HIDs in a 2013 ram (factory projectors)

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chuck2417

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So I will be installing a set of HIDs from Jeremy at the retroshop over x-mas, I will let everyone know how it goes and give you my thoughts. I first started to try and replace the bulbs in the ram with aftermarket halogens after hearing horror stories of the HIDs in these trucks. Needless to say it didn't help much. Tried aiming the headlights up a bit, didn't do much either. So I ordered a kit from HIDSRUS, canbus 35w AC 6000K. Hearing that the canbus system worked for some people I figured I would give it a shot. Yes I know you should use a relay harness... But just hear my story first. Installed some in the fogs and some in the low beams. The fog lights work great. The low beams started off working great. Few days later the low beam driver side started to flicker/twitch. It wasn't bad, I never had another driver flash their brights at me. But it drove me nuts and since it's my low beams I need them to work all the time! Did tons of research and found anti-flicker capacitors (error elimintators). I orderd some, they are cheap. But to easily get to the ballasts I am going to have to remove the grill. After careful thought I realised If I am going to pull the grill off again I want a long term fix. A side note, it's really cold here so pulling a grill off (plastic grill) I am scared to break something. It's -25 here without a windchill. I don't have a heated or insulated garage either. With the windchill it's closer to -35 (celcius).

Now on to the goods. I contacted Jeremy at the retroshop and he was fantastic, lots of help. He even recommended a few things to fix my existing HIDs, before I ordered anything. After several emails I decided I should just bit the bullet and order a better kit. The reason I didn't order from him in the first place was because of the wiring harness scaring me. Well as long as the lights work I am willing to suck it up. Once you understand what a capacitor is designed to do, a splitter, a resistor etc the harness starts to make sense. Of course this only made sense after I started doing tons of reading on HIDs and common problems.

50w morimoto ballasts
35w 6000K bulbs
heavy duty relay built for 2013 rams (includes something to plug into both OEM headlight connectors)

This is a long start, but I figured I would give some background prior to just installing the kit. Hoping things goes smoothly. I know the grounds should be made by drilling a hole, removing some of the paint and using self taping screws. The resistors (gold pieces) need to be mounted to metal away from plastic. I will be using electrical tape for all connections (I know they are supposed to be tight and water resistant already). I won't be drilling a hole in the dust cap, I will route the wires through the bottom with a small notch. That's what I did with my current HID's and I haven't had any condensation or freazing happen in the headlight. I'll use zip ties to secure the wires. etc etc etc. Sorry for the long post. I will report back to this around x-mas time with how my experience went. I am excited to get started, and I want to first thank Jeremy for all of the help.

Note on shipping time: I order the items on December 8th (sunday) and it was shipped Monday December 9th via USPS. They arrived to my house in Canada (SK) on wednesday December 18th. The tracking information didn't work, actually kind of funny. Last week it said they just recieved the tracking information. Yesterday it said they just cleared customs... Not Jeremy's fault at all, stupid USPS and the time of year. Just glad I got them. I'll have a heated garage at my parents place to work in. Merry Christmas everyone, i'll keep you posted!
 

0212353

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Thanks Charlie for the order! ;)

Tracking, thats about normal for first class.......gotta love that crap! ;)

Check this pic out bud:

1470345_570014119733819_1227921287_n.jpg


Thats how I do them now ;)

So, the ballast is thin enough to shove inside the light. I like that too.......as any additional "heat" that can get in those 2013s, well.....helps with the fogging issues some seem to have. (ugh).

I stuff the ballast under the high beam bowl in there. The dust cap fits right over it then. ;)

But, yeah, there's the driver's side in all its glory! Pass side is simple, run that resistor to the 9006 plug coming out of the light (from the bulb) and its all set then.

