HID's in my KC long range lights

NW-ZJ-SCOTT

NW-ZJ-SCOTT

TEXAS-JT-SCOTT
NAXJA Member
Location
NE Texas
so i bought a set of 5000k h3 HIDs. They are infact from Ebay, but this is a seller i have bought from atleast 8 times.. Never had a problem..till now

Here's the problem, With the KC's i could not just "plug and play" i had to cut the plugs and wire the ballasts to under the hood, for some reason, the lights work when they want,

i have re-installed them 10 times now, some times they come on, sometimes they dont, I get a weird electrical zap noise out of the KC housings each time i hit the switch.. This "zap" has shocked my finger when i tried to pin point, I have re-crimped half a dozen Butt connectors and still get the same thing, sometimes they work, some times they dont, I taped up every connection.. no dice

I have double checked the grounds, and the relay and the switch, is it possible that the ballasts are just defective?
 
I wouldn't be using butt connectors to begin with. I would solder and use heat shrink and use a high gauge wire if you are moving the ballast. Really, I don't know how moving the ballast a good distance away would effect their operation. Since it shocked your finger, exactly where is the short coming from?
 
ballast to the bulb and power source too.

I finally figured it out, after re-wiring the whole setup, and they both work just fine now, Its a loose connection with the power plug on one of the ballasts that causes one to not turn on occasionally
 
We did this in a set of light force 170 lights and it worked great. Because the voltage going to the bulbs is insanely high you need special connectors so the voltage does not leak out. Get a set of connectors like the ones that were on it with the rubber isolators and crimp everything very tight. I forget the voltage but it is thousands of volts. Also note that most wire you buy is only rated to 600 volts so don't use any aftermarket between the ballast and bulbs. You can't just cut and splice. Cut the connectors off and buy another set.
 
jeepboy381 said:
We did this in a set of light force 170 lights and it worked great. Because the voltage going to the bulbs is insanely high you need special connectors so the voltage does not leak out. Get a set of connectors like the ones that were on it with the rubber isolators and crimp everything very tight. I forget the voltage but it is thousands of volts. Also note that most wire you buy is only rated to 600 volts so don't use any aftermarket between the ballast and bulbs. You can't just cut and splice. Cut the connectors off and buy another set.
Click to expand...

What Wire did you use to extend wire going to the bulb? I need to do this with my DDM bulbs and Hella's and was looking for a good way to accomplish just this.
 
P1atinum said:
What Wire did you use to extend wire going to the bulb? I need to do this with my DDM bulbs and Hella's and was looking for a good way to accomplish just this.
Click to expand...
We didn't lengthen a wire, we just had to cut the connectors off to get the wires through the back of the light housing. I don't know if extending the wires would be a good idea either even if you could get properly insulated wire.
 
i cut mine and re spliced them just fine. solder the connections and heat shrink them half inch past the solder joint both ways. the ballasts send a really high amp charge to the lights to get the bulbs to ignite, the zap sound you are hearing is the spark arcing out past the connection you made and grounding to the inside of the housing. the ballasts have an internal circuit to keep them from shorting out.
 
P1atinum said:
What Wire did you use to extend wire going to the bulb? I need to do this with my DDM bulbs and Hella's and was looking for a good way to accomplish just this.
Click to expand...


How do you like those DDM HID's? I have a set on the way and it seems like the Bimmer Guys like them a lot. What about a Jeep owner?
 
jeepboy381 said:
We didn't lengthen a wire, we just had to cut the connectors off to get the wires through the back of the light housing. I don't know if extending the wires would be a good idea either even if you could get properly insulated wire.
Click to expand...
the wiring on every HID bulb i have seen has been fine filament with a thick silicone insulation. Again the current is very high between the ballast and bulb while the ballast is attempting to ignite the gas inside the bulb. A low grade wire could cause the current to arc through the insulation and short out. I would also be wary of the voltage drop cause by increasing the wire length. The longer you make the wire the thicker it (the wire itself, not counting the insulation) needs to be to maintain the same level of current by the time it reaches the bulb.
 
FlexdXJ said:
How do you like those DDM HID's? I have a set on the way and it seems like the Bimmer Guys like them a lot. What about a Jeep owner?
Click to expand...

Love the DDM lights, I bought two sets one for Autopals which I have been running for a couple of weeks, 10000x better then the silverstars with stock wiring I was running befor.

The second set I want to put in my Hella's on the front bumper hoop have yet to be fitted.

GrimmJeeper said:
the wiring on every HID bulb i have seen has been fine filament with a thick silicone insulation. Again the current is very high between the ballast and bulb while the ballast is attempting to ignite the gas inside the bulb. A low grade wire could cause the current to arc through the insulation and short out. I would also be wary of the voltage drop cause by increasing the wire length. The longer you make the wire the thicker it (the wire itself, not counting the insulation) needs to be to maintain the same level of current by the time it reaches the bulb.
Click to expand...

Back on topic, What I really need to do is find a way to put the bulbs in the lights on the bumper hoop while keeping the ballast out of the elements back under the hood. The wire would be extended about 12 to 16 inches as long as the wire is quality I wouldn't expect too much of a drop in valtage/amprage at that short of a lenght.

from what I read from NW-XJ-Scott he did the same thing.
 
P1atinum said:
Love the DDM lights, I bought two sets one for Autopals which I have been running for a couple of weeks, 10000x better then the silverstars with stock wiring I was running befor.

The second set I want to put in my Hella's on the front bumper hoop have yet to be fitted.



Back on topic, What I really need to do is find a way to put the bulbs in the lights on the bumper hoop while keeping the ballast out of the elements back under the hood. The wire would be extended about 12 to 16 inches as long as the wire is quality I wouldn't expect too much of a drop in valtage/amprage at that short of a lenght.

from what I read from NW-XJ-Scott he did the same thing.
Click to expand...

I extended mine as well, for the same reason. Just make sure you use quality wire and wrap the connections well. The wires between my lights and my ballasts are over 4 feet long.
 
Talyn said:
Details? I have a pair of 170s and would be interested in HID in them.
Click to expand...
as far as i know Lightforce lights use a proprietary bulb style, they make HID conversion kits for thier lights but you usually have to order directly from them.
 
I was not there when he did it but I know it was quite involved. I guess the light forces have some type of waterproof liner inside them "possibly goretex or something similar". I think they use H11 bulbs and he had to modify his HID bulb to fit correctly. The retainer for the stock bulb won't work on the HID so he had to use a rivet to hold the bulb in. I would not lengthen the wires even if it does work. I think the output starting voltage is 18-24 thousand volts. The crimps and heat shrink you buy at the store is rated to 600 volts max. The insulation rating on the wire is very important, if you use off the shelf stuff volage will leak out wether you think it is or not. I think it is more work than it is worth.
 
What gauge wire did you use to extend the length between the bulb and ballast? I have a set of kc 69s coming in and would like hids in them.
 
GrimmJeeper said:
as far as i know Lightforce lights use a proprietary bulb style, they make HID conversion kits for thier lights but you usually have to order directly from them.
Click to expand...

Its not truly proprietary. IIRC its a projector style bulb that they use. However, he made it sound like he used some form of aftermarket hit, not LightForce's
 
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