Disable Perimeter Lighting

[Eazy]

Bring your TC to Idaho. I'll wire your door pins to a switch in your dash for free.

[MarcusBrody]

I'm not sure that it would solve Daedalus's exact problem, but when you put the key in the ignition and turn it one click to radio only, the perimeter lights go out. Leaving it there, you can then open and close doors all you want and they don't turn on/off. I'm not sure if you do it before opening the door the first time if you can avoid them never coming on.

The lights from the dash/radio do come on with the key in this position, but those are easy enough to cover up with a towel or something similar.

I know this is an old thread, but I found this thread the other day when trying to deal with the same problem before heading to the drive in. Hopefully the info can help someone else.

[Andrew James]

ive got a 2014 transit connect, and find the lights really annoying that you cant disable.., i use my waggon for site work and often leave my doors & boot open, I hate looking at it with the lights on... thinking its flattening the battery....

. its really daft.. & want to disable it.. there is no point to it at all, and i completely disagree with fords logic behind this feature that its a saftey thing...

Im going to forgive fords decision on this so called feature, as the rest of the vehicle is just perfect.... but will fire them off an email...

a good excuse to change all the bulbs out to leds.... i suppose... only for my piece of mind

[SteveMalone189]

Like everyone else, I've tried to find a solution to the problem of all the exterior lights coming on when any door is opened.  In our case, we were opening the doors often enough and long enough that we burned through the original battery in just 15 months.  Fortunately, Ford replaced that battery under warranty (which shocked the hell out of me).

But we didn't want to purchase a new battery every 15 months, plus we had an issue with the battery on our teardrop trailer that needed a solution.  We've cobbled together a solution that we've been using for about six weeks now - we mounted a thin flexible 100 watt solar panel on top of our van, which we attached to a dual battery controller.  The controller allows us to specify how much of the available charge will go to either the van battery or the camper battery, though if one of the batteries is fully charged, 100% of available charge goes to the battery in need of charging.  The system is set up such that it ties into the 7 pin charge line to our camper (which is fed by the alternator) via a relay switch - with the ignition on, only the alternator charge reaches the camper battery; with the ignition off, only the solar panel charge is sent through the charge line to the camper battery.

There are specifics of the install with pictures posted on the Unofficial Camp Inn Forum:

http://campinnforum.com/community/threads/tow-vehicle-solar-step-by-step.4030/

It doesn't solve the problem of the lights coming on, but during daylight, the battery is always kept charged up no matter how often or how long the doors are opened.  

100 watts is overkill for just solving the lighting problem.  Our primary need for that much wattage is a Dometic CF-35 compressor cooler, which puts about a 6 amp load on our camper battery.  A much smaller panel and a single battery controller would suffice to offset the power loss from the exterior lights, and it wouldn't be necessary to wire a relay switch to the ignition.  If you had a need to run an inverter off of the van battery, such a set up would help offset the usually heavy load created by the inverter.  It would also be possible to run various 12v devices while the van is parked - such as running a fan to help keep your pet cool while you do grocery shopping in the summer...

[zalienz]

After opening the door, push the high beam stalk forward and the perimeter lights go out. Not a permanent solution, but it does work, and it is easy.

[SteveMalone189]

9 hours ago, zalienz said:

After opening the door, push the high beam stalk forward and the perimeter lights go out. Not a permanent solution, but it does work, and it is easy.

I wish all of my searching and talks with Ford could have turned this tip up a long, long time ago.  I can't tell you how many hours I wasted.  I just tried this.  It was necessary to push the stalk forward and then backward for the lights to go out.

[Loafer]

I wonder how many other inelegant solutions there are in the TC?  Are there any other weird tricks that we should know about. 

[mrtn]

The battery location is quite inelegant.

[G B L]

It is but better than under the back seat!

[Bob Jenkins]

Just purchased a 2017 in Dec. with the annoying light problem. The stalk remedy works as long as you don’t open another door, then they come back on, and you have to run around the vehicle and repeat to shut them off again. I do a lot of camping and use all the rear and side doors a lot. Has anyone come up with a more permanent solution? If this is a temporary solution, there has to be a way to access the switch to make it on demand? Or maybe disable the side and rear door switches?

