HID Flicker
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
From: Lansdale PA
HID Flicker
I put in some HID's in my Vette and one of them flickers. I checked all the wires and they seem fine and are all tightly connected. Is it the bulb or would it more likely be the Ballast?
Of course it is the infamous Ebay Xentec's. But I just wanted to try them.
Of course it is the infamous Ebay Xentec's. But I just wanted to try them.
Supporting Vendor
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,550
Likes: 902
From: Republic of Texas
3 common problems:
a) Poor quality ballast (they have tight tolerances for voltage requirements especially on start-up)
b) Significant voltage fluctuation on start (usually found on the drivers side since it's further away from the fuse box) Ballasts require a significant amount of power on start-up to fire the HID spark. If you can imagine the wires like pipes carrying water. When the flow starts, the passenger side ballast will get a power surge that's often taken away from some of the power that would normally go to the driver's side. This is especially common when the car is running on battery power only.
c) You have a headlight resistor installed.
a) Poor quality ballast (they have tight tolerances for voltage requirements especially on start-up)
b) Significant voltage fluctuation on start (usually found on the drivers side since it's further away from the fuse box) Ballasts require a significant amount of power on start-up to fire the HID spark. If you can imagine the wires like pipes carrying water. When the flow starts, the passenger side ballast will get a power surge that's often taken away from some of the power that would normally go to the driver's side. This is especially common when the car is running on battery power only.
c) You have a headlight resistor installed.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
From: Lansdale PA
Ok, first it is the passenger side that is flickerring and second, What is the resistor and how would I know?
Also now the headlight sentry option does not work, or at least the headlights wont go down when I am using it. The lights however do go off. It works fine when I just manually switch the lights.
Also now the headlight sentry option does not work, or at least the headlights wont go down when I am using it. The lights however do go off. It works fine when I just manually switch the lights.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
From: Lansdale PA
It is a 35w kit, and I switched the bulbs and the flicker is still there on the right side. So I guess it is the ballast. Contacted the ebay seller and he says he will send me another.
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