Xennon / HID's
 

Hi Everyone, just a quick question about xenons / HID's as I don't know much about them;

One of my dipped xennos has recently died, I bough the car with the kit already installed so I am unsure how to fix it.

Here's some pics of my set up

Attachment 74622

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The bulb doesn't seem to want to come out of the casing which makes me think it's one unit, do I have to replace the entire ballast or can I just get another bulb?

First job is to connect the NON-working bulb to the working ballast. If it's still non-working, get a new bulb...or a pair **
If it now works, get a new ballast.

** Pair: because it's VERY difficult to match colour temperatures in HID bulbs, and plod are kean on two unmatched ones as an excuse to pull you.

BTW: it's XeNon, one "N".....:D

DON'T but cheap, DON'T buy a cheap ballast.

Thanks mate. Ah yeah, I'll give that ago. How are the bulbs interchangeable? Because I've tried to take it out and seems to be an all in one unit.

And yes I got abit carried away with the N's... lol

They are an all in one. Trace the wiring back towards the ballast and disconnect.

Cheers, I'll give this a go tonight.

If you need bulb, or ballast, try and buy decent: Philips, Hella, Morimoto, NOT cheap Chinese.

Similarly, don't be tempted by silly high colour temperature . The best and brightest are 4300K or 5000K.

aAbove that, you start to lose light and they become more blue. Most OE cars with HID run 4300K, it's the brightest and closest to daylight.

Doubt you'd get a branded bulb, as its not a standard HID fitting.

That looks like a h1 conversion bulb...which are all chinese or converted from a standard D2/D2R type etc. bulb fitting, by a man in China. Some better than others...I've fitted a few H7 kits into projectors, (owner supplied) and some are ok. The brand escapes me though - it was a ebay shop, just can't remember who.

If a H1 HID bulb is branded by Osram/Philips etc, it'll be a fake.

So unfortunately with these types of bulbs its pot luck....best to check owner reviews.

You can get Morimoto ones afaik.

I had a play around last night and its the bulb that has blown however I did find a relay that's unplugged near the headlight, there's another one on the other side that is plugged in. Anyone know what it's for?

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Thanks for the replies!

First off, it's not a relay, it's an H4 headlight connector.

Originally both headlights were supplied through those, one for each side.
When an HID kit is used, ONE side is used to trigger the HID relay, which then supplies both sides. The other one of those connectors, the one you have shown, is usually taped up to keep it dry and out of the way.

That makes sense... cheers :thumb:

Hi, sorry to hijack the thread. But does anyone know what bulbs the standard blob eye has for the dip beam, high beam and side lights? Thanks.

Your manual will tell you?

If not, or you don't have one, best to start a new thread, you'll get more views than tagging a question onto an older thread ;)

It's the H1's I believe.

Standard blob eye takes H4's for main and dipped, H3's for fogs and 501's for sides. Thanks

Just an update, I've just fitted a new H1 Xenon bulb kit (both sides) and the same side still doesn't light up, the previous bulb looks like it died from the looks of it.

While I drove round today the other bulb stopped working as well.

Could this be a fuse or another problem?

Fuse or relay, could also be wiring problem on an aftermarket kit.

Thanks alcazar, I've checked all the fuses and they are fine, the relays seems 'ok' but I'll buy some replacements to rule it out.

I've swapped the kit over and the same side works and other doesn't just like before. Could it be an earthing problem?

Cheers

the connector at the top looks like water is attacking it a bit green is the wiring to the plug nice and clean? or it going green aswell?

The wiring is a bit messy which I can sort but apart from that it looks OK, the earthing is good as well.

You replaced the bulbs right? not the ballasts? - replace the ballasts also, effectively you've bought a new kit with new wiring. Take everything apart and start from scratch. Flickering bulbs are usually attributed to dodgy wiring connections, low battery, duff ballasts or duff bulbs.

Yes I replaced the bulbs and the ballasts as well, it's a whole new kit I installed. Originally the drivers side bulb died so I wanted to replace them both.

I'm a complete noob at car electrics, the previous owner installed the original xenon set. I cleaned and tidied the existing cables and connectors from rust and dirt etc

With the new kit installed only the passenger side would light up, so I swapped the ballasts and bulbs around and got the same result. From there I checked all the fuses and swapped the headlight relays around too, same result... Only the passenger side would light up. Both the sidelights are LED and work fine.

Another thing I noticed is that my full beams are no longer working, I've checked the bulbs and they are intact (theses are regular bulbs)

I'm not sure where to go from here but I have some pics of the wiring that the previous owner has done.

Here is the passenger side and what I assume are relays.

Attachment 74546

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This is the drivers side

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Here is the power that feeds the lights, there is a slight tear in the sleeve (not too sure if this could be causing the problem)

Attachment 74551

Thanks for all your replies and any help is much appreciated!

No pics for me.

Doh, post fixed.

Phew, that wiring is ROUGH. I can see bare wires, poor connections, tape evrywhere, etc, WHY has he done it like that?

Your best bet is to remove the lot, and start again.

Remake connections using soldered joints, crimp and solder spade connectors, proper spade terminal covers, and heatshrink tubing for insulating soldered joints.

Get rid of any spade-to-spade connectors, make sure ALL connectors are covered and solder ALL connectors.

Once you have the stuff off, start by checking that the relays are working. Connect a live to terminal 85, and an earth to terminal 86, listen for a click when making/breaking connection.

See if someone on here has a decent wiring diagram and go from there.

What maodel and year car, btw?

Thanks for the reply, I did think the wiring wasn't too clever, I cleaned it all up before I took the pictures!

I've got a Bugeye WRX 2002.

Cheers

Headlight bulbs?
 

wrong post

.... and it's HIDs not HID's. Plural, not belonging to something.

Two lessons (spelling and grammar) for the price of one query:norty:

Also, later on, H1s not H1's.

Apostrophe Rant Mode Off (well, ticking over until next time anyway!!)