turn off or shorten duration lights are on

[wphillips007]

JRM223 and others,

I tried the Deactivating procedure this morning and it works!!   After following the program sequence all I have to do now is pull my light switch twice and the perimeter lights go off even with the doors open. I have a 2016 XLT wagon that I've converted to camping and the perimeter lights staying on was a major irritation. This forum is a gold mine - Thanks

 

[joyous]

After the dealership guy telling me that it can't be done, I also tried using Forscan and was unsuccessful.  Like some of the others in this thread, I am an amateur astronomer and go places where lights are not welcome.  I have a 2020 Transit Connect XLT.  I have a different style menu as I also have BCMii instead of BdyCM.  I looked everywhere for something that sounded like it was related to lighting.  I was willing to try all of them.  In IPC (Instrument Panel Control Module) I found Welcome Goodbye Backlighting and disabled it.  Nope, they still came on with door use.  I also found Police Car Dark Mode in the BCMii menu and enabled it.  As you guessed it, all external lights still pop on with door or hatch use.  I then decided I would look through the AS BUILT numbers looking for the elusive 726-01-08 xxxx xxxx xxxx.  I would risk changing whatever value was in the first x field to a 2 as others have had success with it.  I found my vehicle altogether lacks the entry.  On some good news, the changes I made have reduced the 10-minute duration of the external lighting to about 30 seconds and allows me to adjust the dashboard instrument cluster lighting to a lower level than was previously allowed, up to and including completely off.  Not the whole instrument cluster but most of it. My quest to control exterior lighting will continue.

 

[B0NE]

I wouldn't accept delivery until the dealer turned off those approach lights. It's called dark mode. I found a pdf complete with step by step instructions, either on this site or another. Printed it out, handed it to the salesman, and said this needs to be done. 15 minutes later I was all set. Don't let them tell you it can't be done.

[dysruptor]

On 11/21/2020 at 3:51 PM, joyous said:

After the dealership guy telling me that it can't be done, I also tried using Forscan and was unsuccessful.  Like some of the others in this thread, I am an amateur astronomer and go places where lights are not welcome.  I have a 2020 Transit Connect XLT.  I have a different style menu as I also have BCMii instead of BdyCM.  I looked everywhere for something that sounded like it was related to lighting.  I was willing to try all of them.  In IPC (Instrument Panel Control Module) I found Welcome Goodbye Backlighting and disabled it.  Nope, they still came on with door use.  I also found Police Car Dark Mode in the BCMii menu and enabled it.  As you guessed it, all external lights still pop on with door or hatch use.  I then decided I would look through the AS BUILT numbers looking for the elusive 726-01-08 xxxx xxxx xxxx.  I would risk changing whatever value was in the first x field to a 2 as others have had success with it.  I found my vehicle altogether lacks the entry.  On some good news, the changes I made have reduced the 10-minute duration of the external lighting to about 30 seconds and allows me to adjust the dashboard instrument cluster lighting to a lower level than was previously allowed, up to and including completely off.  Not the whole instrument cluster but most of it. My quest to control exterior lighting will continue.

 

 

WARNING and DISCLAIMER: The screenshot below shows how to disable position lamps to be more discrete, but this should ONLY be done when camping and then reversed when driving. The "position" lamps are your tail lights when your headlights are on, so if you leave them disabled, you will have no rear lights illuminated when your headlights are on.

 

I have a 2019 Transit Connect with BCMii and also no 726-01-08, but I figured out how to turn off all the annoying lights (i.e. approach lights) when camping. See my screenshot for the specific items that I switched to "Disabled" or "Not Used". Unfortunately I don't see an option to turn off the position lamps when ONLY parked so this has to be reversed when driving at night (see warning above). It would be nice if there was a "Position" option instead of the "Position and Park" option.

 

By the way, the "Police Car Dark Mode" just seems to allow you to turn off the backlighting on the gauges/dials etc so that the interior can be darker when parked if desired. You just turn the brightness all the way down (the minus sign button to the left of the headlight dial) to turn the lights off.

Edited November 26, 2020 by dysruptor
added disclaimer

[Don Ridley]

Thanks for the update. FYI, in general, all Forscan changes in a TC must be made using the menu options not the "as built" data (i.e. 726-0-08 etc). Only the US cars and trucks could manipulate the individual registers and data bits to make changes. There are a few exceptions like the IPC and ACM, but overall you need to find a menu option and test if it provides the features you are looking for. No matter what you do....save the original configuration before making changes. Some changes cause problems that can't be undone by changing the items back to original and you must load the original configuration file to fix it. 

