Aftermarket Hid Flicker?

[Sharma21]

So anyways I got a hid kit with a relay harness from my local mobile electronics dealer and they are not ****ty kits either (have them on 2 vehicles still running great). However when I got them installed in my '11 murano the passenger side bulb dosent flicker but just kind of looks like the light bulb is constantly moving from side to side and not so much of a flicker like on and off.... its kind of hard to explain. I showed it to the store and they just swapped out the bulb and ballast however now this new one is doing the same thing but not as sporadically as the last one just a little bit from time to time and sometimes when im braking, where as the last ones were doing it all the time. However now im starting to believe that maybe the relay harness could be bad? Anybody tend to shed some light on this topic who may have ran into something like this? Also Ill get a video off what it used to look like with the old bulb and ballast and possibly with the new ones...... I also have a single amp with a single sub too...Thanks.

[HVT]

If you're sure the bulb is installed properly, the simple check would be to just bypass the harness and plug it directly into the factory connector.

[Sharma21]

The bulb is installed correctly, but if i plug it in the factory connector instead of the harness it doesn't work.... Kind of makes me think why the shop told me that they would have to put a harness on in the first place because they said it needed more "juice" when even though this is 35w.

[turbizzy]

When I put some DDM HIDs on my buddy's Charger, it did weird things like sometimes one bulb wouldn't work. Eventually he took em off. Not sure why but maybe the ballasts didn't do well with his BCM. Maybe thats whats happening?

Or it could be a bad ballast again.

[HVT]

Originally Posted by Sharma21

The bulb is installed correctly, but if i plug it in the factory connector instead of the harness it doesn't work.... Kind of makes me think why the shop told me that they would have to put a harness on in the first place because they said it needed more "juice" when even though this is 35w.

Not sure why they wouldn't work. They're plug n play. All the harness does is uses the factory plug to tell a relay to open directly to the battery.

[njjoe]

Originally Posted by Sharma21

The bulb is installed correctly, but if i plug it in the factory connector instead of the harness it doesn't work.... Kind of makes me think why the shop told me that they would have to put a harness on in the first place because they said it needed more "juice" when even though this is 35w.

More juice? Did they suspect your ballasts had a vitamin-C deficiency?

Actually, it sounds like your installer was simply looking for a way to pad your bill by installing a harness that was not needed. The OEM halogens draw 65 watts apiece on HIGH beam. Your 35-watt HIDs draw slightly more than half that (54%). If the circuitry can handle the high-beams then it can certainly feed the HIDs.

-njjoe

[Sharma21]

Originally Posted by njjoe

More juice? Did they suspect your ballasts had a vitamin-C deficiency?

Actually, it sounds like your installer was simply looking for a way to pad your bill by installing a harness that was not needed. The OEM halogens draw 65 watts apiece on HIGH beam. Your 35-watt HIDs draw slightly more than half that (54%). If the circuitry can handle the high-beams then it can certainly feed the HIDs.

-njjoe

Originally Posted by HVT

Not sure why they wouldn't work. They're plug n play. All the harness does is uses the factory plug to tell a relay to open directly to the battery.

Right and I know that hids consume less (obviously) as I didnt have a harness on my 99 civic and it worked fine but, I still dont know why they dont work straight up without the harness....The funny thing is today when I was driving I noticed that, when ever I would Brake (and the murano would kind of dip in the front downwards) the bulb would do that flickering thing, but when the car was just steady ideling, or im just driving it wouldent flicker or anything at all? I mean lets hope its not a bad ballasts again, but just to experiment today I ran the lights, opened the hood, and just kind of shook the wire that the ballast was connected to the harness to see if it would do that weird thing but it wouldn't.... Anyways ill try to get a video up to show you guys what's happening but to get an idea its exactly similar to this video in where its not flickering but shaking

6k HID flicker/shake - YouTube

6k HID flicker/shake - YouTube

And again these aren't some cheap kits I mean, like ive stated I've had them on a couple of vehicles and my recently totaled civic (and even after the accident they were still working without any problem) Then again I wouldn't think that there's anything wrong with the murano in correlation to this because, I've just bought it new like 3 weeks ago....

