HID Reverse Lights

[leecheefoto]

2010+ Mazda 3

So I bought HID reverse lights from Rick and the product description says "15 watts" .
My reverse lights are flickering and one side does not work. I've swapped ballasts and bulbs and it's just random flickering!
Sometimes I put it in park and then reverse a few times and they randomly work; but this was once in awhile.


So what I did was I just hooked one up and left a stock halogen for now. My guess is a pair of HIDs won't work with the reverse lights unless it's hooked to a relay which is probably not my thing to make a relay long as heck.

What I also discovered is on the ballasts it takes 9Amps max. That's 18Amps max to start them? Reverse light fuses are usually 10A..
I also asked a user and he said he had no problems what so ever!


My question to all is, how would I go about of getting both HID reverse lights to work without running a relay from the back of my car to the front?
I love how useful they are but I can't justify leaving one constant and the other flicker once every 3 seconds or having one stock with halogen bulb. :bang

[Wes08M3]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this but I believe that if the wire(s) running to the reverse lights are fused at 10A then in theory you should be getting 10 amps of current running to EACH light. This is assuming that it is a series circuit, you could try to confirm this with a multimeter. So if the ballasts only need 9A max current then the wiring system should be capable of providing that to each ballast.

Maybe try checking it out with a multimeter to see if you're getting sufficient current to each ballast. This would at least rule that out as a problem.

Also, sometimes HID ballasts cause the lights to flicker due to a defect within the ballast, maybe try out a different one if you can get your hands on one.

[zoomahh]

Hey Lee,
I agree with Wes, and I think you know how temperamental aftermarket hids can be at the best of times. Thing is...none of the other guys have reported this yet. I would also try to swap em out and see what happens. If you can confirm its the ballast, then rick will give ya another set I'm sure.

[leecheefoto]

Okay just had some time to switch them in many ways I could

Each ballasts work fine by itself (ie. connecting one hid / ballasts on the Left and connecting halogen to the Right. Which was also done vice versa)

Now I connect both HID in and Right side flicks on very quick and stays off (repeats for the remaining time the gear is in reverse)

I take that ineffective ballast and switch it to the Left and the left flicks on very quick and stays off.

Now the problem might be either:

a) that particular ballast is defective in working with another ballast
b) the ballasts need more power (meaning I can't use these both)

I need more input to then take further action to speak to Rick :)
--

If the problem may be my car, I would like to ask if anybody is down to meet up with me to test their reverse lights with my HID, I would appreciate it

[tomato.novaa]

after you get these working I would be curious to see how these look!:cool

[leecheefoto]

after you get these working I would be curious to see how these look!:cool


Hi Tomato,

They did work.. 10% of the time I checked it out, and when they did
http://i49.tinypic.com/28modqa.jpg

[tomato.novaa]

Hi Tomato,

They did work.. 10% of the time I checked it out, and when they did
http://i49.tinypic.com/28modqa.jpg

hey thx nice!! i like i like

[zoomahh]

Hey lee,
The fact that the "ineffective" RIGHT ballast (as you determined) did the same thing when you switched em over, would lead me to believe the ballast you had in the right side, is the "bad apple". I say you've done enough to take to Rick. Heck he may even just give ya a new set n rma your return. Worth a try

[n00bMeiSter]

If you feel like coming to markham I can have a look at them for you.

[leecheefoto]

Thanks for the replies guys, Rick will probably swap them for me.

I'm pretty sure I still might need a relay and going to go find someone who's done wiring for audio to guide me on how I get the wire going from the hood to my trunk. I have an extra relay thank goodness, just have to spend more $ on those ring terminals :bang

[n00bMeiSter]

Thanks for the replies guys, Rick will probably swap them for me.

I'm pretty sure I still might need a relay and going to go find someone who's done wiring for audio to guide me on how I get the wire going from the hood to my trunk. I have an extra relay thank goodness, just have to spend more $ on those ring terminals :bang

You shouldn't need a relay for these.

[kenghk]

you need a relay, the flickering is "not enough voltage" to fire the arc. it doesn't take too many failed starts to kill a good ballast let alone a chinese ballast.

[n00bMeiSter]

you need a relay, the flickering is "not enough voltage" to fire the arc. it doesn't take too many failed starts to kill a good ballast let alone a chinese ballast.

if he's not getting enough power for these from his reverse lights' wiring, there's another issue with the car.

[kenghk]

if he's not getting enough power for these from his reverse lights' wiring, there's another issue with the car.

