Xenon Retrofit Problem

After searching through the forum and looking for xenon retrofit options, I have purchased the following product after other member mentioned that no error code is produced from this kit. http://cgi.ebay.com/HID-XENON-CONVE...QitemZ270118622379QQihZ017QQcategoryZ23009QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem The installation is fairly painless and I am able to install the kit in an hour. Because there is no separate igniter, I am able to fit the ballast and all the cables within the headlight housing. The kit works as described and no error code was produced. I ordered the 6000k lamp which produces color similar to the OEM color (pure white with a slight hint of blue) and I am very happy with the higher brightness and color. During initial instllation, I noticed that the light flickers during start-up at a duration much longer than my factory xenon light on my Mazdaspeed 6. The flicker can last as long as 20 seconds. After a few days, I am experiencing intermittment start-up problems. Either one of the light will stay flicker and turn off by itself or not turn on at all. This situation happens around 15% of the time. I have checked all my connection and they all look fine. I wonder whether anyone else has experienced similar problem. As a further note, this kit does not connect directly to the battery but rather to the existing electrical socket to the headlight. Any help or suggestion will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

That's too bad, I'm looking for a lighting retrofit option myself. Maybe you have a faulty ballast or something. What did the ebay seller advise?

ouch.... i bought my retro fit from xtralights.com and they sent me wrong disabler or something... light works perfect when the engine is off but when the engine on it dosnt work. my part should come in tomorrow. we will see how it goes.... sry to hear u that yours doesnt work well...

I have actually heard of this flickering problem a lot in the xenon-retrofit world; unfortunately it is a defect in the kit itself. Contact the seller and have him send you a replacement and try that out; if that still doesn't work then return it and try the xtralights kit, which is more expensive but does have a pretty decent track record... except for the sending the wrong part to ygfamily... - Suneet

ichangw1: i just went to the link u provided up there and .... the part u bought was only $70... get something more expensive... its for cayman!! porsche deserves better than $70 lol....

changw1, i bought a similar kit from ebay, but mine was 120 rather than 106, i ordered the 5000k and am not that happy with the color, it looks almost like halogen, but the light output is great. i'm thinking about going with 6000k, mines work flawlessly, since day one. instalation was the same as yours, everything fitted inside the headlamp, and the flickering last only about 7 seconds. i've had the kit for about 4 months now and not one problem yet (knock on wood). good luck and if i can help with anything dont hesitate to message me.

My headlight problem got worst today. One of the headlight actually turned off by itself in the middle of a big rain storm this evening. Because of safety reason, I have reinstalled the stock halogen lamps back in the car. I have email the seller to get a new kit. Let's see what happen. If there is any consolation, I have become an expert remover of the headlights. I can do both headlight under 5 minutes now.

I have just received a reply from my HID kit seller. They want me to test the lamp by directly connecting it to the battery to see whether the kit still work. They suspect that my factory headlight wiring does not provide a consistent power source to the HID kit. I have just ordered a relay harness so I can test out whether that work. However, I see one drawback with that approach is that it may trigger the computer error message as the current draw through the existing headlight wiring will be much smaller. Are there any sucessful HID install out there using the existing halogen headlight wiring?

changw1, there are plenty, 987bs for example posted his headlights go through the standard harness. Also, all of the users using xtralight kits also get power through the standard lighting harness. I can in fact confirm, and so can 987bs, that powering from the battery leads to annoying errors. - Suneet

So your halogen lights are fine and they're saying that Porsche lighting circuits don't provide decent power? I find that hard to believe. Do the test if it's easy enough, but otherwise I'd insist on a replacement or a refund.

After googling for half the afternoon, I discover that flickering can also be caused by inconsistent power flow which cause the ballast to shut down. That is a common occurence with the E46 BMW and required a dealer programming fixed. However, if other Cayman members have successfully installed the kit (987bs has the identical kit), it is not really a Porsche problem but a Ballast problem. This is going to require more back and forth with the seller.