Meh, he can just save the H11 connectors and splice them back in when he ditches the HIDs or sells the car.

 

Of course he could. But depending on where he goes to sell or trade in his car it may be spur of the moment. Either way he loses nothing because he only paid a few bucks for kit and 1 time use is enough to justifies the cost.

 

Just curious, where'd you get that kit from?

I like the digital slim ballasts that came with my kit they are nice and small and easily placed within the fender.

 

I didn't occur to me earlier that I actually had 2 extra harnesses the I did not use from the replacement bulbs I ordered. If it wasn't for the brain freeze I would have offered them to you. I was finish with the word free but of course its after the fact now but I will still offer them to anyone needing them. Same as the ones in the picture. Please no one else cut their factory plugs. It sounds painful.

 

I appreciate it buddy! I tend to jump the gun on a lot of things cuz im kind of a RIGHT HERE...RIGHT NOW kinda person. I saved the factory harness's anyway if I had to put the factory setup back in. I'm no electrical expert by far, but wiring the new setup was very easy! Thanks anyway!!!

 

Hey Guys I'm new and just bought a 2010 Maxima Premium Sort. What is the stock HID bulb color? it looks like 4500K or 5000K to me. Also I know the ow beam HID bulb replacement is D2S, will any D2S HID bulb work? Let me know thanks guys.

 

Welcome aboard,both,and yes. Do lows and fogs in one color INMO looks best.

 

I have fogs as 3000K and lows as 6000K. I can't really argue too much against your advice.

 

This is a interesting picture as it shows how the low number produce yellow glare as seen on the ground. I am thinking of aiming my fogs down a few degrees to give it a more OEM balanced look. Why not just order a set of bulbs and even it out.

 

If you put in HID fogs, you should lower them some as they scatter a lot of light. You can see that in the photo. The camera picked up all the light going everywhere.

Regular H11 bulbs can be aimed normally.

As for the yellow HID fogs, I really don't see yellow when I'm driving. It could be the blueish 6000k headlights that cancel out the yellow. No, I don't see green

 

So the stock HID bulb color is 4500K then?

 

its 4300k, but close enough that you probably wont notice a difference.

 

I've noticed that my HID's (one or the other or both sometimes) will fail to stay lit when I start my car up and the headlight switch is in auto and it's dark out. I power cycle on the headlights get's the offending side turned on.

It's somewhat annoying. I think I may run a relay harness to get rid of this problem.

I originally thought I had a faulty ballast because one side would always be consistently out when this phenomenon occurred. Then, the other night, the other side was out.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

I replaced both foglight and headlights with 6000K s HiD, but like 2 days later I had 1 light out, found out there was a blown fuse, so I replaced it (15a), when I turned the lights back on it blew the fuse again, only happening with 1 of 4 ballasts, so I figured it's the ballast. I switched one of the foglight ballast with the headlight ballast so I have working headlights for now, waiting on vendor to get back to me for replacement ballast, anyone else run into this problem?

 

If your lights don't come on when they are on auto you need new ballast INMO. Adding a harness as far as I know is not required. What ballast do you have?

If your blowing fuses then your drawing more start up power than the factory wire can handle or you have a fault in the circuit to power on or both. Try not to over test the fuse as every time you blow the fuse you are overheating the factory wire causing possible damage. Replace the ballast and go stock till you get the replacement.

 

I've got the Advanced German Technology Digital Slim ballasts.

I initially thought it was the ballasts as well because one side would consistently do it. When I say consistently, I mean only that one side would not come on and that would happen I'd say 1 out of 5 or 6 times. Not terribly often.

I have a new ballast for the one side that consistently fails to stay lit. I now think it may be an interuption in available electric supply as the engine is cranking at the same time the ballast is trying to draw electricity to fire the bulbs.

It happens with regular halogens too kind of. They dim out pretty good when the engine cranks due to the current draw and corresponding voltage drop in the battery.

 

QUESTION FOR ALL.

Can anyone prove or provide proof as to what German vs China vs Best vs Cheap HIDs are? I hear claims about everything built that one is better than the other. German cars are expensive and require hospice type car to keep them running. China is always available and cheaper and sometimes the best. Best is anything that sells for alot and allot like a fad, Cheap is just that cheap hit or miss but nowhere have I seen proof. Unless they say BOSCH or SYLVANIA on them they are just cheap knock offs.

By the way I'm just ranting in general. The word Adv German activated the out loud typing mechanism, but I mean nothing just would like proof. WHEW! Break time.