I'm going to be doing a video for the harness connections on the '13s soon - just need to have some time! But, the only difference is the splitter and resistors.....vs the 4th gen quads. Check the vid for those out in this thread - http://www.ramforum.com/f96/hid_wiring_harness_videos-41221/

Hit me up if you have ANY questions - try to nab ya back quick, depends on what kind of craziness I'm into at the time! ;)
 
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chuck2417

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hmmmm I wonder if I am going to actually try putting the ballast in the headlight. No issues with too much heat or it moving around? I was thinking about that, I know a lot of vehicle with factory HID's put the ballast in the actual headlight assembly.
 

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I would shove it in there and call it a day. It will be tight, its not going to be an issue. Heat? The HIDs produce less heat than halogens, and the amount from the ballast is extremely minimal, but I think more in the light there is better on these 13s.
 

Heywood

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Good idea for the ballast in there. I wish I could've done that. Half the battle was figuring out where to put them and the relays.

JJ's relays are really beefy and well made. The lead over to the passenger head light could be about 12" longer, but it worked. It worked well mounted to the rubber spacer on the drivers side by the rad. I ran it in front of the rad and zip tied it to the tranny cooler support.

Having the ballast in the light will be great to have due to the limited space behind the light. Looks like a lot of room, but when you shove the light housing in, there's not as much as you think.

Good luck on the install. Love to hear the updates.
 

iam_canadian22

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jj did you modify that dust cover? mine don't have that bulge like the one in the pic, if i ever take my lights out for whatever reason im definitely gonna shove the ballasts in there, i also wish they would incorporate all the grounds into the harness to make the install that much simpler but minor detail, still great product and cant wait to slowly do my fogs and highs, as well as the wife's car
 

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Good idea for the ballast in there. I wish I could've done that. Half the battle was figuring out where to put them and the relays.

JJ's relays are really beefy and well made. The lead over to the passenger head light could be about 12" longer, but it worked. It worked well mounted to the rubber spacer on the drivers side by the rad. I ran it in front of the rad and zip tied it to the tranny cooler support.

Having the ballast in the light will be great to have due to the limited space behind the light. Looks like a lot of room, but when you shove the light housing in, there's not as much as you think.

Good luck on the install. Love to hear the updates.

surprised the length was considered short? These are actually...12-18" longer than my prior supplier. :evillol: But hey, there's always people that want a longer one :********: yeah, I went there. LOL

jj did you modify that dust cover? mine don't have that bulge like the one in the pic, if i ever take my lights out for whatever reason im definitely gonna shove the ballasts in there, i also wish they would incorporate all the grounds into the harness to make the install that much simpler but minor detail, still great product and cant wait to slowly do my fogs and highs, as well as the wife's car

Every '13 I've touched has had the same dust cap. I didn't modify them.

As for the grounds, they actually used to do that on the standard harness - but.....there were customers having issues with the pass side flickering. Grounds need to be short........running one from the pass side back to the drivers, well - its a bit long. Adds 2.3 cents to each harness cost too. LOL

But yeah, shove those ballasts in the light! Its a TIGHT fit, but.......its all good!
 

CastielHEMI

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Dodge has actually issued a "fix" for the fogging issue. Under the brown cap is the vent, they want you to drill a 3/16th hole through it to help with circulation and either put the cap back on or toss it. Sounds kinda funky to me, but that's what my dealership's service manager told me o-O
 

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CastielHEMI

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Ah, awesome! Will prolly bring my Ram into the dealer to get my lenses replaced outright then :D
 
