I just got a 6,500K HID light kit. They work. But my dash is saying an exterior headlight is out. I get outside the car to check and every exterior light is working properly. Any idea how to get this dash indicator to shut off? Some say you have to buy some sort of resistor because the HID bulbs run at a lower energy level than halogen, and so the computer thinks a bulb is out??? I'm no expert at electrical stuff.

 

most HID kits use 35 watts while your original bulbs took 55 watts ... this translates to lower amperage draw which the system is confusing for the bulb out ... i just wish i knew what size resistor you need inline to the power cable to correct this.

honestly i would not feel very comfy having a resistor inline to that power line however as it will generate alot of heat which can lead to big trouble ... i'd rather pull the bulb for the dummy light in the gauge cluster and know i have a system that works perfectly fine ....

just my opinion on that tho...

 

Will having this problem of having a higher-power line run to a low-power bulb hurt the car at all?

 

i have the mcculloch hid "plug & play" kit and mine has never created/thrown a dash light.

 

Andrew, I been asking you questions about different HID brands. After the issues that I've seem with these other brands, I think I'm going to stick with Mcculloch when I get mine in the spring.

 

i believe this is a wise choice... with proven results.

 

Hi Golfdude,
Sorry to hear about your HID problem.

Perhaps if you had a better understanding of what you are up to you will be able to make a better choice as to what to do, and can help your friends who follow you in putting a cool headlight system on cars.

Here's how High Intensity Discharge systems work:

HID uses a little bubble of gas (Halcyon gas), instead of the filament used in standard headlights. This lets us get the same amount of light we get from a filament, while dissipating only 35 watts of heat instead of 55 watts (a lot lower temperature).
One of the differences between the filament and the Halcyon gas is the filament can work on low voltage, and the Halcyon gas needs HIGH voltage to create an arc (like a welder uses). That's why a ballast (transformer) is used with HID. It steps the voltage up, like the coil does for the spark plugs, creating the arc (hence all the warnings on the ballast label!).

The Illumination Control Module in your CF measures the amount of current the headlamp filament allows to flow in the headlamp circuit, and can then determine if the headlamp is working properly or not (not just on or off).
As the filament fails the amount of current it allows to flow goes down, and the Illumination Control Module, sensing this lower current turns on your dash light to let you know something is wrong.

I can't look into the Illumination Control Module to determine how low the current must fall to make it think the filament is not working right (and turn the dash light on). But as Intenseblu pointed out, because the HID system you installed allows less current to flow than the filament does (because it needs less current to generate the same amount of light), the current is sufficiently less, in your case, to convince the Illumination Control Module to think a filament failure has occurred and turn on your dash light.

Putting a resistor in series (in-line) is not the answer.
If a resistor is placed in series with the ballast output, the voltage of the arc will decrease and the light intensity of the arc would decrease as well.
If a resistor were placed in series with the ballast input, the amount of current allowed to flow in the input would decrease and reduce the ballast output voltage, again reducing the light intensity.
This would also, as you might guess, reduce the amount of current in the headlamp circuit, (the amount of current the Illumination Control Module is measuring), and make your problem worse.

Putting a resistor in parallel, (or across) the ballast input would be a better choice as this will allow more current to flow in the headlamp circuit.

Please do not make the mistake of adding a resistor in parallel with the output of the ballast. Due to the high voltage there, the power dissipation would be huge! Also, this could damage the output of the ballast.

I would start with a 150 ohm, 2 watt resistor. You can find one of these at Radioshack pretty cheap. If one resistor doesn't do the job, add a few more, one at a time, to allow a little more current to flow, until your dash lamp goes out.
The resistors will, as Intenseblu points out, dissipate wattage (warm up). Two watts each is not very warm, so don't worry about heat. But try to keep the resistors out in the air so they can cool properly.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, you could always remove the light from the dashboard!

 

I put hid McCullough kit and changed to bunch of led lamps around the car.
The lamp came on and I just put a piece of electrical tape over it.
Not really fixing it but I never had this feature on any other car so I don't really need it on this one.
just an idea...

 

Thanks everyone for your responses. My driver's-side hid light also likes to shut off once and a while, especially when taking corners at a brisk pace or going over rough bumps. Any help in this issue would be great too. Lastly, where does everyone securely install their ballasts?

 

No problems with them going out, first step check all your connections.
If it is just one side that narrows it down.

 

you have a bad connection somewhere that is more likely causing the problem ... if the kit you have required you to insert bare wire leads into a socket then plug it into the original harness (90% of the kits like mcculloch do this) then start at that point cause chances are thats where it is not making proper contact... good luck.

 

I had to trim the connector shells down on the McCulloch kit to make them seat properly in the car's headlight harness. So far no problems or warning lights...

 

Golfdude,

I'm sorry to hear your having problems with my old kit. I must say I never had a light go out except for when one of relays got corrosion on it - I'd occasionally have to turn the lights to off and back on again... so I replaced the one relay for $5 and made sure they were remounted in a location to minimize moisture and exposure to rain... That eliminated the issue and it was the only problem I ever encountered. I just took the one relay that was clearly corroded to Autozone and they matched it up with a replacement.

Unlike the ballasts, the relays aren't exactly waterproofed. Try cleaning the relay or replacing it, and make sure all connections are secure, especially the power and ground. It's my guess based on what your saying that the one relay that I didn't replace got corroded either from it getting wet since you installed it, or maybe it was on the way out when I pulled the kit.

All in all it's a real inexpensive part and easy to unplug one and plug the new one in. The dash light I never knew about because mine was always on from my LED tail lights, who knows - maybe fixing the relay will cure this problem too.

Best regards.

 

Thanks for the help...I am busy right now but basically my buddy, who is a mechanic, identified a bad wire...hopefully this will fix the problem, but it won't be solved for a couple of days.

 

The reason you have the headlight out light is because of the relays. If you remove the relays from the system, and connect the HID kit directly to the headlight wires, this will eliminate the warning light. You also will not have to connect anything to the battery thus cleaning up the engine bay of extra wires. The relays come with some kits because it is the ideal way to install the kit to ensure that it is getting enough startup power, but our cars headlight wiring is sufficient enough to handle a direct connection to the headlights.

 

Ive got the Pilot HID kits and the left, only left no matter what scenario its hooked up in, will always go out... when its cold, or just starting car up... or whatever. Question is, how are the mccullough kits wired with the relays so they dont throw the lamp out light. Are they prewired with resistors across battery and lamp input to the relay? because if i straight under the hood relay my lights, it takes away the input feedback the computer is looking for to ... not throw the code. Any suggestions other than guessing and adding resistors until it works? and other than scrapping the kit and buying the Mcullough plug and play kit? as i know these are options.

Keep in mind no matter which side the ballast and/and or light are paired on, the left cuts out sometimes intially. I have had 1 of the ballast replaced with same results. Ive tried wiring the capacitor inline LIKE the kit they sell online but it only postpones its shutting off by a few seconds. and throws the code after i turn them off untill the capacitor is out of juice.

Thanks,
Malcolm