Alright, so I ordered a very nice Xentech HID kit from a vendor on ebay, and installed it with little fuss. Everything is straightforward and makes perfect sense... Existing headlight harness to ballast, and ballast to xenon bulb. I know for a fact I hooked it up properly because the bulbs lit up just fine on the driver and passenger side for a time.

The problem is that I somehow managed to fry my headlight switch with this simple installation and no one on the R170 SLK forum where I checked first seems to have had anywhere near the same issue, nor do I see anything here quite like it. After the lights were in and running for about 10 minutes, the combo headlight switch/fuse box (what a stupid design) began to fizzle and crackle. Once this occurred, the fog lights began to come on without needing to pull out the switch. Then things wouldn't turn completely off anymore (parking lamps would stay on, or the fogs would stay on for some time after the main lamps were turned off). It got to the point where I had to pull the fuses for the parking lights and fogs and even THAT didn't keep the right side parking indicators from turning off completely.

ALRIGHT, fast forward to now and I have a new (aftermarket) switch installed. I'm both afraid to try this again yet also not willing to give up just yet because I MUST have HIDs in the CF. The way the headlights are designed it almost begs for them.

The *ONLY* possible mistake I may have made initially was not using the relays included with the kit. The instructions weren't clear on whether these plain black boxes even needed to be used so I didn't, and I figured that those would be used if you went to a FULL separate wiring harness. I did notice that when I plugged these relays into the chain, that the driver side HID didn't come on. However by this point I was worried things would get worse and didn't experiment anymore, so it's possible the broken switch was the culprit.

So my question is, has anyone ever experienced this issue and is it possible that the not using relays was the ENTIRE cause of the problem? I have to get this working.

TIA.

 

Old guys needs photos, Relays???they may have been ballists or even capacitors. Show us. If they wanted relays they must draw lots of current killing the switch.

Ill bet they were inductors or capacitors to filter the switching control on the lights.

I have HID hi and lo beams , no sweat. I did a write up and photos of it a while back.

Get us a few Daguerreotypes of what you have and Ill tell you, kiddo.

Woody

 

Thanks Woody!

Alright here's a photo of half the kit obviously...

On the far LEFT of the photo is the box I figure is a relay, in the middle is the HID burner, and on the far right is the traditional ballast that provides power and ignition for the HID burner. When I first hooked up the kit I did NOT use the relay box on the far left.

 

Boy, that's a bummer. I've installed 6 of these now and have not had a problem of any sort. And no relays used-direct wire.
I hate to say it, but I might suspect the HID kit itself-not the quality, but a one-off problem with the kit. Ask for a replacement? So far as I know, that manufacturer makes fine equipment.
Shouldn't have happened.

I have however heard of these headlight/fuseblock things failing before. In both MB and Chrysler installs. Just a coincidence? I don't know.

Shouldn't have happened.

 

Nice image, gee it is colored too, hee hee.

Well son the box has two wires, its a filter. Relay has to have a minimum of 3 terminals. You zapped the switch.

THere are few things in life that are free and if you find one you gotta be suspicious. Thats why AIDs free hookers charge you for the "lack" of freebies.

Add the box per the instructions and party on. Woody

 

BTW if Ned is lefthanded, why is he waving with his right??

Could he be out of his 'right mind' ??

 

Look closer Woody-it HAS 3 wires. It's a relay.
With a fuse.
Sorry bud-I saved the picture and blew it up.

 

No Go Joe,

I see a red and a black, please post the blow up cause I see there are wires going the the harness connectors, two wires each, r & b.

?

 

I too blew it up.

Play drv4 me, how many wires do you see on the black left hand " relay", amd their colors please.

Woody

 

Juat did the HID install on my 05. Kit was obviously from a different company but...I believe the box on the left is the capacitor. My instructions said something about it being necessary.

Quote from the ad:
A special error message canceller Harness is needed for certain higher end types of car to by-pass the computer error message. (no additional cost)
Specially 2003 and newer Dodge, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Jeep will definitely need special digital wire harness to function properly.

 

I used the Xentec kit and did not have ANY extra parts LOL

Nor did I have a smokey switch....

 

From each plug come two wires, a red and a black- a total of four wires two black and two red
two of these (red and black) wires bypass the whatsit, two wires(black from grey plug and red from the black plug) go into the whatsit.
The two wires that bypassed the whatsit and the two wires that come out of the whatsit (red and black) enter the sheath and go into the black box.
Thats what these old eyes see anyway.

 

Sorry fellas... I'll take a look at the "whatsit" (lol) again when I get off work this evening. It really is a whatsit because the loose leaf instruction book in the kit doesn't seem to mention it at all.

It is entirely possible that it isn't a relay and that instead its just a fancy-pants capacitor to keep the bulb out indicator from glowing. However, my bulb out indicator didnt glow with the kit installed by itself either.

 

Between the 2 connectors and the fuse holder I see 2 red and 2 black.

In the bundle exposed below the "black box" I see 2 blacks and a hint of 2 red. I was able to use GIMP at work and has some remarkable tools, including a pixel smoother. Sorry, bud. I left work just after that somewhat rude post to you! Sorry about that.

But I suppose that, instead of bickering like a couple of UFO hunters (did you see what I saw?) we can just ask the poor bloke with the camera?

Makes sense to me...we could ask him to remove the cover from the box?

Anyhooo-alot of folks who install HID's strongly suggest having the headlight switch actuate a relay instead of firing the ballast directly.

Maybe for just this reason? I never have. But it's got me thinkin'...

 

On my kit the "Whatsit" simply installed in line between the ballast and the bulb. The wires were much longer than they needed to be.

 

I just installed a Pilot HID kit on the SSB and it came with a little "whatsit" wired into the harness. No bulb out on dash, all lights working peachy!

I started this to say I didnt have a 'whatsit' and then remembered that little black box in-line on the harness. Yeaaaa..... I still have a memory!

 

OK... Santa Claus brought you all some presents...

I disassembled the thing and found this capacitor inside. So whoever said capacitor... Gold star for you.



I have to say by the way, this is nice build quality for the price paid!

Ian.

 

I searched around and came up with an article written on the charger forum. This has many answers to HID questions, it looks like the guy knows his stuff. It gives the reasons for flicker, burnt out wires, why they use capacitors, etc.
Definitely worth the read and saving for future use.
Official HIDThread! (How to, Install, FAQ troubleshoot, Info, Everything HIDs) - Dodge Charger Forums
He recommends that all the components for the HID be out of sight of inquiring eyes so that the HID looks as if was always there and not an add on.

 

Basically its a filter network with high wattage 20 ohm resistor and a cap also large. THe semi looks like its either a SCR or conventional dual rectifier package, for limiting the inrush current and filtering the high frequency switcher noise from the high voltage lamp driver.

You proved that you needed it, these electronic whats it s today are critical as semiconductors fail very fast to limit the stress on inline fuses. They often fail before the fuse to protect the fuse, ha ha.

Woody and nice photos.

 

Thanks Woody!

So you think that forgetting to use these initially is in-fact what caused me to burn up my switch? It's also interesting that you mentioned the word "inrush" because the only other time I've seen that word in recent memory was actually on a page ABOUT HIDs describing what "inrush load" does to existing vehicle components not designed for HID originally.

Ian.