[geno1950]

I got the approach lights turned off today without going to a Ford dealership. We got into the van computer and disabled the lights using a Snap-on diagnostic tool. Followed the path that's posted in previous posts here. Really glad that they are turned off. In the last 3 months while on big jobs the van needed jump started twice.

 

[B0NE]

@geno1950

Glad it worked out for you, what year is your TC? And do you have the model number or description of the Snap-On tool you used?

[geno1950]

My TC is a 2018. I will check on the Snap-On tool. It's used every day at a local car repair place owned by a friend.

[Don Ridley]

The Snap On scan tool is very expensive and requires expensive updates. Only a shop can afford this due to volume and cost recovery of repairs.

[BSJBSJ]

Anyone have any luck yet? I have a 2021 Cargo. So new they had to update Forscan for me...

 

I am unable to get Forscan to 'Write' anything to the BCM. It starts to save and gets to 40ish%, then there is a click sound from the glove box area, and the radio's screen blinks. And then the below.

Edited April 25, 2021 by BSJBSJ

[LizaJane]

I have a 2015 connect. I’d like to know if the “dark mode” fixed the battery draining problem. 

[Thom]

On 9/13/2017 at 7:39 AM, Willygee said:

2016 TCXLT ..Exterior...pull hi/lo dimmer lever twice...interior....is on a timer,i'm going to add a switch to mine.

Thanks Willygee! I hit the high beam lever twice, like when an approaching car has his beams on, and the exterior lights go out with doors open. Problem solved. 

[601mark]

wow- 6 pages of comments on this topic. I had it come up for me as possibly 2 separate issues- lights on when camping and battery draining.

 

I put switches in parallel with the "door open" signal so the BCM wouldn't know the door was open if the switch was on. Ford does weird stuff- the door lock mechanism REMOVES a ground when the door is open. Therefore the switch keeps a ground applied. Problem is that the sliding door isn't grounded, so I had to add a ground wire to the slider. (I only did 3 of the 5 doors- driver / one sliding / rear). The wire that needs the ground maintained when the door is open is one of the 3 smaller gage wires. I used a fine pin to pierce the wires and used an ohm meter to look for the one that gained/lost a ground when the door is opened/closed.

 

As far as the battery draining- I had that happen because I removed the stock radio. The 4.1" display works in conjunction with the radio. Remove the radio and the 4.1" display seems to always be drawing enough current to stay fairly warm. I noted what I did about that in the post I just did about the radio- "2016 Transit Connect Radio / 4.1" display project"

[ccato]

I recently bought a low mileage (18k) 2018 Connect XLT-LWB to use as an eco-camper.  So far, DYI up fit has gone well.  But I have had the same problem as many others with the "approach" lights staying on for 10 minutes whenever a door opens.  Well when camping (or working on the up fit), that's all the time.  After replacing the battery thinking it was 4 years old, I still had the problem of draining it.  Ten (10) different lamps come on whenever you open a door.  2 at each corner plus the tag lights.  I've replaced all of them with LED lamps o lower the load and this has made a big difference.  Plus the turn signal trick (thanks Willygee).  I'd like to get the programming change mentioned in this and some other threads but not ready to tackle that yet.  Oh, and on the first two trips (and 2,000 miles), I am getting the advertised 28 MPG.

[ccato]

Many thanks to Drew103!  I copied the photos of the IDS steps he posted here into a Word document, printed it out and took them to my local Ford dealer where I purchased the used 2018 TC (and a new battery two weeks later due to this problem).  I showed it to the service rep, explained what I wanted, he took the pages back to the shop and came out a few minutes later and said ok, make an appointment.  Should be no problem.  Went to my service appointment this morning and they programed to keep approach lights off.  Job on the service ticket is described as "Disable approach lighting using IDS."  Success! They charged me a flat $49.50.  

[BSJBSJ]

I took the IDS steps to my Dealer. 

 

They said they couldn't disable the approach lights that way, on my 2021, because it doesn't use/have the IDS system...

Edited July 6, 2022 by BSJBSJ

[Don Ridley]

Yes, I think it is now FRDS. Of course they had no idea how to enable this on whatever system they are now using.....So frustrating.

[BSJBSJ]

Yeah, that's what they called it...

[BGray210]

https://www.aboutautomobile.com/Technical-Service-Bulletin/2014/Ford/Transit-Connect/Battery

[Simon]

Hi, In my 2019 Tourneo Connect enabling the "Silent Mode - Vehicle" setting in Forscan fixed this annoying issue. Now the lights don't come on for opening, closing, locking or unlocking the doors.

My car doesn't have the bdyCM module, and the BCMii module it has doesn't have an approach lights setting.

I also had the same issue writing with Forscan that BSJBSJ mentioned above. Forscan support were able to fix this.

HTH.