i have a 55w hid kit with a relay and ive noticed sometimes that when the auto lights kick in, that the passenger side front hid doesnt stay on. like it lights up for 1-2 seconds and then shuts off. connections are all double checked and ground is good. the only way to get it working is to shut off the lights for a few seconds and then put it to the night light or whatever you call them and then they both stay on and are on, after that i can move it down to auto and it stays on.

any ideas on why this is?

 

in my experience with HID's it tends to be the ballast or bulb. try swapping sides and see if the issue carries over.

 

any idea how i can just shut off auto lights completely? wouldnt mind just turning on the nights when i need to tbh

 

yeah do not use auto if you do not want to swap left and rights to see if the issue transfers?

 

like for example when i start the truck up in a covered parking lot, the auto lights kick in and the driver light only works. so the only way to get both working is to manually turn the lights off and then switch to the last option which is headlamps. right when i do that, the passenger also kicks in and both are working. i can then perfectly fine switch it to auto and they both turn on.

my thinking is that when i first turn on the truck and its set to auto, the starter pulls too mucn current/the other stuff in the truck does and what happens is the passenger ballast doesnt get enough power to start so only the one closer to the battery starts up which is the driver side. and then once the truck is on and the alternator is running, that is when i can switch the lights manually to off and then manually to headlamps and it starts working. it seems as if when i switch them off and then back to auto the passenger still doesnt want to turn on but ill try again tonight and see if that happens

i wouldnt mind completely shutting off the auto lights is that possible? like pulling a fuse and just manually turning the lights on?

 

The problem is the auto headlights function. When you turn the key on the lights cut on but when you turn the key to the actual crank position headlight power is cut back off then back on again after the engine starts. That rapid on-off-on eventually causes problems with both ballasts and bulbs and often results on one ballast not restriking. On my truck I added one of these little solid state timer relays to solve the exact same issue.
I forget how exactly how I configured it but I remember I added it to the trigger for the HID relays so that if the main trigger (auto headlights) is removed this keeps them powered for an additional 10 seconds. It also acts when I just shut the truck off, they stay on an additional 10 seconds beyond when they would normally shut off.

 

thanks so much for the reply! yeah i tried so many ways to try to disable the lights but it doesnt seem to work, seems like the only way is to mod the sensor and or mod the switch which i dont have the time to do cuz if i mod the switch then my drl are off which is illegal in canada.

 

further more to my original question any idea why when i use auto lights that my passenger side hid does turn on for example
when i enter a covered garage and my truck is on and driving the passenger doesnt turn on. but if i use the switch to turn the lights off and then go back to turning them on manually, they both stay on and work fine. its odd cuz doesnt auto lights just tell the truck to turn the lights on? im confused why it doesnt turn on with auto but does so when i use the manual switch

 

once again.... take the left side light and ballast and swap it with the right side and see if the problem moves to the other side. HID kits are like 35 bucks a set. unless you just want to keep disregarding the same suggestion. the voltage regulators inside the ballasts sometimes do not work properly pulling more current than they should.

 

I'd point out that the cheapo HID kits are complete garbage though..... I've tested them pretty extensively here with a buddy of mine. The bulbs are hit and miss but generally okay (usually just installed into the base very well) but the cheapo ballasts are garbage. Did the same test with more than a dozen various cheapo ballasts (several were brand new) using the same bulb. Plug a cheap one in and the color, brightness, warm up varies, they all seemed pretty bright. Take the same bulb and plug it into an OEM (Masu****a), Morimoto, Hylux, or Acme (the only 4 higher end ones we had around) and the difference was dramatic, far faster warmup, consistent color, and literally orders of magnitude brighter. First time we tried that sort of test we were both literally shocked are how truly bad the cheapo ones are.

Aside from that though. I've seen the exact same issue on at least 4 different GM trucks with auto headlights with the exact same symptoms. One side (usually the same one every time) will somewhat consistently not be on if you quickly turn the key from off to crank but if you turn the headlights manually off for a few seconds then back on and they will both work fine. There is another workaround as well that I forgot to mention. Always use your parking brake, do not release it until after the engine is running. The parking brake disables your headlights if it is set when you first start up. Another technique that also works is to start up slower. Turn the key to on, let it sit for maybe 5 seconds to allow the ballasts to fully ignite the bulbs and start warming up, then turn the rest of the way to start. That little bit will not always do it but often did make a difference. I've also read on the CPF forums where others have added a capacitor inline to the HID ballasts but I'm not sure how well that will really work as it would discharge the instant the power is removed and would at best only add a fraction of a second of delay.