HIDgate Ballast dissection

[BHBurban]

Ewww...I wouldn't be able to live with the embarassment of that.

Really?...You drive that suburban with that stink bug rake!

 

[1badgmc]

I have one of these kits I just bought a few weeks ago. They work damn good for the price; well worth $50. The only flaws I have found are minor: slow warm-up time (about 6 seconds) and flickering when the engine is not running. The flickering I think can be easily solved by installing the optional $10 relay kit. This way it will get more current.

The warm-up time is pretty much the same with all of the cheaper kits. My DDM kit might be a second or 2 quicker on warm-up over my HIDgate. A VVME kit I installed in a friend's truck is about the same. Better, but still slow compared to the OEM HIDs on my CTS.

And yes, the relay harness will solve your power issues.

As far as the DRL's. How do you guys use them? Are you just disabling them? I know that in stock form the power to the low-beams when the relay is switched to DRL power is less that 12V due to the dual diodes powering the circuit. This low voltage I think will ruin the ballast. What I have done is just remove the diode and splice the two wires together. This puts out full voltage to the ballast. Technically this is not legal in some states because you are not allowed to use headlights during the day, thus the reduced power and brightness from the factory. However I don't see a cop giving me a ticket for this, and I would rather run DRL's than disable them because they have saved my a$$ before. It also makes the bulbs duty cycle longer causing the bulbs to have a shorter life, but HID's are supposed to last at least 10X as long as halogen's, so I don't think that is too much of a problem.

I kill my DRLs on every vehicle I buy that comes with them. I don't believe in them anyhow, but with running HIDs on my Suburban, it was just another reason to get rid of them.

Really?...You drive that suburban with that stink bug rake!

Yes, annoying, but better than non-matching headlights in my book.

 

[NacIK]

I like them just because of experience.

I was driving in a bad downpour and could hardly see anything. I pulled off into what I thought was a driveway until it cleared up. There was a Ram coming down the road quickly with no headlights on. At the last minute they swerved around me, but they hit the car behind me in the other lane. After talking to them while the cop was writing us all tickets the driver told me that if I hadn't seen my DRL's he would have smacked me.

Of course if everyone turned on their headlights in bad weather and when it was dark no one would have this problem, but not everyone does. I am sure they have saved someone from a drunk driver or two.

 

[1badgmc]

See, in that situation, DRLs wouldn't make a damn bit of difference for me. I always turn my lights on in conditions like that.

The problem is that more states need to make and enforce laws requiring headlights in bad weather and young drivers need to be taught this from the beginning.

 

[noremac]

see, in arkansas, its state law that if your wipers are needed, then your headlights must be on

 

[1badgmc]

see, in arkansas, its state law that if your wipers are needed, then your headlights must be on

I feel it should be that way everywhere.

Though, with the coating of Rain X my windshields get, I hardly ever use my wipers, but I do turn on my lights in rain/bad weather.