HID diag help. please

[a.graham52]

so heres the deal. i bought some used HIDs from one of the guys on here. dont remember the brand but i remember that each ballast has a black box on the wires going to the light (the black box is NOT the ballast).

so the issue. when i first got the kit and had them installed i was like "DAMN". im noticing now that one bulb is a slightly different color then the other and the intensity feels not as bright after a few minutes of having them on. iv got the hids wired in series-parallel with a relay using battery voltage and OEM headlight wires on the drivers side as the switching circuit for the relay.

how can i tell if i have a bulb issue or a ballast issue?

[jhubbz]

Are you only using the factory wiring, or are you using a wiring harness that feeds off the battery? When I got my first set of HID's, they were pretty good for a while, but then on of em started dimming, and flickering and ultimately the ballast just stopped working. I got my second set, and used a wiring harness, and have not had any problems at all

[a.graham52]

i made my own harness going from the battery to the ballast

[guiguilandry]

switch the ballast from right to left and see what happen...

[a.graham52]

well for the most part the intesity appears equialy dim. but i can atleast do that to see if its the cause for my color issue

[Gr1m]

you bought a used setup, there is a possibility you found the reason why it was sold off to you...

[a.graham52]

so bringing this thread back. if been fighting with one side flickering a lot. i know hids will flicker when they dont have enough voltage. so does this mean im not getting enough voltage to the control box or is it possible to have risistance in the wires going to the bulb causing the lights to flicker?

[cavaliers60]

I've had my kit in for about a year now, with no problems at all. Occasionally, I'll have one bulb not fire up for some reason, but a quick turn off of the car and restart fixes the problem. As far as dimming, you could have ballasts going bad, but could also just be the bulbs going... Flickering usually indicates the bulb is going out. They use HID bulbs for intelligent lights, and they do the same before going out, both flickering and dimming.

[a.graham52]

well for now problems fixed. i checked the passneger side power connector for the box while i could get it to flicker and had 11.7vs. compared to the drivers side and had the same voltage (cars off mind you). also when i pulled the connector a part it was full of water. apparently xtreme only puts weather seals on one side of the connectors and not the other. packed both sides full of dialectric grease and retested. still flickers. noted passenger side connector was warmer then drivers side. tried to get the terminals out but couldnt figure it out so for the time being i removed the connector all together and spliced the wire. been working flawlessly for now.

[jhubbz]

I believe that black box is the ignitor. I know on the Raptor ballast (DDM) the ignitor is in the same housing as the ballast. On the slim digital ballasts, they have a separate black box which I'm almost positive is the ignitor.

As for the color problem, I'm not sure. Are they matching ballasts? I'm currently running one slim digital "9006" ballast and one slim digital "D2S" ballast. I have matching bulbs, but one is a VERY slightly different color than the other.

Your wiring harness should be fine as long as you used some decent gauge wiring.

[a.graham52]

for now i could care less about the color difference. once i get the rust fixed im looking into doing high/low/fogs hid. they are the same balasts. theres two boxes on each hid. one is a big silver one with the xtreme decal, the other is a little black box on the bulb side of the harness. so far so good though.

[cavaliers60]

I had an issue with my first HID kit getting water in it... Really sucks... I'd probably replace the ballasts with the DDM Tuning slim ballasts. Haven't had any issues, and they seem really water tight.

[Redog]

^^ That's why I took my HID's off

[a.graham52]

well making progress. I swapped bulbs from left to right and my color issie swiched with it. Last week ordered new bulbs from xtreme and ill continue to use the same balests untill one of the gives out. When i upgrade high beams ill give ddm a try and go from there. So tonight my bulbs arived (8000ks) and hooked them up. Looked great except one side litterly changes colors as if a switch was turned on and then goes out after 3 switches. Swapped bulbs left to right again and it followed so iv left a message and hopfuly will get this resolved tomorow

[cavaliers60]

Probably just a bad bulb. That happens... To be honest, I'd go with DDM tuning.... I know it's been said before, but they really are better to deal with.

