Jake Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 I've just fitted some UK glass headlights and HIDs in the dipped and main beams. Now when I turn the headlights on both the dipped and mains come on at the same time, regardless of which position the stalk is in. I've triple checked the wiring and it all looks fine. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitesupraboy2 Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Only thing I can suggest trying is put one light back to stock and leave one as is and test it to see if they both come on then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Class One Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Recheck the wiring Jake. IIRC the dipped and main beams simultaneously light up when you use the flash function when the lights are off. Perhaps you've wired the supply into the wrong ballast and then into the right bulb and mixed them up IYSWIM. That's all I can think of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkR Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 I had a weird issue with my HID lights and when I called the chap to ask him, he told me to plug the connector into the standard loom the WRONG way around (the clip no longer engaged in this position). I thought he was daft/mad/etc but he assured me that it would be fine and offered to send me another ballast if it didn't sort the issue or damaged the ballast. Can you believe it worked.....! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted October 19, 2007 Author Share Posted October 19, 2007 Had to give up last night because the battery went flat. Put it on charge over night. I've moved the existing HIDs to the mainbeam cos the bulbs don't fit the UK spec's dipped. The new HIDs are fitted to the dipped beam. Here's what I've found: If the lights are tried with both pairs of HIDs fitted the mains and dipped both come on together. If the HID dipped are fitted with normal halogen mains everything works fine. HID dips, HID passenger side mainbeam, halogen driver side mainbeam - works fine. HID dips, HID driver side mainbeam, halogen passenger side mainbeam - Dips and Mains come on together. It seems that having HID in the driver side mainbeam is what's causing the problem. This is doing my head in. Looks like I'm gonna end up with no mainbeam HIDs after all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiefgroover Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Main Beam Hid's in your car are very illegal, tut tut, you law breaker you lol :-). I went with Hid dip and fog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted October 19, 2007 Author Share Posted October 19, 2007 I don't really care if they're illegal. I don't use them when anyone is coming towards me so it's a victimless crime I do need them though. My commute involves a lot of driving on unlit B-roads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted October 19, 2007 Author Share Posted October 19, 2007 Ah progress! I noticed that if the passenger side HID ballast touches the bodywork it causes a spark That can't be good, especially as the driver side ballast is bolted the chassis. So I unbolted the driver side ballast (the one that seemed to be causing the problem) and now the HIDs work correctly. I tried reversing to polarity of the driver side HID but it blew the driver side fuse in the fusebox. Thinking about it I probably should have reversed the polarity both the mainbeam HIDs. I'll try that in a minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitesupraboy2 Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 The sparks would worry me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkR Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 I'm not a fan of sparks either.... Have you tried swapping the ballasts around so that the driver ballast is on the passenger side and vice versa? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted October 19, 2007 Author Share Posted October 19, 2007 The sparks would worry me! You and me both mate. Well I tried reversing the polarity to both the mainbeam HID (and disconnecting the dips) but when I turned the lights on the fuses blew. God knows. I suppose I'll just have to make sure the mainbeam ballasts are insulated, or not use them at all. It's all very strange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted October 19, 2007 Author Share Posted October 19, 2007 Have you tried swapping the ballasts around so that the driver ballast is on the passenger side and vice versa? that's not the problem now mate. Now that I've un-earthed the driver side one they are both behaving the same - the problem is trying to understand why the ballast casings are live and what I can do about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitesupraboy2 Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Swap over the ballasts, that way if the other ballast sparks it must be some sort of grounding to do with that earth in the original wiring, however if you swap them over and it sparks on the other side maybe you have a faulty ballast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted October 19, 2007 Author Share Posted October 19, 2007 Another discovery: The (mainbeam) balast casings are both 12v live only when the dipped beam is turned on. When mainbeam is on the ballsts are not live and both mains and dipped bulbs illuminate (that's normal isn't it? For dips to be on with the mains I mean) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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