Electrical Help (Testing and HID)

[XanderWiFi]

I washed my car today and after waxing and cleaning the interior I turned it back on to pull it into the garage and noticed one of my HIDs flickering. Haven't had this issue since I first installed them, then removed the DRL fuse, so I turned the car off to check the connections. After checking the connections I tried again and now the light is completely out...and no amount of checking and snugging seems to be bringing it back. So I wonder if a ballast may have gone bad on me...

Checked the bulb, doesn't appear to have any burnouts and since it was flickering before going out I assume that isn't the issue. Put a stock bulb back in that works find so it is not the stock wiring. I bought an electrical tester today but it has a bunch of settings and I am not sure which one to use: V, OHM, DC etc. Squeezed some bulb grease in as well to insulate it to see if that was an issue but still no luck.

Any assistance or theories would be greatly appreciated since it is the dark season and one headlight out is just asking for trouble.

[Ttop191]

Check DC volts, check the good side see what your reading is, both before and after the ballast, and then check the bad side the same way, if you've got good voltage before, but none after, then obviously its the ballast

[cherrington17]

swap the bulbs to test their function with the other ballasts.

Side A - suspected bad ballast
Side B -"Good side",functional bulb and ballast

if the stock bulb works on side A, and the "bad bulb" works on the other side(side B)... its a bad ballast, on side A.

if that makes sense....


essentially, its a "logic" question. If A then B.... kinda crap.

[XanderWiFi]

Well, here's a kick in the balls: switched both bulbs and neither of them work...what the heck do I make of that? Bad bulb AND ballast?

And I switch the good bulb back to the good ballast and still nothing...I've had issues with this set from the start. Maybe Ryan will give me an exchange.

[cherrington17]

Check your under the hood fuses. When my ballast died, it took the fuse with it.

[Ttop191]

Maybe Ryan will give me an exchange.
he doesn't sell em anymore, so i doubt it

[XanderWiFi]

fuck me. if the fuse were blown the stock bulbs would not work either correct? I just changed back to stock and they are working fine so I am assuming the fuses are all ok.

Anyone know where you can get the headlight casing bulb covers? My only ones have holes in them that I can jerry-rigged covered but I am sure it will not last forever.

[Ryan from Ohio]

I am not an HID expert, as I stated many times.

If one was working and now neither are working I would wonder if somehow the bulb got damaged?

I was told you cant touch the bulbs at all, not even if you wipe them off. Nadda.

As far as the ballast goes I would think all that is doing is upping the voltage- how much I dont know. I would think its one of those things that either work or they dont.

I stopped selling them completely after I got a bad ballast for another customer and had a hard time at the distributor getting it exchanged. Besides that the wholesale cost & shipping on them made it not even worth my time selling them even at $110- I can make mroe money in that hour being at my day job- which I have to take time away from to handle these things.

The part that chaps my ass on all of this is the distributor kept changing manufacturers on these kits. I only sold two kits that were the same- and now both of those kits had issues.

If you think its the ballasts you can send them back to me. I will take them to the distributor who will then test them. If they dont work they will replace them. If they do work they send me back out the door with them. I will take care of return shipping to you if they are bad. If they arent bad then its your cost. I will leave it up to you. As far as bulbs go there is no warranty on them. Only thing they will do is the ballasts.

[XanderWiFi]

What if it is defective wiring? I honestly think the ballasts are okay, but they made the wiring so some of the clips do not stay attached to one another. I have always been very careful with the bulbs because I am aware the oil from fingers and such can reduce the life drastically. But the wiring always makes me have to take things out, check them, reattach, retry.

And use DCV to test? What amount? They have it all from 20 to 200 and many in between.

[cherrington17]

start at 200, and work your way down until you get a reading. :lol:

I don't think anyone on here knows the operating voltage for HIDs.

[scott192]

it is the same concept as a florecent the ballest sends a large shock down line igniting the gas in the bulb and then once it is lite the voltage is brought down to maintain the output... usuallly very high voltage 10000v need a good shock!! lol

[cherrington17]

Detailed HID Information

Lamp

Output = 35 W
Nominal voltage = 85 V
Nominal light output = 3.200 lumen
Operating temperature = -40 to +85 ?C
Lifetime = +/- 3000hours

High voltage converter and ignitor

Operational input voltage = 8 to 32 VDC
Maximum input current = 8 A
Minimum voltage loaded (lamp on) = 60 V
Maximum voltage loaded (lamp on) = 120 V

Output voltage from ignitor

Nominal voltage 23.000 V
Minimum voltage 18.000 V

from: http://www.directconnectiontuning.com/hids.html
---

fyi, for non tech people... The european standard is to use periods, as a comma. those two numbers above are 23,000 and 18,000 respectively.

[XanderWiFi]

I put a picture up in the thread: Overlay Installation. Maybe you can see why I am much more confused and point a specific selection out to me lol

[cherrington17]

Start at 500V DC and work your way down until you get a solid number.


BUT.. if your testing output voltage... keep in mind what I posted last time. You might be testing on a minimum... 18,000V DC. so.... if it doesn't read, at 500... it might have blown the fuse in the meter. IF so.. then its REALLY high, and you aren't going to be able to test that.

[XanderWiFi]

Would the HID read higher than a 12V output? I thought that was all our batteries could output without a better alternator.

[cherrington17]

that is all the batteries can output, but the transformer in the ballast increases that 12V to a much higher level, so be able to power the light, to a brighter level.

Same as car amps. 12V DC in, but more than 12V AC output. (mine are usually around 26V AC output)

Voltage is a rating of power. The faster/more powerful/brighter something is, the more voltage is required to power it.

[clutch1]

Watts is a rating or power ;)

Voltage is a rating of electrical pressure or potential. Combine it with amps (or resistance) and you'll get power

But yes, Cherry knows what's up.

Last time I had an HID that wouldn't power on I yanked it out, connected the jumper pack to it, and it lit up.. boom blown fuse in the car. How'd it blow?? who knows. But it was.
Worse comes to worse disconnect the ballast's input and give them straight 12v from the battery or a jumper pack or whatever.