hid problems

hey guys i have a set of hids in my taco, had a local shop do them not sure what brand or anything. They dont have any name on the ballasts or anything. i asked for the best kit he has to offer and he hooked me up with this kit. So here is my question after having my lights on for about a half hour i go into a store to buy a coffee, come out to drive away and my driver side light doesnt work. I flick my lights on and off about 20 times and the driver side finally light up. It has been doing this for the past month or so. Did he sell me a shitty kit or does something have to be replaced? its a pain in the ass to worry if my hids are on or not.

 

A couple peopl I know with HIDs hav this problem. Don't know what it is, but you're not the only one.

 

if I had to make a guess i would say the ballast is on its way out. thats how mine happened with my fog lights.. they were elcheapo ebay though

 

If you know how, try to swap out the ballasts left for right. and see if it does it on the other side.

 

cheapo kits will cause bulbs/ballasts to not last long at all.

the only 'offroad' shop here in town sells them and their xentec kits ($30 hit or miss kits) but they mark them up to 85 with free install. i cant tell you how many people i know who buy them from their and they dont work

not that im dogging cheap kits, but its a hit or miss

 

sub'd for an answer

 

ok ill try to switch the ballasts. the passenger side lights up all the time while the driver side is out. do high end kits have this same problem?

 

the kit wasnt cheap it was 250 installed. so im kind of at a loss

 

I have OEM HID ballasts from an acura tsx. going on 3.5 years with the OEM's. went just over a year with the ebay hids

 

from what people are saying my ballast is going bad? witch is causing it not to light up when its warm

 

That would be my guess......if the ballast gets swapped to the other side and the problem follows to that side, then the ballast is ur culprit.

Check obvious things too like grounding points and connections.

 

Also....... things do get shipped DOA, and not all companies have the same QC standards.

Oem ballasts are expensive but ur paying for quality.

The morimoto line from the retrofit source is cheap but their QC is supposed to be pretty good, and their customer service is top notch..... iirc its matt and andrew and they have high standards......they also have some oem ballasts for a couple pennies more.

Sometimes u do get what u pay for......sometimes u just pay an arm and a leg for install which ironically only takes minutes.

Keep us posted

 

That could mean $220 profit for your installer. With good kits going for $30 (http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-HID-Kit-Slim-Ballast-35W-or-55W), pricing is not an indicator of quality.

 

$250 installed!!?!?! Ouch

 

Check your fuses. Ive seen this before. They loosen up or heat up and slightly melt making a poor connection.

 

It's weird. When they are cold they light up every time. But once and a while once they are warmed up and I turn them off after a 20 minute drive the left side won't turn on. I changed ballasts and it still did the same thing

 

Any luck?

 

I bet I know.

When you try turning them on do you hear a buzzing happening?? If so what's happening is that side is arcing out.

Try it in the dark usually you can see it happening.

This usually happen post ballast. Why? Hid ballasts are basically transformers. They convert the 12v input to a 80-90v ac I believe. This is a much high voltage and allows the electricity to jump the wires easy. This is why the wires post ballast are usually very thickly insulated.

I had this happen to my HID fit Hellas after I extended the post ballast wires. Same thing would happen. 3 would turn on when cold no matter what. Let them warm up and only 1 or two would. Sadly I used inferior wire and they arced out and rarely would all turn on. I solved this by wrap g all the wires in e tape. Solved it instantly.

So I'd try wrap each individual wire up in e tape..

 

Also, "flicking" them on and off 20 times will severely shorten the life of the lamps.

When they kick on, the electrodes leave deposits on the glass. If they get up to temp, those deposits are pulled back into the electrodes.
Short cycling is a VERY early death for HID lamps.

 

It's actually closer to 2000vac, and at a very high frequency.