WeBrake4Nobody

So I did the whole Halogen to HID conversion over the past weekend and all of the sudden I'm having issues. Both Lights will not turn on at all. I know it's most likely due to the fact that the Ground got wet during a recent rain storm.

If that's the case, what does this mean? Can I just move the ground wire to another part of the car? Is it possible that the ballasts have burnt out because of this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I currently cannot drive the car at night. .....Terrible situation..

DAlastDON

Water on your ground point isnt going to mess you up unless it rusts and isnt going to happen in just a few days.

Could the ballasts have gotten soaked too?

Did you use a relay kit? HID's draw nearly double the current of a halogen bulb when you first turn them on. Blown fuses in the IPDM?

timwdv

how do you have your grounds mounted? hopefully your ballasts didnt blow just make sure your ground is touching bare metal not painted metal. try connecting the ground under a frame bolt or something thats gonna give it good contact and you should be fine

WeBrake4Nobody

I originally had the ground connected to one of the Hex Bolts on the far right section underneath the hood. Obviously this was a terrible idea since water easily hits this area under the hood (along the track). I'm going to take the front end apart and re-rout the ground wire to a frame bolt has mentioned by timwdv. Hopefully this works...

I don't think that the Ballasts got wet. I mean they are bolted onto the bottom of the headlight assembly just how the OEM Ballasts are supposed to sit on the assembly. Plus I used the conversion kit/relay that I was given in the package. Everything worked up until the rainstorm...so it has to be the ground.

What are the chances that the ballasts blew? Does the Ground Wire getting wet cause this to happen?

timwdv

I have to take my front down tonight I'll post some pics of where I have my ballast and grounds connected to

WeBrake4Nobody

Ahhh nice!! thanks I appreciate it. I'm taking mine apart tonight as well so I'll follow your lead. I hope it works...otherwise I'm in trouble with my headlights not working at all!

Feldman

iTrader: (1)

have you tried swapping the wires on your ballast around? they are polar and will only work if they are wired up the right way. Its pretty hard to blow a ballast, the only way i can think of to shorten the life is flick them on and off a whole bunch of times and maybe still not then. The only other way would be if you hooked them up to the wrong voltage (ie a house outlet) its pretty much impossible to get anything other than 12v in your car though.

I would try swapping the wires around real quick, that was my first HID mistake

MadMax07SL

For the short term you should be able to just switch out the bulbs, and re-run the factory connection to the old bulb bypassing the ballasts...that way you're legal. You can work on the problem whenever at that point...

Feldman

iTrader: (1)

by going back to stock you can rule out a blown fuse or any other kind of electrical problem as well

WeBrake4Nobody

I'll try this as well. I mean they worked for 2 days. Both headlights. So I don't understand how it can be the initial wiring that was wrong. When I changed the original ground connection, only one worked. So I figured I blew out one of the ballasts somehow. After that happened...I let the car sit for a day...it rained and now neither headlights work. Very frustrating process...but I appreciate everyone's help here. If I get them to work I'll post some pics of me going crazy with them on in the background....because this mod is taking WAYYY longer than it needs to.

WeBrake4Nobody

ok...I have the "clicking" noise when I put the lights in the On position. However, neither HID on either side of the car is firing up. What do you guys think? Fuses? ground is now attached to a non-painted metal portion of the frame

WeBrake4Nobody

Figured it out...the ballast connection had moisture in it.

Feldman

iTrader: (1)

glad you got it taken care of, i didnt know they worked for a while, that ruled out wrong polarity

timwdv

ok cool bc i didnt have time to drop my bumper and its raining

nalc

iTrader: (11)

NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The "swap the wires" method is fine for messing with some aftermarket ballasts, and is AFAIK required on 00-01 maximas because they are ground-switched (which means that the shared pin on the H4 is the positive, not the ground like they normally wire it). Aftermarket ballasts generally don't mind if you wire them backwards, they just won't turn on.

the Matsu****a gen 3 (rounded square dark grey ones) on the 6th gens are -very- polarity sensitive.

Wiring those ballasts up backwards WILL fry them. It's not something to play "guess and check" with, because you have a 50% chance of irreversibly destroying your ballasts. Get a multimeter and do it right the first time, or you'll have a nice big grey paperweight. Red is positive. Black is ground. Don't screw around with it.

Glad it was the connection between the igniter and the ballast. That seems to have some sort of fail-safe mode. I've had one ballast cut out on my in the rain before, only to start working in a day or two once that three-prong connector dried out. No problems ever with them besides that, so I don't think it does any harm (except give you a heart attack, thinking you've destroyed your $100 ballasts)

WeBrake4Nobody

You are 100% right!!! It did just that. I thought the company that sent the ballasts(that you mentioned above) out to me were screwing me over. I want to prevent this going forward....1. Because it does give me a heart attack & 2. Because taking the bumper off is so annoying (but I got it down from 1 hour to 15 minutes during this process!! haha).

What do you recommend I do to keep them from getting wet? The ballasts are mounted directly below the assembly (which is where the stock HID's for 6th gen max sit), so I don't know where else to put them going forward (if it happens again). When you put the wiring and headlight assembly back into the slotting, it's tough enough as it is to throw that all back into place...
so I can't imagine the ballast going back there?

nalc

iTrader: (11)

I'd just hit the connector with some silicone and see if it helps any. Should be watertight, but easily removable.

You still have your halogen projectors?

timwdv

^tru dat, where are the ballasts located anyway? if they are getting that soaked i would move'm asap

WeBrake4Nobody

The HIDS are in.... as for the ballasts...they are mounted underneath the headlight assembly. I used dremel to cut out a hole in the bottom so I could run the ballast wire through the assembly. Then I mounted the ballast(s) using the three holes already present on the bottom of the assembly. That's where they sit now but they are obviously getting wet. The condensation is another topic but I'm taking that to someone tomorrow to get resolved. Hopefully it's just a matter of drilling small holes into the assembly for drainage.

Gollum67

iTrader: (1)

You shouldn't be drilling more holes than you have to. Have you seen this link on the 6th gen site? It has useful information that should solve a lot of your problems

http://www.6thgenmaxima.org/forums/l...pic-heavy.html

boots897

ive been noticing lately that my left HID does not turn on but if I just turn them off and back on it will turn on....

timwdv

again that sounds like a bad ground or the connectors are loose, what brand hid kit is this, i have never heard of some many kits going bad with shortages