 

The ballasts I have may be branded "Advanced German Technology", however, they are made in China - like most things in this world.

quality control issues in Chinese manufacturing are not secrets. Everyone knows they exist and they probably will NEVER be solved until they do away with cheap unskilled labor.

In any event, what I neglected to mention in my previous post about using a relay to tap directly from the battery is that doing it this way will likely avoid the decreased voltage/current at the headlights when the engine is cranking and the HID's are trying to fire.

What may ultimately be happening with that left side ballast (the one constant offendor) is that it's built close to it's tolerances and can't deal with a lower than expected voltage as easily as the other side can.

For now, I've become an expert at checking to see if I have to live bulbs in the bumpers of oncoming cars

 

Hey IH8SPM, where did you purchase your PNP kit from?

 

It's not so cut and dry as German vs. Chinese. It's more OEM vs. Aftermarket.

For instance, Japanese ballasts are very good too.

One thing to point out is that many Chinese ballasts are labelled as Philips or Hella or other legitimate manufacturers. Just seeing a sticker for an OEM brand does not mean that it is OEM. You need to look closer. OEM ballasts vary significantly in size and shape. Aftermarket typically do not. OEM ballasts typically have very bland markings, such as barcodes, part numbers, manufacture date, and simple monochromatic text. Aftermarkets often have brightly colored labels.

It's a trade-off with cost and performance.

Common complaints about OEM ballasts:
Sometimes the igniter cord can be short
Many are not waterproof, and need to be sealed very well before being placed in a car (since they are almost always mounted inside the headlight housing)
They are expensive - expect to spend $100 for a pair
Often require a special power connector, which can be hard to find if seller doesn't include it

Upsides to OEM ballasts:
Will last a very long time
Have better igniters (don't buzz as much, get the bulbs lit faster, prevent hot restrikes, and extend bulb life)
Will generally not fail
Always output full power

Complaints about aftermarket ballasts:
Much higher rate of failure
Inconsistent performance
Flickering
May not output the full power - HIDPlanet did some testing and found that some "35w" ballasts were only about 30w.

Upsides to aftermarket ballasts:
Waterproof
Cheap
Standard 9006 power connectors

Common misconception is that there is a wide variance in quality from one retailer to another for aftermarket ballasts. There isn't. There are less than 10 factories in China producing HID stuff. All of it comes from one of them. There is poor quality control in general, so that you might get one set that works perfect and another set that is DOA, but it's not the reseller you bought them from, it's the Chinese company he imported them from.

 

EBAY 39.99

 

What do you guys think?

EDIT:

I just read on VVME's website that the auto-on feature needs to be disabled to ensure consistent ignition of the lights. That kind of bums be out.

Does anyone else experience hid ignition issues with one or both bulbs when the auto-on feature is on?

I still think I got a shoddy bulb, it may not be a completely bad bulb, just a stubborn one because the drivers side ALWAYS ignited correctly when the auto-on is enabled.

Sorry for the rant, I'm kind of bummed out.

 

Mine have not acted up one bit. They fire up fast with no flicker or failure to date.

Does that happen only as you crank the car? I noticed the flicker as the car tried to turn over. Does it happen if you just fire the bulbs up with the car off (not cranking at the same time)? Maybe you battery isnt giving the ballast enough juice while it is trying to crank the car at the same time. Not enough power at fire up of the HID will end up causing damage to the ballast and bulb over time

Rainy day for a video huh?

That is a stupid test video they gave you to watch. They tell you to "apply 12 volts to the ballast and if it lights your good" haha what a test. That sounds pretty obvious to me

 

Those guys are full of crap. what a line of bull. Auto on only turns the lights on when its dark out. It does and will not in any way affect your HIDs. Think about it. Some models come with HIDs from the factory and the auto-on does not affect them. did nissan give up "super HIDS" or are those guys full of S**T and are just trying to feed you a line of crap to get any possible blame off of them. There is not difference what so ever of the car turning the lights on and you switching the switch on. Id pay closer attention to the loss of amps from you battery as it is simultaneously cranking the car.

 

Completely correct. The auto headlight feature has nothing to do with HIDs.

If the problem is occuring on one side, swap the ballasts. See if the problem changes sides, or if it is the same sides. If the problem doesn't follow the ballast, then you may have a bulb issue, or a wiring issue. If, however, the problem is always with the same ballast no matter which side of the car it is on, you have a defective ballast. Don't let them pull a fast one on you by feeding you a line of bull****.

