brand new h.i.d. kit problems???

[rama1200]

morning, all...
I got an H3, 4300k h.i.d. kit... and a set of those driving lights from walmart (those that have the blue glass)... also, I had previously installed a pair of projector fog light (also cheap) from autozone....

My idea was to install the driving light using the same wires as the already-installed fog light and have them all fire up with the same switch... when I installed one of the driving-lights (with the h.i.d. already in it), it all worked fine... but when I ran the wire to the second h.i.d. modified driving light, it started blinking really fast, and then blew the fuse that came with the foglight kit (30 amp round glass fuse)....

Then I replaced it and did it again.... so I tried to fire them all up bypassing/bridging the fuse... that worked... but it seemed to me that the connection was getting hotter (I don't remember before how hot it got - if anything at all).

Then I replaced that fuse of the fog light with the one tht came with the driving light (15 amp plastic with metal M-shaped wire inside), and just left the driving light (h.i.d. powered) and unpluged the fogs... that worked ok too...

I really would like to have both fogs and driving lights on the same switch... originally, they both came with H3 55w halogens (fogs remain the same, driving lights are now h.i.d. powered).

is this possible to do with the wires/fuse that came with the cheap kits from walmart? or would I need a strong/better wire, etc.?

or better run separate wires to separate witches with seperate fuses?

is the wiring/fuse that comes with those walmart kits enough to run an h.i.d. kit (if not what do you guys suggest?) or will the kit "melt" the wiring?

I'll post pics later when I fix all my issues.....


thanks

 

[trucku]

run each set of lights on a separate relay to the battery. You can switch them both on/off with one switch. And don't use them tube fuses. A blade fuse is the way to go. With the relay each set of lights will get triggered by the switch and run off of power directly from the battery. This is right way to do it.

So your doing this for each set of lights and the trigger will be one switch.

 

[jad2411]

You need to wire a relay, try doing a search in the Performance Lighting forum.

Good luck, post pics whn you get it done

 

[rama1200]

run each set of lights on a separate relay to the battery. You can switch them both on/off with one switch. And don't use them tube fuses. A blade fuse is the way to go. With the relay each set of lights will get triggered by the switch and run off of power directly from the battery. This is right way to do it.

So your doing this for each set of lights and the trigger will be one switch.

Yes... This is the way to do it...

I just was lazy and did not want to run the wires though the firewall, etc... I just splinned (is this a word?) the cable ends/terminations at the lights to get power and ground for both kits, but just one main fuse and power source...

Thanks for the diagram... that helps...

and thanks all for your answers.

 

[trucku]

Your just going to bring in 1 trigger wire one from each relay to your switch inside. Everything else stays in engine bay. Just pass them through the rubber boot around steering column. I did that for my fog lights and it worked well with no leaks.

Good luck. Post up some pics.

 

[rama1200]

more h.i.d. problems???

ok... I did what you guys told me... ran different wires to different kits with separate fuses and decided just to have sperate toggle switches (since I had to do the wiring anyway)... the h.i.d. kit was working fine for about a week or two, and then it just blew the fuse... I stopped at the autoparts store and bought same fuse (blade 15a which came with the fog light kit in which I installed the h.i.d. kit to) and also got some blade 20a fuses... just in case... but it just blew 2 of each in a row..... as soon as I turn the switch on, the fuse goes...

what could the problem be... the wires not good enough? do I need 30a, or higher, fuse?

the h.i.d. kit came with its own harnes/wires from the ballasts to the bulbs, and then some black and red wires to hook up to the power negative ground ,etc... for this i used the wiring harness of one of those fog lights that they sale in walmart and ran it through the firewall to the dash on the switch...

the original fog light kit from walmart came with 55w h3 bulbs... so the h.i.d. kit I got is also h3; all i did was just to drill large holes the casings to allow for the h.i.d. bulbs to fit through... then, connected the ballast to the bulbs (as per instructions), and then, from the dash through the fuse to the battery and to the ballasts...

any ideas?

thanks

 

[JCUZ]

ok... I did what you guys told me... ran different wires to different kits with separate fuses and decided just to have sperate toggle switches (since I had to do the wiring anyway)... the h.i.d. kit was working fine for about a week or two, and then it just blew the fuse... I stopped at the autoparts store and bought same fuse (blade 15a which came with the fog light kit in which I installed the h.i.d. kit to) and also got some blade 20a fuses... just in case... but it just blew 2 of each in a row..... as soon as I turn the switch on, the fuse goes...

what could the problem be... the wires not good enough? do I need 30a, or higher, fuse?

the h.i.d. kit came with its own harnes/wires from the ballasts to the bulbs, and then some black and red wires to hook up to the power negative ground ,etc... for this i used the wiring harness of one of those fog lights that they sale in walmart and ran it through the firewall to the dash on the switch...

the original fog light kit from walmart came with 55w h3 bulbs... so the h.i.d. kit I got is also h3; all i did was just to drill large holes the casings to allow for the h.i.d. bulbs to fit through... then, connected the ballast to the bulbs (as per instructions), and then, from the dash through the fuse to the battery and to the ballasts...

any ideas?

thanks

Are the lights still sealed? Has it been raining there (ie could the lights be wet inside).

 

[rama1200]

Are the lights still sealed? Has it been raining there (ie could the lights be wet inside).

no rain in a few days...

 

[rama1200]

problem solved....

I went to auto parts store a couple of days back to buy more fuses, and they had a clearance driving lights for about $8.00... I bought them just because they were so cheap.... after some testing, I noticed that the beam pattern was a little bit better than any of the other lights I had bought before, so I decided to use those with halogen bulbs and forget for a while about the h.i.d. kit that I got got....

I went over the wiring harness that I got installed, retipped all the connectors, and tested with halogens... and it worked ok... since I still had the h.i.d. kit still mounted, I decided to give it another try, and it worked too... no blown fuses, etc... it looks like the end connectors were not isolated properly and they might been touching parts of the truck's body... causing the fuse to blow... so this time I isolated with some electrical tape...

modified the casing to take in the h.i.d. bulbs, and re-checked my wires... it all worked fine... the lights look a little bit like stock 3gen fogs....

so now I have 6000k lo headlites and 4300k driving lights mounted under the front bumper.... the later ones came out to be less then$100... not bad for and h.i.d. kit of driving lights, huh?

they took a little bit of work, but what fun would it be if it really was just plug and play?

I'll take some pics and post them...

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

ok cant wait to see how they showed up rama