hid flash

[dSVTj]

so i just got a set of hids and whenever i turn them on, they flash bright quickly, then dim, then start to do the normal hid warmup. it flashed like this when i had regular bulbs, but didnt think anything of it. i kind of worry it could have a bad effect on the hids though. any ideas or suggestions?

[RawBurt]

so i just got a set of hids and whenever i turn them on, they flash bright quickly, then dim, then start to do the normal hid warmup.

Normal

ten

[dSVTj]

thanks man

diez characteradores

[#1700project2000]

mine do that as well

[wa2tuff]

so i just got a set of hids and whenever i turn them on, they flash bright quickly, then dim, then start to do the normal hid warmup. it flashed like this when i had regular bulbs, but didnt think anything of it. i kind of worry it could have a bad effect on the hids though. any ideas or suggestions?

To me, that doesn't make any sense. Why would regular bulbs flash, dim, and then come on unless there was an electrical problem?

[Pudmunkie]

Poor wiring, and NOT normal. and yes, bad for bulbs

[dSVTj]

any suggestions?

[Pudmunkie]

any suggestions?

get a better wiring harness

[RawBurt]

Poor wiring, and NOT normal. and yes, bad for bulbs

Interesting.

Have any articles supporting it? Not doubting you, just curious.

[Pudmunkie]

Everything someone might need to know that never gets read

From that(/\) thread:

Sometimes when people first get HID, they tend to show boat infront of their friends turning their HID off/on rapidly. Is this good some say? The answer is no. If you've ever seen HID turned off and on you would of noticed a 4100k turns redish-orange for a second. This is the bulbs way of saying OUCH! What happens is the bulbs have already created Xenon gas to for the light but hasn't cooled back into salts and then when the bulbs are turned back on, the ballast are sending out a start-up of 23k volts which IS NOT a good thing. The bulbs already had enough Xenon in them to supply light and didn't need the 23k shot to them. This kills bulb lifespan.

and about the flickering....

Some people out there just aren't aware of the dangers with wiring HID straight off of your existing oem wiring.

Should a relay be used to power HID, yes and always needs to be used. Why you ask perhaps? Your oem halogen equiped car was never designed or intended from the manufacturer to use or run high voltage/high current/ high amperage HID ballasts. Ballast draw a imense amount of amps upon start-up and could very seriosuly damage your wiring and not just at where its connected. We are talking serious damage to fuse boxes, ecu's, or worse could short and cause fires on very old cares that even have a hard enough time trying to power halogen. The reason why is, that when the ballast "demand" power, your car has to supply it from somewhere. Lets say its tapped into your oem headlight wire ok. Now you power up the ballasts, the draw current from your wiring, your wiring might not be up to the task so its needs help, t searches for a source and before you know it, you've now weakend not only one source but two now just to try and supply the ballast good clean power. This is why a relay harness is needed. A relay harness gets its power straight from the battery via relays. These relays are then wired to go to your ballasts now.

I guess I didnt cite in that post, but all that info is a compliation of HID forums and the auto lighting FAQ