My review of Xentec eBay HIDs!

[great white]

That still don't really tell me why or whats different between the two harnesses. Is it because HIDs need more amps and the HD harness is a heavier wire? because simply uping wiring size won't get you anymore power, 12v is 12v

Yes, in a nutshell it is amperage draw and voltage drop.

 

[Mean Green]

That still don't really tell me why or whats different between the two harnesses. Is it because HIDs need more amps and the HD harness is a heavier wire? because simply uping wiring size won't get you anymore power, 12v is 12v

12V is not simply 12V. You see the factory headlight harness draws its power for the headlights through the headlight switch, through ~16 gauge wire. By the time the power reaches the headlights, there is a substantial drop in voltage at the headlights. So by the time the power reaches the HID's (or halogens for that matter) they are only seeing ~9-10 volts a lot of times instead of 13.8V+. HID's draw a spike in amperage upon start up, which is more amperage then then the OE headlight harness can supply to both headlights. Which is why you'll get only one ballast igniting, or flickering issues. So the HD Harness is not only upgrading the wire size, its also switching the power source for the headlights. So instead of drawing there power from the headlight switch, the headlights will draw all there power directly from the battery and NOT the failure prone headlight switch.

With a HD Harness installed, the power for the headlights is being supplied directly from the battery. Thus providing your headlights with full battery voltage of 13.8V+ constantly. By upgrading the size of wire, your ensuring that there is next to no voltage drop. So now with a HD Harness your headlights are receiving 13.8V+ instead of the ~9-10 volts (or less) that the OE harness was supplying them. As well as being able to easily supply proper amperage to the headlight bulbs or ballasts when they need increased amperage.

Upgrading wire gauge is essentially like increasing the size of a water hose. The larger the diameter of the hose, the more water that can flow through it in a given period of time.

With the OE harness the HID's will starve for power, this is why you get mis fires and flickering and short life's of ballasts and the like. The HD Harness takes care of these issues by ensuring that they get full voltage allowing them to run at 100%. You can really see the difference that the full 13.8V+ makes with halogen bulbs in particular. If you take a look at your headlights prior to installing the HD Harness, and compare it to after you install the HD Harness; its a night and day difference. The headlights are visibly brighter, being they are not starving for power and are now receiving 13.8V+.

 

[LordFinesse]

I can say that barons kit def helped my hids tremendously, also i found if you leave your headlights on with your truck off your battery dies signifigantly faster lol

 

[98slv]

So running the factory harness along with 4-hi and 4 HIDs explains my problem. It was bright as heck while they lasted though!

This headlight switch, is this the one to the left of the wheel that also controls the dash brightness and the dome light, or is it the multifunction switch on the the steering column itself? my low beams work with the DRL fuse in but once I roll the switch all the way up I cannot go from bright to dim using the lever on the steering column, I have to roll the switch back down to the middle position.


EDIT: also like to add that I've swapped the switch on the left that control the brightness and the dome light between my trucks and it didn't follow that switch, It still did the same thing after I swapped it.

 

[ChrisAU]

I hope they (Xentecs) work out for everyone that buys them, but when I first forayed into HIDs those were the first ones I bought. This was spring of 2010. I never got them to even light up. Went to DDM after a lot of curse words, and never looked back.

 

[Devs93]

I hear people ***** about ddm's but they have always,been great for me. I have had em 5 a couple diff colors on my truck and have always been top shelf. I had a,bulb burnout out on one but i suspect there was,another culprit
Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[Mean Green]

As far as Xentrec HID's go, I personally have 3 sets of them on my 94' and I have had zero issues with them. The set that is in my high beams have been installed for about 2 years and have never had a single issue.

In all reality, whether the HID's are DDM or Xentrec or joe blows hid kit; they are all relatively the same from a quality standpoint at the price point that they share. They more then likely are manufactured right along side of eachother overseas. Now if you get up into the $300-$400 price range for an OEM hid, that's a whole different grade of quality all together.

 

[TylerZ281500]

I hear people ***** about ddm's but they have always,been great for me. I have had em 5 a couple diff colors on my truck and have always been top shelf. I had a,bulb burnout out on one but i suspect there was,another culprit
Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk 2

ive gotten two bad ones already, my highs would just randomly die and i had one ballast die as well. the replacement should be coming soon.

 

[96k1500]

The ebay kit with the big ballast i have had issues with, on the 96 1 low beam quit working and in my yukon 1 of the high beams flicker but my slim ballasts i have not had an issue with, granted i havent had them very long but they have been good to me so far

 

[jdyates]

Here's another for you, guys. Did my best friend's F-150 with Xentec 9007 hi/lo and fogs with H10s. They look amazing, and what surprised the hell out of me, was that the bulbs are actually mechanical. When you hit the high beams, the bulbs MOVE inside the housing to adjust the light output to give the "high beam" effect. I didn't know that until we first fired 'em up. So far two trucks down with Xentecs, no problem. I should also point out for the DDM fans that I am running a DDM older style (raptor) kit that has been working great for over a year. I love them, but the shipping drives me crazy. Although, I need to contact them about my passenger side ballast going out.

Anywho, here's the truck. Ignore the green-ish effect, it's my phone camera. This kit didn't have the "one bulb purple" glitch like the last one did. All 4 fire up same color, every time.

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