BahamutRS

I just installed a HID headlight kit in my 1992 Camaro. I'm using Hiper Industries blue xenon bulbs, rated at 55W I think...anyways, I just replaced my sealed low beams with the new ones and they worked. However, the high beams are on VERY LITTLE for some reason; it's like they're barely getting power, but they're on- and the low beams are EXTREMELY BRIGHT...I mean BLINDING. When I turn the high beams on, they turn on correctly, but the driver's side low beam xenon turns off and the passenger side low beam xenon dims SUBSTANTIALLY..they're still about 100x brighter than my old sealed beams, but now they don't blind you as much..I assume it's what they SHOULD look like with normal low beams on...so can anyone tell me what's going on? Please? Thanks!

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1992 Camaro RS 5.0L
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Performance mods
120 HP NOS kit
Flowmaster cat-back exhaust
Hedman street headers
SLP cold air kit
MSD 6A ignition

Audio
Sony Xplod CDX-M610 head unit
Pioneer 2-way 4x6 front speakers
Pioneer 3-way 6x9 rear speakers
12 inch Pioneer VCCS PRO subwoofer
QLogic sealed box
Kicker ZR360 amplifier

sunbitz

Hi....
I bought the same thing and had the exact same problem!
It didn't look right to me and I took them back out and replaced them with Slyvania super bright white replacement lights. Very nice and much better than stock replacements.

When I bought the blue light set-up the seller suggested a set of high beam lights as well. This could very well be the problem.
With the blue lights installed I had a dim light coming from my high beams and when I switched to high beams the blue lights would go off completely. It was just too strange for me and di not want to risk frying the wiring to the lights so I took them out and called it a lesson learned.

Anybody else out here had this problem??

JimmyS

Yeah, i had that problem, i converted using hyper white lights. One light would be really bright and the other would go out, or they'd be really dim. What i found out was that the connecters that plug onto the light bulbs were old and just the wires inside were breaking off, so i cut them off went to an auto parts store, got some new ones, soldered them on, and waaalaaa, worked like a charm! I love the bluish light, so much cleaner and clearer

Stuart Moss

Perhaps http://lighting.mbz.org/ will be of interest to the above posters.

While having nothing to do with the specific problem given above (one light dimmer or brighter than the other), it will give a point of view of why the blue lights (HID look-alikes as well as true aftermarket HID lights) should not be used (which I believe to be true), and also why using lights that draw more current normally (mostly?) requires more work than just plugging the new lights in, e.g. heaver gauge wire and connectors, etc.

Tyler-88

i had a bit of a problem as well, i replaced the sealed beam unit with bosh replacement housings and than i got some superwhite with a bit of blue tint to them. i noticed when the lights are on, the low beams are on high and the high beams were on dim. i was like wtf so i switched the wires around in the connector things and it seems to work fine. one problem i noticed was that when i drive with the high beams on, after like 20secs the lights will start to blink and flutter.
the low beams are 90/130watt and the highs are 100watts - i thought it was my small battery but no matter how much charge it gets, the still do it.

Chris Luongo

Tyler, I had that happen to me when I replaced the headlights in another car I had.

On most American cars, there are no fuses for the headlights. Instead, there's a circuit breaker built right into the headlight switch.

Your new lights draw more power, more than the car was designed for. The circuit breaker sees this as a problem, and shuts itself off. After a second, the breaker cools, and turns on again. Then it gets hot, and shuts off again...see where this is going?

Here's what you do.

You go out and buy a SPDT (single-pole, double-throw) relay...you can get it at an auto parts store, car stereo shop, wherever....tell them you want a standard Bosch relay and they'll know what you mean.

Find the wire in your headlight plug that goes to the high beams, and cut it right in half. Do the same over at the other high beam light. (If you have a Camaro, you'll have to do this on all 4 bulbs...even the "low-beam" has a high beam bulb inside.)

Take all the wires that go to the headlight bulbs, splice them all into one wire...and run that to where you want to mount the relay.

All the wires that are coming from the car itself...splice a piece of wire onto one of them, and run it to where the relay is. Tape off all the others as well as you can.

Run a FUSED wire from the battery to the relay...30 amps to start with.

Hook another wire to ground, nice and clean, and run that to the relay too.

Now, here's how you hook it all up...the relay's terminals are numbered:

85- hook to ground
86- hook to the car wire, the one coming
FROM the headlight switch
30- hook to the wire coming from the battery
87a- don't hook to anything
87- hook to the wire going TO your headlights.

If you see how this works....when you turn the high-beams on, it turns the relay "on"...all the relay does is "relay" the power from the battery direct to the light bulbs.

By the way, if you repeat this same process for the low beams, it would be a good idea...more power means more light.

You can keep the relays under the hood...they can take heat and probably a little moisture. Just make sure to screw or tie them into a position where they're right-side up...so that any water will drain back out.

Stuart Moss

Of course, if you are using the original headlight connectors to power the higher current (more powerful) headlights, one must also consider how much current they can safetly handle. Often (usually?) this can be a problem if you are just going to splice heaver gauge wire into the original connectors. The solution would be to find connectors rated for the amperage of the bulbs to be used.

Then of course there is the added heat that more powerful bulbs will create. Are the reflectors and the bulb connectors designed or capable for handling a bulb of this wattage or heat?

For a further discusson on this thought, from the link I posted a couple posts above, see http://lighting.mbz.org/faq/#wiring under the paragraph titled What about higher-wattage bulbs for my DOT-spec headlamps?.

Also from this web site, see http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/how_to/relays/ which is a detailed discusson on how to upgrade the wiring for the lights. There are several good diagrams on how to wire them as was posted immediately above this post. Even some stock systems would benefit from this modification. I'd be curious to know the voltage drop on my car. A higher voltage at the lamp = brighter lamp = shorter bulb life.

[This message has been edited by Stuart Moss (edited July 01, 2001).]

Tyler-88

Chris,

i kind of figured that it was a circuit breaker in there somewhere that was acting up. also, thanks for the informative post, it took me like an hour to wire up teh relay for my manual fan sqitch

82 cross fire

This was a fun problem for me When I changed to the hyper white bulbs I found out quickly wat the problem was. And it was a simple fix. These bulbs draw a great amount of current. The car wiring is not the problem. It will handle the load but the light switch an circut breaker will not. The fix simple add a pair of relays. Remove the connecters from the back of the bulbs and use one leg from the high side and one leg from the low side to actavite the relays. Thuss putting less than one amp of loade on the light switch. I built a simple harness for the bulbs and have had zero problems. If any one needs help with this feel free to email.

Jza

That explains the on/off problem, but here's why the bulbs aren't working right:



Notice the connectors are physically the same for the H4 and your stock H4656, but the prongs' actual functions are rearranged.