Nope, you can't put electronics made by the lowest bidder on the stock wiring and expect it to work flawlessly. Stock wiring is made to work in tolerance. In this case, just enough to light a slow starting filament bulb. Put something on the stock wiring that does not have very tight tolerances (like OEM ballasts) is never a wise move, eventually you'll wreck something or it won't work right. The manufacturer installed relays all over the car from the factory...you should too.

[n00bMeiSter]

Nope, you can't put electronics made by the lowest bidder on the stock wiring and expect it to work flawlessly. Stock wiring is made to work in tolerance. In this case, just enough to light a slow starting filament bulb. Put something on the stock wiring that does not have very tight tolerances (like OEM ballasts) is never a wise move, eventually you'll wreck something or it won't work right. The manufacturer installed relays all over the car from the factory...you should too.

These aren't "lowest bidder" products. They aren't the super expensive ones, but they're not "lowest bidder".

These are lower power than the stock bulbs, there's enough power getting through. A quick google search shows that the stock bulbs are 25W and these are 15W ballasts.

I've installed lots of these, you do not need a relay. They are designed to work without one.

If you'd read the rest of the posts in this thread, you'd see he had already established that it was a faulty ballast.

[kenghk]

These aren't "lowest bidder" products. They aren't the super expensive ones, but they're not "lowest bidder".

These are lower power than the stock bulbs, there's enough power getting through. A quick google search shows that the stock bulbs are 25W and these are 15W ballasts.

I've installed lots of these, you do not need a relay. They are designed to work without one.

If you'd read the rest of the posts in this thread, you'd see he had already established that it was a faulty ballast.


I don't care if you designed them yourself, never tap into stock wiring and mount electronics without a relay/harness. What makes you think it's ok to replace a glass bulb with a ballast, igniter and arc discharge bulb and call it a day?

When i say lowest bidder, I mean chinese.

[n00bMeiSter]

I don't care if you designed them yourself, never tap into stock wiring and mount electronics without a relay/harness. What makes you think it's ok to replace a glass bulb with a ballast, igniter and arc discharge bulb and call it a day?

When i say lowest bidder, I mean chinese.

Because it keeps the impedance, load, wattage, voltage, current ETC ETC ETC all within stock specs. What are you, the Federal Authority on what I can do with my car? You may think it's not a good idea, but it doesn't mean it isn't. I'm not getting into a pissing contest with you.

Dude, everything is chinese these days. And if it isn't completely, half of the parts are outsourced from there.

[n00bMeiSter]

Leech, when the new ballast gets in, update us if it fixes the problem or not.

[kenghk]

Because it keeps the impedance, load, wattage, voltage, current ETC ETC ETC all within stock specs. What are you, the Federal Authority on what I can do with my car? You may think it's not a good idea, but it doesn't mean it isn't. I'm not getting into a pissing contest with you.

Dude, everything is chinese these days. And if it isn't completely, half of the parts are outsourced from there.

I don't care what you do to your car but you're giving advise to other people, it's a forum so you should expect conversation. Let me introduce a senario to you as to why you use a relay/harness for such applications. Lets say you get rearended and one of the backup lights gets damaged, the xenon bulb comes loose and the return wire on the bulb breaks or contacts metal. you go to reverse the next time and 10000+ volts gets sent from the ignitor to bulb into the car's chassis. A 35w ballast sends 23000 volts to the arc chamber to ignite the salt/gas mixture. Lets say you close your trunk and a bulb or wire come loose and the same thing happens. Sending that kind of voltage back into your stock wiring would be a disaster......and expensive and potentially dangerous. These 15w ballasts run stable between 15 and 18w at a voltage somewhere near 30 volts if the specs follow their bigger 35w counterparts and you can't expect the stock wiring to give you that range safely. A simple little fuse will not react as quickly to 10000+ volts like a harness/relay and fuse would. Not to mention, these 15w ballasts are likely AC and not DC voltage would could interfere with sensitive electronics and radio function in the car.

This is not a pissing match, i just hope that some people take what i say over what you say or something in the middle.

[n00bMeiSter]

I don't care what you do to your car but you're giving advise to other people, it's a forum so you should expect conversation. Let me introduce a senario to you as to why you use a relay/harness for such applications. Lets say you get rearended and one of the backup lights gets damaged, the xenon bulb comes loose and the return wire on the bulb breaks or contacts metal. you go to reverse the next time and 10000+ volts gets sent from the ignitor to bulb into the car's chassis. A 35w ballast sends 23000 volts to the arc chamber to ignite the salt/gas mixture. Lets say you close your trunk and a bulb or wire come loose and the same thing happens. Sending that kind of voltage back into your stock wiring would be a disaster......and expensive and potentially dangerous. These 15w ballasts run stable between 15 and 18w at a voltage somewhere near 30 volts if the specs follow their bigger 35w counterparts and you can't expect the stock wiring to give you that range safely. A simple little fuse will not react as quickly to 10000+ volts like a harness/relay and fuse would. Not to mention, these 15w ballasts are likely AC and not DC voltage would could interfere with sensitive electronics and radio function in the car.

