Zimm Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Hello all, I picked up a set of 4300K HID retros from Diode Dynamics through their black Friday sale. I received them this past Saturday and installed them. I got the relay harness with them to protect the factory wiring. I installed everything and went to test it out only to find that the passenger side is having a problem. The problem I am having is that when I switch the lights on the driver side comes on just fine but the passenger side will come on for about one second, flicker a little bit, and then shut off. I have eliminated the bulb as the issue as I tested the passenger side bulb in the drivers side and it fired right up. I did a little more playing and found that if the drivers side ballast is not plugged in to the relay harness the passenger side fires right as normal. I can then plug in the drivers side and it will fire up fine as well. However if they are both plugged in and the switch is flipped the passenger side does it's on then off thing again. I can also hook the passenger side ballast directly up to the battery and it will fire up as normal. It almost seems like the passenger side ballast can't get enough current with the drivers side hooked up and just shuts off. Does this sound like an issue with the ballast or is there some other problem I am not seeing. TIA for the help -Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaeGT Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 If i'm reading this correctly. test 1: ballast A (without ballast B connected) works for both sides test 2: ballast B (without ballast A connected) works for both sides test 3: both ballasts connected and passenger wont fire i'd say maybe it's the harness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimm Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 Thanks for the reply. Well I wouldn't say "works for both sides" as with one side disconnected that side doesn't turn on. The thing is that I cannot hook it up such that both sides come on at the same time using the relay harness. I thought it could be the harness as well but what could be wrong with it? It is nothing more than wires and a relay. I did go over the harness and checked all the connections and the relay and it all seemed fine. One thing is that I have not tried to fire them up with the engine on (only on battery power). Could it be that the battery is dieing and not able to output enough current to fire both ballasts simultaneously? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaeGT Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 you will get full use of the battery when the car is on. but i'm assuming you've tried firing the hids when you've turned on the car? when i mean 'works for both sides' i mean ballast A will ignite both driver/passenger bulbs individually and ballast B will ignite both driver/passenger bulbs individually. results ballast A and B are 'A-Ok' and the bulbs are 'a-ok' did you make a good ground to the chasis? otherwise there might be sumthin going on with the wires heading to the passenger side. maybe Paul at DD will provide you another harness to see if that is really the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimm Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 I have not tried to fire the HID's with the engine running yet. I would assume that these should be capable of turning on using only battery power at 12 Volts. I suppose I can give it a shot with the engine on and see if I get this same issue. Is it normal to have toe have the engine on in order to fire up these HID's? I see what you are saying with that. It does seem that both ballasts indicate they work okay in that respect then. It is just that when they are both plugged in to the relay harness together this issue crops up. As for the ground, I connected the negative lead from the relay harness directly to the negative side of the battery. I would assume this would provide a good ground. I am in contact with Paul as well. I am going to try and swap the ballasts and see it the issue is tied to the side of the car or the particular ballast. Thanks, I love chasing electrical bugs. -Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaeGT Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 If i were you i'd try to fire them up with the ground wire connected to the chasis. I took off a bolt near the driver headlight and put the bolt thru the 'ground' terminal and screwed it back in. i can try to take a pic of where the bolt is tonight if it helps. i was told not to ground stuff on the battery's negative terminal. i forget the reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimm Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 I will give that a try too. Not sure why that would make a difference though as the battery is directly hooked up to the chassis anyways. Hopefully I will be able to figure this gremlin out tonight. Thanks again for the help. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimm Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 Well I swapped the ballasts left and right and everything seems to be working fine now. Not sure why this solved the problem though. Since Paul's warranty sounds excellent I will run this way and should something fail later on I should be able to get it replaced. Thanks again for the help. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaeGT Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Alrite. no problem! best of luck to ya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.sane Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Bump for updates. Has the issue completely gone away now? I have pretty much the same problem with mine. I thought my battery was just dying until I read this thread since it leaks a lot. My passenger side goes out after about 10-15min of driving. I shut it off and turn it back on to fix it. It's so annoying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimm Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share Posted December 14, 2009 My issue has completely gone away. It sounds like you are having a bad ballast or a bulb. Try swapping the ballasts left and right and see if the problem follows the ballast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.sane Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Hmm, interesting. I'll give it a shot when I have the time. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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