HID Installation with an Independant Relay

[Misael]

Quote, originally posted by redbora »

my fuse keeps burning out, any ideas

where's the fuse coming from? Which wire? And between what?

[redbora]

it's between the relay and the ballasts

[Ricky Bobby]

this guide looks great, but just need a definitive answer, since nater's and misael's guide is different in the numbers:

correct me if this is wrong:

30 - relay to ballast (15 amp inline fuse)
85 - ground
86 - relay to "switched hot lead" (30 amp fuse?)
87 - relay to battery + (30 amp fuse?)

thanks in advance for the help guys.

[A2B4guy]

That is wrong.

85 and 86 are normally interchangable and don't matter unless you have a relay with a suppression diode, but just to be consisitent we'll say:

86: trigger input from switch, or wire that normally goes to the load.
85: ground
30: battery (+) connection with suitable gauge wire and fuse capacity to safely operate the load
87: output going to the load on a suitable gauge wire

85 and 86 can be 18 gauge wire, or whatever the exisitng wire is. The voltage between them simply energizes the relay, which only takes about 150 milliamps of current.

When the circuit is ON, the path of electrical current in the load is:
from Battery (+) > FUSE > pin 30 > pin 87 > load (lamp or ballast) > GROUND > Battery (-)

You must have the fuse for the overall power draw in the wire from the battery. If the load is actually 2 loads in parallel, you may optionally choose to fuse each output branch individually at half of the main fuse value.

[Ricky Bobby]

Quote, originally posted by A2B4guy »

That is wrong. 85 and 86 are normally interchangable and don't matter unless you have a relay with a suppression diode, but just to be consisitent we'll say: 86: trigger input from switch, or wire that normally goes to the load. 85: ground 30: battery (+) connection with suitable gauge wire and fuse capacity to safely operate the load 87: output going to the load on a suitable gauge wire 85 and 86 can be 18 gauge wire, or whatever the exisitng wire is. The voltage between them simply energizes the relay, which only takes about 150 milliamps of current. When the circuit is ON, the path of electrical current in the load is: from Battery (+) > FUSE > pin 30 > pin 87 > load (lamp or ballast) > GROUND > Battery (-) You must have the fuse for the overall power draw in the wire from the battery. If the load is actually 2 loads in parallel, you may optionally choose to fuse each output branch individually at half of the main fuse value.

so 86 would be the wire that i would hook to up to the ballast, and do i need a fuse in line on that wire? then 87 would be the wire i hook up to the switched power for the headlights? im learning this electrical stuff little by little here so if i seem dumb sorry

[A2B4guy]

The wire that you connect to 86 is the wire that used to go to the low beam. No fuse. This turns the relay on.

87 would be the wire that delivers power to the ballast. If you want to put a 15 amp fuse in that wire, fine.

[nater]

Quote, originally posted by kurtanglevr6 »

this guide looks great, but just need a definitive answer, since nater's and misael's guide is different in the numbers:

I had a typo in that DIY (sortof) and that's why it differs...I believe I fixed it and changed the thread????? Did I not?

Either way, click on the link - not on what I cut and pasted into this thread. I fixed the link.

[VDubin'RiderFan]

added

[gallo_VW_97]

[1.8Tjettta01]

good topic,i'm watching it.

[cityofallen]

I owned a 05 Jeep GC Limited with autohead headlight and recently converted OEM lights to HID lights and also purchased a HID relay wiring harness from Mobile HID. Installed the relay package and apparently, my head light now is permanently ON/ACTIVE when auto headlight enable or driver manual activate during vehicle engine is running. The light will not turn off auto/manual until the vehicle engine is completely off, at time it will take a minute before the HID goes to off stage. Is this normal? The installation and polarity are all correctly installed according to your's and vendor's websites.
Please help.

[GTIcia's LOVER]

keeping this on my watched

[hootyburra]

Quote, originally posted by GTIcia’s LOVER »

keeping this on my watched

[volkswagen04]

I installed my hids and followed all of the steps. When i finished i turned my car on and the relay was making a buzzing noise and it was vibrating. The lights are also flickering. What did I do wrong? I have a 06 Passat and need to fix this or I can't drive. Some one help!!!