This is not a pissing match, i just hope that some people take what i say over what you say or something in the middle.

So you knowingly decided not to fix a broken HID system? Then it's your own damn fault. And where exactly are you going to wire this harness too? You're going to run lines all the way up to the battery? This isn't a set of headlights.

But you know what, you are absolutely right, in fact, they shouldn't even bother putting in an HID system at all, because your car could completely catch fire if that were to happen.

Listen pal, you're getting worked up over nothing. You need to chill out.

This ends my discussion with you.

[leecheefoto]

Leech, when the new ballast gets in, update us if it fixes the problem or not.

I've yet to receive any replies from Rick the past 2 days with 2 e-mails. I'm going to wait again until Monday and call..

Until then maybe someone can help me out with running a temporary long wire from the battery to the trunk to hook with my relay? Maybe someone who has done installs for audio who can temp wire beside the floor mats through the back. Going to see if Hyperion is able / free. Again, a user messaged me telling me he had no issues running with stock harness, but looking through other forums people have used relays in their DIY/ Tutorials.

I really want to make this work asap.. Running 1 side HID and the other stock is not what I want to leave for too long.

[leecheefoto]

Sorry for the DP (still newb), but I know you (noob) say you shouldn't need to run a relay.
Do you think it will work fine by running the long wire to the relay and have it grounded to run the reverse lights?

By doing that:
i) it's still safe
ii) it will tell me if the ballast will still be faulty
iii) can run a timer diode?

[kenghk]

I've yet to receive any replies from Rick the past 2 days with 2 e-mails. I'm going to wait again until Monday and call..

Until then maybe someone can help me out with running a temporary long wire from the battery to the trunk to hook with my relay? Maybe someone who has done installs for audio who can temp wire beside the floor mats through the back. Going to see if Hyperion is able / free. Again, a user messaged me telling me he had no issues running with stock harness, but looking through other forums people have used relays in their DIY/ Tutorials.

I really want to make this work asap.. Running 1 side HID and the other stock is not what I want to leave for too long.[/QUOTE]

How to Install http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/forum/f33/how-install-reverse-light-hid-kit-45568/[QUOTE=leecheefoto;963600]

[leecheefoto]

Okay so here's an update:

Switched my ballast for a new one and same thing happened. Switched sides and everything and it seems that my right side isn't running enough power.

The only person I asked about this and had the 2nd gen as well is Astig and he ran his without problems.

If someone has a second gen who wants to try it out and is interested in buying it (if both sides work) let me know and I can sell it for 50 bucks.

[n00bMeiSter]

Okay so here's an update:

Switched my ballast for a new one and same thing happened. Switched sides and everything and it seems that my right side isn't running enough power.

The only person I asked about this and had the 2nd gen as well is Astig and he ran his without problems.

If someone has a second gen who wants to try it out and is interested in buying it (if both sides work) let me know and I can sell it for 50 bucks.

Loosecannon also has a 2nd gen and his runs without problems. Would you mind letting me have a look?

[leecheefoto]

Loosecannon also has a 2nd gen and his runs without problems. Would you mind letting me have a look?

Of course we can try to meet up next week. Hopefully we can spot the problem if not it will be on the fs thread haha

[roachkillah]

<leecheefoto >
did u ever this issue fixed?
i'm having the exact same problem as u described on my 2008 Mazda 3 hatchback.

[leecheefoto]

<leecheefoto >
did u ever this issue fixed?
i'm having the exact same problem as u described on my 2008 Mazda 3 hatchback.

I haven't been able to get myself a relay yet. Since I have my sound system wired up I can tap extra power from there so it should be flawless if not then I'm going to result in led

[roachkillah]

I haven't been able to get myself a relay yet. Since I have my sound system wired up I can tap extra power from there so it should be flawless if not then I'm going to result in led
Thanks for the feedback, i'll see if can install a relay sometime soon.
Hopefully the relay will get the issue fixed. Going LED reverse lights, seems very expensive.

[trulankan]

i'm having the same problem with mine :(