Lights need to be turned on multiple times
 

I recently noticed this problem worsened after the ballast on one of my fog lights had went out. It had always had this problem before, but recently it's gotten worse.

When I turn on my lights, sometimes one of them will not turn on. Either one of the rear brake driving lights, or one of the projector HID lamps will be off. To get it to turn on, I just turn my light off and turn it back on again. Could it be something to do with drawing too much power from the car? I notice that my radio skips when I turn the lights on.


Currently, I have:

2 aftermarket Projector HIDs
2 aftermarket foglight HIDs
2 front LED DRLs
2 rear LED brake lights
1 backup camera
1 GPS unit

As long as you're not exceeding the stock bulb wattage, power should not be an issue. The HIDs and LEDs should actually be more efficient, assuming that you stayed below 55watts on the HIDs.

Could be a ballast going out...but I doubt it. They usually just stop working. I would check each ballast with an ammeter and calculate wattage to make sure they're not exceeding stock.

The switch itself may be a more likely culprit.

ballasts are fine.

It's not just the HID headlamps. sometimes it's the rear LED. turning the lights off and on again fixes the problem.

Problem is becoming more frequent. Sometimes requires an engine restart. Sometimes requires voodoo magic prayers. Sometimes it just won't work at all. Ranges from
HID Projectors, rear driving lights, or rear brake lights. Never LED DRLs though. Which light decides not to work is seemingly random, and it is independent of its counterpart, although several refuse to work more than others. It's not a loose connector, as jiggling it yields no result. It's never on the road, only on startup

What kind of professional should I take it to in order to get this problem resolved? I'm not scared to spend money to fix this.

Just checked battery and alternator. Both are perfect.

GPS just cut out today. Kenwood says "DC OFFSET ERROR" and "PROTECT"

Any help appreciated

If its consistently the same side that's not coming on its most likely its the bulb going bad. The ballast send out a high frequency start to ignite the arc in the bulbs. The bulbs start to wear out and sometimes require you to restart them. Try swapping the bulb to the other side and see if it does the same thing. Your stereo might be picking up the high frequency start, this could be do to the model of stereo that does not have a good power filter and or the brand/model of HID ballasts and the technology of start mode, some ballasts are better than others.

The stereo may be a clue. DC offset means that it's detecting an offset in the DC...a waveform(AC). Probably coming from feedback from a failing ballast. I would again suggest placing an ammeter on all ballasts and calculate the power consumed by each in watts to verify that they are within spec.
This may help track down the culprit if it is in one of the HID setups.

Another suggestion would be to disconnect all ballasts and try one at a time to see if you can isolate which one(if any) is malfunctioning.

Will do this right away! One of my ballasts is out for sure, and I left it connected (one of my fogs). Maybe that's why I've been having so many electrical problems!

Thanks for the update! This has been driving me insane.

Update. Removed ALL ballasts. Radio still giving DC OFFSET ERROR. Not too sure about the lights. The most aggravating problem is that it is not reproducible.


Please advise.



PS: It seems that turning the engine off after it's been running a while, keeping the electricity on, and restarting the radio (factory settings) fixes the radio problem. However, it goes back to DC OFFSET ERROR PROTECT mode randomly.

I did some research and it's usually coupled with the fact that one of the speakers have blown. This is incorrect as all my speakers still work. This problem is taking pieces of my sanity.

I still think it has something to do with your ballast and bulbs. May be that the high frequency has damaged the stereo. I think its time to make a call to Kenwood. good luck.

On aside note my last stereo would lose a lot of reception on the radio when my HID lights were on. Like I said some stereos are better than others when it comes to power filters.

You can build your own power filter with a couple of capacitors, check out a stereo/electronic forum for more that.

Crono, sorry to revive your thread but. I have the same kind of after market headlights and I just realized that the driving lights on the passenger side did not want to turn on.
And now it's ME who's losing my sanity.
When I would turn on the lights at night, in their reflection agains my house I would see something "turn off" when turning on the low beams. So i would turn the lights off and on again and i would seem to correct the problem, but i never knew if that was what it was turning off as i never got out of the car to check.
And now I'm left wondering.....

Where did you find LED DRLs?

The little bulb in the headlight that comes on with the markers? One turn right?

They have a special offset post design and show a warm light in the lower area under the cool white HID. I've thought a cool white LED would look good in there.

Great! Last night it was only the driving lights. Today is also the low beams. :mad:
:troll::troll::troll:

Timco, I'm not gonna be able to load a picture right now, but i have the same aftermarket headlights that Crono has. The piece comes with driving lights. Crono has added more on his bumper but the assembly comes with some sort of driving lights already.

The reason for the lights not working is that one of your ballast or more are about to blow. I had the same problem minus the radio dc thing. I had to turn on and off my lights until my headlight turn on. Eventually (2 months in) my ballast blew so I removed the HIDS and now I have to order a new one. I thought maybe I did a bad job at hooking it up but nope it was just a crappy ballast.

You have a total of 4 ballast on your car right CRONO? Do you have an aftermarket radio? So which of the headlights is the one that usually does not turn on? Pick up a set of new ballast of of ebay for $30 see what results you get. I had xentec on my car and still the ballast blew. I paid $20 for the set so Im not mad just disappointed. They were cool while it lasted though.

Could be the headlight relay.

Gotcha.

Mine are factory Lits. They have a tiny special DRL bulb in there. Porsche only.

Bloody hell, $20-$30 for HID ballast? I run a set with all the available protection features found in today's factory units but they cost me an arm and leg ($120). Nasty.

Would a 986 and other circuits/electronics be okay if we just slam in the $40 HID ballasts you commonly find on eBay everywhere? Talking about the dumb ones that just limit the current to the bulbs... eBay sellers call those $40 'good' ones

Safe?

I buy my ballasts from Hong Kong...$30 shipped for 2 ballasts and 2 bulbs. I had one of the first set fail, but that was my fault for mounting it inside the headlight instead of mounting it to the rear cover.

No problems with the cheapies for me ;)
They look and work just like the $100+ sets.

After updating to the 2nd gens, and getting myself a working ballasts with new rear wiring harness, everything works flawlessly.

Lights turn on in one go. Radio never has any problems.

What I know about hid ballasts.....
 

EDIT:
Post revised. Inaccurate information and/or conflicting advice/details given by different manufactures (competitors maybe, dunno). Still researching.