Hid light problem….please help

[Sir John]

I just installed my hid kit into my OEM projectors. I took my time and everything seemed to go well. I checked several times to make sure everything was working right before I put everything back together. Then I pulled my truck up to the garage door to check the alignment and then I noticed something didn’t seem right. The light coming from my passenger’s side seems correct to me, but the driver’s side definitely seems wrong. It’s almost like the light isn’t aimed right….it seems mostly blocked or something. Please see the pictures below. One shot is with my high beams and the other is with the low beams. I did not cram everything in the projectors housing. I installed the ballasts and canbus adapters outside of the housing. I thought that I made sure the hid bulbs were seated correctly…it was a very tight twist…thought I was going to break them. You can see in the picture that it’s almost like the driver’s side light is too high, or low, in the housing, but how does that happen?? Also, you can see in the picture below that the light orgin between the hid bulbs and the stock halogen bulbs are in the same exact spot, so you would think the focus would be the same then. I thought I was all done and now I have to figure out what happened. I would really appreciate anyone’s help.

 

[blackbetty14]

Looks like a ballast issue. As the bulbs or ballasts degrade the power output is affected. Some bulbs are brighter than othera as well as different colors even at the same temp.

Another thing to check is the placement of the bulb in the projector... the tube on the side of the bulb can affect light output.

 

[iam_canadian22]

Ya try swapping the ballasts sides to see if the problem fallows the ballast, could be a bum one nothing is always perfect, good thing is you bought from the right person and if theres an issue it will get rectified quickly


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sir John]

Yeah, I'm thinking it's a bulb placement issue. When the high breams are on, you can the driver's side is slightly higher up on the garage door. The brightness between the two seem the same to me, so I don't think I have a ballast issue. I maybe could have a bad bulb. I'll swap them and see if the problem follows the bulb. When I talked to Jeremy yesterday he mentioned that that "tube" on the side of the bulb could be throwing the projector's focal point off and to try and rotate the hid bulb until I get the focal point I want. Unfortunately it won't be quite that easy...l have to do a slight mod in order to do it. I'm pretty sure can fix it. I drove it last night and the light output is still pretty good as they are. I just want to get it better...to where I would expect them to be

 

[iam_canadian22]

In some cases its easier to remove the bulb lock, its held on by a screw or 2, place bulb then replace the lock rather then trying to fight the bulb and worry about breaking it, idealy you would want the igniter tube facing down


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sir John]

BAM!!!! All fixed! I tried the simple fixes first but none of them corrected the focal point. So, I took Jeremy's advice. I removed the bulb socket by removing the 3 torx screws. I found the bulb stops and cut them off. This would now allow me to rotate the bulb freely until I found the focal point I wanted. Then retighten down the 3 torx screws to lock it in place. That's it...took me about 10 minutes and now it looks a lot better. I'm very happy now.

BTW....for those that are worried about the heat. I had the hids on for about 15 minutes. I then placed my hand on the back of the metal projector while they were still on. It was hot but did not burn me. I was able to keep my hand on it. Definitely not hotter than the halogen bulb if it was in there. Obviously this was not a scientific study....I was just curious.

 

[BlownGP]

BAM!!!! All fixed! I tried the simple fixes first but none of them corrected the focal point. So, I took Jeremy's advice. I removed the bulb socket by removing the 3 torx screws. I found the bulb stops a cut them off. This would now allow me to rotate the bulb freely until I found the focal point I wanted. That's it...took me about 10 minutes and now it looks a lot. I'm very happy now.

BTW....for those that are worried about the heat. I had the hids on for about 15 minutes. I then placed my hand on the back of the metal projector while they were still on. It was hot but did not burn me. I was able to keep my hand on it. Definitely not hotter than the halogen bulb if it was in there. Obviously this was not a scientific study....I was just curious.

Glad you got it fixed..I saw this thread a while ago and figured the bulb needs to be turned some but wasn't sure how you would do that. lol
Cool tip from Jeremy.


And yes HIDs overall produce less heat although the arc might be hotter than a halogen.

 

[0212353]

Nice chattin' with you the other day, and glad you got it where it needs to be!

 

[Sir John]

Here are some pictures of the hid lights at night. Before anyone asks, I have PIAA Crystal Ion bulbs in my fogs.