It's true, in certain cars there are problems with HIDs because they only draw 35w versus 55w for a halogen, so you might get bulb out warnings (toyota is notorious for this). However, auto on/off lights have nothing to do with this.

If that feature was causing a problem (which I find unlikely), it would probably affect both sides equally. An ECU doesn't see a weird current reading from both headlights and decide to turn off one of them. If there is an issue with the control circuitry dealing with a 35w load instead of a 55w load, it should manifest itself in both headlights. The fact that it is one headlight points to a flaky HID kit, and the fact that it is an issue of the lights firing slowly or not staying on would point more towards a ballast issue than a bulb issue (bulb issue would be if it didn't turn on at all, or if they were different colors, etc)

 

Umdpru, let us know how the ballast fires up without cranking the car. In that video you did the headlights flicker during the startup and it flickered with the same consistancy of the car cranking and turning over which makes me think the ballast isn't getting the power it needs from your battery at startup because the battery is cranking the car. That would lead to ballast and bulb failure over time. The fire up of the ballast it is very vey important that it gets all the power it needs.

That interuption during the crank of the car isn't normal and shouldn't happen. My car has an optima red top battery and there is not interution with the cranking and firing of the ballast. Both the car and the ballast gets enough power from the battery and the HIDs fire instantly while the car turns over. One time everytime. The people you contacted might have mentioned the auto on lights because the auto on turns the lights on instantly as the car turns over rather than the car cranking and the driver switching the head/foglights on shortly after the car has already started.
If you don't experience the problem when the car isn't starting or when you manually turn them on after the car has already started then that is without a doubt where your problem lies. (unless damage hasn't already occured to the ballast due to previous low power startups. If you don't take me word on it, google HIDs and their ballast and see how important a good power source is to a ballast on fireup and you will see damage over time will occur if it doesn't have the power it requires upon fireing.) Best of luck to you friend.

 

flip,

I agree with you. I believe the prroblem occurs mostly when the engine is cranking. My point was that the passenger side bulb consistently is slower to ignite than the drivers side. That's with a new ballast too which leads me to believe that the bulb is shoddy. Heck, the drivers side bulb fired up nearly instantly with VERY little flicker if any at all each time. The passenger side fired up with reduced flicker each time because it was gradually warming up with each start.

The ballast input voltages are normally 8-16V with 12V being nominal. I don't think the battery is drooping to below 8V when it's cranking.

I might swap the bulbs to different sides and see what happens. That will DEFINITELY rule out the ballasts.

 

My 35W bulbs take a solid 10 seconds to get to usable light levels but no flicker at all. I assume any flicker past (say) 1 second of power applied is not desirable

 

I've removed the video because it's giving the wrong idea. that video showed the passenger light actually lighting up albeit slower than the drivers side.

The pass. side light doesn't just flicker when it's firing, it flickers and goes right out and doesn't stay lit.

I just came home and sat in my driveway and it did this 4 times in a row. I went inside to get my wife to video tape it and it wouldn't do it at all!!!

Frustrating. Im gonna get a new bulb for that side.

 

The auto-on feature doesn't directly affect the bulbs. What it does is lower the overall voltage available to the ballasts with which to fire the bulbs while the car is cranking up. Cranking car can use a considerable amount of amperage and cause the battery's voltage to droop somewhat.

The cars that come equipped with HID's don't merely have the bulbs and ballasts. The FSM lists an "HID control unit". I suspect this unit is tied into the car's data bus and gets a signal from the computer once the engine is done cranking and then and only then does it command the ballasts to fire the bulbs up.

by going the aftermarket route, you eliminate that "smart firing" routine.

This is all just a theory, however, it makes sense.

What doesn't make sense is that my drivers side bulb ALWAYS fires up cranking or otherwise.

 

I will video my car during startup to show you how is acts during cranking and auto-on headlights. My headlights are factory HID ballast and fogs are aftermarket.

I'm glad to see you are starting to agree with me on the power consumption of cranking and firing up of 2 sets of HID ballast simultaniously as a potential problem. Like stated before, after X amount of fire ups that will cause problems with the ballast and bulbs and that might be what you are experiencing as well.

I want to see this problem go away for you as I'm sure it is very frustrating and will continue to try and help by giving ideas and suggestions untill we can get this solved for you.

You never answered how the hids fire up with you manually turning the switch on after the car has been running for a couple seconds. Are there any problems then or do they act correct?

