How to test your xenon HID Ballast and bulb
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- Опубликовано: 28 ноя 2014
- Short video (sorry for the terrible quality) that shows how to test a xenon HID ballast, ignitor, and bulb.
These ignitors can push up to 25,000 volts, so don't do anything stupid. I'm not responsible if you kill yourself.
Ballast not working? Bulb burnt out? Headlight lens all nasty and yellow? Check out our eBay store at
stores.ebay.com/cvilleheadlights
for all of your used car part needs. We do focus on vehicle lighting, but there's a smattering of other quality used parts in there as well.
Thanks for watching!
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Hi... I already did.. I have a HID conversion kit sitting around and I want to use them as a lamp.. I also have the 12 V source from old PC.. can you instruct me how to do that?? what is what I need to connect?
Better read the bible, it will be cheaper.
Thanks man ! simple and easy. Now..you really needed some light in that room, don't you.... Lol
Great video and very informative... I have an 07 Ext Escalade... Drivers side headlight went out... checked my fuses all good... changed the relay.. I still have nothing so changed the headlight bulb and the ballast and it still doesn't work... I don't know what to do?
Did they cut your electricity? TURN THE LIGHTS ON!!!
The bulb went out...in his house.
Daily driver M3 06 ,has a weird humming buz noise coming from drivers side light ,lasts 1 sec and light works fine ! Is my ballast going bad? Thx
sm1 have an advice? i used a power adpter for turning the ballast on. it works but the light is blinking. i dont understand bevause the power adapter is supposed to convet the AC from wall socket to DC (12v) but in fact it looks like its output (from power adapter) is still in AC. what could be happening? in the specs of the PowAdp its says clearly DC (with symbol: one solid line and one intermitent above)
Hey man. Thanks for video. Just wondering, my ballast are mounted in a hard to reach area, but I can access the cables going to the bulb. It’s an after market projector retrofit system with igniters built into the ballast. Can I take the leads coming out of the ballast and put a multimeter in these to test for a proper signal? What should I set my multimeter to since the initial ignition is high voltage? Thanks!
I'm wondering the same thing.
I bought I used car and I'm not sure what hid light bulb or brand of ballast what should I do
I put oem hid headlights on my Camaro and bought the harness from gen5diy cause my car originally didn't come with hid lights but when turn knob on nothing I keep turning off and on and eventually one comes on then keep going till both turn on at same time. Once on they stay on but of I turn off and turn right back on they don't work have to start overs back and off again till both light on at same time.
I like your shirt. What brand/model is it? I'd like to get it.
My headlights on a Mercedes C200 Kompressor are going off for like 2 seconds,then come back(not both in the same time,more often the right one),it is the ballast or a reley issue?
Informative video. I'm currently having issues with 2010 Audi Q5....left headlight both high/low beams turn on but then turn off about 1 minute. Since it involved both high and low beam I assumed it was not the bulb(s) and more likely the ballast. Replaced ballast and had exact same issue. Could this simply be a bulb/ignitor issue?
if he had shown how to test the ballast, it would help. Just replace he says and see if that works
Can I test the bulb without the ballast? I think my ballast is bad.. So I wonder ifI can use the ballast from my H7 fog lights and somehow make it work with the D1S bulbs for my lowbeam headlight.. I would really appreciate it if you could help me, please
Hi there, sorry to bother but on my Nissan 370Z I was trying to replace the bulb but I gues I twisted to the wrong way, and place the new one in but now is not working with the old bulb and new one
Do you think my ballast went out it was working fine
have you tested a 2004 VW Touareg.? I'm having problems with very weak lighting.
So I had a bad DL headlight a couple months ago on a 2015 Audio Q5 and I thought it was the ballast. I ordered two used ballasts and two new HID 5000K bulbs on eBay. I installed and they worked great. So figured it was the bulb. Now the same headlamp is showing an error on my dashboard, but it comes and goes. Sometimes the bulb will startup fine (no errors), etc. and sometimes it won't come on at all. When the bulb is own it seems to be as bright as the other one. Before I replaced, the bulb would come on but was very dim and gave be a dashboard warning. Do you think this is a faulty bulb for ballast? Because it's intermittent it's hard to swap PS components. I think the igniter is in the bulb. Thanks.