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chuck2417

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So I starte the project on December 25th, around 10:30am. Started off by taking the grill off (pain in the butt) and taking out the old HID system. That didn't take very long. Then I got the new bulbs and ballast put into the headlights and got the wires stick out. For not wanting to damage the factory wiring I used the included wire extension to run that part ouf of the housing (made sure positive went to positive and ground to ground). Got the relay harenss installed. I found the best place to mount the relay was on the front of the fuse box (not the top). That gave the most wire length and also allowed for easy access to the relay. The passenger side wire can be ran on front of the radiator (there is a factory wire you can zip tie it to) along the top of the frame were the hood locks. There is really only one place to mount the resistors given the wire length of needing to get a drill in there. There is a frame piece right behind the headlight, can mount it as close to the middle of the truck as possible to avoid over heating the headlight. Plus there is also some holes (near grill) there to let air in to cool them off. So I got everything wired up, resistors mounted, just the grounds left. I used the 2 factory grounds that are both in the engine bay (most of the trucks electronics are using either of those 2 grounds (one by the fuse box and the other by the intake box) so they should be good. Now the wires included are not very long, to avoid drilling more holes I had used 12 gauge wire and created an extension so the grounds could reach. For I ran about 2 feet of wire (I had excess) to that ground on each side and used 2 small nuts and bolts (one on each side) to hold all the grounds together. Those ground wires were very secure. Also used some electrical tape over the bolt to avoid it scratching anything.

Now for the not so fun part... testing it out. Well turned on the lights with the truck off. Everything worked (no flicker). Both fired up first time and didn't take long to warm up (less than 5 seconds). Then I left them on for about 15 seconds. I then turned them off, they turned off immediatly. According to Jeremy they should stay on for a second or so. I turned the truck on and fired up the lights. Both lights came on, no flicker but I did have a bulb out error showing on the passenger side. Pulled the lights out to see if the resistor was getting hot, it was. After checking all the wiriing (it was wired correctly) and emailing Jeremy I thought perhaps it was just a stored message that would go away after driving for a bit with the lights on. Drove around, nothing changed. Then on the 26th, I woke up early again and tried to figure out the lights again, still nothing. Figured I could live with the bulb out error until I bought some new resistors from the retrofitsource that look like they are built very well. On The 27th I had to take my truck into the dealership for an oil change, figured perhaps they could clear the error and see if it would come up again (then I would know for sure I need new resistors).

This is where I ran into serious problems, I get onto the highway and start accelerating, everything was fine. Then I hit 70 km/h and the lights started freaking out. The passenger side light was flickering/strobing, it would turn on and off. Once I slowed down below 70 km/h and the lights were working.

I then turned off the road and headed home. I pulled the lights out and put the stock bulbs back in. The bulb out error went away. I ran out of time to deal with them, and paitence. The capacitor was wired the same way it came from Jeremy.

Note: My passenger side ballast had an issue the second day of not coming on the first time, this is a recall for the igniters in some of their ballasts. I will be cutting the wires and sending in a picture of everything to have a replacement sent to me.

I don't like giving up on things, and I always see things through. I have installed HID's in the past (never with a wiring harness) and I did my research. I made sure positive went to positive, proper grounds and everything was secure. I couldn't get it to work. I figured I would give everyone my experience and it was an honest one. I had my dad helping me out, who is good with wiring and created the ground wires. I haven't decided what I am going to do yet, because as it stands I have almost $400 put into this. My fog lights still have HIDs and they work great (canbus kit, no wiring harness, no anti flicker as its built into the ballast). The low beam stock headlights are dime... When the lights were working, wow they throw out a lot of light!
 

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Charlie - so....when the lights where pulled the last time, did you flip the cap and check for delay? If there's no delay on the setup, its pointing to that part there.

Rams can be quite picky, but in the end - I know we can get that rollin'
 
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chuck2417

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I didn't flip the capacitor around. I ran out of time as I had to drive 45 minutes to get to the dealership for the free oil change. Also with the bulb out error I know there is an issue with one or both of the resistors. My plan was to get the new ballast from the retrofit source, order 2 new resistors then try again later. The problem is I am back in Saskatoon (dad lives in Regina which is 2 hours away) and it's almost -30 degrees celcius without a windchill. Makes taking the grill off really dangerous with all of the plastic. My garage here isn't insolated or heated, this morning it was -18 in there.

