Well, today we had our bi-weekly ALL NISSAN meet here in Miami, FL. Meet started at 7:00 PM, everyone started leaving at around 8:45 PM. There were a couple of latecomers so I stayed a little bit. A maxima shows up and Im talkign to the guy for like 30 minutes or so. It was dark, my car was ON, I had my HIDs, fogs, and corners on. My radio, TV, power inverter, and PS2 was on because people were looking at it at the meet.
So i'm talkign to this guy with the Maxima, and all of a sudden, my HIDs start to flicker, then just turn off completely (I have Hanabi 8000k by the way). This has never happened to me before, so I'm really shocked and confused. I try to turn them on again, so I turn the light switch to off, then on. All I get is flickering, but they never turn on completely, it almost looked like strobes. I decided to just turn off the car completely, and let everything chill for a little bit.
About 5 minutes later, I go to turn on my car, its dead. Starter wont even turn, I'm taking a crap now. Im thinking why the hell is my car dead, my car was running (idling) the whoel time, its not like I had all the electrical components on while the car was off, then I would understand why the car would be dead. Luckily, I always carry my jumper cables in my trunk, I ask my friend with his altima to give me a jump, we connec tthe cables, and I trun the key, it doesnt start up, took me about 4 tries (15 seconds) before the car would actually turn on. Again, this has never happened. Once the car is on, I rev the engine to make sure Im charging up the battery. I go to turn on the lights, and same thing happens. I end up tryign to jiggle the wires of the ballast/ignitor/bulb to see what happens. I only could get one at a time, so I just drive with one light home. When I get home, It takes me about 20 tries before I can get both lighs to turn on. What is going on? WHy did this happen?
One bad thing after he other with my car.

Devon

 

No1 has any idea? I woke up at 6 AM for work today, prayed that everything would be fine, turned on car with no problem, turned on HIDs, and both are fine, am I the only one that sees a problem here. battery/alternator need to be upgraded?

 

absolutely correct...I was gonna say with all the stuff you have in your car...the alternator should be upgraded...I would pick one up from a junk yard or pepboys and have it rebuilt to be able to handle all the power requirements.

 

After having a whole night to think about it, I figured it very well could be the alternator, I mean I really do have a lot of components putting a lot of strain on the alternator, which si a reason why mY HID's decided to flicker, turn off, and not want to turn on again. The only thing realyl connected to my battery is the power amp cable, but I guess since my alternator was real weak, some other juice had to be taken from teh battery, hence the fact that I needed the jump start. Am I correct?
How do you "re-build" an alternator, and is it better than buying a higher amp alternator? Thanks for the help

 

well, when they rebuild the alternator...they basically rewind the coils so that it can produce more current...like from 140 amps to 200 amps. I would think that you need somewheres around 200 amps...you might also want to invest in an Optima Battery for your car. With those two things, you'd be like Betty White.....GOLDEN! BTW....get on AIM....a few questions for you!

 

Thanks for the help nupe. Im at work right now, so I cant go on AIM, i'll be home around 3:15 PM eastern, IM me then if you would like
Also, where can I get teh alternator rebuilt? Is it costly? Im looking to invest in an optima battery as well, I guess ill just do both at once when I have the chance.