[a.graham52]

oh im sure they are and when i go to buy a kit ill go to them next. I just cant afford a complete kit right now and i didnt really want to mix and match brands. Looked like ddms connectors were different from xtremes too. And iv got to have a bad bulb because i put the same bulb on two balests and had the same problem on both.

[cavaliers60]

yeah, it's just a bad bulb... I got one of those on my HID projector lights on my bike, but can't seem to find replacements for them....

[a.graham52]

well i FINALLY got a bulb bank tonight... mothafuker did the exact same thing. swapped bulbs from one side to the other and still did it!. seems to have ironed itself out at this point however... one more issue and its all going in the garbage and ill be visiting ddm.

[cavaliers60]

lol that's so weird...

[a.graham52]

im honestly not doubting i got sent the same bulb back. at one time it has a "two in-two out" harness and you can see where they cut the grommet off the harness but left parts of it still on the wires... then shipped it to me... "umm.... i still need the other harness a-hole. plus they didnt return my receipt... glad i copied that before sending it :D

[billytheman1188]

That's what you get when you dont use a complete set and try to fab up your own. Go DDM, do it right. I had my first set on the car for like 2 years with no issues (then got into an accident). Got another kit....bulb shit the bed after a year. Then i just threw the kit out and switched back to stock. I like the stock better now....no more waiting for the bulbs to warm back up after i switch from my hi's to low. I HATED that...if im on a back road and someones coming the other way...i switch to low and can barely see anything for like 5 seconds. Not a big deal but it got on my nerves:lol: Oh yea, and i forgot to mention the jack wagons sent me a 6k and 8k bulb when i ordered 6k.....so that pissed me off too. I don't like when lights don't match. lol

[a.graham52]

its not like a fabed something up. Iv got xtreme ballasts and replaced the bulbs with another set of xtreme bulbs. two times however i recived bad bulbs. But at this point im just going to order ddm thin hids with 6k bulbs for my lows.

[cavaliers60]

Are you running them on a harness?

[Papa Rad17]

Are you running them on a harness?

ddm is the way to go. I got the harness for mine a while after the initial purchases and have found they are also a worth investment. cant beat the prices either.

[a.graham52]

Are you running them on a harness?

yes i am. made my own harness from stuff i had laying around a work.

[a.graham52]

just got my kit from ddm. box was beat to snot and only one bracket was sent. or are you supposed to double both balast onto one bracket?

[MMGT1]

Guys in Canada need to talk to me about HID's before you buy. I can get a dam good deal on HID's. Most of the mechanics have bought them from us here. RTX is the manufacturer we get them from

[JLw7123]

I had to modify the brackets to fit the ballasts. Also mmgt what is rtx website. You should have gotten to brackets. What kind of ballasts did u get regular or slim.

[a.graham52]

i got the slim balasts with 2-in2-out, brackets, and harnass.

[cavaliers60]

I just mounted mine with the 3M double sided tape and a zip tie. :lol:

[a.graham52]

wow im so not winning lately. I noticed tonight with the radio and sub going, the sub will quiet right down when the hids warm out. Wth? It might be due to a faulty ground connection at the battery after installing the hids. Ill have to add a snowplow battery post adapter from work like i did the positive side for the subw wire.

[JLw7123]

Really I have 2 subs and 2amps in my car I have never had a problem with the subs quiet down. But I have nothing hooked up to the battery except the power wire and aftermarket foglight power. But I also Dido the bog three upgrade. I have the dd tuning slim ballast kit.

[Redog]

I MAY put HID's on my Delta when I swap the housings over to "sealded beam" replacement headlights, but I have a dryer place and more room to mount everything, plus I rarely drive that car in the rain :awesome:

[billytheman1188]

I MAY put HID's on my Delta

Whaaaaaaaaaat? WOW....i honestly could never picture you putting HIDs in an older car like that.