Edited March 26, 2018 by Bob Jenkins

[JoeMan]

 

 

3 hours ago, Bob Jenkins said:

Just purchased a 2017 in Dec. with the annoying light problem. The stalk remedy works as long as you don’t open another door, then they come back on, and you have to run around the vehicle and repeat to shut them off again. I do a lot of camping and use all the rear and side doors a lot. Has anyone come up with a more permanent solution? If this is a temporary solution, there has to be a way to access the switch to make it on demand? Or maybe disable the side and rear door switches?

 

I think this thread below will help. Good Luck getting a tech to do it though.

 

[Fifty150]

On 6/19/2017 at 12:57 AM, mrtn said:

The battery location is quite inelegant.

 

 

 

What are you suppose to do if you need to jump start the vehicle?

[mrtn]

I guess you're not. Call for roadside assistance or smth.

 

I'm yet to buy a booster battery with a fixed wiring with a plug for the time a surge is needed.

[G B L]

You can get to the Bat terminals to use a booster pack by removing the battery cover, I am experienced in this operation!!

[mrtn]

True, but try that in a snowstorm at -20 degrees.

[G B L]

That has been done by me, although not on the TC Yet.

[Dandytc]

20 hours ago, Fifty150 said:

 

 

 

What are you suppose to do if you need to jump start the vehicle?

 

A few weeks ago, I had to park my TC and trailer on a country road for a while. Despite the lack of traffic in that neighbourhood, I turned on my 4-way flashers, and when I tried to start the engine 3 hours later, I found the battery was dead. I called a friend to come give me a boost, and discovered that even when you remove the battery cover, you can only really access the positive battery post to clamp on. There isn't enough space above the battery to clamp on to the negative post. After some fumbling, we finally got a ground somewhere, but I was a little frustrated by the whole thing. Later on, back home, I found the solution: there is a short length of wire between the negative battery post and an external post on the body, just above the fuse box, and to the right of the battery when looking at it. (It really is on the left side of the car.) That seems to be the best place for the negative clamp.

 

[G B L]

That's a great Idea Thanks

[jrm223]

Dandytc got it right, that's exactly what that post is for, lol. That was actually one of the first things I noticed after I bought my van.

 

That said, I have tow-truck-style jumper cables with a disconnect on the front of the van that my 25ft cables plug into to use for jumping others & could be used to jump my van, if needed. No need to pop my hood at all, but definitely not something that everyone would want to have, though - especially at nearly $200... This is the best pic I have available of the plug, I only zip-tied it to the grill but it's held up fine with at least a dozen uses now. But that red rubber cover is more like road-grime-nasty these days. I've gotten questions ranging from "Is that a diesel?" (I guess indicating some massive engine warmer since my old PowerStroke was a standard 110V plug, lol) to "Is that an electric car?" Nope, but it'll provide 12V electricity, haha.

[Fifty150]

I have cables like that.  Used them with my old Jeep.  Left them on the Jeep when I sold it.  20/20 hindsight tells me I should have removed them and kept them for myself.  Although I don't recall those cables being that expensive.  I guess pricing and availability depends on where you source them from, and at what level of the food chain.

 

I also used to carry a big jumpstart pack.  Those worked real well.  Now, I use a small lithium battery version which is just slightly bigger than a phone, and smaller than a tablet computer.

 

[jrm223]

I think my cables came from Ebay, if I remember right. I've had them for at least 5 years, I'd guess. The $200 or so included a 3ft pigtail, 5ft pigtail and 25ft jumper cables, all 2awg. The extra pigtail was intended for a removable winch on a hitch-mount plate that I never got around to wiring (I had a 2003 F350 4x4 diesel back then). I had one of those bigger jump-packs that my grandpa gave me, but eventually the battery in it died completely. 

['14 Connect]

On 11/16/2014 at 8:46 PM, Daedalus1 said:

All the exterior perimeter lights illuminate when any door is opened on my 2014 van. How can I disable this feature?

