Just installed the latest DDM 55W HID kit and everything was great for 2 days. Suddenly, one of the headlights won't start.

I'm thinking the factory wires inside the Valeo E-codes are too small of a gauge size as this seems to be the culprit on the troubleshooting guides. Any thoughts??? Anyone else have similar issues.

What really sucks is that I had the 55W Apexcone kit for about 2 years and just bought the DDM kit since the opposite headlight started having the same issue only it progressed to the point that it wouldn't start.

 

Could be, but I thought the DDM kits had lower starting current than our stock ones.

I'm not sure why I thought that though. I may have made it up.

 

Yeah. I thought the same thing. I'm going to give them a call to see what they think. Not really looking forward to changing the wire size in the head light - assuming I can find the OEM pins.

 

I also bought the DDM 55 watt with 6k bulbs (Man do they light up the road )
and the bulb out warning module and the harness.
i have DRLs and wanted to keep them (the way I drive ,I want to be seen !!)

I installed everything up (plug & play easy) , start the car , Bulb out comes on
I guess they (bulb out modules) work on cars that check for resistance, ours check for current draw.
I fixed this issue by adding on each side a 6 ohm 30 watt resistor, the 2 amp draw is enough to fool the computer.

These ballasts take forever to start and on my car (DRLs) when you turn the key on ,the lights come on , so the ballasts start up and when you start the motor they cut off and go back on after the motor fires up and this
(for me) always result in one light not coming on.
And you have to wait for a while before restarting because it wont turn on!!!

I have to turn the key on , wait for the lights to almost completely fire up
and then start the engine.. This is a real PITA

I fixed this issue by finding in the wire harness a wire that gets 12 volts
with key on and stays live during engine start but still the same problem

I guess the voltage drop when the engine turns over is enough to screw up the ballasts..... I go on ...

The harness DDM sells is a real joke , its made with 16 or even 18 gauge wire.
I decided F#$ this, I made a harness for each side with 12 gauge wire
with relays wired directly to the ballasts ( no connectors)

This was a lot of work for something plug and play !!!!!!!!

I start the car normally and the same F?&?& thing , one light is off.

With all I have done I can say the DDM 55 watt ballasts are very weak

Where can I find a good 55 watt ballast ?

 

Not sure what your saying, but if you have daytime running lights were they factor HID's to begin with.

My low beams (factory HID) will not come on unless the engine is running. At night its a pain, but I beleive this is consitent with HID's.

 

No, they are H7s valeo E code lights
The power to the h7 in DLR mode is too low for the ballasts

I think the very small ballast casing is the culprit ,
there is not enough (( ballast stuff in there to work properly )) :-)

anyway at least up here in Montreal in cold weather...

 

Thats standard of even stock ballasts. They will shut off as you start the car. I beleive this is a designed feature vs just a voltage drop. Honestly 16ga-18ga should be more than enough for the small current draw. We're talking 55w at 14.4v were talking <4Amps. Easy as pie for that gauge wire, even at DC.

Now, we toss in some factor for efficency. The 55w output of the HID might draw 65 watts. So still very low amps. The fact that your bulb out light came on tells you that it was drawing less current than your stock lighting system. Was that a 35W H7 low beam setup, or does the car use 55w H7 low beams.

Finally the issue of not comming back on, is actually probably a feature where they avoid hot restrike.

 

From what I understand, ballasts have to "cool" down if they fail to strike an arc. This is internal to the ballast not something with the vehicle. This increases the longevity of the ballast and bulb so the bottom line is: don't use HID for DRL's.

Perhaps you should wire up your fog lights, or if you E-codes have city lights, as DRL's and keep the low beams for the light switch.

As for my issue, I haven't had a chance to call DDM with the holidays and all, but I've been switching my lights on above 2000rpm and so far so good.

 

Stolen from a website:

"Hot restrike of HID lamps

Generally a high Frequency electronic ballast will ignite an HID lamp with a high frequency voltage with a fixed frequency generated with for instance a resonant circuit. Also take over and the run up of the HID lamp is done on the same frequency. For cold ignition this is no problem because the pressure inside the HID lamp is still low during take over and run up. However, for hot-restrike the pressure is already high after breakdown and acoustic resonances will be triggered immediately after breakdown so that, if the HID lamp is operated for a few msec on a fixed frequency (for instance 200 - 300 kHz) the lamp will explode. To avoid this problem for hot-restrike, immediately after breakdown of the lamp the lamp should be operated not at a fixed frequency but making use of a frequency modulation technique such as more in particular spread spectrum modulation."

 

After all I had done with No + results I was pretty sure it was the ballasts
Yesterday I received Retro solution 55 watt digital ballasts.
These are 3 times the size of the DDM units.
Actually they are too big to install under the lights, on the drivers side
it was easy, I put under the green cover near the power steering fluid,
there is lots of space there.
The other side was not evident, I finally tie rapped it under the air intake
tube.
They light up 3 times faster now!!
Put the key in and start right away, No problem.
On,off,on ,off wait a few minutes, turn on, no problems

With the DDMs every time I wanted to start the car I had to wait for them to fire up before starting the engine.
If not one would not turn on every other time. a PITA
Maybe the DDMs work better in warmer climat.
Its 0 deg F right now.

And they seem a little brighter ( I think ).........