hid flickering

[timderiksen]

having problems with of my hid blubs flickering. i did the conversion for the h3 fog lights. but i got one light flickering and sometimes it does wanna come on. they are new ballasts but with older bulbs, and one light only does it. my question is could it just the bulb? i wouldn't think it wouldn't be the ballast cause its brand new and i even swapped them to the other side and still its same bulb. Or could it be the wiring is lose. I went back through all the wiring and connections even tested the ballast it self with a multi meter and it worked every time. im really puzzled about. can any one help me diagnose the problem?

[Trumpkin]

So this set up is aftermarket?If it is and you don't have relays in that could be your problem.

[qship96]

Are they wired to stock foglamp wiring circuit? HID ballasts require massive inrush amperage to ignite bulb,then power draw significantly drops to maintain bulb current demands.Sounds like you are starving ballast of needed current.

[maxnix]

Even the G50 has relays on the fog lights.

[Skibane]

Quote » i wouldn't think it wouldn't be the ballast cause its brand new and i even swapped them to the other side and still its same bulb.[/quote]If the flickering moves over to the other side when you swap bulbs, that pretty much rules out problems with the wiring or ballasts. The bulb is your most likely culprit.

[unknown007]

HID are like what 10amps?Thats like a stereo.Doubt you need relays.Again for some reason everybody is saying you do.Now for fogs you do need relays.

That's what i found out after seeing that the Ballast max is 10A.I could be wrong?

[qship96]

keep in mind the factory foglamp H3 bulb is 55 watts, which draws 4.58 amps at 12.00 volts- and the engineers designed the wiring for this size load. Hid ballast even just doubling{if not more} this amount during inrush current draw to attempt to ignite the arc bulb is way more than the circuit is designed to handle- why it is best to custom wire the HID using relays that only use stock foglamp wiring to trigger the relays for the HID system.

[maxnix]

Nah, my HID auxiliary low beams have no problem on the fog light circuit. Once lighted, the HID draw less current.

[qship96]

Someties you get lucky! Add in a little corrosion of terminals, additional resistance from aged wiring and other components, variance of each individual ballast amp demands upon startup, and one could end up on the ragged edge, causing the flickering.

[Mopar]

at OP

You need relays. When I installed my HIDs on my 98 it did flicker at first. Then the guy said that I needed relays. He ran the relays and it stopped flickering.

If you don't have the relays put them first. It's not a plug and play thingy.

[timderiksen]

yeah it stops after it heats up. but what your recommending is that i should run relays with a good power source straight from the battery??

[qship96]

Yes

[Mopar]

Yes!. I have power running from the positive of my battery, and a negative bolted up to the frame of the car for ground. Trust me relays are what you need my friend.

[maxnix]

You need relays.

Wow, more cost cutting on the FGY33!

[unknown007]

Just get relays.I doubt it would fry your wires but maybe the circuit is too low.Get two relays for the heads and two relays for the fogs.You'll be safe just sucks how our cars need relays and Integras don't.

[timderiksen]

thx guys. now just gotta get the relays and harness for them. people say its just a plug and play but i found out its not really that simple. to keep the housing sealed i had to cut the wires and run then through the grommet. then spliced them and wired them back together. I made sure i had a good connection before i put heat shrink on the connection. that's why i mentioned i checked all the wiring connections with a multimeter and sure enough i had the same readings each and every time i turned them on.

but hey thx again to everybody for the help.