HID kit fitted :) Only one side works :(

[aj_mckay]

Well I just got round to fitting my HID kit - pretty easy surprisingly!



BUT only one side is working! Does anyone know of common causes other than the obvoius dud-bulb that i should check for? Can you get these bulbs off the shelf in any shops or is it a case of a Hong Kong special from Ebay?

I'm going to have a proper look-see tomorrow cos it's cold & dark now and I'd probably get frustrated with it and end up smashing it up!

[Ant]

check the + and - are correct, the Ballast will only work the correct way round !

quite common as the std H1 Halogens dont care which way around they are connected

[aj_mckay]

I will try that tomorrow, thanks Ant. Just noticed where I posted this, should be in Tech Help really - move if required Cheers...

[aj_mckay]

OK, I've tried swapping which way round the plug goes into the ballast like Ant suggested but it's still not working.

Anyone know what else I should be checking? I have a multimeter but to be honest don't have much of a clue what to do with it! Do you think I should just get hold of another bulb and try that?

Can a mod move this into the tech help section please?

Cheers.

[cirrusblau]

OK, I've tried swapping which way round the plug goes into the ballast like Ant suggested but it's still not working.

Anyone know what else I should be checking? I have a multimeter but to be honest don't have much of a clue what to do with it! Do you think I should just get hold of another bulb and try that?

Can a mod move this into the tech help section please?

Cheers.

If all the connections are good try the following.

Try swapping the good side's ballast over to the side that isn't working. if it works your ballast is at fault.

If it still doesn't work swap the ballast from the non working side over to the good side, if it fires up your ballast are fine but the bulb is faulty.

[aj_mckay]

Good thinking. Will try that now.

Cheers!

[aj_mckay]

Well, looks like I need a replacement bulb for the passenger side as the ballast on the working side doesn't resolve the problem on the pass side and the ballast from the non-working pass side works fine on the drivers' side.

Am I right in thinking these bulbs are only available on Ebay? I phoned Halfords but they don't sell HID burners

[Jon_Bmw]

Another user had an issue with this. His kit would only work on one side of his e30, but when tried on another car, it worked fine. He never found the solution

[aj_mckay]

Another user had an issue with this. His kit would only work on one side of his e30, but when tried on another car, it worked fine. He never found the solution

Don't be saying stuff like that. I know who you mean though - no2lurch? I read his post...

Fingers crossed it's just a case of needing a new bulb/burner...

[no2lurch]

i'm saying nothing...

[aj_mckay]

Shhh, it'll be fine

[Morat]

If you can move the burner from the good side to the bad side and it works then you should be fine with just a new burner. I'd order one from one of the many ebay sellers - I've had two kits from ebay/Hong Kong now and they've both been fine.

[aj_mckay]

If you can move the burner from the good side to the bad side and it works then you should be fine with just a new burner. I'd order one from one of the many ebay sellers - I've had two kits from ebay/Hong Kong now and they've both been fine.

Yeah that thought just occurred to me too. I'll give it a try and see how it is. Hope I don't damage the other bulb doing it though!

[neamem]

slightly off topic but where's a good place to get the kits from peeps?

[aj_mckay]

Well, I got mine off Ebay. Just search for H1 HID kit and go for the cheapest as apparently they're all made in the same factory!

[neamem]

hope you manage to get yours sorted.

[Nay]

Dont know if this has been said, but a bit stupid to say? Have you tried keeping the ballasts where they are and swap the bulbs round. That to me is the best way to find out if its the bulbs or ballasts etc, unless the bulbs are side specific?? I'm planning on getting one of these kits soon..

Does anyone know, but do these work with the very "council" angel eyes lights from fleabay? Are they H1 bulbs in them as well? Thinking about it, but probably be happy with HIDs, bright white sidelights and some bright white halogen headlight bulbs. All with a lamin-x subtle tint!

