HID Problems

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Bosshog007

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Ok...Im pretty sure i have my HID's installed properly. When I turn the lights on, both lights come on just fine. After a few minutes the driver side will just go out. Eventhough I hate doing this (Turn them off then back on) the lights will come back on and then go out again. After I do that the other side starts doing the same thing. I did a google search and one site mentioned the "AUTO ON" must be off. Well I don't turn the headlights to the AUTO ON mode and it still does it.

1. I've had the HIDs since Monday 7-14-08
2. They have the Super Slim Ballast
3. The brand is Xentec
4. Do I need to replace the factory harness?
 
I had issues with those slim digital ballasts in my headlights too. I put them on my fog lamps and went with analog balasts for the headlights and they work just fine. From what other people say you have to get the nice $350+ digital kits for them to work correctly on the LS.
 
Just like 02V8Sport, I have analog ballasts on the low beams, and the slim ballasts on the fogs. But I didn't order them that way to avoid a potential problem. I ordered them that way because they were out of the slim ballast when I placed my order, and I opted to just use the analog ones to speed up the shipping. I still had a little bit of a problem with the fog ballasts, and had heard that they need to "charge". So everytime I drove the car - didn't matter day or night - I drove with them on. After a few days, no more problems.

The brand of mine is Umnitza.
 
The slim ballasts have alot of problems from what I hear. The guy I get mine from said that the newer ballast have shut off protection on them. Not sure if it's a overload shut off or a high temp shut off. Did you ever touch one while it was on to see how hot it felt? Do not grab when hands are wet, been their, tried that, didn't like it.
 
Although it sounds like the ballasts are not OEM, they should still perform well since they are practically new. Remember that some ballasts require more power than others at startup. If ballasts kick on for a few seconds then turn off or flicker at startup that is a usually a sign that they are not getting enough amps.

To increase the amps available to the ballasts you should get a wiring harness for the headlights.
 
Bosshog007, you could always try hooking the ballasts up directly to your battery. I did it many times with a spare battery when I was doing my projector retro. If you hook them up to it, and they stay on, then most likely you just need to make/buy a wire harness. I'd suggest doing that anyways whenever adding HID ballasts to any car that didn't come with them stock. If they continue to exhibit the same behavior, then they are just crap; get your money back and buy something else.

Another thing about stock wiring and cheap ballasts - cheap ballasts often require a lot more pull (amperage) at start-up. After start-up, the pull plateaus, so given that you're saying they go out after 2+ minutes, I'm not sure what the problem would be exactly (aside from them being crap aftermarket ballasts). Just try hooking them up directly to your battery and let us know what the results are.
 
ground_zero298 said:
The slim ballasts have alot of problems from what I hear. The guy I get mine from said that the newer ballast have shut off protection on them. Not sure if it's a overload shut off or a high temp shut off. Did you ever touch one while it was on to see how hot it felt? Do not grab when hands are wet, been their, tried that, didn't like it.
Click to expand...

They were actually hot when I did touch them. Here in Memphis the temp/humidty has been hot/high. I was wondering if that had anything to do with it. I might try the wiring harness first to see if that works.
 
skizot722 said:
Bosshog007, you could always try hooking the ballasts up directly to your battery. I did it many times with a spare battery when I was doing my projector retro. If you hook them up to it, and they stay on, then most likely you just need to make/buy a wire harness. I'd suggest doing that anyways whenever adding HID ballasts to any car that didn't come with them stock. If they continue to exhibit the same behavior, then they are just crap; get your money back and buy something else.

Another thing about stock wiring and cheap ballasts - cheap ballasts often require a lot more pull (amperage) at start-up. After start-up, the pull plateaus, so given that you're saying they go out after 2+ minutes, I'm not sure what the problem would be exactly (aside from them being crap aftermarket ballasts). Just try hooking them up directly to your battery and let us know what the results are.
Click to expand...


Im not sure if you're familar with the LS, or maybe you can teach me something, but the battery is in the trunk.
 
Bosshog007 said:
Im not sure if you're familar with the LS, or maybe you can teach me something, but the battery is in the trunk.
Click to expand...

And your point? LOL. Here's how to do it if you don't have a spare battery (I figured the procedure was apparent, maybe not):

Take the ballast, connect it to the bulb (outside the headlight), and connect the ballast to the battery. That's it.
 
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