Flipping the capacitor would fix the strobing/flickering when I get over 70 km/h? Reason I ask is in order to test that theory the grill has to go on and everything has to be mounted etc. Honestly these rams are stupid when it comes to changing a headlight, who thought it was a good idea to make getting the headlight out so much work... So Jeremy you figure the capacitor is causing the flickering at speed and one of the resistors might be faulty? I never checked the drivers side restitor if it got hot. The picture showed a truck (left headlight out when the front is facing you), which I assume is the passenger side. Would these work instead of the gold resistors?

Morimoto HD Load Resistors - Accessories from The Retrofit Source Inc
 

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those will work, its what we've moved to on the harnesses (they literally just got those in and started sending).

The cap thing, its quite possible. I've known guys that have used their lights for months, no issues - then it flickered.....cap was on backwards, easy fix. Odd that it took months to show up though.
 

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check for loose connector or grounds as well.

when i installed the hids the first time i was a bit hasty and was pulling on the wires a bit hard.

two days after install my passenger side lights started flickering and going off randomly, also since the first install my radio would get tons of static once the lights came on!

opened up everything and found 2 issues:
1. on the passenger side the ground for some reason came loose.
2, i had pulled so hard on the harness wire going to the ballast that the positive wire had come loose from the connector!

corrected the ground and replaced the connector, and now all is well.
 
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chuck2417

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I'll try the new resistors, maybe that will help with the bulb out error (have to order first). They look to have good connections (wiring for positive and negative), better than just the heatsink on the gold resistors. I am fairly sure one of mine broke during shipping from the really cold weather and it being bent in the box. Also I did check all of the wires and made sure I was careful and didn't pull any connections out, also nothing was loose! The grounds never came off or anything. They were held all together by a bolt and nut (which was then covered in electrical tape), to get them off I needed wrenches, no way you could do it with your fingers. What boggles my mind is I had the bulb out error even though the resistor was heating up. At least I thought it was heating up.

Question about the capacitor though - plugging in a capacitor with reverse polarity, will that not cause it to explode? I keep reading about warning cancellors which are just capacitors I believe, if you plug them in backwards they break? That is the first thing I checked was making sure the plus wire went to the non black wire on the harness etc. I thought capacitors were polarity specific, plugging them in wrong meant trouble?

I suppose it could be a ground problem, but I used thick wiring with very secure connections, the wire would break before the connectors were loose. The vehicle ground on the frame seemed fairly good. There is really no way to test grounds that I know of. I wanted to avoid drilling holes are much as possible, especially with it being a 'new' truck. That's why I ran the wire (maybe 2 feet long in total). I am open to suggestions.
 

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if the cap is flipped, it will still work. Trust me.......seen it a LOT.
 

iam_canadian22

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So I starte the project on December 25th, around 10:30am. Started off by taking the grill off (pain in the butt) and taking out the old HID system. That didn't take very long. Then I got the new bulbs and ballast put into the headlights and got the wires stick out. For not wanting to damage the factory wiring I used the included wire extension to run that part ouf of the housing (made sure positive went to positive and ground to ground). Got the relay harenss installed. I found the best place to mount the relay was on the front of the fuse box (not the top). That gave the most wire length and also allowed for easy access to the relay. The passenger side wire can be ran on front of the radiator (there is a factory wire you can zip tie it to) along the top of the frame were the hood locks. There is really only one place to mount the resistors given the wire length of needing to get a drill in there. There is a frame piece right behind the headlight, can mount it as close to the middle of the truck as possible to avoid over heating the headlight. Plus there is also some holes (near grill) there to let air in to cool them off. So I got everything wired up, resistors mounted, just the grounds left. I used the 2 factory grounds that are both in the engine bay (most of the trucks electronics are using either of those 2 grounds (one by the fuse box and the other by the intake box) so they should be good. Now the wires included are not very long, to avoid drilling more holes I had used 12 gauge wire and created an extension so the grounds could reach. For I ran about 2 feet of wire (I had excess) to that ground on each side and used 2 small nuts and bolts (one on each side) to hold all the grounds together. Those ground wires were very secure. Also used some electrical tape over the bolt to avoid it scratching anything.

