My HID lights

[romajr86]

Sorry if this should have been in the exterior mods forum, but this section had a lot about lighting so I threw it here..

First off, 2007 6i.

I have a HID kit in my car, 35 watt, about 2, 2 1/2 years old. I installed it to the stock headlight system, stock 6i projectors I'm having two issues with it right now..

1. I dont have auto on headlights on my 6, so if I'm out at night, sometimes I just leave the headlight stalk on the "on" position and rely on the fact that they turn off after 20 seconds or so after the car is off and key is out of the ignition. However, if the lights are left on, and then I turn the car back on, after the initial engine start the lights kinda flash/fluctuate and the low beams go out. The parking and side marker lights stay on, but my hid low beams turn off almost as if they receive a surge of power and go out when the car is started. If i turn the stalk off and then right back on the lights turn on fine after they've gone out. This has been like this for about 2 years and ive just dealt with it. Problem with the balllasts? Faulty? Cheap? I forget what kind of kit it is. Unfortunately it's not apexcone with the lifetime warranty, so dont post any threads saying I should send them back lol. I got them from a guy who my buddy trusted in his stupid coughcoughNISANcoughcough forum and then found out the guy sells from out of country and never responds to anyones problems/inquiries about the stuff they bought from him. Plus mine is over 2years old so even if he did respond I doubt he would do anything if they were bad. Thats what I get for straying from 6club forums!

my second problem...

2. See attached picture. Granted, I took it with my blackberry, but it's of the lights shining against a wall. See how the LH side has the nice sharp cutoff line and then goes up into the slant and meets the RH side.. However the RH side doesnt mimic the LH with the slant downward or the sharp cutoff. The right most side goes into an ugly blur of light. I havent really noticed that until recently. Dunno if the (forgot what its called, "shield"?) shield in the low beam housing got messed up? I know that's what creates the sharp cutoff line design. I recently played around with two adjustments of the beam leveling, but just slightly and I turned it back to where it was. I don't know if it's me not being observant for a while and not noticing the disgusting blur that you now see, or if i messed something up. I really don't think I did, but if it's popular opinion from you guys that I might have then i'll move things around again

So help me out guys! Winter is coming and my lights will be on more and more because of stupid daylight savings time and I want to get this fixed!

[Freak4Dell]

If the first problem started recently, you're probably well on your way to killing your ballasts. HIDs take a while to warm up to full power, which is why they should not be rapidly turned on and off. When you leave the switch to on, and then start the engine, it sends power, cuts it while the engine is cranking, then sends it again. That spike of power is NOT good for the ballasts, and I don't think it's good for the bulbs either. That problem would happen with the DDM ones, too, because that's just the nature of HIDs. Some OEM ballasts can handle it, but they were designed with that in mind. Conversion kits are not.

I don't really know about the second problem, but yeah, it's most likely the shield or a loose bulb or something.

[romajr86]

Hmm that makes sense for the first problem.

[romajr86]

However the first problem really didnt start recently.. its been happening for a while. over a year, close to two

[willk]

I've heard that the voltage drop that your battery experiences when you turning over is directly related to the voltage that is supplied to your ballast. If that voltage is too low the bulb will not ignite. It happens with mine the same way, but if i let the car run for 20 seconds or so and then turn them on manually its fine.

[romajr86]

ok. so its sounding like i just shouldnt try to get away with still doing this. Guess ill have to do it manually every time.

anyone for my 2nd problem? anyone know what could have happened to the light shield or how to check it?

[vance836]

Try this. One night, go outside and park your car near a wall of any kind. While the lights are on (car running preferably), pop the hood and reach in there and wiggle the light on that side. I have had to do the same thing. Sometimes the bulb may not be sitting correctly. Most times, repositioning the bulb is all that it takes. Try that first and see what happens.