Morimoto HID help.

[Jimmy07]

What is difference with the LED setting? That also shuts down this pulse, right?

No. A member on cumminsforum used an oscilloscope on both settings (hid and led), and the led low beam setting does nothing.

 

[TonyMM]

No. A member on cumminsforum used an oscilloscope on both settings (hid and led), and the led low beam setting does nothing.

Ok good to know! Thanks

 

[Kinetic]

Spoke too soon, passenger side only comes on about every 5th time I turn on the lights. This is making me crazy, it makes zero sense, threw the LED bulbs back in and they work perfectly.
So there are only 2 components now the ballast and the bulb, still need to change the setting with Alpha, maybe that will fix it.

No idea what the Alpha would do for this, I don't have one. Honestly at this point I'd just return everything and get another HID kit that says Canbus ready from Ebay.

 

[CincyCuda68]

No idea what the Alpha would do for this, I don't have one. Honestly at this point I'd just return everything and get another HID kit that says Canbus ready from Ebay.

I’m real close to returning it and putting the led back in.

 

[CincyCuda68]

No. A member on cumminsforum used an oscilloscope on both settings (hid and led), and the led low beam setting does nothing.

Ok so the passenger side comes on about 1 in 5 times, drivers side works every time. Changed the Alpha setting for HID as per your instruction. Doing the same thing.
Does anybody have any clue why this would be happening? New bulbs and new ballasts, relay harness removed.

 

[Jimmy07]

Ok so the passenger side comes on about 1 in 5 times, drivers side works every time. Changed the Alpha setting for HID as per your instruction. Doing the same thing.
Does anybody have any clue why this would be happening? New bulbs and new ballasts, relay harness removed.

Well, I’m ALMOST at the point of suggesting what Kinetic said. The alfa setting does what it’s supposed to to make this work. This only leaves two variables- the bulbs and the ballasts. My suggestion, it’s possible the setting didn’t take just yet, so give the truck a few drive cycles. Then, connect the alfa to your BCM, click on the little battery in the bottom right corner. Select read system ID and scroll down to High Intensity Discharge headlamps under vehicle config 3. Make sure it says “set”. Try the lights again. If you still have problems, I’d just return them.

 

[TonyMM]

I’m real close to returning it and putting the led back in.

HID provide a better lighting than LED.
If this is important for you then you should use HID.
Get a replacement from them!

 

[CincyCuda68]

HID provide a better lighting than LED.
If this is important for you then you should use HID.
Get a replacement from them!

I’m about done, bottom line is these (when working) 55w HID kit is only marginally better than the LED I had in there (now in the high beam). If I can’t get these working, HID will never go back in.

 

[CincyCuda68]

Well, I’m ALMOST at the point of suggesting what Kinetic said. The alfa setting does what it’s supposed to to make this work. This only leaves two variables- the bulbs and the ballasts. My suggestion, it’s possible the setting didn’t take just yet, so give the truck a few drive cycles. Then, connect the alfa to your BCM, click on the little battery in the bottom right corner. Select read system ID and scroll down to High Intensity Discharge headlamps under vehicle config 3. Make sure it says “set”. Try the lights again. If you still have problems, I’d just return them.

I’m frustrated so going to walk away for a bit. Then I’ll read to make sure it set.
I feel like an idiot but these ballasts and bulbs are just plug and play, you can’t really screw it up other than polarity. I’ve triple checked the polarity and it’s black to black everywhere. Also I believe if the polarity isn’t right they just don’t come on at all.
I’m on my 3rd set of ballasts from Morimoto and second set of bulbs, am I just unlucky or is their QA that horrific? I haven’t read very many bad things about TRS or Morimoto.

 

[CincyCuda68]

Well, I’m ALMOST at the point of suggesting what Kinetic said. The alfa setting does what it’s supposed to to make this work. This only leaves two variables- the bulbs and the ballasts. My suggestion, it’s possible the setting didn’t take just yet, so give the truck a few drive cycles. Then, connect the alfa to your BCM, click on the little battery in the bottom right corner. Select read system ID and scroll down to High Intensity Discharge headlamps under vehicle config 3. Make sure it says “set”. Try the lights again. If you still have problems, I’d just return them.

