# help me solve my hid problem



## Hectordagreat11 (Apr 8, 2008)

I have the helix hid replicas for the mk4 jetta. I bought a d2s hid kit and i put together a relay harness following this http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3059743 
here is how my relay is set up:








the problem is I already killed a passenger side ballast, the symptoms were, there was a popping sound over the speakers (bad ground?) when i switched the lights on, and most of the time only the driver side light came on. I had to switch them off, then on for the passenger side to turn on. until one day the passenger side ballast was dead. 
I just got the replacement ballast and redid my relay harness with thicker wire. on the first attempt only the driver side light came on...again. after the 2nd time the lights came on fine but the speakers still popped when I first switched the lights on. after a couple more test runs, only the passenger side light turns on and the drivers side does not. 
questions:
the 86 and 85 on the relay is connected only to the driver side headlight positive and negative wires. could this be the cause of my issue?
what could be the reason my speakers pop when i first turn on the lights? if the lights have been on and i turn them off then on, they dont pop the speakers, only during the first switch on. 
I apologize for the novel, but I dont want another ballast to go out and i dont know what to do at this point.
thanks


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## Hectordagreat11 (Apr 8, 2008)

any input?


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## AZV6 (May 3, 2006)

*Re: (Hectordagreat11)*

Not sure as I cannot see your wiring ability and how clean or not clean the whole thing is. I would say not even to use the relays at all. and follow this post:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4472670
One problem I see is that I would ground the relays not on the battery, at least that diagram is not clear if your grounding it with the battery or not. Make their own grounds. 
I would use 2 relays if your going to use them. 








86 is the relay switching (control) circuit input.
85 is the relay switching (control) circuit output.
30 is the power circuit input.
87 is the power circuit output.
The best relays to use in setting up a headlamp circuit have dual 87 terminals. That lets you use one 87 terminal to power the left filament, and the other 87 terminal to power the right filament in whatever circuit you're building (low beam, high beam, fog lamp, etc.). Note that a terminal labelled 87a is not the same as an 87 terminal.
On headlamp sockets, the terminal designations are as follows (not shown in diagram):
56a is the high beam feed.
56b is the low beam feed.
31 is ground.


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## Hectordagreat11 (Apr 8, 2008)

my relay is not connected to the ground on the battery.
I followed that diagram, and the way I have it set up is:
30 - wired with 10gauge wire, inline fuse with 30amp fuse
87 - to both + ballast wires
86 - stock + low beam wire on driver side headlight only
85 - stock - low beam wire on driver side headlight only
then I have a 10 gauge wire connected to both - ballast wires to ground the ballasts. 
The way I see it, when i switch the lights on, the "signal" from the stock wires, tells the relay to switch on power to the ballasts, right? 
yet im curious as to why when I first turn on the lights, my speakers make a soft static/pop noise, like I have a bad ground?!?!
I had this same setup before with another set of lights and another hid kit and it ran fine with no problems...
could it be the relay going bad?



_Modified by Hectordagreat11 at 6:49 PM 8-26-2009_


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## AZV6 (May 3, 2006)

*Re: (Hectordagreat11)*

Let me ask you, have you disabled the DRL's?
12 gauge (4.0mm2) wire is all you need as well.
Use 12 G wire through the whole harness, for grounding, power etc...


_Modified by AZV6 at 5:06 PM 8-26-2009_


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## Hectordagreat11 (Apr 8, 2008)

yes i have disabled the drl's by bending the pin down. I had 12 gauge wire the first time around, when the passenger side ballast died on me. I figured it was due to the old wiring harness. it had been there since my first hid kit i bought last year. that one worked perfect but I sold it with the headlights I had. 
So I upgraded and redid the harness, with 10 gauge to avoid any problems. I kept the old relay, now im starting to think its the relay. I honestly dont know what to try any more.


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## Hectordagreat11 (Apr 8, 2008)

what other sources can I use as a trigger to swith the relay on, to pins 85 and 86? could I use the bumper light?
btw, all connections are crimped/soldered and heatshrinked to avoid any problems...


