hid lights

[pryboyz1962]

Hello to all!!!! new to post seeking help with my z4. May have missed or looked in wrong area for info. I have installed hid lights and everything I have researched says my problem id because of the drl need to be disabled.Lights go out when car is running and relays chatter or buzz. My question is there any software I can get to do this myself,or is there a you simpler way.Thanks for your help

[AirOpsMgr]

Originally Posted by pryboyz1962

Hello to all!!!! new to post seeking help with my z4. May have missed or looked in wrong area for info. I have installed hid lights and everything I have researched says my problem id because of the drl need to be disabled.Lights go out when car is running and relays chatter or buzz. My question is there any software I can get to do this myself,or is there a you simpler way.Thanks for your help

I'm not well versed on the 03' model, however, I have HIDs in my 06' 3.0i headlights and fogs (No DRL), but I'll take a stab at this..... I will need more info to help diagnose though:

1st: are you using a 35W or 55W HID kit? and what kind of kit is it? CANBUS / NON-CANBUS, etc?
2nd: what is the relay and fuse rated for on your relay harness?
3rd: when the car is running and you turn the lights on, what happens (I assume you are not using the auto light switch on the dash).
4th: how do you have your relay harness wired? Do you have a good connection at both the positive and ground?

The HID kit should use your current headlight wiring to power the HID ballasts, however, you speak of a relay harness (usually only necessary for 55W kits), so, although you are still using your OEM wiring to turn it on and off, you are also using a harness to take power directly from the battery ..... correct? By this I mean that your OEM wires going to your previous bulbs should be plugged into the HID ballast wiring - a POS and a NEG wire going to your bulb holder should now be going into the HID kit.

If you are hearing chatter/buzz/etc from your relay, then your relay is likely bad or you have a ground in the harness, (it could be a freyed wire on the harness or could also be a bad ballast that can cause the relay to humm), but this usally also causes the in-line fuse on your harness to blow.

If its a 35W kit, take the harness out of the equation and use the oem power only, if you still have inop lights on start-up, it is a system issue.

If (without the harness) one side now lights and the other does not, its a bad ballast (could also be a bad bulb) - switch that ballast and/or bulb over to the other side to see if the trouble follows your swap to verify.

I hope I didn't confuse the crap out of you, but I have been through this myself with low-end HID kits and had to remedy it by trying a few different things to identify the specific issue.

Good luck and best regards,
Greg

[CFoote]

If your car came with halogens standard, you need a resistor pack to go inbetween the HID Ballast and the cars wiring harness. Once you install those you should be in good shape. Be sure to re-aim your headlights so that they don't blind oncoming traffic...

Chris

[AirOpsMgr]

Originally Posted by CFoote

If your car came with halogens standard, you need a resistor pack to go inbetween the HID Ballast and the cars wiring harness. Once you install those you should be in good shape. Be sure to re-aim your headlights so that they don't blind oncoming traffic...

Chris

To clarify a bit: A kit with CANBUS eliminates the need for resistors, however, if a relay is used, the resistors will be required to avoid the "bulb-out" light on the dash.

[pryboyz1962]

Hello and Thanks for responding. After research think I should have got mtec hids.I purchased from Carid talked to rep and this was the kit for the car with build in resistors for high end bmws..It has capacitors at the ballast,that by pass computer prevent error message,and light flicker.Ive checked and re check wiring and connections.My drl are not disabled and may be the problem. With car not running lights work fine I think one relay is clicking. With car running lights work but relays buzzing and chattering after 4 mins or so lights go out and will come back on guessing after it cools.I have switched ballast and have the same situation.If I do need a canbus or something please guide where to purchase.If the drl need to be off can I purchase software to do it myself. I appreciate your time and knowlege

[pryboyz1962]