[aj_mckay]

Right, I've tried swapping the bulbs over and both bulbs work BUT only on the drivers' side of the car!!!!

I'm stumped now cos from what I've done, it looks like the kit is fine and working as it should, just not on the passenger side of my car!!! Any ideas chaps? VERY ANNOYED NOW!

[Nay]

[neamem]

worth trying running some new wiring? splice into the drivers side. wonder if the original wiring to the passenger side has deteriorated too far to carry enough current for the balasts to work on that side.

[aj_mckay]

That's what I'm thinking as there's more wire to the pax side going through the front bumper i think. If that's what's needed though I'll leave it!! I'm not an electrician and I'd more likely than not fudge it all up and ruin everything!!!

[neamem]

easy to do fella. go into your local motorfactors and they'll advise what ampage cable you need and then get the splice in connectors. tape it all up and away you go.

[oze30]

Mine had the same problem. couldn't work it out, so hot wired it from the driver's side power feed. Messy, but worked.

I swapped ballasts from good to bad, bulbs from good to bad.. NothingGave up and hot wired the lights. Wokred perfectly!

[aj_mckay]

Mine had the same problem. couldn't work it out, so hot wired it from the driver's side power feed. Messy, but worked.

I swapped ballasts from good to bad, bulbs from good to bad.. NothingGave up and hot wired the lights. Wokred perfectly!

Hot wired eh...? Do you mean you had to put new wiring in the place of the old wiring to the passenger lights? Where did you have to route it and where exactly did you connect it to the driver's side wiring?

Got any piccies of it? Sorry for all the q's but I'd really like to be able to getthese to work and am very much an amateur when it comes to electrics!

Thanks in advance...

[Incitatus]

I had a similar problem with mine. I found that when I ignited the lights only one side worked. If I left them on for 10 seconds, switched off and straight back on the non functioning light would fire. I swapped the ballast around and the non functioning light followed the ballast wherever it was installed, so I ordered a new ballast, it arrived and I installed it but no joy!

So I bought a battery loom of ebay and installed that, with the original ballast that came with the kit but it still wouldn't work, so finally I tried the new ballast with the new battery loom and finally they all worked

As I say the problem with mine seemed to be that there wasn't enough current to ignite both bulbs together, so if you left them on for a few seconds and reignited them the second would come on.

[aj_mckay]

Yeah, have read a few people had that problem. Mine's just not coming on at all though on the passenger side regardless of if i swap known working bulbs/ballasts into that side or wait a while and try again etc. Really annoying me now!

Cheers for your input though, I reckon mine has a similar issue in that there's not enough power getting to the passenger side to light it but I don't know enough about electrics to know how to go about sorting it.

[aj_mckay]

What do you mean by battery loom by the way? Do you mean replacement wiring or an upgrade of some kind?

Total novice here...

[Incitatus]

It was one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HID-Batt ... ccessories

It uses power directly from the battery rather than the original headlight wiring to power the ballasts. You use one of the original headlight bulb feeds to power the relay on the loom to fire up the ballasts.

[aj_mckay]

Awesome, looks like that may just save the day. I'll probs order one and see how it goes. Thanks a million, I knew someone would have a magical solution

[oze30]

Mine had the same problem. couldn't work it out, so hot wired it from the driver's side power feed. Messy, but worked.

I swapped ballasts from good to bad, bulbs from good to bad.. NothingGave up and hot wired the lights. Wokred perfectly!

Hot wired eh...? Do you mean you had to put new wiring in the place of the old wiring to the passenger lights? Where did you have to route it and where exactly did you connect it to the driver's side wiring?

Got any piccies of it? Sorry for all the q's but I'd really like to be able to getthese to work and am very much an amateur when it comes to electrics!

Thanks in advance...

I just wired it all over from the driver side light. bad way to do it, but when it's freezing cold and your crouched over a lowered car's engine bay whilst standing on a curb, you tend to just say F it, This will work. My back is still aching from that!