Now for the not so fun part... testing it out. Well turned on the lights with the truck off. Everything worked (no flicker). Both fired up first time and didn't take long to warm up (less than 5 seconds). Then I left them on for about 15 seconds. I then turned them off, they turned off immediatly. According to Jeremy they should stay on for a second or so. I turned the truck on and fired up the lights. Both lights came on, no flicker but I did have a bulb out error showing on the passenger side. Pulled the lights out to see if the resistor was getting hot, it was. After checking all the wiriing (it was wired correctly) and emailing Jeremy I thought perhaps it was just a stored message that would go away after driving for a bit with the lights on. Drove around, nothing changed. Then on the 26th, I woke up early again and tried to figure out the lights again, still nothing. Figured I could live with the bulb out error until I bought some new resistors from the retrofitsource that look like they are built very well. On The 27th I had to take my truck into the dealership for an oil change, figured perhaps they could clear the error and see if it would come up again (then I would know for sure I need new resistors).

This is where I ran into serious problems, I get onto the highway and start accelerating, everything was fine. Then I hit 70 km/h and the lights started freaking out. The passenger side light was flickering/strobing, it would turn on and off. Once I slowed down below 70 km/h and the lights were working.

I then turned off the road and headed home. I pulled the lights out and put the stock bulbs back in. The bulb out error went away. I ran out of time to deal with them, and paitence. The capacitor was wired the same way it came from Jeremy.

Note: My passenger side ballast had an issue the second day of not coming on the first time, this is a recall for the igniters in some of their ballasts. I will be cutting the wires and sending in a picture of everything to have a replacement sent to me.

I don't like giving up on things, and I always see things through. I have installed HID's in the past (never with a wiring harness) and I did my research. I made sure positive went to positive, proper grounds and everything was secure. I couldn't get it to work. I figured I would give everyone my experience and it was an honest one. I had my dad helping me out, who is good with wiring and created the ground wires. I haven't decided what I am going to do yet, because as it stands I have almost $400 put into this. My fog lights still have HIDs and they work great (canbus kit, no wiring harness, no anti flicker as its built into the ballast). The low beam stock headlights are dime... When the lights were working, wow they throw out a lot of light!

im starting to think theres something different about our Canadian trucks, my fogs like yours need a canbus setup with a capacitor so they don't flicker, all American 13's don't seem to, my kit for my lows same as yours, worked flawlessly for about 2-3 weeks, slowly started now being pretty much everytime they wont turn on unless in auto mode or manually on when I physically start the truck from inside, If I use remote start the lights will not go on when I jump in and push the button to run mode, I have to shut off truck and restart it manually they they light up, I only get bulb out when the lights are actually off, and when they are off the leds on the relays are also not on, checked and changed all grounds, tried adding a jumper #10 from ground to - on battery , checked all connections, most I found was couple females in the relay base pushed down some but if they weren't making contact they wouldn't work at all, been emailing jj wainting on reply with his thoughts, im like you I don't like just giving up im the kind to find the fix, my buddy has a plug and play kit in his lows same truck with projector, his kit is for canbus made for our trucks they don't give bulb out, they flash when he locks the doors(mine don't and its set to do it), its very weird
 
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chuck2417

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So your truck will always show the low beam headlight out error unless the headlights are turned on? I wonder if maybe since the daytime running lights are going through the main headlight cable that it checks all connections and sees there is no resistance without the headlights being on? Anyone know trucks with DRL running hids through a relay harness and not having the bulb out message ever? The canbus kit I had on the lows never gave me a bulb out error. But the drivers side would sometimes flicker slightly. Nothing to the extent of what I had when this new kit was installed and I got over 70. That was on and off, serious flickering.
 
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