Tanman

Just finished installing the 2K2 HIDs on my 2K Black Maxima. For the $450 I paid and the sweat of diy, it's the best mod I can think of for the money, as far as functionality goes.

Couple of points for those with this mod in their future:
BigDogJonx's instructions get confusing because the wires are different colors on each side of the car. If you need clarification, pm me and I'll give details.
Alex's write up is just plain confusing
Their is a rubber strip on the old lights that you need to remove and glue onto the new lights. Without it, their is a gap between the headlights and the hood where water and crap can get in.

Next weekend, I gotta do the alarm fix so the HIDs don't get hurt. I also got solder and heat-shrink tubing to clean up the install.

Paul6speed

I will never get another car without HID. I am thoroughly impressed with them. Driving at night is much easier now. I wonder how they are in the rain? I've only had my car for 5 days.

Tanman

They ARE beautiful, aren't they! So clear and white and bright. I'm sure they'll be great on a rainy night as well. I'm getting the PIAA silicone wipers that lube your windshield with a coat of water-repellent. Those in combination with the HIDs and I'll be driving at night like Ah-nuld in Terminator 2.

6.7WhiteyMax

$450? Where did you get them? The parts department at my dealership said $750 a lamp!! I lost interest for that kinda dough...

sianara,
the white one

woosh

Was that $450 per side or total? If total, please tell where.

Tanman

Sorry guys, $450 total. I was one of the lucky ones who got them early from DaveB. My cost was a little more due to tax because I live in Texas where Town North Nissan is located. I only now installed them because the 2K2 clip was on back-order and I've been hesitant to rewire stuff in my car. Now that I've installed them, I feel much more confident about moding the car. Check with DrOmed, he might have some 2K2 HIDs for ~$750 for the pair.

gramenis

Does DrOmed have an email or website to contact him?
I am very interested in getting the 2k2 units for cheaper than Courtesy Parts price of $1,295.

Thanks.

BTY: Thanks Paul for the AE door sills; I painted them this weekend to match my black interior and they look great!

woosh

Can they still be purchased from DaveB for $450?

radpp16

I am plain just scared....
The 2k2 HIDs are just sitting here in my room collecting dust and crap.. I just dont got the ***** to install them myself. But part of me can't wait for Hogan(yo_its_ok) to install them either, since he's done lots of them.

AHHHH!!!. Oh yeah alex's write is confusing. Ok thats IT. I need motivation for Tuesday Afternoon, thats when i "supposedly" want to install them.

Roger

ohboiya

iTrader: (3)

you're not on the boards much r u? ... no way for $450 ... it was actually $380 / pair which is what I got mine for ... it was Nissan's pricing error .. but they caught on pretty darn quick .. now the cheapest if about $750 - 800 / pair

TimW

iTrader: (6)

and I dont think either write up is confusing at all. thing is, their are compromises. both ways have unique compromises. Even Yo's will have some compromises. you just have to understand what they are. (like having to rewire the alarm vs having Highs and Lows together).

ohboiya

iTrader: (3)

Hey Tim ... I having looked @ either one in detail yet .. having high & low is only possible using one writeup & not both? which one?

Which one uses the relays? & eliminates the 'flickering' which is bad for our ballasts?

tkx!

TimW

iTrader: (6)

there never was any flickering.. I believe BDJ or ICE was driving without clips and thought it was flickering, it wasnt, just shaking. That doesnt happen at all with clips. If you wire the two grounds together, the Highbeam light will find ground through the HID ballasts, neither write up does that now.

the outstanding problems are:
-if you ground lows to the body (easiest way to keep the lows on with highs). then you will have HID flash with alarm, unless you some sort of alarm fix.

- if you want highs with lows, when you flash someone during the day, you will also flash your HIDs. Even if you use Yo's diode fix, you'll still have this.

