Fog Light Mod + HID's

[sleepn_sn95]

So I went to start my car this morning and the battery was dead. Could the ballasts be drawing power from the battery even when everything is off?

 

[ttocs]

it shouldn't, but anything is possible.

 

[Dr.Scientist]

Oh I love having one of the many cars without ABS...

Isn't there a way to route the HID's to the fog lights, if you have ABS? There must be some way to do it...

 

[ttocs]

not sure what your talking about. There is no problem adding hid to your fog lights. That is what this post was about in the beginning.

 

[OnyxCobra]

There is a potential problem, though.

 

[Dr.Scientist]

What's that?

 

[JiMi_DRiX]

I have 6k's in my fogs too, stock lenses. They are so bright!! Oddly, my headlights and fogs set off my ABS for a little while, but then it quit. It hasnt gone off in a long time now.

 

[ttocs]

What's that?

I am curious as well. If you look at the history fewer people have had issues with them, then people that have not. A couple of guys got warning lights for some strange reason(probably install related honestly) but most of us have had good use out of ours.

 

[OnyxCobra]

Regardless of how many people have problems there's still the potential of it, that's all I'm saying. It's not just with Mustangs either, it happens on other cars as well.

 

[Dr.Scientist]

What is it? What's the problem??

 

[OnyxCobra]

have you read any of this thread?

 

[Woody6799]

have you read any of this thread?

:laughing4: :violent1:

 

[evilcw311]

Part of the problem that people are having with the HID's pulling an ABS light is that they are powering the ballast straight from the headlight harness. there is 2 major problems with that, 1) the ballast pull more power than what that circuit is designed to give, this is why is it best to power them from the battery via 12v relay that is triggered by the headlight wires. 2) the headlight and foglight wiring shares the same ground wires as the ABS system and as you should already know you technicaly draw your power from the ground wire, NOT the power side as most people commonly mistake. So again if you use the relay to power these and give them their own ground to the frame away from welds and not on an existing bolt than this will solve your issues.


Other cars will have similar issues due to the same reasons, may not always be abs but something due to sharing a common ground with other devices and sensors.

Not all mustangs will have the problem due to the fact that either they are powering theirs from the battery or ground wires might not be as inufficient as others. our cars are prone to ground problems and this is no different.

 

[OnyxCobra]

wow, that might be the best bit of insight I have ever read on this topic. now if only I can figure out how to go about that.

 

[evilcw311]

never was good at explaining how to wire the relay, im more of a hands on teachin kind of guy. i always have a hard time remembering which pin is which by number without having a relay in front of me. put it in my hand and i can show no problem.

if someone wants to throw a pic of a bosch style relay on here then i can explain, but you can prbably find a diagram online jsut as easily. four wires needed, ground, power in to relay from battery, power to ballast from relay, switched power from headlight plug to trigger the relay. again without having in in front of me i cant tell you which pins are which though. sorry i cant be more helpful than that.

 

[Insayne]

oooh a write up on the relay install should be done. would be very helpful to a lot of members.

 

[ttocs]

see now the more power thing is BS though since at max power during start up that they draw less then 10 amps and then go down to the 6-7 amp area after everything settles down. You regular lights can easily pull 2x that on regular operation if I am not mistaken.... Sure power and amperage is not the same thing but they are in the equation used to find one another.

I did however upgrade the wiring like I said and to avoid any possible problems with ground noise(because I am installing a competition grade stereo as well) I did run all the grounds back directly to the battery. The kit I bought wanted me to ground the new HID lights via a ring terminal and a screw behind the light so I extended them and ran them next to the posative wires and went directly to the batt just to be safe.
Relays are not hard if you break them up. There is the coil that has two contacts that you need 12v across to activate the switch, then a single pole, single throw switch. Take pins 85/86(the coil) and you can just wire them directly into the power wires for the stock headlights infact it would not even matter which way you wired them. Next you will need a 12v wire from the battery to go to pin 87, and then pin 30 is the posative out to the hid ballast. Be sure to cover terminal 87a to prevent it from shorting, and fuse the power wire with in 12" of the battery but not big deal.


Hell I have relays in my toolbox I can wire up for you if you want but I can't beat the $12 ebay prices for them with the connectors built in.

 

[evilcw311]

see now the more power thing is BS though since at max power during start up that they draw less then 10 amps and then go down to the 6-7 amp area after everything settles down. You regular lights can easily pull 2x that on regular operation if I am not mistaken.... Sure power and amperage is not the same thing but they are in the equation used to find one another.



you may think the power thing is BS, but every car ive ever seen aftermarket HID's on had problems unless wired via 12v relay, when rewired the correct way it fixed all problems. moving the ballast never helped, only rewiring!! regular bulbs pull a steady current whereas ballast are very irregular, causes major problem if the source cannot keep up. just as with amplifiers, you use a capacitor to help steady the flow to the amp, your altenator and batt may have enough power but if doesnt supply it at a steady rate and the amp pulls at an irregular rate.

Not arguin with ya ttocs, just explaining why it makes a huge difference

 

[Ryan12]

Dont mean to steal the thread but does anyone know what the bulb is for the Black Halo LED Projector lights on Late Model Resto looking for the hid bulb conversion kit.

 

[ttocs]

caps? caps do little to nothing to stabalize current problems since they store voltage, and not much of it. I understand the difference which is why I am knee deep in adding a 2nd battery to support my stereo.

Again power is directly related to current right(P=i^2R or P=V x I)? so when the hids only take 7-9 amps how can you say they draw more power? I don't get it. I am not trying to argue but trying to make sence of it all in my head. I have a degree in electronics and worked in the 12v industry for a few years but this makes no sence to me.........