What would the problem be if i have +12V at the plug and my new ballast & bulb wont turn on? No flicker, nothing. Using a morimoto relay with good ground. Fuses good
Those wondering the fabled morimoto relay went bad. I warrantied it once and it went bad again
My passenger side on my Acura TL 2007 turns on but then it starts changing color kind of like a purplish color then minutes later it flickers and turns on what you think is wrong ? The ballast or the light
Jose Manuel Ramirez sounds like the bulb to me. Swap the bulbs between the two lights and see if the problem follows the bulb. That'll tell you what the problem is.
The irony of a headlight upload, being recorded in a completely dark room....
I have a question...dos the ballast give the color of the light or is it the bulb..because I want to buy a new bulb and idk if it's the ballast or the bulb that gives the color????
+Nestor vides bulb gives a color
the higher the k's the more color and less "bright" the bulb
Having a problem with one headlight in 350 z replaced the bulb how would you test the ignitir?
im having same issue with my 350z, gives a strobe but thats it, changed my bulbs and still the same. what did u find ???
@@ginoharling9841 haven't had anything deffinant can't find a good mechanic, they're telling me it's either the ballist for the hid or an "unseen electrical issue". Either way it's gonna be pricy and I'm thinking about just getting rid of the car
I have acura tl 2005 and my head lights don't don't turn on jus mak alittle noice if you guys can help me thank you so much
Did both stop working at once?
What if one bulb is slightly a different color.
my driver side light went out and cant get the bulb it its connected to a wire i guess you call that the igniter but as for bolts on the back of it, so how do i remove just the bulb, 2012 camaro lt
I believe that your Camaro uses a D1S bulb, meaning that the entire unit has to be replaced. See link below for a picture to confirm before reading on.
www.ijdmtoy.com/ebay/Ebay/Xenon_D1/D1S-HID-Bulbs-01.jpg
There should be a cable running to the bulb. Unplug that, remove the bulb from the housing, replace the bulb, plug the cable back in. The D1S bulbs have the ignitor built in, so all you should have is the ballast, the cable, and the bulb.
Cville Auto it looks nothing like that but there is a ballast and like 3 wires that is connected to the bulb
Your Camaro should definitely be using D1s bulbs for the low beams, unless it's a modified housing. If you're looking at three wires, you're either talking about the high beam / driving light, or your housing isn't a factory HID headlight.
My passenger light is out dont know if its the bulb or igniter!
My bmw left light keeps going out so I thought it was a short, but qhen I swapped the light, it would work. The only problem is the lights only last about a month before fhey stop working again. What could this be?
First thing to do is to double check that your your ignitor is on flush and that you have good ground contact. Then check ignitor then ballast.
Sooo many hid ballast with thousands of light output and yet He still makes a video in the dark, talk in the ligt test in the dark against a wall.
Sounds like a great opportunity for you to do a better job and steal my views, but I bet you won't.
So change parts until it works great thanks
yeah my same thoughts also fella. so was no testing at all just on a bench rather than on the car. Great.........NOT.
2004 V70 all lights fail including running lights running lights and headlights fail only all fuses are good
Do Nissan Maxima 2012
can you hook up the hids straight to the battery whit a on / off switch ?
+Vicente Dominguez There's no reason that you couldn't, but you'd want to be very, very careful with how you wired it. Assuming that you're installing aftermarket ballasts for headlights or factory fog lights, it would be easier (and probably safer) to tie into the factory low beam harness. For adding fog lights to a vehicle that does not have them from the factory, adding a switch is the only effective way to do that. Again, be very careful about where you run the wires and the gauge of the wire that you use.
+Igor K It might throw off a lot of light, but without projectors, it won't be very well directed at all. It will also be incredibly power hungry, and no battery that is a reasonable size will be able to power it for very long. Good luck if you decide to work with it, I'd be interested to see how it goes.
Igor K Not overly familiar with that brand, but I will tell you that OEM HID ballasts do not like being run at a lower voltage than they are designed for. I would expect to significantly lower the lifespan of the ballast.
@@redlineauto8519 would you happen to know why I have to keep turning off and on the lights knob to get my hid lights to turn on sometimes only one comes on and I have to keep switching till both come on.my car originally didn't come with hid I got hid lights for it from another Camaro and I got the harness from gen5diy and that's what I have to do I was told could be the light bulbs or ballast or both but one I get on they stay on.so was thinking about ruleing out bulbs but don't know
Great Video! May I ask ; I have a 2005 Nissan Maxima. It currently has factory standard halogen headlight assembly’s.
