Hey gang,
I'm having a tough time getting my new lighting systems to work together. I bought an '05 ram 1500 about 2 months ago and I've been slowly rebuilding it on weekends to get it ready to become my daily driver. I couldn't keep the mod bug from biting, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the part replacements.
I purchased a 55w HID projector retrofit kit from Retro Solutions. I went with the CCFL halos for the coolness factor. I also purchased a prewired HID projector foglamp replacement from Protuninglab with LED halos. Originally I had bought some premade headlights from them too, but after hearing about quality/longevity concerns, I went with a more trusted name, at least for the primaries. I've been having shipping issues with the CCFL bulbs that Retro Solutions has been taking great care of for me. These went in some new smoked lense Spec D housings as I'm transitioning to a black on grey look. Turn signals were replaced with LED switchbacks as well.
In addition to the front, in case it's relevant, the rear tails are premade LEDs from Spyder with replacement LED bulbs for backup lights. I also have a 3rd brake light from either sped D or Spyder (I forget which) coming shortly with full LEDs prewired. I mention it because of the lamp out indicator. Eventually I'd like to rid myself of the lamp out light and avoid hyperflashing anywhere, but I'd settle for everything working for now.
I've troubleshooted my own wiring to this point. Last weekend I had the headlight HIDs working with hi/lo functionality, but hadn't gotten to installing the fogs. I was waiting on a new inverter for the headlight CCFL halos after one smoked on me, and hadn't spliced in any load resistors on the switchback turn signals.
Status:
Headlight HIDs working
Fogs not installed
Halos not connected
Switchbacks with no load resistors partially working
So I've got all of the halos spliced together down to one input wire connected to the driver's turn signal (white/yellow wire), and spliced the ground to the turn signal ground since it was there. I also spliced a load resistor in parallel from white/grey to black (same ground, might be brown) on the turn signal factory harness (right near the lamp connector) as I saw on a guide here for a 2007. Driver's switchback functionality is working perfect. I haven't spliced in the resistor on the passenger side yet, but presumably it will work as well once that's done. Halos are similarly all working perfect, but I lost the headlights.
Status:
Headlight HIDs NOT working
Fogs installed and fully functional
Halos installed and fully functional
Switchbacks presumed working (one is, one missing load resistor)
The crazy part to me is that the headlights were working. Adding in the additional loads seems to have messed up the primaries. One thing I noticed is that the wire color on the park light in the turn signal bundle (white/lt grey) is the same as one of the wires in the headlight bundle providing either 12V or signal for the headlight HID relay. One theory I had was that perhaps because I purchased things from the four corners of the world, Retro Solutions may have sent a standard headlight kit and I just spliced an extra load resistor in parallel with the headlight trigger, causing my current draw to sink too low for the ballasts to kick over. I also chose to run all halos together with a series of butt splices and electrical tape, merging as I went. I'm not sure of the total load on these, but if I'm choking the 12V power line then I may need to diversify my sources. I just don't know anything about the black boxes of relays and power centers in the Ram. The fogs were "strobing" slightly when I first fired them up. I figured it was just the first time firing them up, but I wanted to mention it in case it's a clue. I also attempted to turn on all lights individually (interior truck knob) when I didn't have a good ground on anything. I hadn't connected my ground distribution block to battery and I heard a clicking/popping similar (but possibly different) from a turn signal at one point. Maybe the headlight ballasts trying to click over.
Do I need to split up my halo source wires? Finish the other switchback load resistor and see if anything happens? Hardware died? I've checked all HID headlight connections including the relay harness connections. I did have to use a few washers to connect the oversized 12V O-ring termination to my custom 12V bus, and I'm not claiming that my wiring job is pretty by any stretch, but I made good crimps everywhere, double wrapped everything with electrical tape, and zip tied to structure as I went. I just don't have the patience for soldering when it's 100*F in the garage.
Any helpful input is appreciated. I can't figure out why these HID headlights seem to have died on me. The truck sat outside for a week while I drove the Challenger to work and back. If any more information from me would be helpful, let me know.
Thanks for reading!