And also, I can’t thank you enough for all the help, people like you are so valuable on the forum. Again thank you

 

[CincyCuda68]

This may be a clue, could this indicate yet another bad ballast?

 

[mikegrook]

I installed Morimoto HID conversion. Consists of the relay harness, ballast, igniter, bulbs

Passenger side lasted 2 days, had to replace bulb

Passenger side went out 2 days later, call TRS and they are sending me a new ballast

1 day later (today) drivers light goes out on my way home.

So in 6 days the lights worked a total of 1 day.

What the hell can be causing this? The relay harness connects to the battery and has its own ground.

I thought Morimoto was supposed to be quality stuff???

TRS has been great and I’m sure they will send me another ballast, but I need to figure out what’s going on, everyone seems to swear by these HID’s and I’m very close to going back to LED, maybe not as bright but they worked.

Had close to the same thing happen but over a larger timeframe. Customer service was great and sent new ballast out immediately but it is a hassle to have to change things. I was told that it was a known batch of bad ballast (If it was known then why ship them).

 

[Jimmy07]

View attachment 156827 This may be a clue, could this indicate yet another bad ballast?

It could indicate a bad ballast. Currently? Not sure. It could be left over from the previous bad ballast. B codes don’t clear themselves after the situation is corrected, so clear it now, shut everything down, open and close door, start truck, try headlights. If the code pops again, probably bad ballast.

 

[CincyCuda68]

It could indicate a bad ballast. Currently? Not sure. It could be left over from the previous bad ballast. B codes don’t clear themselves after the situation is corrected, so clear it now, shut everything down, open and close door, start truck, try headlights. If the code pops again, probably bad ballast.

Cleared it and it came back.

 

[Jimmy07]

Cleared it and it came back.

Three more tests just to be sure- first) unplug the low beam bulb only, then perform same steps as above with clearing the code. Run the truck and turn the lows on (without the bulb). If the code does not reappear, bad bulb. If it comes back, second test- unplug the ballast from the headlight housing wiring. Clear code and try again with the headlights on (ballast unplugged). If the code does not come back, bad ballast. If it comes back, third test- unplug the projector conversion harness from the two original factory headlight plugs. Clear code and try again with headlights on. If the code does not come back, bad wiring on the conversion harness. If the code comes back, short somewhere in factory wiring anywhere from those plugs to the BCM. I know, it’s a pain, but this is how you are going to be able to narrow this down.

 

[CincyCuda68]

Had close to the same thing happen but over a larger timeframe. Customer service was great and sent new ballast out immediately but it is a hassle to have to change things. I was told that it was a known batch of bad ballast (If it was known then why ship them).

I’ll do one better, I’ve been battling this for two days, lost my second ballast on the way home last night, had to drive last mile with fogs and light bar.

Called TRS and tried to figure out why I have had 3 bad ballasts in as many days. Tried to tell the guy all the steps I’ve taken but he kept harping on the fact that Ram is the worst electrical system of any vehicle made. Then told me that the factory ground wasn’t good enough (the one by the battery) then told me to go out with a multimeter and start troubleshooting the relay harness.
At that point I’ve had enough, I’ve spent hours and hours the last 3 days trying to diagnose this and to tell me I have a bad ground (oh and BTW the light bar and the fogs are grounded there as well and they work fine) is ridiculous. I bought this setup in October so when I told him that I’ve spent enough time and $$$$ he made the comment that he didn’t think they would take a return because I waited too long to install it but he acted like he would try.
I’m sorry but I don’t feel like if I spend over $270 on a product ($150 for kit, 80 for spare ballasts, $40 for spare bulbs) that I should have to sit out there with a multimeter trying to figure out why I’ve had 3 ballasts fail in 3 days.

WARNING stay away from Morimoto and TSR because if you do have an issue that is out of the ordinary then this is what you get.

“Ram is the worst lighting and electrical system on the market, if everything isn’t perfect HID will not work and you will fry ballasts”

So here is what makes me angry about that statement, even in this thread people have posted that cheap eBay kits are working flawlessly, I’ve seen tons of videos and posts saying the headlight revolution kit is working well. So why should I believe that Morimoto doesn’t work unless the wind blows the right way? I chose TSR to begin with because I was going to do a retrofit and had read great things about them as well. So is everyone full of crap and HID are this picky or was that guy just passing the buck?

