Van Dark Mode

Date:	September 14, 2025 at 07:50:11 PDT
Weather:	58°F Cloudy
Location:	Eastsound, Washington, United States

Yesterday I finally accomplished a goal that I’ve been pursuing since we got Galaxy, our Embassy Dolphin SL. I set up “Police Mode” and made it configurable via the menus that you can reach via the steering wheel.

Unfortunately, this requires a Windows laptop, which I don’t own, but I was able to borrow one. Then I bought this to connect to the OBD port: OBDLink EX FORScan OBD Adapter

This requires FORScan software, which isn’t free, but you can get a two-month trial license. If I ever need to use it again, I’ll gladly pay. I’d pay now, except that it seems silly that I have no way to run it without borrowing a Windows laptop.

It’s unnerving to be messing with these things. Online research assured me that this was safe, but I do see people who have had trouble from modifying their settings. This is usually F-150 or sports car fans who want to have different-sized wheels or modify their engine’s performance. I did my best to make backups, and really I was only changing two small settings, but still.

The three videos I watched to get FORScan up and running were:

• https://youtu.be/A4GXyCGwBkA
• https://youtu.be/XtqzmyYxT7g
• https://youtu.be/4Z4pX4XREXM

The main online help was from here:

• fordtransitusaforum.com

I am including the content here, in case the forum isn’t available in the future.

I used FORScan for the first time two weeks ago to disable lights/horn honk when locking/unlocking my 2022 Transit doors when camping. I’m happy with the changes. I can’t help much with FORScan since this was my first time using it. If it helps someone, here are my notes:

FORScan > Configuration and Programming (computer chip icon)

IPC Module Configuration > Silent Mode Police Telltale > Enable IPC Module Configuration > Silent Mode Control Function > Enable

Now using steering wheel controls:

Down arrow to Settings > Vehicle settings > Silent Mode > On/Off

When Silent mode on, no exterior lights, horn honk, or dash lights come on when using key fob to lock/unlock except for 12” dash screen display.

Additional Notes:

Used FORScan v2.3.53 with Extended license with OBDLinkEX scan tool.

BCMii Module Configuration > Police Dark Car Mode > Disable (tried enabling this, but did not notice any obvious changes to van so returned to factory default setting of Disable).

BCMii Module Configuration > Police DRL > Enable (unchanged from factory default setting).

Now, I can put it in “dark mode” or take it out via the steering wheel controls. In dark mode, the clearance lights no longer automatically turn on with every door lock/unlock and open/close. Also, “double locking” via the remote no longer honks the horn. I’m not sure what happens when you do a remote lock but a door is ajar. Normally, this would give you a warning double-honk. I bet it still does, but we’ll see.

Update 2025-09-23: I just checked, and it does not double-honk. So if you hit “lock” on the remote and a door is slightly ajar, it will “fail” silently. Assuming the door isn’t wide open, it’s still difficult or impossible to open the door from the outside without a key, so this seems good. I think I’ll use this mode when camping, even if we’re not doing any astronomy-related events.