flapjack

Hey everyone. I'm having a problem with my second HID kit, so I'm pretty sure it's not the kits themselves, but something with the car.

The lights work just fine when the car is off, but if you start the car and then turn them on, they consistenly flicker (like a flourescent bulb) for a minute or so, then turn off. If you try to turn them back on, one or the other may not come on, and both will shut back off almost immediately. If you shut the car off, the turn on just fine and stay a nice, solid white (no flicker). This is only when the car is running.

I thought it may be a grounding issue, so I moved the grounding wire from the factory harness to the frame. No improvement. Then, I grounded it directly to the car battery. No improvement. Normally, I would think this is due to a bad ballast, but my last HID set did a similar thing. They would always turn on when the car was off, but they would not reliably turn on after the car was started. If they come on, however, they would stay on until I shut them off. With this kit, they turn off after a minute or so. Running the old kit directly to the battery helped a lot, but they still would not come on every time after I'd started the car.

The first kit was the same bulb type as factory, since I was using them in the factory assemblies. After I started having problems with the first kit, I returned the first and ordered a set of projectors along with a matching H1 bulb kit.

Any idea what could be causing this? This is killing me. I've been lucky so far, that the first Ebayer gave me a credit back. I'm certain there was probably nothing wrong with that kit.

flapjack

Ok, I've been on the BMW forums, and everyone says I need a resistor inline somewhere.

No mention as to what size or where to put it, though...

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=691591

flapjack

More info:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2632686

Matt at Stangmods.com is helping me get it figured out. He's recommending I wait for the Ebayer to send me a harness. If not, he's told me the relay I need to install to get it working.

Looks like the above link will help out a lot if I have to do it myself.

jcthorne

Yes, a proper HID kit for a Mustang requires a relay harness to power the ballasts directly from the battery, not the factory headlight harness. The Ballast and the Smart Relay Module will not get along as you have seen.

I have a Bi-Xenon kit for the headlamps and a single H3 kit for the fogs and both work perfectly but required the harness. A correct harness should just plug into the factory wiring with one ground and one power connection at the power tap.

Rondosa

the beam pattern on those seem really weird...how do you find their performance? do you just use bulbs with the stock reflectors? seems like the light would blind others as the cut off is high...

just curious

flapjack

I haven't been able to drive with them yet. They cut off within 30 seconds. It may seem a bit high as I'm parked on a sloped driveway. I'll try to get some straight shots later, when I get my car back.

01mingreyvert

A relay will not work like in the bmw posts above. I have had my hids on my car for six months. On the 05 and up the low beam side is not fused which means it works off a smart junction box. Mine did the same flickering so I put in the relay. Now instead of the relay clicking one time and cutting the hids on it clicks about ten times a second like it is going to blow up. This is because the low beam side doesnt see a load or factory bulb in the circuit anymore. So I need to find a resistor the same load as a oem bulb or wire in a marker lite to the low beam trigger wire so it thinks it is still stock. If i hook a test lite in between the trigger wire before the ballasts it lites up, the relay stops clicking and the hids work all the time with car off or on(running). So you me or someone needs to finds a resitor. Till then wire them to the high beam side which is fused like an old car and they will work just fine. But you wont have fog lites at the same time. That is what I did.

flapjack

I'm just going off what Matt @ Stangmods told me. He's seen it all the time. He cautioned me not to use the 3020 relay that everyone seems to try first, but instead use the 6040.

I'll let you know when I get the car back. They were supposed to be done today, but got slammed. My 2-day stereo installation is turning into a 3-day one. At least all remnants of the Skipper1000 will totally be gone....

superman112

Sorry about the problems you are facing.. what temp are those? 8000K??

flapjack

They are 6500K.

I just stopped by the stereo shop to check on my car, and the installer hasn't looked at the HIDs yet. He's pretty confident he can fix it quickly and cheaply, though.

He said worse case scenario, he'll have to run a relay AND a resistor, though he doesn't think our cars have any system in place which tells you when a headlight is out (which would require a resistor to simulate load like 01mingreyvert was talking about).

On a side note, is anyone familiar with the bypass procedure for the AVIC-Z1? I was told the e-brake switch will cover both nav setup and video while driving. He seems to think it'll only cover the nav portion, but "flashing" the headlights while the headunit is booting will bypass not being able to watch video while driving.

TejGT

I was able to fix the flickering by wiring capacitors into the harness (the harness that came with the kit, not the stock wiring); 1 for each side.

btw I took the HIDs out of my car because I felt the cut-off was too high and it was blinding other drivers as most of these "kits" usually do.

flapjack

The Ebay vendor sent me a reply today. Not sure if I should still have the stereo shop look at it or if I should tell them forget it and wait for this harness:

flapjack

That is another thing I could try, still haven't decided whether or not to let the stereo shop fix it. I gave them a $50 cutoff, so if it's gonna cost them more than that they'll just leave it. They're swamped, so I'm guessing they'll just leave alone anyways.

As for "blinding" others, we'll see. I can still adjust these quite a bit. I haven't touched them, since I hadn't got the system working right anyways.

metroplex

Actually his beam pattern looks like the textbook definition for UNECE compliant cut-offs for right hand traffic. Upon further inspection it looks like he is running aftermarket headlamps (projector??) which explains it. The stock H13/9008 headlamp assembly just has a VOR cut-off.

flapjack

Yes, you are correct. The projectors are aftermarket, and the beam pattern doesn't offend anyone. I would strongly suggest against installing HIDs in the stock housing. You will seriously **** off other drivers, and potentially cause a safety concern.

Sorry for not updating this thread. The eBay reseller sent me a set of capacitors that plugged inline with the current setup. It took less than a minute to install. The HIDs have worked perfectly ever since.

This setup kicks the crap out of the overpriced Saleen setup. If you are considering this upgrade, feel free to PM me and I'll help you out.