 

firing up manually after a failed ignition once the engine is done cranking and is running is still hit and miss. Sometimes they come right on, other times it takes 2-3 power cycles for the bulb to remain lit.

I never disagreed with you about the cranking cause. In fact, several pages back when I first brought this problem up, I mentioned that.

However, considering the fact that my drivers side ignites just fine and the passenger side bulb fails to ignite in situations other than "auto-on during crank" leads me to believe that the bulb is just a "nearly out of tolerance bulb" and is just finicky.

I appreciate you offering to video your factory setup. I was actually thinking of going to the dealer and pulling some shenanigans to get into a sport or premium and seeing the algorithm those use to light the HIDs with auto-on engaged.

 

Here is my HIDs turing on with Auto-on at startup
Our 7th gen has an Amp Meter attached to the positive lead from the battery. The computer reads the amp draw and regulates the current output of the alternator to mach the current draw. You can actually see the lights are brighter for a second after the car has cranked right before the computer regulates the cars alternator current.

 

thanks flip, you can clearly see that both of your lights fire at the same time.

Granted, a factory setup will be better, however, my aftermarket kit bulbs should be firing at the same time.

Flip, are those after market HIDs on the fogs?

If they are then that's how mine need to ignite.

 

The only thing factory on the HIDs id the headlight ballast. I replaced the stock 4300k bulbs with a $17 pair of 6000k bulbs that that video doesn't do justice to because i wasnt down low enough for the projectors to hit the camera.

The fogs are aftermarket (no maxima comes with HID fogs) and the bulbs are 6000K as well. I have a relay harness for the fogs and a optima red top battery.

That is exactly how yours and everyone's should fire.

I think that now after may ignitions of the bulbs you do have a problem with either the ballast or the bulb. My guess would be the bulb.

I had a honda accord before i had the maxima and i had HID headlights in there aswell. My battery started to die over the course of a month before it finally kicked the bucket. I replace the battery of course and started noticing the same thing with my drivers side headlight. Every now and then it would not ignite and i would have to turn the lights off and then back on to get it going again. I also noticed when i looked at the headlight reflection off of something in-front of the car it looked like the headlight was "bouncing" up and down or sorta flickering. this went on for a while and i thought nothing of it because when it didn't ignite all i had to do was turn the lights off and then back on. Simple fix, no need to worry right? Wrong. It took a while for another problem to follow after that but it did. I sold the car to my father and a month after he purchased it the bulb broke or some how exploded. I changed the bulb out for him and after that, not a single problem. No flicker, no failed ignition. It all seemed to stem from the battery going dead on not being able to supply the quick spark the bulb needed. After the bulb blew i bought a replacement bulb and new ballast to make sure i had all the parts i needed to make the problem go away. I never needed the replacement ballast because the bulb was the only thing that had been damaged. Only one of the bulbs died and the other was fine. Go figure.

So do the testing you wanted to, switching around ballast and bulbs to see what has been damaged in your set up. Let me know which one if not both that you conclude has a problem.

That being said there is a reason the problem exist in the first place. It could either be the wires not large enough to give the power the ballast needs or your battery might be strained with all the pull on start up. What do you think??

 

flip, where did you get your fog kits and headlight bulbs?

 

I got everything off of eBay. I don't know from who because it's been so long and it's no longer in my history but if you want I can look to see the name on the ballast to see which brand it is.

 

flip, I'd definitely appreciate if you could do that for me.

I'm gonna owe you after all this is said and done!

I was thinking today about how you said you had an Optima battery. I remembered that the guys who were doing my tint job ran my battery down so much that the car wouldn't start or even turn over, only click. I never put it on a charger, I just let the car charge it up.

I'm willing to bet that my factory battery took a hit in it's ability to supply cranking amperage.

I find it hard to believe, but do you think that digital slim ballasts are worse at operating the bulb than a regular ballast?

 

if you think so, take your car to Nissan and have them check the battery and charging system.

 

Or even your local auto zone or auto store if your dealer isnt located near.

Yea that would be no problem. I will post up the information as soon as I get it.

That I do not know because I have never owned a slim ballast and have never been able to personally compare the two.

Your point about the tint guys is interesting. Did you have your HIDs installed before the tint? If so did you have any problems then? If your battery isnt full strength every time you crank and fire up your HIDs at the same time might cause damage to the buld or ballast. Untill your sure about the condition of the battery id play it safe and wait till the car is fully cranked before you turn the lights on.

Let me know what you find! I hope soon this will be in the past for you.