I'm having a tough time getting my new lighting systems to work together. I bought an '05 ram 1500 about 2 months ago and I've been slowly rebuilding it on weekends to get it ready to become my daily driver. I couldn't keep the mod bug from biting, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the part replacements.
I purchased a 55w HID projector retrofit kit from Retro Solutions. I went with the CCFL halos for the coolness factor. I also purchased a prewired HID projector foglamp replacement from Protuninglab with LED halos. Originally I had bought some premade headlights from them too, but after hearing about quality/longevity concerns, I went with a more trusted name, at least for the primaries. I've been having shipping issues with the CCFL bulbs that Retro Solutions has been taking great care of for me. These went in some new smoked lense Spec D housings as I'm transitioning to a black on grey look. Turn signals were replaced with LED switchbacks as well.
In addition to the front, in case it's relevant, the rear tails are premade LEDs from Spyder with replacement LED bulbs for backup lights. I also have a 3rd brake light from either sped D or Spyder (I forget which) coming shortly with full LEDs prewired. I mention it because of the lamp out indicator. Eventually I'd like to rid myself of the lamp out light and avoid hyperflashing anywhere, but I'd settle for everything working for now.
I've troubleshooted my own wiring to this point. Last weekend I had the headlight HIDs working with hi/lo functionality, but hadn't gotten to installing the fogs. I was waiting on a new inverter for the headlight CCFL halos after one smoked on me, and hadn't spliced in any load resistors on the switchback turn signals.
Status:
Headlight HIDs working
Fogs not installed
Halos not connected
Switchbacks with no load resistors partially working
So I've got all of the halos spliced together down to one input wire connected to the driver's turn signal (white/yellow wire), and spliced the ground to the turn signal ground since it was there. I also spliced a load resistor in parallel from white/grey to black (same ground, might be brown) on the turn signal factory harness (right near the lamp connector) as I saw on a guide here for a 2007. Driver's switchback functionality is working perfect. I haven't spliced in the resistor on the passenger side yet, but presumably it will work as well once that's done. Halos are similarly all working perfect, but I lost the headlights.
Status:
Headlight HIDs NOT working
Fogs installed and fully functional
Halos installed and fully functional
Switchbacks presumed working (one is, one missing load resistor)
The crazy part to me is that the headlights were working. Adding in the additional loads seems to have messed up the primaries. One thing I noticed is that the wire color on the park light in the turn signal bundle (white/lt grey) is the same as one of the wires in the headlight bundle providing either 12V or signal for the headlight HID relay. One theory I had was that perhaps because I purchased things from the four corners of the world, Retro Solutions may have sent a standard headlight kit and I just spliced an extra load resistor in parallel with the headlight trigger, causing my current draw to sink too low for the ballasts to kick over. I also chose to run all halos together with a series of butt splices and electrical tape, merging as I went. I'm not sure of the total load on these, but if I'm choking the 12V power line then I may need to diversify my sources. I just don't know anything about the black boxes of relays and power centers in the Ram. The fogs were "strobing" slightly when I first fired them up. I figured it was just the first time firing them up, but I wanted to mention it in case it's a clue. I also attempted to turn on all lights individually (interior truck knob) when I didn't have a good ground on anything. I hadn't connected my ground distribution block to battery and I heard a clicking/popping similar (but possibly different) from a turn signal at one point. Maybe the headlight ballasts trying to click over.
Do I need to split up my halo source wires? Finish the other switchback load resistor and see if anything happens? Hardware died? I've checked all HID headlight connections including the relay harness connections. I did have to use a few washers to connect the oversized 12V O-ring termination to my custom 12V bus, and I'm not claiming that my wiring job is pretty by any stretch, but I made good crimps everywhere, double wrapped everything with electrical tape, and zip tied to structure as I went. I just don't have the patience for soldering when it's 100*F in the garage.
Any helpful input is appreciated. I can't figure out why these HID headlights seem to have died on me. The truck sat outside for a week while I drove the Challenger to work and back. If any more information from me would be helpful, let me know.
Thanks for reading!
