Strange things at startup when headlights converted to HID - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

My headlights were converted to HID many months ago, I started to get some strange things to happen when I flipped on the headlights, oil light, battery light, and sometimes even a top error. It was always just one of these, never more than that. I replaced my headlight switch, found it to be in pieces inside and the problem got better but did not go away. I tried connecting a 100 MHz oscilloscope to a few points to watch for spurious ac signals and found several...some were probably too fast to catch with the scope but were probably like a sundial to the electronics inside the car. I thought about this long and hard and a several possible solutions came to mind. Possibly a capacitor in the right RF range to capture this spurious RF gremlin and send it to ( RF Hell) ground...but without access to a really fast Spectrum analyzer it made the calculations difficult. Besides the gremlins probably did not follow a definite frequency range....I am not an engineer.....just an old tech who used to do UHF and VHF board repairs. I did find a simple solution that has worked for me now for 2 months 100% of the time. You already have this installed in your car....so if you are having problems read on...... What we need is a big but kicking capacitor to suck these things up like a virus or a vacuum to dirt under the carpet. So I thought about it and tried this with great success. The giant wet sell in your car is a huge capacitor with tremendous potential.....it does start your engine right !! Simply put the key in, turn on your lights, switch to the run position and allow the ballasts to ignite the HID envelopes, then start the car. The harmonics occur as the ballasts ignite after that the current drops and everything runs fine. I have been doing this for a while with 100% success......I hope this helps you out. Dwight

I've never had a problem (knock on wood) since installing Fred's HIDs.

I just changed to HIDs in my stock headlights and got some weird idiot lights as well. I was seeing the battery and oil level ones on. Ended up changing out the ballasts to ones that were CANBUS compatible and everything is fine now

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I picked up a set of Fred's V1 from another member and installed them. They work great and I usually start them up before starting the car but last week I switched them on while driving and I got all of the idiot lights you discussed and my stereo head unit went a bit crazy. Everything went back to normal. So Jay, these balasts you are talking about, do they work with Fred's HID upgrade? If so, can you provide some details on which ones you are using?

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Can't tell you one way or another 100% with Fred's projectors, but my understanding is all HIDs can use he same ballasts. As i said, I could be wrong. Perhaps Charles can chime in on that In any case, these are what I have now and work great DDM Tuning: HID and LED Lighting

I was speaking specifically of Fred's, HID in general

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You were speaking of Fred's or you were speaking in general?

I have a E36 that does the "Needle Bounce" on converted HID ballasts.....I am in no way putting down or targeting Fred's products....just offering a easy solution to a condition that occurs in lots of automobiles

I retrofitted litronics on my 2000. When I turn them on, they make a cool sounding high-voltage noise. I don't trigger any warning lights, but I'm sure there are a lot of electrons whizzing around. There are warning labels about the high voltage on the ballasts and the lights. So, it may be that Fred's system is just a slightly different spec than the OEM equipment. It may be that the shielding on the OEM ballasts was designed with the Boxster's electrical system in mind. They appear to be bulkier.

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I was not taking it as a put down on Fred's products. I love the HID's! I was just trying to make sure we are talking about the same thing. For those in the know, are the ballast's on the Pelican HID upgrade (Fred's) the same as the ballast on the 1st generation? I ask because I had a complete blackout last night. I turned on the lights in the garage and left the house. About half way to my destination the lights went totally out and then restarted. These are Gen 1 of Fred's design, they were installed by someone else and I purchased them as a complete light set from another member. I have no idea of the quality of the install and did not open them up to look at the ballasts. I do have some experience with high voltage lighting for saltwater fish tanks (Metal Halide) so do understand that there are a lot of parameters in a high voltage lighting ballast. Now that I think about it, both lights went off at the same time and they are independent systems so maybe it is the switch? John

Any thoughts on this? Thanks, John

A complete blackout means both ballasts did not ignite the HID envelopes...not a likely scenario Sounds more like a voltage failure or possibly (more than likely) Switch, Fuse, and or relay in that order

The only component that both headlights have in common is the headlight switch, so if both headlights fail, it is the culprit. Freds ballasts are CANBUS, BTW. Theoretically, there should be no AC leakage from them (theoretically).

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I used the process in the first post to turn my headlights on. That is when the trouble started. I have gone back to turning on the car, then turning on the lights and have not had an issue. The one time it happened, both lights went out completely then re-ignited so I do suspect a switch but it has not happened again. Thanks for the suggestions. John

Check your batteries resting voltage, after the car has sat over night....before you start the car

I went through the same hell with my HID conversion. Mine even made the real spoiler go up/down/ and stay in the middle of up and down! Then added ballasts that made no improvement. Finally gave up as I wasn't doing that much night driving anyhow..... Removed them, got a refund.

just noticed this happening to my car the other day the oil light or a few other lights i just turn off the car and turn it back on i have noticed that once i get to where i am going my spoiler is up too haha

I also have the problem of dash lights (I believe alternator, and low oil pressure warning light) coming on sometimes when I turn on my headlights (which have aftermarket HIDs/ballasts). If I have my stereo on, it usually also turns off the stereo (it might automatically turn back on also, but I can't remember.). It only happens sometimes, and the headlights do turn on reliably. But this behavior makes me favor just running the fog lights sometimes. Turning they key off, and then back on does always temporarily solve the problem, but this can be a big hassle (and potentially unsafe) if you're already driving the car. I have the aerokit with the fixed rear wing that replaces the powered rear spoiler, so I have no problems (obviously) with a nonexistent powered rear spoiler. I wonder if adding a ferrite ring in the HID wiring somewhere (perhaps between ballast and lamp) would solve the problem.

Guys, any update on this? I do have the same problem but turning the car of and on again does resolve it. But I would like a 100% working solution and keeping the lights

I have found my spoiler stays up when I get home sometimes. I have a feeling it could be my battery? It is over 4 years old now