HIDs draw too much amperage? Overload? Huh?

Before anyone points it out that this might not be the best forum for this, I'm posting this in the audio section since I tried in the exterior section with no luck and I figure people here will have much more knowledge about this specific electrical problem due to their experiences. Here's a brief summary of what happened:

 

Installed a plug'n'play HID kit. Wired it all up correctly to the stock harness and the supplied ballasts, left the DRLs plugged, but switched the light selector to on, so the DRLs weren't in use anyways. Switched the ignition to ACC mode, and the new HID lights go on fine. Then I tried to crank the car and the whole thing went dead - no dash lights, no dinging, no nothing. It was very strange and caused me a minor heart attack. I unplugged the battery again, replaced the HIDs with the stock H7 bulbs, and the car cranked over on the first try and has been running fine since then with the stock lights working fine.

 

I had the ballasts resting on the plastic engine cover over the block when I did this test as I was just checking the wiring.

 

I've been told that perhaps the car went dead because I tried starting it with the HIDs already on, but obviously other people do this too with their cars and they crank fine. If it was the ballasts drawing too much amperage from the battery then would that make sense though?

 

Can ANYBODY offer insight into this electrical issue?

If they were drawing too much current, the fuses would blow.

 

Starting the car with the HID's on doesn't affect it, might shorten their life by on/off/on, but won't kill everything else.

 

Pull the plug on the DRL and try it, no idea how that would affect it, but it's one more thing out of the equation.

Your battery may be too weak to supply the starter to your engine and supply your headlamps.. unplug your DRLs, and then start with your car with your HIDs off.. and just for giggles, charge your battery too.

Before anyone points it out that this might not be the best forum for this, I'm posting this in the audio section since I tried in the exterior section with no luck and I figure people here will have much more knowledge about this specific electrical problem due to their experiences. Here's a brief summary of what happened:

 

Installed a plug'n'play HID kit. Wired it all up correctly to the stock harness and the supplied ballasts, left the DRLs plugged, but switched the light selector to on, so the DRLs weren't in use anyways. Switched the ignition to ACC mode, and the new HID lights go on fine. Then I tried to crank the car and the whole thing went dead - no dash lights, no dinging, no nothing. It was very strange and caused me a minor heart attack. I unplugged the battery again, replaced the HIDs with the stock H7 bulbs, and the car cranked over on the first try and has been running fine since then with the stock lights working fine.

 

I had the ballasts resting on the plastic engine cover over the block when I did this test as I was just checking the wiring.

 

I've been told that perhaps the car went dead because I tried starting it with the HIDs already on, but obviously other people do this too with their cars and they crank fine. If it was the ballasts drawing too much amperage from the battery then would that make sense though?

 

Can ANYBODY offer insight into this electrical issue?

 

to my understanding...hid's are less of a draw than regular lights.

 

are you sure you had the battery cable clamped enough?

to my understanding...hid's are less of a draw than regular lights.

With the exception of the point when they ignite.

What's the issue I've read about with placing the ballast on an intake causing problems? Static charge or something? I didn't do this and don't have any after market intake, but I'm curious if me having the ballasts over the engine could have caused issues?

 

They pull 20-30amps at startup don't they?

With the DRL module still in the circuit, it could be screwing things up.

 

This is the circuit diagram, doesn't make any sense to me, but it might to someone.

22 - Head Light System.pdf

The electronic ballast in an automotive HID system is extremely complex. It would take hundreds of pages to describe it entirely. Simply put, it must draw extremely high amounts of current in order to "start" the arc inside the HID capsule. Once started, it does not need to continually supply this high level of current, but rather a significantly less amount to sustain the arc. When you start a HID system you can hear the ballast and the current running through it, as it goes to steady-state the "whine" decreases and becomes constant. So.. what I am trying to say is that when you start the car, you are restarting the ballast and thus ending the arc. Then when you go to restart the arc it fails because there is not enough cranking power. Try starting the car, THEN turning on the HID system. I bet it will work fine. That being said, your battery should have no problem doing it otherwise, I think you have a bad or very low battery.

Thanks again Phil, where did you find that?! I'll try it as that sorta makes sense I guess. I wonder if anybody knows if the ECU is able to switch into some sort of safe mode when it detects a potential problem like having HIDs installed with the DRL plug still in?

 

Have any audio guys run into this with our ecu?

dmiller: hey, thanks for the detailed reply. I guess if it cranks with the HIDs off and then runs ok when I switch them on once the car is started that would explain it, but if the battery was low/bad would that result in the car becoming unresponsive until the ecu was reset?

Hmm.. I don't know about the ECU thing. It's possible that Subaru could have put in some sort of safety feature.

well a single ballast draws around 3Amps after it's warmed up so that would be 6 with two bulbs and a single bulb just turned on draws a little over 15 amps.

The circuit diagram is from the vacation pics

 

There is a relay holder (empty) in the fuse box laabelled HID, I guess this is for if they were ever to install them OEM, must be some design to shut them off and use another DRL.

FWIW to anyone who ever reads this thread with a similar issue, I'm a dumbass (goes without saying) - I unplugged the DRL relay and they seemed to work fine in the end. Don't think I'm going to keep them though - for some reason I don't like driving without having DRLs or having to have the tail-lights on if I have the headlights on.

 

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Well off topic, but it seems this thread is nearing completion so...

 

The reason I dislike DRL's on this particular car has most to do with the EL gauge cluster. In many conventional backlit gauge clusters, when you get in the car at dusk or night, you can't see the gauges and quickly realize your lights aren't on (or I do anyway). Because our gauges are always lit, even in the dark... in the same scenario, you can now see the gauges... the DRL's are on so one might mistake them for actual headlights... but all along you're running without taillights. Happened too often to me. Perhaps I'm not alert enough to drive a car like this, but I'm much happier with the DRL's unplugged, not to mention my bulbs seem to last much longer.

It's illegal around here to drive around without DRLs and since they've been required by law on cars since the end of the 1980's its obvious to our ticket-happy cops the LGT should have em.

 

Friend w/ a Mazda3 got a ticket for riding around with them disabled.

It's illegal around here to drive around without DRLs .

Excellent point, forgot it was a law up north.

Can you use the indicator lights for the DRLs? Tell the police your car is a GM

It's illegal around here to drive around without DRLs and since they've been required by law on cars since the end of the 1980's its obvious to our ticket-happy cops the LGT should have em.

 

Friend w/ a Mazda3 got a ticket for riding around with them disabled.

 

Three years no ticket

 

 

Pull the plug on the DRL and try it, no idea how that would affect it, but it's one more thing out of the equation.

Phil, but you live in the sticks outside Hamilton. Cops there have to worry about not getting knifed by a biker or having a street fight with steelworkers. Out here in the GTA/Peel cops look beyond such trivial crime problems and focus on the real problems troubling society - kids with fart cans on their hondas and no DRLs, and when the next pot is being put on at Tim's...

Make your fogs the DRl's.

 

I figured it had something to do with DRL's.

 

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