To anwser questions yes the power is direct from battery ,I had very poor instructions ,the relay harness came from Carid its notto se hid kit. No marking or info if its 55w or 35w .I actually added a ground wire to the ground and checked with meter on both ground wires.The high beam hids have 30w low beams 20w and fogs 20w . Yes the oem harness is connected to pos/neg going to ballast ,triple checked that because of what little bit of instructions said if wires wrong it will blow capacitors.I didnt use the auto on switch , I turned them on and off. With the key on car not running all lights work one relay slowly chattering. And with car cranked and running relay go from chattering to buzzing and within minutes will go out .. thanks

[AirOpsMgr]

Originally Posted by pryboyz1962

To anwser questions yes the power is direct from battery ,I had very poor instructions ,the relay harness came from Carid its notto se hid kit. No marking or info if its 55w or 35w .I actually added a ground wire to the ground and checked with meter on both ground wires.The high beam hids have 30w low beams 20w and fogs 20w . Yes the oem harness is connected to pos/neg going to ballast ,triple checked that because of what little bit of instructions said if wires wrong it will blow capacitors.I didnt use the auto on switch , I turned them on and off. With the key on car not running all lights work one relay slowly chattering. And with car cranked and running relay go from chattering to buzzing and within minutes will go out .. thanks

Is this a Bi-xenon kit? Or do you have seperate kits for highs and lows? This may explain the DRL issue neededing to be turned off.

Take the harness out of the equation and just run them on your OEM wiring (meaning you will just use the pos and neg wires that plugged into your previous bulb holders) to power them. Even a 55W HID kit can be run off of OEM wiring, but more prone to flicker; if you have a 35W kit, then OEM wiring is more than adequate.

[AirOpsMgr]

Originally Posted by pryboyz1962

Hello and Thanks for responding. After research think I should have got mtec hids.I purchased from Carid talked to rep and this was the kit for the car with build in resistors for high end bmws..It has capacitors at the ballast,that by pass computer prevent error message,and light flicker.Ive checked and re check wiring and connections.My drl are not disabled and may be the problem. With car not running lights work fine I think one relay is clicking. With car running lights work but relays buzzing and chattering after 4 mins or so lights go out and will come back on guessing after it cools.I have switched ballast and have the same situation.If I do need a canbus or something please guide where to purchase.If the drl need to be off can I purchase software to do it myself. I appreciate your time and knowlege

If the resistors are built into the kit, then it is CANBUS - all it is doing is using resistance (due to the lower draw of an HID kit Vs Halogens) so that the car's system doesn't think a light is burnt out.

[pryboyz1962]

They are seperate and I will try that and see if it will work thanks

[pryboyz1962]

The rep at at Carid said they have had bad relays from time to time. I was thinking about upgrading the stereo but after this mess think I will leave it alone.Ok so I have a canbus in system thanks for explaining the lower voltage makes sense. I will take relays harness out of system tomorrow see if it works

[pryboyz1962]

I forgot to say that warning light is on too

[AirOpsMgr]

Originally Posted by pryboyz1962

I forgot to say that warning light is on too

Correct, the bulb-out warning light will be on since you are using a harness (even with CANBUS ballasts) because you are pulling all of the power straight from the battery rather than through the OEM wiring, thus, the car thinks it has a bulb out. Once you pull the harness out of the equation, the CANBUS/resistors will remedy this since they are using power from the OEM wiring.

You can replace your relay at most auto parts stores, just pull the relay out of the harness holder and replace it with one that has the same specs (usually a 4 blade or a 5 blade), they are inexpensive, so no worries if you want to go back to the harness at some point.

Its not usually a good idea to run HIDs in your high-beams for a few reasons.

1. HIDs take time to warm up to full burn; you would have to wait a few seconds before your brights are at full output, which could be a safety issue.

2. Unless your high beams have projector lenses, the light will not be focused and will likely have less output than your lows (in addition to blinding oncoming traffic).

3. Switching between lows and highs on a regular basis will burn your ballasts out faster (Say when you flash your brights, or if you switch between low and highs frequently).

Just some food for thought........

[pryboyz1962]

Good deal never would have thought of it working that way ,and thats serious buisness no lights or a delay at any speed. Thanks again !!!!!