I have 2 assembly’s that are factory Nissan HID, can I easily wire them up in place of the current halogen ones ?
Thank you.
Could I offer you to pay your overdue electricity bill? 😁 Good vid 👍
Sorry Its me it's all about that natural lighting, see
I can’t see what’s going on
complete wasted video and my time. title says how to test your xenon HID Ballast!!! You didn't even acknowledge how to test anything!!! You only recommended what to replace if your bulb doesn't light up!
well said, waste of time and no help
Couldn't see anything
Quick question: I have xenon headlights and both of them have always been flickering and by flashing the highbeam they function again for a short time. I recently changed the bulbs because they where turning pink aka going out. But they are still flickering. Do i need to replace both ballasts? Or is this some kind of ground issue?
My guess would be ballasts, but without being there in person there's no way for me to say with certainty.
Why is your image/video so dark?
Bad lighting, wasn't prepared to do the video so it wasn't up to my usual quality standards. Hopefully it was still helpful!
Dont forget to use safety glass bro.
Turn on the lights, too dark
This explained nothing of how to test a bulb. Title modification needed. How does one test just the bulb? What readings would one expect with a meter vs. the bulb?
Video is really dark
Are you serious, 25000 volt ballast output, it will kill you just by getting closer to it, they will not be crazy to put that kind of voltage on some accessible to human been, and in addition it will blow up all electronics in your car, because of the hight magnetic field that will produce arround it, output ballast voltage vary from 80 to 110 volt only man common.
You are blatantly incorrect. Xenon ballasts can run anywhere from 20k to 30k volts upon ignition. There's a reason there's a big warning sticker slapped on every automotive and industrial ballast. There's a big difference between voltage, wattage, and amperage. Volts don't produce fields, amps do. Get your facts right before you talk shit.
SOOOO no test, just keep replacing until it works? Couldn't you have showed what the video said? HOW TO TEST?
"A procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something" - Oxford English Dictionary
This is textbook bench diagnostics for closed box electronics. Find me a multimeter that reads 25000 volts and an idiot dumb enough to stick his fingers down there and I'll be happy to film it, but even then you're going to get a binary answer.
This is super simple. Either it works or it doesn't. On multi component systems where you have duplicates, the fastest and cheapest way to diagnose a failed component is to swap in known good parts until you find the failed link.
You're more than welcome to post a video of yourself doing a better job, hell I'll even link it in the video here. But all I see on your page are a bunch of videos of your underage daughter, which is a little odd in my boat but hey, whatever floats yours.
Are u dark person? I though my phone problem..
This doesn't explain how to test anything
this guy showing a video on lights but dont have no light for the video...irony?
Too dark!
If you're software developer. This is proof Object oriented programming does not work!
Bloody dim....cant see a thing...
This video adds no value. So, tell me again how to test the ballast?? Because what you just said was "Leave it in the car and turn your headlights on."
Waste
I could have guessed the process shown in this video, and I have never tested a bulb/ballast before. Hook it up to a battery. Replace parts in the signal chain from least expensive to most expensive, D'uh. That is not "testing" the bulb and ballast.
K, let's hear how else you'd do it. I truly don't understand what you think the proper way to confirm or deny that an electronic device is functioning. It's a binary thing; it either works or it doesn't. Seriously, and I'm asking for my self-improvement, what else would you like me to do?
I agree with Silvamorde2004. You didn't actually test the ballast. People want to be able to determine which component is bad and replace only that one. Not play trial and error replacing parts down a chain that aren't broken. If my ballast is bad, I don't want to replace my igniter just to find out it's good and the problem was actually the ballast.
So all I gotta do is cut the plug off to test it. Thanks for the useless video. I assume most of us are here to find out how to test with the plug being a nipple and ring.
Look here you absolute fucking twatnozzle, this was filmed in 2015 when the overwhelming majority of ballasts on the used market were a 2 pin high voltage setup. Modern LED lighting and / or integrated xenon ballasts has only become a thing in the last 5 years or so, and even then only became popular in the 2020's. For your "nipple and ring" setup, which is going to be different for every, single, type, of light, let me make this real fucking simple for your smooth brain: 12v go to hot wire, ground go to ground. Gonna have to figure out which wire is which though because again every modern light uses a different harness, and I genuinely hope you zap the absolute fuck out of yourself in the process.