LED puddle lamps kill HID Ballast??

Hey everyone,

I recently installed LED's into my passenger side puddle lamp (going to do the driver's side soon) They look great except for the fact that the day after i installed them my passenger side HID headlight quit working. I just tested it last night by plugging the passenger side HID into the driver's side ballast and the lamp was still good. When I plugged the passenger side ballast into the driver side lamp that lamp didn't work. So basically I have gotten the problem down to a bad ballast.

Is it possible that the LED mod killed the ballast or is this just coincidence that it happened so soon after installing the LEDs? I can't think of any electrical reason for this happening as I would think that the two lights are isolated from each other from relays or something.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I would like to get new HID's but not if the LEDs are going to kill them again.

PS: I have a 1998 Explorer XLT 4.0 V6

Thanks!

Mike

 

[vroomzoomboom]

pure coincident. your hids are as you had said, they are on a different circuit.

 

[PedroDaGr8]

Nah, likely coincidence as LEDs produce no electrical noise or anything of that nature. Especially if they are electrically isolated. Instead, if you are using an HID kit or kit ballast, they do die pretty often so the chance of a coincidence is higher. Albeit the chance is still low, I am pretty sure that is what happened here.

 

[SPSUExp98]

Awesome guys thanks for the quick responses. I didn't think there was anyway that the LED's would mess with the ballasts but i just wanted some experienced reassurance. I will be getting some HID's soon after i do some searching on here to see who everyone is buying from.

Thanks again!

Mike

 

[PedroDaGr8]

Honestly, OEM ballasts with a retrofit are the most reliable. IF you aren't going with OEM ballasts, DDM has some of the better quality kit ballasts for really cheap.

 

[PedroDaGr8]

Double Post

 

[Cobraguy]

Well, an LED is a diode...so is there any way in the world you are triggering something on the ballast with that circuit and you interrupted the circuit?

 

[SPSUExp98]

Pedro:
I like the price on the DDM HID's they look like a good kit and I like that I can get Hi/Low for under $100. I would love to do the retrofit and have read the walk thru on here. Where is the best place to get the Projectors?

Cobra:
I can't imagine that the LED's would be interfering with the ballast. i had that initial thought as well. The LED's will only be on typically when the HID's are off. and the two circuit are going to be isolated by relays that are controlled by low voltage from somewhere else. Plus I haven't been able to find any instances of anyone else having problems with HID's after installing LED's and many people have MANY more LED's than I currently have.

if you can think of any reason I would be very interested to hear it.

thanks for the response!

 

[Cobraguy]

No no...I'm sure you are correct. But just in case he has wired something a little off the wall, I just wanted to toss that out there.

 

[PedroDaGr8]

Pedro:
I like the price on the DDM HID's they look like a good kit and I like that I can get Hi/Low for under $100. I would love to do the retrofit and have read the walk thru on here. Where is the best place to get the Projectors?

Cobra:
I can't imagine that the LED's would be interfering with the ballast. i had that initial thought as well. The LED's will only be on typically when the HID's are off. and the two circuit are going to be isolated by relays that are controlled by low voltage from somewhere else. Plus I haven't been able to find any instances of anyone else having problems with HID's after installing LED's and many people have MANY more LED's than I currently have.

if you can think of any reason I would be very interested to hear it.

thanks for the response!

Cheapest tends to be the Buy/Sale forums as HIDPlanet or occasionally a random vendor on ebay. The normal vendors at ebay (i.e. OEM xenon parts etc.) absolutely gouge the prices. I find the HIDPlanet forum consistently has better prices. Also, if you go the retrofit route, get yourself some bixenon projectors. These will give you the high beam you want. Also, all OEM projectors use D1S, D2S, D3S or D4S bulbs. 99% use D1S or D2S bulbs. The difference being, D1 has the ignitor attached to the bulb, D2 has the ignitor integrated into the ballast.

If you have any qustions I will be glad to answer them, I am very active over at HIDPlanet.