Retrofit HID headlight help.

[quadx4]

I f'n love ebay. I picked these up for a rediculously good price a few years back and could not pass them up. They have sat for ever till I finally decided to get the move on and put them to work. They are the factory HID headlight/ballasts from an '02 Infiniti QX4. My QX4 is an '99 without HIDs.





Now the problem I was faced with then, and now, is the wiring. It seems pretty basic but I am almost positive I have to do away with the plug and tap into these wires directly.







Red and Black are obvious, It's the white and green that have me a lil confused. I'm sure one is a accessory or remote, and not sure about the other. My stock plugs do not match up and appear to only be red/black. I'll pull them out tomorrow for a better look.

I'm sure some of you have pulled off an even harder setup and I don't believe that this is all that difficult. Any input would be appreciated.

[UndeGuy]

That is a dual bulb system... so you have four wires, two for each bulb. On low beam, power goes to one bulb. On high, power goes to the other bulb.

You most likely have an H4/9003/HB2... or simply single bulb system, you'll need and adapter. From three to four. In an single bulb system, it has a common wire.

I would recommend getting an adapter... check your ebay again.

If you have to do the cutting, then find out if two of those wires are connected to each other, one from the ballast, and one from the other pair. That will be the common wire. Then you just need to make sure you get connection to your wiring correct.

Just for reference, the headlight socket for the pathfinder melted so I had to put a new one in. I mistakenly swapped the common wire with the other wire for high beam. You know what that did?

My high beam worked, because it's not polarized, meaning power still went through the filament. In one side, out the other.

But my low beam... didn't work the way it should. Because now, it's getting power from BOTH ends... and no where to go. Because power has to go SOMEWHERE, it actually forced it down through the "low" end, which actually lowered the amount of power I got to the bulb, preventing it from lighting all the way.

Once I swapped the offending wires, it worked correctly.

Another, similar story... When I had a Mitsubishi Mirage, I swapped the headlight housing out... I also went from the stock single bulb to dual bulb set up. Luckily for me, the housing came with a wiring harness... unluckily for me, it was backwards. Low beams came on with the lights set to high, and vice versa. So I had to pull the wires in the plug and swap them.

So, that's a possibility for you too when you start cutting wires together..

[quadx4]

Hey man thanks for the quick reply! The idea of it being a dual bulb vs. my single bulb completely slipped thru my thinking! There is no common wire leading into plug directly. The red and black are coming from oval one on the bottom, the white and green are coming from the ballast and are joined together into the plug. The other bulb has its own connection to the ballast and just has it's own ring terminal that needs to be grounded. So I believe the ballast is going to take care of my dual bulb problem. I just need to get my eyes on a wiring schematic real quick.

[UndeGuy]

Uh, I wouldn't be so sure...

From a quick search, a 2002 QX4 uses HID bulb for low... and a 9005 halogen bulb for HIGH.

meaning, the ballast only takes care of the low.

The ballast is pulling power from the plug, which the car is sending when you have your lights on low.

When you switch to HIGH, no power is going to the ballast.

[fueler]

cool, man. retrofits are definitely the way to go with HID - i dont have the time, patience and money to do a nice retrofit tho. Keep us posted.

[REZN]

would this headlight housing fit on a pathfinder?

[UndeGuy]

would this headlight housing fit on a pathfinder?

You know, that's a good question. I hadn't really thought about doing the samething and putting it in a PF.

But, if I had to guess though... it might be a little too big. Assuming the bumper height is the same for the PF and Qx4. And assuming the top of the headlights are also the same... Then because the gap between the headlight and the bumper is smaller on the Qx4, I'd say the PF's housing is a tad too small.

But, that's all an assumption. Anyone care to actually check it out?

[Empty V]

Great project quad, this is the first proper retrofit Ive seen. As far as going from a single to dual lamps system I almost useless. I'm sure some of our more inclined members will be able to help. I would think that you'd have 3 wires in your stock harness, low beam filament power, high beam filament power and ground and you would just have to split them off and share the ground.

Billy

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Ok, so after looking at the FSM for the 2001 QX4, I can see that the FSM will be very little help. Firstly, does anybody have a link to a 2002 QX4 FSM (specifically EL.pdf)? The FSM doesn't show a circuit diagram from the ballasts to the actual bulbs, which is odd. It shows the ballasts and low bulbs as one single unit.

The wires going into the LH & RH ballasts are: RED/YELLOW (power) and BLACK (ground)

It's the same color wires for both ballasts.

[joewmorrissey]

Anyone ever figure out the wiring? I've got a 2000 and found a 02 at pull a part and thought about grabbing the lights. Hoping someone has gotten around to finishing the retrofit.