alaskajoel Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 I thought this had been covered, but I couldn't find it anywhere... I've got the 35watt ddm hid kit, and love everything about it except one thing: when i first start the car if my headlights are on, one bulb is guaranteed to not turn on... If i keep the headlights off while cranking and then turn them on, it's a 50% chance that one won't turn on. It's kind of frustrating, but i've dealt with it for a while. Then later i'm out with some buddies, and a friend of mine has a WRX with a KDW hid kit, and he doesn't have any cranking problems. Is the ddm kit just 'cheap' and I need to buy a different brand, or is there some other electrical issue i'm having? New battery perhaps?
underpowerd Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 battery harness installed? should clear that right up. good luck.
srgdrum Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 Bad igniter maybe? Is it always the same bulb that gives you trouble? Go over your install and make sure all contacts are properly seated/conncted. Other than that I dunno. Buy a different kit. They've come way down is cost.
alaskajoel Posted September 12, 2008 Author Posted September 12, 2008 I have the battery harness on it already, and it still gives me grief. It is usually random in deciding which light that goes out - i'm thinking i'll just try another kit
Jerboa113 Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 not to insult you or anything.. but you did disable DRLs when you did the hid kit right? "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato
underpowerd Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 it's a typical problem with guys on the board, but it's really not the kit's fault as i understand: hids just draw more power on startup than the oem circuit can provide, so a harness is required for suitable operation. i've had my ddms for a good while now, and early on had no issues, even without the harness (ghetto install just to get them in). then after a couple of weeks, every now and then, i began to notice one or the other wouldn't fire up on the first click over. since i've installed the harness, i've had ideal operation. my ddms came with a free battery harness and a free lifetime warranty on all components; definitely a bargain, but from what i can gauge of performance, the feel/appearance of the product material, and seeing tons of great feedback, i wouldn't classify them as cheap at all. oliver is on point, too, with customer service from what i've seen. the kdw kit was actually less expensive last i saw, and i think the feedback i've seen for them is also mostly good. best luck with the fix. *edit, just saw you had the harness in! i would make sure all the contacts of it are good, and check the fuse in it*
km580 Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 I'm having the same problem, I have the harness and the DRL disabled too. It happens on and off, usually with the pass. side but it has happened with the drivers side too. Any Ideas ? Also, Oliver is great, I waited a bit to get them but found out it was the supplier and not Oliver. Fat people are hard to kidnap!!!
alaskajoel Posted September 12, 2008 Author Posted September 12, 2008 yes, my DRL are disabled. I'm going to switch batteries out with a buddy of mine who has an optima blue top just to see if a larger CCA battery helps at all.
StoplightAssassin Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 Same problem here. Make sure you always turn off your lights before turning off your car. Even if I forget to do it once, the next time I turn on my HIDs, the passenger side may not light up. Also, some people (I'm one of them now) believe the ballasts are negatively effected by heat, so make sure they are mounted as far away from major heat sources as possible. mine are mounted: http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2022554&postcount=254
DoubleM Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 Mine do that if I turn them on before starting the car, one will almost always not turn on. Just don't turn your headlights on without starting your car first. It's not that big of a deal. Mine turn on every time when the car is running.
kjiz Posted September 13, 2008 Posted September 13, 2008 This happened to me on my old car. When I had to replace the battery the problem went away.
Detslider Posted September 13, 2008 Posted September 13, 2008 can you hear the ballast powering up? is it arcing but not lighting the bulb?
akscooby Posted September 15, 2008 Posted September 15, 2008 This is a little off-topic, but another DDM question. Can you use one battery harness for two kits (low and fogs), or do you need two harnesses? Just trying to figure out what to order...I can get it cheaper through ddmtuning.com if I don't need two harnesses....harni?...and I'm pretty clueless about the HID thing. Thanks....
underpowerd Posted September 15, 2008 Posted September 15, 2008 ^conventionally, you'd need two; there are only one pair of connectors on each end of the harness for the hardware. i wouldn't be the guy to answer what's possible beyond convention with electrical matters
akscooby Posted September 15, 2008 Posted September 15, 2008 Good enough, thanks. I don't want to rig something up that's questionable, I just wasn't sure. I'll get two to be safe.
lilbrudder Posted September 16, 2008 Posted September 16, 2008 I got the same prob, i'm thinking my battery is slipping away. But this was a perfect chance to talk the wife into a 55watt kit......muuhaha, it's in the mail! please let me know if the new battery helps, and i will tell you if the new kit helps(and how much cooler it is than the 40% inferior 35watt kits...haahha, sorry couldn't help it;) but seriously i hope the new batt helps.....optima here i come:spin:!
FASTONE Posted September 17, 2008 Posted September 17, 2008 Same problem, its not the bulbs, i swapped mine and same side does not come on, i have the battery cable installed, im gonna swap the ballast and see if it helped, if not thats crappy ballast batch, i bought it around the same time as everyone here, good thing they have lifr time warranty.
lilbrudder Posted September 17, 2008 Posted September 17, 2008 my new 55watt set up is in, all is working 100% guess mine was the bulbs or ballast. wanna see.... literally!
alaskajoel Posted September 17, 2008 Author Posted September 17, 2008 my new 55watt set up is in, all is working 100% guess mine was the bulbs or ballast. wanna see.... [ATTACH]57426[/ATTACH] literally! So when you say it's working 100%, do you mean it survives crank?
fishbone Posted September 17, 2008 Posted September 17, 2008 In all honesty we're dealing here with the well-known "you get what you pay for". These aftermarket HIDs are good for the most part, but quality control isn't the best. How else do you think these complete kits are half the price of a pair of just the HID bulbs manufactured by OSRAM or Philips ... Sometimes you'll get ballasts that will fail to ignite the bulb properly, sometimes you'll get non-matching color temperature bulbs. DDM is probably just as good as the other ones, if it's not a relay issue it's most likely the ballast. Contact your seller for a replacement.
Jerboa113 Posted September 17, 2008 Posted September 17, 2008 ^ thats why I took mine out. The ignitor or ballast on one side went bad. I didnt have time to troubleshoot this crap every time its that time of the month for it so I just took them out and went back to factory. "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato
lilbrudder Posted September 18, 2008 Posted September 18, 2008 yup, they will ''survive the crank'' and anyother combo of turning them on. I even pulled out the wire harness.
alaskajoel Posted September 19, 2008 Author Posted September 19, 2008 yup, they will ''survive the crank'' and anyother combo of turning them on. I even pulled out the wire harness. curse you - made me spend another hundred and fifty bucks:lol:
Legasee07 Posted September 22, 2008 Posted September 22, 2008 yup, the ddm/apexcone kits are very cheep and affordable, along with that comes not a great quality product. I have the same issues with these the pass side never wanted to turn on, until I turn the heads on/off 2-3 times. I used to have mcclouch hids NEVER did i have this issue but then again they did cost about $280 instead $100. But for the price you cant ask for more.
xenon expert Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 Slim ballast designs whatever the brand are pickier with voltage variations. That's why we provide the battery harness for free. Our Xtreme kits that use Japanese and German parts only don't do that and will last longer. But they are more expensive too. Oliver
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