- you must 'mentally' modify the way you control your lights. Let the car turn the lights on and off with the built in battery saver... I leave my lights on "running" setting, and they turn off with the car (or you open the door) and I switch to headlamps (ON) as needed. If you go from Off to ON at night, they will flash when you switch across "RUNNING". So, either let AUTO control your lights or stay on running and switch to ON when you want. If you are on AUTO and its getting dark and they havent kicked on yet, you can simply switch to ON without a flash (as auto hasnt gone into ON). AUTO will not flash during daylight. and rarely at dusk for me. For me, I just turn the **** slowly. If I manage to activate the HIDs accidentally, I just leave there for a few seconds before switching them off.

its not really a big deal.

I'm not sure which way I will go on the alarm deal.. thats really all I have left. I *think* you can remove horn3 relay and while you lose panic and alarm, it wont flash and door locks still work. I'm not sure if thats bad for it or not so I'm not doing that either. The system is redundant and will find ground in the craziest ways.

Colonel

Does anybody know for sure what can/cannot be done for ballasts? Meaning (I know cryptic message) what does the 2002 manual say for headlight usuage?

Plus, in regards to flashing during normal daylight hours, if I pull back-leave on till the bozo moves (usually more than a couple of seconds to realize a 90mph+ maxima is coming up quickier than your cellphone talking, cig smoking, makeup applying drivers can see) can I injure the ballast? Tim said that is what he does and I am looking for additional clarification.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

in your case, and you like to flash peeps... either leave your HIDs on while highway driving or do not ground the HIDs to the body (or diode them back to HI ground).

Unless we try to get the light combo switch (stalk) off of a 2k2, I'm not sure there is an easy way around this.

Colonel

Not that I like to flash people, just in Cincinnati it is fashionable to get on the highway zip all the way into the left hand lane and never move again and never look at your rearview....You might actually see what is going on around you! And believe it or not, it is actually faster on most parts of the highway in the morn to be in the right hand lane!

No stalk replacement for me....just could not justify that cost. BTW, how did you end up installing yours? Relays? Where?

TimW

iTrader: (6)

I havent decided on an alarm fix.

HIDs
power = shared(hi/lo +12v OEM wire
gnd = body, gnd bolts near lights

High
Power = via relay +12v to batt, 20amp fuse
gnd = to body
original gnd wire triggers relay. one relay powers both.

Tanman

I'm going to use BigDogJonx's alarm fix, since I used his install instructions. I don't see any problems with the set up. You get lows on when highs are on, and with the alarm fix, the HIDs won't flash. I don't flash people too often, so it's not a major concern. Too dangerous flashing people in Houston

Anyone notice problems with other electronic equipment with the 2K2 HIDS installed? Specifically, my stereo volume is much lower than before. I used to leave it around 15 setting (aftermarket head unit), now I have to crank it up to 25 for the same volume. Only change has been the HIDs...

TimW

iTrader: (6)

as the HIDs are less wattage than your oem lows. you could have a leaky ground or a bad ground somewhere.

is your stereo grounded at the same place as the HIDs? or are you tapping off the same battery connection? you could be seeing a voltage drop if it tap in to power on the same wire *after* the connection to the headlights (this is to the battery)

BigDogJonx

iTrader: (7)

Hey, glad the writeup helped, but I dont think my writeup was confusing at all. I wrote out EACH and EVERY wire color. I said both colors depending on side to make sure it was clear. You just have to follor it clearly, it is the best I can do since I did not video tape the install.

The Alarm Fix worked fine. No problem there, only problem remaining for me is the in the Day with the lights off, if I use Flash-To-Pass, then both the HIDs and the Highs go on.

But to this day I have not flashed anyone in the day.

Dixit

IceY2K1

iTrader: (3)

I wouldn't use the O2-sensor as the "ignition switched" power source. His "fix" is exactly what needs to be done, but since the O2-sensor uses voltage readings to tell the ECU whether to add/subtract fuel, I personally would find something less risky to tap for power.

The added load(although VERY small) could modify the O2-sensors' output voltage which the ECU depends on.

