MSG C5

Does anyone know the HID bulb type for the OEM fog lights? I have a current set up from JW Motoring that have a plug-n-play ballast, however the bulb doesn't list the type and it looks like a smaller H9 bulb in comparison to my HID lows. It twists into the stock housing but is smaller in diameter compared to my H9 bulbs.

Thanks!

TheRadioFlyer

880 series bulb

MSG C5

Thanks. Do you know why the fog lights don't require a harness to the battery den like the HID low beams?

TheRadioFlyer

The low beams don't require a relay harness with higher quality HID ballasts.

I recommend not using a kit higher than 35w on the fog lights as the factory bulbs are 35w. If you want to run 55w, you will need a relay harness to keep from popping the fuse.

MSG C5

Thanks. The original kit from JW Motoring was 4300 temp with 55W slim ballasts, similar to the ones used for the 4300 temp lows that did require the harness. At first the HID fogs fired up with no problem even without the engine running, however towards the end, I would pop a fuse if the car wasn't running when I turned the HID fog lights on. If I run a 35W ballast, will the same temp HID fogs be less bright than the HID lows which are charged by a 55W ballast?

Regarding the low beams, what defines a "higher quality HID ballast"? What brands do you carry as I would rather not run a harness if I didn't have to, however I thought the green wire ground that comes out of the ACA housings was required to work with a battery den harness in order for the pop ups to be operational and open and close when turning on/off the lights.

TheRadioFlyer

The 55w HID system is about 20-30% brighter than a 35w system. That being said biggest brightness issue you're most likely to notice is that the fog lights tend to get pitted and beat up which severely hampers their output. Since the lenses are glass, they CAN be polished but this is rather time consuming.

Nearly All HID ballast these days are built overseas. Quality of the ballast varies in the quality and type of electronics used.

MSG C5

Thanks again. So what's the purpose of the green wire that's on the ACA housings and then connects to the harness? Does your ACA Xenon kit use the green wire if you don't use a harness to the battery?

TheRadioFlyer

The green wire (and white wire) is a trigger wire for the relay harness to maintain power to the low beam headlights when the high beams are powered.

We do this with our headlights as well, but we use a MUCH smaller and simpler relay harness.

MSG C5

Thanks. Can you send me a link or PM as to how I can order this relay harness for my kit? I need to replace the 4-on relay harness that originally came with the JWM kit.

Edit - I found the link to the product on your website. Since your Hi-4 Harness is installed at the fuse box, I would still need to run a relay harness from the ballast/lights to the battery to power my kit. It seems the original JWM harness incorporated both the battery relay harness and this Hi-4 harness capabilities into one harness. If I use your Hi-4 harness, what do I do with the green/white wire that is attached to the ACA housings? Just tape them up? Do you also offer an integrated harness like the one I currently have? Sorry for all the questions, however my light buckets are out of the car and I can't drive it at night so I want to make sure I have all the needed parts to get my lights working again.

TheRadioFlyer

http://shop.radioflyerinnovations.co...arness-003.htm


You might also consider our bi-xenon ACA headlight modification:
http://shop.radioflyerinnovations.co...cation-016.htm

MSG C5

Thanks. So if I use your Hi-4 harness, I just leave the ACA white/green wire unconnected correct? Tape it off?

TheRadioFlyer

Correct. You should just be able to run the HID ballasts directly off the factory low beam connector and the high beam off the factory high beam connector (no harnesses needed)

.....this of course assumes you have a good 55w HID kit. If not use the relay harnesses

MSG C5

Thanks. I just ordered your Hi 4 harness off your website.

Can you elaborate what defines a "good" 55w HID kit/ballast? Either brand or design? The original set up from JWM has the harness to the battery and neither side will fire up without the harness attached. The fogs will fire up just using the OEM connectors.

I'm not sure who the manufacturer is of the original slim ballast that was provided with the JWM kit, however the replacement ballast I ordered last year was the Morimoto XB 55 watt. It still needed the harness to fire up. I would love to run these HIDs without a wiring harness back to the battery, but how do you know which ballast can fire up only using the factory connectors?

TheRadioFlyer

Just about every aftermarket ballast is made overseas and only get a brand name stamped on it after it arrives in the US. There are 4 things I've found in what i would call a "good ballast"

1) Metal construction - plastic is just crap that will break over time

2) Actual power draw (stable) is very close to rated power draw - (many 55w HID kits barely pull 42w of power once warmed up. By comparison our 55w ballasts draw 55.44w stable at 13.2v)

3) Quick warm-up time - OEM HID systems warmup within 2-3 seconds. This is because of the stronger startup voltage. Cheaper HID kits use cheaper electronics that don't reach as high of voltage and as a result require 8-10 seconds to warm up a bulb. Our ballasts warm up HID bulbs in 2-3 seconds.

4) No flickering - A long as the voltage to the HID is stable, there should be no flickering from the bulb as it warms up. Flickering suggests poor quality electronics that are incapable or producing the correct voltage for startup.