HID issue - ANY help?

[BreakingBad]

The problems i'm having now:

a.) BOTH bulbs can vary in brightness

b.) right bulb now goes out randomly

c.) one bulb seems to have a "pinpointed" brightness, when other seems to be more of a spread out brightness...hard to explain

3bspec (site i bought from) said this could be a potential relay issue, bad ground, etc.

What would cause both bulbs to act so erratic? Any answers will help, gotta get this fixed tomor am!

Note: I also had a new battery under hood installed (optima) along with 2 batteries connected in rear. stock bulbs worked fine with that battery setup...I'm thinking a relay issue, either a bad relay all together or a bad ground, bad connection to battery, etc. ANY ideas?!

i'm having the install shop look at the relay/grounds/battery tomorrow...is that something that could cause one bulb to be dim, the other to be brighter, to randomly turn off, and not turn back on unless i hit the switch in my vehicle...along with varying brightness on both bulbs?

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[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

Sounds like install problems. Who did the install?

 

[loudaccent 10+ year member]

how much was the hid unit

 

[BreakingBad]

a local shop, auto illusions in moon, pa. the guy who does the majority of my stuff didn't actually do the HIDs, one of his "underlings" did...

i'm taking it back tomorrow to see if they can see anything wrong with the install (grounds, connection points etc)...otherwise i have on order a new ballast + bulb + relay from the manufacturer

paid $140

 

[infamous_e46 5,000+ posts]

i have some bulbs for sale lemme know

 

[fbi90909 5,000+ posts]

to me is sounds like a ground/ballast issue. though where is it groundied at?

some hid kits are direct connect to your battery with power/ground and the relay is just connected to your stock head light plug. if your is like that then the ground would be going directly to the battery. bad ballast can cause the issues your having.

 

[grdpndr]

I agree with fbi90909 on the ballast issue.

I stopped installing the cheap units a couple of years ago due to really poor build quality - and up here in Canada, they took 5 minutes to work properly on first start-up. Pretty much nothing now but PIAA. Costs a small fortune, but they fire up almost instantly - summer and winter. Oh yeah - 0 comebacks.

 

[ctt0002 10+ year member]

a.) BOTH bulbs can vary in brightness

Did you mess with your headlight alignments?

b.) right bulb now goes out randomly

Check your right ballast to see how secure it is. Slight movement can hinder this problem

c.) one bulb seems to have a "pinpointed" brightness, when other seems to be more of a spread out brightness...hard to explain

Again, check your headlight alignment.

If you can, post a picture of the beam pattern.

 

[AznrMix88 10+ year member]

I am actually having the same problem. The problem with one bulb going out is most likely your ballast or it could also be your harness. The beam pattern can be from the bulb going in the socket at a weird angle, thus giving you a more pinpointed beam rather than a spread out one. I have installed a few kits, and I've experienced all of these problems with the cheap kits. I guess you could say you are getting what you paid for.