The kit should be idiot proof as the only thing that you could possibly mess up is polarity and ground. I’ve checked polarity a dozen times and I know the ground is good.

He also told me that changing the HID in the BCM doesn’t turn off PWM and not using the harness was not an option with their kits.

 

[CincyCuda68]

Three more tests just to be sure- first) unplug the low beam bulb only, then perform same steps as above with clearing the code. Run the truck and turn the lows on (without the bulb). If the code does not reappear, bad bulb. If it comes back, second test- unplug the ballast from the headlight housing wiring. Clear code and try again with the headlights on (ballast unplugged). If the code does not come back, bad ballast. If it comes back, third test- unplug the projector conversion harness from the two original factory headlight plugs. Clear code and try again with headlights on. If the code does not come back, bad wiring on the conversion harness. If the code comes back, short somewhere in factory wiring anywhere from those plugs to the BCM. I know, it’s a pain, but this is how you are going to be able to narrow this down.

Good info, thank you. I’ve once again walked away for a bit, as the guy at TRS has me pissed.
I will run that procedure and report back. Thank you so much for trying to help me out.

 

[CincyCuda68]

Good info, thank you. I’ve once again walked away for a bit, as the guy at TRS has me pissed.
I will run that procedure and report back. Thank you so much for trying to help me out.

Ok so looks as if the conversion harness from TRS was bad, I guess that can blow ballasts, I put the old ballasts back in to test and I indeed have 3 bad ones.
This is where it gets interesting and frustrating, when the light was not bolted in it worked every time, I bolt it in and it worked once then wouldn’t work again. Take the bolts out headlight comes on. Installed a new projector conversion harness (I actually had a spare set because I ordered 2 by mistake way back when) now the lights are working (on and off at least 50 times). Don’t feel like I can trust them so I’m going to give it some time and make sure they don’t go out again but for now they are firing every time.

 

[Kinetic]

I’ll do one better, I’ve been battling this for two days, lost my second ballast on the way home last night, had to drive last mile with fogs and light bar.

Called TRS and tried to figure out why I have had 3 bad ballasts in as many days. Tried to tell the guy all the steps I’ve taken but he kept harping on the fact that Ram is the worst electrical system of any vehicle made. Then told me that the factory ground wasn’t good enough (the one by the battery) then told me to go out with a multimeter and start troubleshooting the relay harness.
At that point I’ve had enough, I’ve spent hours and hours the last 3 days trying to diagnose this and to tell me I have a bad ground (oh and BTW the light bar and the fogs are grounded there as well and they work fine) is ridiculous. I bought this setup in October so when I told him that I’ve spent enough time and $$$$ he made the comment that he didn’t think they would take a return because I waited too long to install it but he acted like he would try.
I’m sorry but I don’t feel like if I spend over $270 on a product ($150 for kit, 80 for spare ballasts, $40 for spare bulbs) that I should have to sit out there with a multimeter trying to figure out why I’ve had 3 ballasts fail in 3 days.

WARNING stay away from Morimoto and TSR because if you do have an issue that is out of the ordinary then this is what you get.

“Ram is the worst lighting and electrical system on the market, if everything isn’t perfect HID will not work and you will fry ballasts”

So here is what makes me angry about that statement, even in this thread people have posted that cheap eBay kits are working flawlessly, I’ve seen tons of videos and posts saying the headlight revolution kit is working well. So why should I believe that Morimoto doesn’t work unless the wind blows the right way? I chose TSR to begin with because I was going to do a retrofit and had read great things about them as well. So is everyone full of crap and HID are this picky or was that guy just passing the buck?

The kit should be idiot proof as the only thing that you could possibly mess up is polarity and ground. I’ve checked polarity a dozen times and I know the ground is good.

He also told me that changing the HID in the BCM doesn’t turn off PWM and not using the harness was not an option with their kits.

The response you got from TRS is complete BS. They call that customer service? Well stuff doesn't work because Ram sucks and it's your problem. I don't think so, cheap Ebay kits work perfectly fine so they are obviously better at making HID kits than morimoto or TRS. Oh yeah and they offer a no questions asked 2 year warranty.

 

[JB1]

I must be lucky, I’ve had my Morimoto 35W for over a year without any problems. If it does go out I think I'll try the DDM next