06-22-2014, 08:08 AM
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#1
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I am my own mechanic....
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Posts: 3,432
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A mediocre / low battery will give all kinds of odd light combos. I would start with new battery before condemning any part.
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'04 Boxster S 50 Jahre 550 Spyder Anniversary Special Edition, 851 of 1953, 6-sp, IMS/RMS, GT Metallic silver, cocoa brown leather SOLD to member Broken Linkage.
'08 VW Touareg T-3 wife's car
'13 F150 Super Crew long bed 4x4 w/ Ego Boost
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06-22-2014, 08:33 AM
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Boulder Colorado
Posts: 29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Timco
A mediocre / low battery will give all kinds of odd light combos. I would start with new battery before condemning any part.
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Thanks, it seems to have good cranking power, could it still be faulty and have good voltage/amperage?
Like you said good place to start!
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06-22-2014, 08:40 AM
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#3
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I am my own mechanic....
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Posts: 3,432
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chronohunter
Thanks, it seems to have good cranking power, could it still be faulty and have good voltage/amperage?
Like you said good place to start!
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Someone will weigh in on voltages and which way the electrons flow shortly.
I was amazed how much faster mine cranked over with a new battery and I thought mine cranked fine....
__________________
'04 Boxster S 50 Jahre 550 Spyder Anniversary Special Edition, 851 of 1953, 6-sp, IMS/RMS, GT Metallic silver, cocoa brown leather SOLD to member Broken Linkage.
'08 VW Touareg T-3 wife's car
'13 F150 Super Crew long bed 4x4 w/ Ego Boost
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06-22-2014, 10:45 AM
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: UK
Posts: 132
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I've had two cars' electronics go crazy due to low battery
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2001 Boxster S
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07-13-2014, 10:55 PM
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Boulder Colorado
Posts: 29
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Figured it out maybe...
So the cause seems to be my aftermarket HID high beams. I have now had several different random warning lights come on when I switch on the high beams. The warning lights stay on until the car is turned off. Everything operates properly just the warning light(s) come on. The headlights operate perfectly. It seems to stop happening after 10 minutes or so of driving if you turn the car off and restart it. I have had oil pressure once battery twice and rear spoiler once. I hope there is a solution because the stock high beams are horrible! The HID's are seemingly good quality and supposedly "OBED2" compliant and they work great (besides the warning light issue).
Anyone else seen anything like this before... I sure haven't!
Suggestions welcome
Last edited by Chronohunter; 07-13-2014 at 10:59 PM.
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07-14-2014, 01:19 AM
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Montreal, QC. (currently expat to Shanghai)
Posts: 3,249
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Sorry to hear about your issues mate. I actually hate those kind of ghost electrical issues in my anything. Even less on my cars
Like some mentioned, weak voltages/current may cause a few things to act up or even fail. HID kits draw aprox 6~7amps. More if you use those 55watts kits. If you fear your ballasts or bulbs being defect, I'd remove those immediately and replace with some of the latest gears. Doesn't have to be "supreme quality" as most if not all common HID kits you find today has pretty solid built-in protection features. Cheap ones you see advertised everywhere has them also. Pretty standard
If you are in love with the HID kit you have, the first thing I'd do to them is reseal them. HID kit are known to act when humidity/condensation reach inside the ballasts. To sort this problem you need to dry first and poor thermally conductive epoxy inside the ballast enclosure enough to cover all of the components. eBay $5/300ml or something like that...
Luck 2U
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'97 Boxster base model 2.5L, Guards Red/Tan leather, with a new but old Alpine am/fm radio.
Last edited by Nine8Six; 07-14-2014 at 01:22 AM.
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07-14-2014, 01:53 AM
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 61
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chronohunter
So the cause seems to be my aftermarket HID high beams. I have now had several different random warning lights come on when I switch on the high beams. The warning lights stay on until the car is turned off. Everything operates properly just the warning light(s) come on. The headlights operate perfectly. It seems to stop happening after 10 minutes or so of driving if you turn the car off and restart it. I have had oil pressure once battery twice and rear spoiler once. I hope there is a solution because the stock high beams are horrible! The HID's are seemingly good quality and supposedly "OBED2" compliant and they work great (besides the warning light issue).
Anyone else seen anything like this before... I sure haven't!
Suggestions welcome 
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Did you install a relay to get power from the battery directly? When the ballast is drawing current at start up it is probably dipping your voltage at the other components too low and setting off the warning lights. Could also be electromagnetic interference from the ballast. Make sure the ballast is placed far away from other electrical components and grounded properly to the chassis. Because your battery light comes on when you turn the lights on I'm guessing it's because of the current draw the ballast requires on start up. If there is no relay, try installing one first, if not, ground and shield the ballast or move it to another location.
I'm assuming it starts up fine after driving more aggressive because you are getting the voltage levels back to normal using the alternator. If you have a multimeter get a voltage reading at some part of the circuit and have someone flip on the HIDs to see if there is a drop in voltage when the lights are turned on.
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07-14-2014, 02:03 AM
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: It's a kind of magic.....
Posts: 6,617
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chronohunter
So the cause seems to be my aftermarket HID high beams. I have now had several different random warning lights come on when I switch on the high beams. The warning lights stay on until the car is turned off. Everything operates properly just the warning light(s) come on. The headlights operate perfectly. It seems to stop happening after 10 minutes or so of driving if you turn the car off and restart it. I have had oil pressure once battery twice and rear spoiler once. I hope there is a solution because the stock high beams are horrible! The HID's are seemingly good quality and supposedly "OBED2" compliant and they work great (besides the warning light issue).
Anyone else seen anything like this before... I sure haven't!
Suggestions welcome 
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Very common with aftermarket HID kits, have encountered several cars with similar issues.
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“Anything really new is invented only in one’s youth. Later, one becomes more experienced, more famous – and more stupid.” - Albert Einstein
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07-14-2014, 02:35 AM
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Montreal, QC. (currently expat to Shanghai)
Posts: 3,249
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JFP in PA
Very common with aftermarket HID kits, have encountered several cars with similar issues.
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Do me a favour please, pass my contact to these guys (Nine8Six lol). We've lit-up little over 200 Porsche cars over the last 10months without issues (canbus only). Old 986s to new 997s and Panemeras.
OP had them functioning fine before. Very common for those aftermarket HID kits to 'unseal' with time so if not the battery then I suspect humidity (90% of time is what makes those kits go wrong) :/ reseal or just get another kit dispatched from HK. Cheap-Cheap High Tech these days!
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'97 Boxster base model 2.5L, Guards Red/Tan leather, with a new but old Alpine am/fm radio.
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