I have the '14 Lwb XLT and am facing the same problem, did you figure this out?? Please tell!!.. Not sure what Fool at Ford designed all exterior lights to come on when opening any door!! Who does that??? Drrrrrrr!

['14 Connect]

On 6/17/2017 at 1:59 PM, SteveMalone189 said:

Like everyone else, I've tried to find a solution to the problem of all the exterior lights coming on when any door is opened.  In our case, we were opening the doors often enough and long enough that we burned through the original battery in just 15 months.  Fortunately, Ford replaced that battery under warranty (which shocked the hell out of me).

But we didn't want to purchase a new battery every 15 months, plus we had an issue with the battery on our teardrop trailer that needed a solution.  We've cobbled together a solution that we've been using for about six weeks now - we mounted a thin flexible 100 watt solar panel on top of our van, which we attached to a dual battery controller.  The controller allows us to specify how much of the available charge will go to either the van battery or the camper battery, though if one of the batteries is fully charged, 100% of available charge goes to the battery in need of charging.  The system is set up such that it ties into the 7 pin charge line to our camper (which is fed by the alternator) via a relay switch - with the ignition on, only the alternator charge reaches the camper battery; with the ignition off, only the solar panel charge is sent through the charge line to the camper battery.

There are specifics of the install with pictures posted on the Unofficial Camp Inn Forum:

http://campinnforum.com/community/threads/tow-vehicle-solar-step-by-step.4030/

It doesn't solve the problem of the lights coming on, but during daylight, the battery is always kept charged up no matter how often or how long the doors are opened.  

100 watts is overkill for just solving the lighting problem.  Our primary need for that much wattage is a Dometic CF-35 compressor cooler, which puts about a 6 amp load on our camper battery.  A much smaller panel and a single battery controller would suffice to offset the power loss from the exterior lights, and it wouldn't be necessary to wire a relay switch to the ignition.  If you had a need to run an inverter off of the van battery, such a set up would help offset the usually heavy load created by the inverter.  It would also be possible to run various 12v devices while the van is parked - such as running a fan to help keep your pet cool while you do grocery shopping in the summer...

Stopped reading right at, mounted solar panel on top of van

[jrm223]

20 hours ago, '14 Connect said:

Stopped reading right at, mounted solar panel on top of van

 

The solution to the perimeter lighting has been posted and shared in this forum many times, but you have to actually read through threads and use the search in this forum (instead of Google) to find the helpful info. Did you think you're really the only one that has a problem with it, none of us do - so none of us already talked many times about how to fix it? Instead, you posted in several threads that already tell you what is needed to fix the "problem", if you had read them. 

['14 Connect]

1 hour ago, jrm223 said:

 

The solution to the perimeter lighting has been posted and shared in this forum many times, but you have to actually read through threads and use the search in this forum (instead of Google) to find the helpful info. Did you think you're really the only one that has a problem with it, none of us do - so none of us already talked many times about how to fix it? Instead, you posted in several threads that already tell you what is needed to fix the "problem", if you had read them. 

Hey partner yes I did read most all the threads alright!.. I'm not interested in cutting and splicing wires under my dash, mounting toggle switches, putting a solar panel on top of my roof, pissing on a spark plug while holding a candle or taking it to the dealership to be hooked up to a computer to download/upload software to alter the electrical system, I'm not interested in any of that. What I'm looking for is possibly the correct and permanent way of turning off the perimeter lights while a door is open. I'm hoping this can be done from inside the cabin by maybe pushing a few buttons like 99.9% of most cars that you program from inside the car when something needs to be programmed which sometimes isn't listed in the owners manual, similar to the picture I posted. That's the humane and decent way obviously Ford overlooked here with this situation. These are fairly new expensive Vans that people buy that people camp and travel in and these TC owners do not need rear and headlights lights to stay on for 10 minutes when a door is opened, shame on Ford. Nothing is worse than a drained battery when traveling and far from home possibly with kids and the elderly.

Now if I made a mistake and overlooked a thread that you state has all the answers I need that I seemingly overlooked that has my specific remedy in there "only" then please re-send the link as I would love to see it.? ?

Edited January 13, 2020 by '14 Connect