Guys, over the last year I have installed 3 different brands of HIDs and each rime the driver side light or ballast has gone out. Can't be a coincidence. What could be the problem?

 

Don't get offended, these are just the first things that come to my mind when I see people say their HID keeps on breaking.

•I assume that you know better than to touch the bulbs right and be very careful with it?
•How did you install the ballast? The ballasts are actually the ones to break first before the bulbs under normal usage.
•The wires from the ballasts should be pointing down to prevent water from getting in.
•The ballasts should be in a place where it's less likely to get wet.
•The ballasts should be secure and not loose where it gets thrown around or hitting something or vibrates.
•Make sure the plugs are well connected and no water gets in between.
•Does it have a wire harness or it plugs directly to the OE wires of the car? If it has a wire harness, check if the fuse gets wet.

 

No offense taken. I appreciate all advice and experience. I found the problem. As you know sometimes on these things you have to reverse polarity by flipping the plug over. It doesn't fit well so I twist tied it secure. All is good. I have done all you suggested but install the ballast with the plug down. I will do that.

Thanks

 

Do you tend to detail your engine bay often with spraying water in it?

 

I thought I forgot that one thing. Sounds great! Glad to have helped.

 

waterproof and schockproof ballasts FTW. had mine for 3 years now. they just dangle in my engine bay and bounce around all day long lol

 

I've opened a handful of HID's back then, they're all shockproof and waterproof to be honest. There's a good amount of tar looking substance in it to keep it both. But I still wouldn't take it for granted after seeing how small the electronics inside is. Besides, it is technically an electronic device, and even if when we buy electronics that are shockproof and waterproof we don't purposely go looking for both.

 

also what i find to be a issue or contributing factor is not to start your car at night with the lights on .. i have too exp some failures and now since i turn off lights before starting , still on same ballast 2 yrs

 

Yeah I think they are all shock/water/dust proof at this point. Whether it be a $300 phillips or $30 Xentec kit lol. Mine were just always stuffed in an open spot and have been great from 2 different cars for over 2 years, even with auto on/off..

 

what brand/type of HID are you buying (Ebay???) you really get what you pay for....The cheap HID's are a luck of the draw type deal, total cost is added into quality assurance and the cheaper ones don't have the control, testing & standards the good ones have (Phillips, etc) - you might get a good one or might not. Most common is flickering and short lifespan.

 

^^^LOL This guy.

 

Hope u get it fixed

 

Um I think he did fix it... Like a month ago lol

 

Yes I did solve the problem. Just needed to adjust the prongs on the plug so they made better contact. I also took the advice of a member and started turning the headlights on and off manually instead of using to auto function.

 

You really shouldn't just flip the plug around to reverse the polarity. It's very easy to reverse the location of the wires if you have a precision screw driver. Here's a video we did showing how to reverse the polarity on an h11 HID kit:


Reversing the actual wires ensures that the connector properly plugs into the vehicle's headlight harness and gets a good connection.

Steve