a homebrewed solution.

I'm hoping that the bulbs last a long time and once installed I won't need to deal with them for a while. I should also add that the new bulbs (H13 hi/lo) appear to be manufactured by someone other than the last set.

 

The LockPick has worked as advertised. I was not sure what I would be getting, but I can say that the kit is well made and the wiring harness appears to be made with the same connectors Ford uses. The only thing I was not sure about in the directions was whether to install the GPS interrupt cable (goes between the truck's antennae and the GPS In on the radio). I did although it is probably not needed. The Interrupt is needed on some radios (non Ford) because it uses that signal to determine whether the truck is moving or not (to lock out features).

On the plus side, really simple to configure and operate. Hold down the "phone" button on the steering wheel and the LockPick menu pops up. It remembers the last screen you were on and will display that one first. I use the rear camera in motion a lot, so that is usually what pops up. By tapping the phone button you can go to the other options (like Nav Input to enter an address). For updating the control box, you need to run a USB cable to it from a PC. Since the control box is buried behind and under the radio, I elected to run a cable to it and place the other end (wrapped up) on the driver's side.




On the negative side, It would be nice if the features were activated by voice command. How cool would it be to say "rear camera" and have it activate? At this point you need to hit the "phone" button to pull up the menu and then "yes" on the radio to turn on the camera. I also wish they would provide a longer cable on their control box. If it goes bad, you will need to pull apart the dash and remove the radio to get to the box. And finally, they need to increase the "nav input" time from 60 seconds to 90. Sixty seconds is hardly long enough for my wife and I to finish yelling at each other about the street address, let alone being able to input it.

I am hoping that when it does support a second camera (with a factory installed one) that it wil be just a matter of USB updating the control box. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks a lot for that detailed post. I tried to rep you again but the system won't let me for a while... I'm waiting for the multiple camera support before I order.

Back to the HID's, JReinert is correct. You may be better off just calling DDM and explaining your situation. I'd be surprised if they don't just send you a whole new replacement set.

 

Thanks Epic! If you weren't 2000 miles away, I just might drive over for the afternoon and have you look at my truck.

I have been working with a "Marie" there. I sent her pictures of everything I have and she confirmed that I do indeed have multiple wires and some duplicated. They took back some of them and I thought I was on the right path until the new H13 bulbs showed up with their own harness.

I'll call them on Monday and see what they will do.

 

Come on over! Then if there's a problem, we can drive another 800 miles to DDM's offices in So Cal and pickup exactly what you need!

 

I just received my DDM HID kit in the mail this weekend. I plan on installing it next weekend hopefully I wont have any issues. Keep us up todate on how DDM's customer service treats you.

Not to highjack the thread but EPIC... I hope when you do get the Ford Lockpick you will make one of your videos. I think alot of people are terrified on the idea of pulling their radio out with all those wires. I know I sure am!!!!!

 

The power pins on my DDM H10's needed to be bent a bit to fit the stock connector in my '10. Otherwise they wouldn't go in properly. Maybe that's what you're running against.

There's also an extra power wire and rubber grommet that appears unneeded. I removed those since I'm not sure what they are used for.

Otherwise, my H10's went in and work with no issues.

 

Just as an FYI. I did get a bad ballast but DDM did replace it.

 

Thanks for the advice. I decided to give it another try with the other ballast. I may actually have two bad 35W ballasts or two bad bulbs...

I saw the extra wires. Haven't cut them yet just in case I pack everything up and return it. The wires I have are actually different than the picture in the PDF. Mine are two spade connectors. Apparently for some sort of connector.

 

Looks like I may be doing some warranty work with them as well!