Tanman

Well, I grounded both lights to screws on the sides of the car. Nothing else is grounded there. I don't know about tapping any battery connections. All I did was splice the wires according to BDJx's instructions. I haven't started the alarm fix yet, so I'm not tapping any other power connections. Funny thing, the low volume problem occurs even with the headlights off. Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like i'll have to buy a big amp to power my stereo.

BigDogJonx

iTrader: (7)

Yeah never thought about, looks like I will be using a different wire then.

Thanks ICE
Dixit

Keh mon

When I grounded my lights I scratched off the layer of paint so I had a nice ground connection to the metal. I'd try to make a solid connection with metal. With your stereo, I don't get that. I have 2 10" subs in the trunk and if I had them under full blast, all the lighting in my car would dim when the bass hits. Including the headlights. But now with the 2k2 lights, they don't dim AT ALL.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

as far as flashing during the day... if you get the output from the AUTO unit here we go.. relay number 129!! I'll need to remove the spare so I can fit all the relays I need

IceY2K1

iTrader: (3)

Now you know my PAIN! My first setup tried to eliminate ALL relays, but that's hard to do with out somethings not working IDEALY.

Anyways, Why do you want the output from the AUTO unit?

I found the 3-wires to the SECU that come from the AUTO sensor if that's what your talking about. Now I just need to decide on which to cut to eliminate the AUTO position completely.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

clip that wire and your map light and left blinker go out, radio wont pick up any stations below 99.8FM and car pulls hard to the left

Keh mon

Anyone know how to make it so that the headlights don't flash at all when the alarm goes off? That would be the solution I'd go with.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

heh, I thought of tapping the alarm output relay to open a relay for the HID ground wire.. but they might get a few milliseconds of power before the relay opened.... not sure.. thats the SUPER laziest way to go.

BigDogJonx

iTrader: (7)

If you was paying attention last week, you would have seen that I came up with a solution for that.

Check my sig for writeup

Dixit

Tanman

Wow, the volume problem is worse. So either I'm not grounding correctly, or I'm stealing power from the stereo? Not sure how to fix this. Each headlight is grounded to the side of the car with nothing else connected to the bolt that I am grounding to. The only wires I'm using are the ones from the headlight plugs.

So will getting an amp fix the problem with power to the stereo\speakers?

Keh mon

Sorry I haven't payed much attention lately. Thanks for the info though.

Keh mon

Ok sorry about that last post, but I just checked your page and I already know about all that stuff. What I meant was that I don't want ANY of the headlights blinking. If there's an easy way to just stop the headlights (low's and hi) then I'd rather do that.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

really... all the circuitry for the headlamps are pretty isolated from any of the radio stuff. Did you install this radio yourself? do you know where the power is tapped for it? Something really doesnt sound right there. I'm not sure it has anything to do with the HIDs. they would still be FUSED... so what it would take to actually reduce the volume of your radio would CERTAINLY blow a fuse.

Also, most radios will cut off in low voltage situations, not continue to play at a lower volume. and, if you had a illumination wire problem and the lights somehow were finding a path thru your radio, I think it would cause other problems.

I just cant see how thats doing that.

Tanman

Hey TimW,

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm ok with the low volume of the stereo for now. Next weekend I'm going to clean up the installation of the HIDs (solder, heat-shrink tubing, end-loops for grounds). If the problem continues then, I'll have to get an amp, front speakers, and a sub soon. I'm a little worried about the electrical problems I might have created by messing around with my car. That's why I waited three weeks after I received the headlights to install them.

Yeah, I installed the stereo myself, with help from Crutchfield's instructions. Hmm, maybe one of the butt caps I used to splice wires in the stereo install came loose? I'll check that!

BigDogJonx

iTrader: (7)

Main Man, NONE of my lights blink. Not the highs nor the Xenons blink with that alarm fix. It has to be what you are looking for.

Dixit

Colonel

I would also make sure that all your radio connections are good to go as well. You should solder and shrink tube those as well. Trust me from experience....trust me....