HID Zenon bulb replacement - 993

[Ocho]

Hello all

I recently went down to a single dipped headlight and toyed with replacing with LEDs, much to the dismay of one of this forum's finest contributors (you know who you are!). Anyway looking under the bonnet in more detail it turns out I have an HID system, which I think is an aftermarket one, which I assume means I can't just do a direct swap to LEDs even if I wanted to as the leads will be coming from an HID specific power source (the ballasts?) meaning LEDs won't work from this.

In light of this (see what I did there) I thought I would first swap the bulb from the working side to the other just to make sure that it's the bulb that has failed not the ballast or some other part of the HID setup. So having taken both headlamp units out and disconnected everything to access the place where the HID bulb wires connect, I have then taken the working bulb and swapped it over to the other side and switched on the lights and.... NOTHING. Swapped it back over.... STILL NOTHING. So it appears I now have no headlights at all.

Has anyone had any similar experiences to this or know anything more than me, which is not a lot at all, and/or can shed any light (sorry) on where my problems might lie?

For clarity, when I tried the lights after swapping the bulbs, I tried the lights without putting the bulbs back into the headlamp units given that I would be replacing again once I had identified the problem. Is there any reason why they wouldn't work outside of the units themselves?

Thanks as always.

[rbh]

In trying the lights outside the body are you sure that it was earthed properly?

[Ocho]

rbh said:

In trying the lights outside the body are you sure that it was earthed properly?

Errrmmm nope - how would I do that? Sounds like an extremely good reason for the bulbs to not light up though!!!

[Ocho]

OK dunce cap duly donned. Found the other two wires I had disconnected (one with a spade connector the other a sort of round connector?) put them back in with the good bulb on the bad side and hey presto, we have light. Two new bulbs ordered. Case closed (hopefully).

[guards red]

One word of caution, be careful with HID ballasts and bulbs. They can put out lethal voltages...

[Ocho]

guards red said:

One word of caution, be careful with HID ballasts and bulbs. They can put out lethal voltages...

Thank you. Yes, even before my dunce's moment I was aware of that. Care will be taken.

[chrisgaia]

Ocho said:

Hello all

I recently went down to a single dipped headlight and toyed with replacing with LEDs, much to the dismay of one of this forum's finest contributors (you know who you are!). Anyway looking under the bonnet in more detail it turns out I have an HID system, which I think is an aftermarket one, which I assume means I can't just do a direct swap to LEDs even if I wanted to as the leads will be coming from an HID specific power source (the ballasts?) meaning LEDs won't work from this.

In light of this (see what I did there) I thought I would first swap the bulb from the working side to the other just to make sure that it's the bulb that has failed not the ballast or some other part of the HID setup. So having taken both headlamp units out and disconnected everything to access the place where the HID bulb wires connect, I have then taken the working bulb and swapped it over to the other side and switched on the lights and.... NOTHING. Swapped it back over.... STILL NOTHING. So it appears I now have no headlights at all.

Has anyone had any similar experiences to this or know anything more than me, which is not a lot at all, and/or can shed any light (sorry) on where my problems might lie?

For clarity, when I tried the lights after swapping the bulbs, I tried the lights without putting the bulbs back into the headlamp units given that I would be replacing again once I had identified the problem. Is there any reason why they wouldn't work outside of the units themselves?

Thanks as always.

I love that! You must have thought “what are all these people whingeing about, halogens are great!” ;-D

Can you identify which HID system, is it marked? Is it Tore’s T-Light? You could ask him directly.