_Modified by Hectordagreat11 at 12:46 AM 8-27-2009_


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## Hectordagreat11 (Apr 8, 2008)

what could be the cause of the speaker buzz/static/pop upon the first ignition of the lights? 
I feel this is where my problems lies...the ballasts are grounded directly to battery via 10 gauge wire, is this not a good enough ground? 


_Modified by Hectordagreat11 at 12:48 AM 8-27-2009_


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## EternalMind (Jun 8, 2005)

*Re: (Hectordagreat11)*

if you followed my original diagram in your first post you will be fine so far as the harness is concerned. DO connect the *ballast* grounds back to battery ground. that may resolve your issues of failing ballasts if not already connected that way (although it could just be the HID kit...they aren't the greatest quality typically if not 'OEM' components...and by 'OEM', i just mean OEM from any vehicle and not a 'kit'). 
all the HID components in my personal system (on my gti) are 'OEM' and not a 'kit', but i have never had any issues with my relay harness ever...on this car or a number of others. the relays themselves only need ground on one side of the coil and the stock headlight 'ground' covers this. it does not need to be massive wiring to the coil. they are just switching power and do not need to 'pass on' ground.
are you following the diagram exactly otherwise? is the relay spec'd for 30A? are you using the correct wire size (at least the minimum sizes mentioned)? how is your relay mounted? ensure it is mounted with pins down so that it doesn't get water running into it on the wires. double check all your connections to ensure they are solid and not intermittent...especially if using crimps.
if there are no issues with your stock wiring (headlamp low beam power and ground), then there is no issue triggering the relay off of just the driver's side.
the reason you only hear the pop sound during the 1st turn-on is due to the inrush current. it is higher if the lamps have not been on recently. now the question is why is it (the sound) happening in the first place. as for the stereo, is it stock or aftermarket? amps? additional wiring for it?
i hate to say it, but it may just be your HID kit. if you still think it is the harness somehow (although i believe you mentioned that you have used this setup before and it worked fine...as it should), then you'll have to bust out the multimeter and we'll have to start testing in detail.


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## Hectordagreat11 (Apr 8, 2008)

thanks for your reply eternal, to answer your questions:
I am following the diagram exactly as it is pictured. the one thing that is different is I am using a 40amp relay, which I just realized after checking everything. I have an inline 30amp fuse. 
I just purchased a new 40amp relay (all they had) and am planning on replacing it. I will also go over all my connections that arent soldered (the connectors to the relay) they are only crimped onto the wires and will solder them. 
with my previous hid kit, I didnt hear a popping sound, so when I first heard it I knew something was wrong. My stereo is aftermarket (pioneer f700) and an amp kit wired for 2 subs but nothing has changed there. 
Do you suggest leaving the wire that goes to the 85 pin on the relay connected to the stock harness ground (brown wire)? or should I connect it to the ground on battery? 


_Modified by Hectordagreat11 at 5:01 PM 8-28-2009_


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## EternalMind (Jun 8, 2005)

*Re: (Hectordagreat11)*

i'd suggest leaving the 85 pin alone...connected to low beam ground. this is not the source of your noise; it only affects the coil of the relay, which seems to be working.
using a 40A relay is fine also.
it sounds like you know what you are doing with the wiring...i doubt the issue is your relay harness unless you find a bad connection or a short somewhere (look for pinched or exposed wires). so far, i really think the issue is with your HID kit. it may just be more noisy and less reliable than it should be. 
you said D2S, right? D2 (unlike D1) has the igniter 'outside' the bulb. make sure the connection at the bulb is good and tight (be careful, high voltage here). also, if the harness going from the ballast to the ignitor/bulb has metal shielding, make sure it doesn't touch any metal on the car. it may be running at a different potential from ground and if so, you won't want to ground it out.
on the stereo setup, are you running RCA's from the headunit to the amp? if yes, are they running through the same side of the car as the power line to the amp(s)? if yes, you may want to move them to the other side of the car while keeping the power line where it is. you never want to run signal lines and power lines together if you don't have to.
last thing that comes to mind right now is to check the bulbs themselves. make sure that the electrode that runs up to the end of the glass part of the bulb is not bent or broken and that it is not touching anything when installed into the headlamp.


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## Hectordagreat11 (Apr 8, 2008)

I will do what you said and report back. thanks


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