[Sharma21]

Originally Posted by turbizzy

When I put some DDM HIDs on my buddy's Charger, it did weird things like sometimes one bulb wouldn't work. Eventually he took em off. Not sure why but maybe the ballasts didn't do well with his BCM. Maybe thats whats happening?

Or it could be a bad ballast again.

You don't think it could be anything with the ecu do you? I mean does the murano have that advanced of a system that it will tell you if a bulbs out like in euro cars? Since your located in the bay, I don't know if your familiar with San Jose but I buy all my mobile electronics and w/e from guru electronics had any experience with them?

[HVT]

Originally Posted by Sharma21

You don't think it could be anything with the ecu do you? I mean does the murano have that advanced of a system that it will tell you if a bulbs out like in euro cars? Since your located in the bay, I don't know if your familiar with San Jose but I buy all my mobile electronics and w/e from guru electronics had any experience with them?

I'm gonna say no because I have the HID retro kit and they work fine. That HAS TO BE something with the wiring harness if that's the only thing that hasn't been changed. Also make sure all 4 pins on the harness relay are seated correctly. Somethings loose SOMEWHERE. A bulb doesn't just flicker like that...especially if it AND it's corresponding ballest have been replaced. I still say remove the harness if all else fails and do a direct plug n play.

[nitely]

If you got a clean burn on the other side its probably a faulty bulb or a faulty ballast. You sure the mounting is not moving?

[njjoe]

Excellent video.

From what I understand some cars are susceptible to flickering when certain aftermarket HID kits are installed, that is why some companies offer anti-flickering capacitors as an option with their kits.

The anti-flickering capacitor is a module, smaller than the ballast, that connects between the power feed and the ballast.




Check with your installer and see if this will do the trick.

Cost is around $25/pair.

-njjoe

[Kris]

Joe,
this is just a substitute for poorly designed ballast. But if it works who cares

[Sharma21]

Originally Posted by nitely

If you got a clean burn on the other side its probably a faulty bulb or a faulty ballast. You sure the mounting is not moving?

No the mounting is secure because they drilled the ballast on to the frame, but as far as it being a faulty bulb or ballast again im not sure because, like ive said this is the second replacement ballast and bulb and its only been occurring on this passenger side; the driver side from day one has been experiencing no problems whatsoever.

[Sharma21]

Originally Posted by HVT

I'm gonna say no because I have the HID retro kit and they work fine. That HAS TO BE something with the wiring harness if that's the only thing that hasn't been changed. Also make sure all 4 pins on the harness relay are seated correctly. Somethings loose SOMEWHERE. A bulb doesn't just flicker like that...especially if it AND it's corresponding ballest have been replaced. I still say remove the harness if all else fails and do a direct plug n play.

Exactly what im thinking.... I've got an extra harness sitting around that ive bought of ebay a while ago that I used in my civic I think i'll give that a try by swapping it but, like you say to just connect it straight to orignial cable and discarding the harness; I've tried that before but it dosent seem to even fire up?

[Sharma21]

Originally Posted by njjoe

Excellent video.

From what I understand some cars are susceptible to flickering when certain aftermarket HID kits are installed, that is why some companies offer anti-flickering capacitors as an option with their kits.

The anti-flickering capacitor is a module, smaller than the ballast, that connects between the power feed and the ballast.




Check with your installer and see if this will do the trick.

Cost is around $25/pair.

-njjoe

That's actually not my video but that's exactly whats happening I just posted that so you guys would get an idea of what im talking about. Its not like flickering on/off, it's just as if its shaking or focusing or something along the lines of that. Then again for the anti flicker capacitor, why would it be that only one side is doing this but the other not?