Problems wiring in CATZ HID lighting . . .

[ChrisKringle]

Need some help here. Bought CATZ 4300K HID 9007 headlight conversion kit. The whole thing plugs together, couple of grounds and a positive wired to the battery. The only other way it wires to the truck is it has a 9007 style receptacle that the OEM headlamp socket plugs into. So I plugged the passenger headlight harness into, to finish up and it doesn't work. The HID kit just flickers. The kit uses the OEM headlamp harness to turn on the HID, and also to switch high and low beams.



I took everything out, and put the stock bulbs back in so I'd have lights, well now the passenger side (side I drew current from for the HID kit) low beam doesn't work, but the high beam does. The kit suggested to replace the OEM fuse with a higher rated 15 A fuse. Problem, our trucks lights plug right into an Integrated Power Module.



So, am I going to have to use the OEM headlamp socket to switch a couple of relays which will feed the HID's??



Any suggestions would be great.

 

[p-Bar]

You will get some flicker till they warm up , nature of the beast. I know my brother put in the same type of units in his Acura NSX and didn't have any problems. Check all your connections well.

 

[rbattelle]

So, am I going to have to use the OEM headlamp socket to switch a couple of relays which will feed the HID's??

On the surface this would seem to be a good solution, but the problem is that the PCM monitors all the lights for the "lamp out" indicator. I think it looks for a specific resistance across the bulbs. If the relay you use doesn't have the right resistance, the lamp out indicator will be on all the time.



Was this kit made specifically for these trucks? The PCM controls the headlamps (as I mention) and it's possible there's an interference problem between the PCM and your new HID kit.



-Ryan

 

[ChrisKringle]

You will get some flicker till they warm up , nature of the beast. I know my brother put in the same type of units in his Acura NSX and didn't have any problems. Check all your connections well.

It wasn't a momentary flicker, that's all they would do. I tested the bulbs by just jumping the ballast to the battery. Bulbs lit up fine.



After I put the stock 9007's back in, the low beam on the passenger side would not work and the lamp out indicator was on. Today the lamp out indicator was off, so I tried the low beam and they both worked fine so . . .



So I'm thinking that the high/low beam control module (the unit which plugs into one of the OEM light socket, and controls the on/off/high/low on the HID) drew too much current from the passenger side OEM headlamp socket and tripped a breaker or something?



Any ideas?

 

[p-Bar]

Sounds like your on the right track.

 

[67guzzler]

So, am I going to have to use the OEM headlamp socket to switch a couple of relays which will feed the HID's??

Yes. Wire the relay to the battery. This puts the burdon of the juice for the ballast directly to the battery. Then you wire the relay switch wires in the pos and neg of the wiring harness to the lights. When you turn your lights on, the only power draw through the harness will be for the relay as the juice to the ballast will come directly from the battery.



To avoid the headlight out warning mentioned above (you might get this even if you could successfully get the juice to the ballast via the light bulb socket because many ballasts do not provide the closed circuit resistence when they're off) you can go to the local auto / truck parts store and buy some small cheap small marker lights and simply wire them in parallel between the relay SWTICH and the lightbulb socket / harness. This will simulate the resistence of traditional halogen bulbs.



I did an HID retrofit on my 1997 740iL. I hope it gives you some ideas.



I hope this makes sense and helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.

 

[thomase]

I'm having a similar problem with wiring led lights on the back of my flat bed towing body. I'm currently running the taillights off the trailer light connector. Also wired in small, cheap running lights under the bed to the factory rear turn signals. This takes care of the lamp out problem but now I don't have the rear door lock flash. Bummer. The good news is the lights look awesome and were less than $20/each on ebay.

 

[ChrisKringle]

Ok, so what's the deal??????????? I wired it up today, relay to battery to juice up the ballasts and then relay coil to the headlight socket. 2 relays, one for high, and one for low, one end of each to neg. on headlight socket, then the other end of one to high, and the other end to low beam voltage. So when I turn the headlights on, it should energize the coil and connect the ballast to the battery and the HID should turn on.



Right? Well it still doesn't work. I energized the coil on the low beam relay with battery voltage, and sure enough HID comes on.



So what I'm thinking, maybe the resistance accross the high/low circuit needs to be within parameters to operate properly?



So 55 watts at 14 volts would be 4 amps, right?



4 amps at 14 volts would be 3. 5 ohms resistance across a halogen when it's hot, right.



The resistance accross the relay coil is 100 ohms, so if I wire a resistor in parallel to make the circuit resistance 3. 5 ohms, will it work?



Any body?

 

[rbattelle]

The resistance accross the relay coil is 100 ohms, so if I wire a resistor in parallel to make the circuit resistance 3. 5 ohms, will it work?



Any body?

Can't hurt anything... give it a try! (And let us know what happens).



-Ryan

 

[ChrisKringle]

Got it to work. Had to power the HID through relays, and use the OEM headlight voltage to switch the relays/HID on and off. Two relays, one for low and one for high beam. Plus I had to leave the OEM light bulb plugged into the factory light socket because it would not power the relays without 'seeing' a light bulb plugged in. The relays are 100 ohm, so the circuitry must just see an open, set the lamp out indicator, and no current to that socket. It works with the other side out, but the lamp out indicator is on. A headlight is the easiest cheapest resistive network I could think of, so there it sits in a beer can with some vent holes. Anyone have a better idea?