Modified by volkswagen04 at 4:23 PM 9-12-2009

[dontblockthebox]

this writeup answered ALOT of questions

thank you kind sir

[EternalMind]

just for the record, what both dennisgli and nater are saying is correct (and a2b4guy also).

(1) there is absolutely NO reason to put two fuses in series. this doesn't make any sense electrically at all...it actually adds more failure points to the system. and you want your fuse in-line as the first component from the battery to protect every other component downstream.

(2) and it is 'best' to use two different power lines (including 2 fuses), one for each headlamp (if passing through 2 relays). why do you think the OEM system has 2 fuses like this?

...yes, you could carry an extra relay, but that will do you no good if the single fuse blows. in this case you need extra fuses too.

you can certainly use one line for power and carry extra fuses and relays, but this doesn't do you much good if something decides to go bad while you're driving in the middle of the night with no ambient lights and have to be able to see to pull over, as you will lose both lights at the same time. this approach would fail any safety assessment.

not that i think mine is any better than dennis's or nater's or a2b4's, but here is an additional writeup on all the reasoning behind the setups and diagrams for the setups discussed...and it's magically stickied in the FAQ at the top of this forum for easy reference (amazing how people fail to use the most readily available sources of information)

Lighting FAQ/DIY
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3115287

HID specific with diagrams
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3059743

[Dalek]

Resurrecting this thread: I have here what sees to be the same HID bulb controller (McCulloch) brand as the original poster. On its supply side (bottom connector) it has 3 pins. What each of those pins do?

[andrewduffield23]

anyone know what to use as the singal wire if your doing this for your fogs

I also would like to know this

[babyd209]

Aftermarket HID installation- How to rewire your headlight switch via an independent relay to send clean juice to the hid ballasts straight from the battery.

I began selling some mcculloch hid kits and a few people including myself ran into a problem with the aftermarket kit. The lights would flicker on and off repeatedly as if it wasn’t receiving enough power to ignite the ballast. I couldn’t exactly pinpoint where the problem was. Whether it was the oem relay or the small gauge oem wires. I kept sending kits back to the manufacturer thinking it was a defective ballast until Doug (slammedvwgolf) suggested the fore mentioned problem. I researched it online and it proved true.
Adding an independent relay can either fix a problem or avoid problems in the future. It’s very necessary if your hid kit is aftermarket, may not be necessary for oem kits. In my opinion I rather feed the ballasts their own juice straight from the battery since these cars weren’t designed for high intensity discharged lighting.

Ok enough yapping.. here’s the how-to-

Installing the Relay

It's fairly simple.

Things you need-
The Relay- I purchased mine at Advanced Autoparts for $3.99

Electrical Tape
Wire Stripper
Terminal Connectors
Round Connectors
14 Gauge Wire- Buy 2 colors. Red/Black or Blue/Black to differentiate polarities
a Fused wire like the one below-

First the Relay has numbered connectors on the bottom. Here’s the diagram.

Crimp a Female terminal to each wire and hook them up to the relay. Use electrical tape around the terminal for better protection. Measure how much of each wire you’ll need for it’s destination.

#30- Goes to the Positive (+) on the HID Ballast
#85- Goes to any good Ground (-)connection. (I got mine direct from the battery)
#86- Goes to the low-beamYellow/Black Line Wire from the Headlight Harness. It’s best to use the harness on the drivers side headlight.
#87- Goes to the Positive (+) Direct to your battery.

After the relay is all wired up, take each wire to their destination. Follow this diagram and pic-

Next, Mount your ballasts in a safe dry place. Remember that the Blue colored wire (that goes to the positive (+) of your ballast) goes to both ballasts. Add a FUSE to the wire before it splits.

And that’s it. Your HID’s will fire up using your headlight switch and gets it’s juice direct from the battery.

I have 2 Relays installed in this pic because I’m running 2 pairs of ballasts. Headlights and Fog Lights. If you plan to add HIDs to your foglights also it might be good to add a second relay.

This is my first writeup here so if I missed anything or didn't make something clear please let me know.

Modified by Misael at 6:54 PM 5-27-2006

thank you soooooooooo!!!! much for posting this i couldnt figure out why mine was making my dash shut down for a sec and flicker so much will do this p.s, i have fogs and headlights