HID Problem

jamieh

Hi all,

Got HID's installed in my 3 series recently.

Everything was working fine for a few weeks, but now one of the dims is only working when it decides to!

For example driving from Waterford to Dublin today. Wouldn't light from leaving home, pulled in restarted the car - worked fine for 2.5 hours. Pulled in for fuel, wouldn't work. Restarted a few times - no joy. Got to the house in Dublin, restarted the car and lit up no problem!!

Any ideas?

I've installed cancellers but made no difference. I don't know if its the ballast, as once its lit there's no problem, its just a matter of getting it going in the first place.

colm_mcm

check the connection blocks. I always use cable ties to tighten them up.

jayok

Are these OEM or After market?

There's multiple points in the OEMs but some aftermarket (aka €80 bulbs + ballast) are sealed units. If this is the case then simply check the power connectors.

jamieh

Hey,

Checked the cables...everything is perfect!

Only installed the canceller today in the hope it would make a different, but it didn't

jayok

Out of curiosity, what do you mean the canceller?

Gumbo

this is a well well know problem with aftermarket HID kits and BMW's.
they can work perfect for some and not at all for others. there is no easy fix other than checking through all the hid lits available to see which ones work and which dont.

tbh its probably a blessing in disguise as hid kits in reflector housings are a bog no no as they blind oncomming cars (assuming you have reflector housings) what model and year bmw do you have?

best bet is to get a decent set of H7 bulbs.

Out of curiosity, what do you mean the canceller?

its a resister type thing that tries to fool the ECU into thinking the bulbs are running the correct wattage ie. standard bulbs are 55w and hid's are 35w so the ECU see's the drop in wattage and thinks the bulb is blown.

jayok

kceire wrote: »

its a resister type thing that tries to fool the ECU into thinking the bulbs are running the correct wattage ie. standard bulbs are 55w and hid's are 35w so the ECU see's the drop in wattage and thinks the bulb is blown.

Ah, ok, this is to prevent the dash warning of the blown bulb. Wasn't aware that this was called a canceller.

jamieh

kceire wrote: »

this is a well well know problem with aftermarket HID kits and BMW's.
they can work perfect for some and not at all for others. there is no easy fix other than checking through all the hid lits available to see which ones work and which dont.

tbh its probably a blessing in disguise as hid kits in reflector housings are a bog no no as they blind oncomming cars (assuming you have reflector housings) what model and year bmw do you have?

best bet is to get a decent set of H7 bulbs.



its a resister type thing that tries to fool the ECU into thinking the bulbs are running the correct wattage ie. standard bulbs are 55w and hid's are 35w so the ECU see's the drop in wattage and thinks the bulb is blown.

Hey,

I don't have reflector housings - they are projector so I'm not blinding anyone.

Can't understand why they were working perfectly and now just one bulb is giving a problem

Gumbo

jamieh wrote: »

Hey,

I don't have reflector housings - they are projector so I'm not blinding anyone.

Can't understand why they were working perfectly and now just one bulb is giving a problem

its more than likely the kit then. sometimes you have to buy the more expensive brand!

these guys - http://www.khoalty.com/Hids.html seemly provide kits that work perfectly with BMW.

does you car have the bulb out error while running the hid kit?

Tropheus

I had this problem in my father-in-law's passat. It turned out to be a dodgy connection where the original bulb unit connects to the HID ballast. It seemed secure, but when I played around withe the wires, I found a bad connection. I had to bend the spade slightly to get a good connection. No problems since.