I also had to cut metal bodywork out to fit the bulbs behind the headlight reflector assembly. You may not have that problem if your kit doesnt have high/low beam (shorter bulb)



These things are bright! I can actually see! Stock sucks! When you kick em on they are the bluest lights I've ever seen in a car, till they cool down to 4300k. You can get kits from blue (6000k) to purple (7000k or so) though, kind of wish I had a 5000k kit or so, more blueish white.

 

[CLAYTON]

How bout a pic or two?

 

[67guzzler]

Got it to work. Had to power the HID through relays, and use the OEM headlight voltage to switch the relays/HID on and off. Two relays, one for low and one for high beam. Plus I had to leave the OEM light bulb plugged into the factory light socket because it would not power the relays without 'seeing' a light bulb plugged in. The relays are 100 ohm, so the circuitry must just see an open, set the lamp out indicator, and no current to that socket. It works with the other side out, but the lamp out indicator is on. A headlight is the easiest cheapest resistive network I could think of, so there it sits in a beer can with some vent holes. Anyone have a better idea?

Yes -- Chris -- did you see my post above? If I'm understanding correctly, you need to have a bulb and it's resistence present for the juice to come and flip the relay.



What I suggested above is to go buy some cheap marker lights from a truck and trailer shop and then splice them into the wiring to the headlight socket and then just strap them on each side under the hood. These are cheap & they'll provide the resistence needed to trigger the juice to the relay switch. The pos and neg wiring should continue after the market light to the socket. You're just splicing into the positive and negative with a low voltage marker light. This will provide the resistence you need and will fool the truck into thinking there is a closed circuit even if there is no bulb present.



I wish I had a picture. I had to do the same thing with my BMW 740iL when I added HID's to it because it told me I had burned out bulbs... .



I hope this makes sense & helps.



-Jay

 

[jelag]

the resistance across the relay tells me that you don't have enough current to turn on the light and installing the light bulb makes it work... . why don't you go to radio shack and get a resister that you can put in parallel with the relay to bring the current draw up the the required amount for the PCM to work.....



As I remember ohm's law you add the values together and divide by 2... . for a parallel circuit.....



BTW. . would you share where you got the kit and what its worth... .



Thanks...

 

[ChrisKringle]

Well I could go get a resister from radio shack, but at this time I don't know what value of resistance is needed to fool the ECM. Guess I could try trial and error, build a socket setup so I could switch a few resistors in and out till it works. The marker light would probably work, but it too could burn out. I'll try the resistors and let ya know, I'll bet a 10 ohm would work good, that would be 9 ohms resistance in parallel with a 100 ohm coil, which would draw 1. 32 amps at 12 V. I would need 2 resistors per side, then just toss them in an aluminum box from Radio Shack.



I'll take some pics tomorrow night, maybe one during the day. I'll also take some pics of the install, really clean except for the bundle (all the relays and such) of wires under the air filter (AEM w/o stock box), but when I do the resistors I'll zip tie everything so it's clean.



I got the kit locally at an import performance shop where I buy my bulbs. It's CATZ, I read they are the premier manufacturer and supply some the the factory units. They are out of business now, so that kit is no longer available. Mine has high/low, but think you can only get low beam kits now from various manufacturers. The high beam feature on mine actually moves the filament so many millimeters to refocus the light. Same wattage on high and low, 30 watts.



HID aftermarket is illegal now in the US (what I've been told), but I see kits available on the net. I would recommend 6000kelvin kit for looks, blue, but I guess thee 4300kelvin kit I have provides the most usable light. So I may be changing to blue if I can find a kit, I'll let ya know if anyone wants to take this kit off my hands . . .



I paid $400, that's cheap! But I know the guy so . . .

 

[EEdmondson]

Be careful with the heat buildup from the resisters and make sure they are rated at high enough wattage. Do the math.

jelag, you're wrong about the formula for total resistance in a parallel circuit. I think it's 1/rt=1/r1+1/r2

 

[RKerner]

Be careful with the heat buildup from the resisters and make sure they are rated at high enough wattage. Do the math.

jelag, you're wrong about the formula for total resistance in a parallel circuit. I think it's 1/rt=1/r1+1/r2

Then do a little algebra to get:



Requivalent= r1*r2

... ... ... ... ... ... ... . r1+r2



RickK

 

[ChrisKringle]

yeah a 10 ohm resistor would dissipate 15 watts or so of power, and I think they would be fine in an aluminum box. I know they get really hot, but anything is better than the H7 light bulb-in-the-beer-can trick. I'll bet a 5 watt resistor network may work, cause that's what a marker light pulls. I'll let ya know.



http://www.hidynamic.com/



For anyone who wants HID. That's cheap. I'm going to put another set of 9007's in the turn signal reflector and lose the hideous orange glow. Either wire them to come on with the high beams and or daytime running lights or something like that.