HID Break in/ Burn in period?

[swapmeet]

I installed HID's last night and they are way too dim. I would say that my stock Halogen bulbs were 40% brighter! Crazy.

I bought a Xentec 35w 4300k kit for the factory projector low beams in my 4th gen.

I've read that there is a break in regarding the color temperature, but the color on my lights is okay... the brightness isn't.

Is this normal? Or am I an idiot for buying a cheap HID kit?

 

[jicko]

I installed HID's last night and they are way too dim. I would say that my stock Halogen bulbs were 40% brighter! Crazy.

I bought a Xentec 35w 4300k kit for the factory projector low beams in my 4th gen.

I've read that there is a break in regarding the color temperature, but the color on my lights is okay... the brightness isn't.

Is this normal?

Not normal.

Warm up is like within a minute.

How did you do your wiring?

You should contact whoever you bought it from.

Or am I an idiot for buying a cheap HID kit?

I don't think you would like to hear the answer to this question.

 

[swapmeet]

Not normal.

Warm up is like within a minute.

How did you do your wiring?

You should contact whoever you bought it from.




I don't think you would like to hear the answer to this question.

I plugged the factory headlight plug into the port on the ballast, and then ballast to HID bulb. :noidea:
35W ballast shouldn't require a relay.

Concerning the cheap kit:
Every kit I find weather its $140 or $40 shipped.. the research I do shows its no quality improvement.
I can't seem to find a reputable HID conversion. Xenon Depot, DDM Tuning etc, all have crap reviews, or turns out their name brand "bosch" etc ballasts are knock off ballasts that have a Bosch sticker. I've used Xentec before without issues so I gave it a shot.

 

[jicko]

I plugged the factory headlight plug into the port on the ballast, and then ballast to HID bulb. :noidea:
35W ballast shouldn't require a relay.

Both of the light doing the same thing? Same low intensity?

How certain that your ballasts are 35W?

You have 2 separate ballasts right?

Are you electrical system savvy? Put a meter there and measure the amount of current your ballast is sucking up?

Call/contact whoever you bought it from.

Personally, I always use a relay when doing HID.

Concerning the cheap kit:
Every kit I find weather its $140 or $40 shipped.. the research I do shows its no quality improvement.
I can't seem to find a reputable HID conversion. Xenon Depot, DDM Tuning etc, all have crap reviews, or turns out their name brand "bosch" etc ballasts are knock off ballasts that have a Bosch sticker. I've used Xentec before without issues so I gave it a shot.

Personally, I will go with TRS. Comes with everything, including relay.

By the way, I know you may not agree, but there is *definitely* quality difference between the $40 vs $150 kit. (ie. your $40 Xentec does not equal the $125 TRS) I had personally handled one of each, side-by-side. The light output/color variance isn't much, but initial/starting fluctuation, slight flickering during warm up, quality of the components/wirings etc... there are differences..... some may not be willing to pay for those.... some may

 

[riceandpho]

First of all you bought the ebay special dc kit, they are cheap and dim. You need to find a real ac kit. That's why we all recommmend trs,xenondepot,ddm, they are the better ones. Typical burn in is 20hrs of use.

 

[swapmeet]

Both of the light doing the same thing? Same low intensity?

How certain that your ballasts are 35W?

You have 2 separate ballasts right?

Are you electrical system savvy? Put a meter there and measure the amount of current your ballast is sucking up?

Call/contact whoever you bought it from.

Personally, I always use a relay when doing HID.




Personally, I will go with TRS. Comes with everything, including relay.

By the way, I know you may not agree, but there is *definitely* quality difference between the $40 vs $150 kit. (ie. your $40 Xentec does not equal the $125 TRS) I had personally handled one of each, side-by-side. The light output/color variance isn't much, but initial/starting fluctuation, slight flickering during warm up, quality of the components/wirings etc... there are differences..... some may not be willing to pay for those.... some may

Both dim, two ballasts, both rated at 35w. I've never had to measure current draw on a light before but I understand how.

First of all you bought the ebay special dc kit, they are cheap and dim. You need to find a real ac kit. That's why we all recommmend trs,xenondepot,ddm, they are the better ones. Typical burn in is 20hrs of use.

This is the first i'm hearing of dc/ac kits. There is no mention of the Xentec being "DC" other than the fact that label on the ballast says 9-16v DC which obviously relates to input Voltage.

I just read the description of all three kits offered by DDM and none of them differentiate or mention AC vs DC, (unless I missed it.)

Same for XD... no mention of DC kit vs AC kit anywhere?

*edit* The Retofit source does mention it! Electrical Specs

Input
DC 9-32V
Output:
AC 85V 35/50W <-------------------
Max Voltage
25KV (at start-up)
Rated Lifetime
2500 hours (XB35)
Rated Lifetime
2000 hours (XB55)

Thanks for answering the burn in question. In your opinion does burn in relate to color temp only, or brightness as well.

 

[swapmeet]

This probably isn't the best place for this.. but in my research I found this impressive review of XenonDepot kits vs Morimoto XenonDepot Xtreme HID Kit Review - 5000k & 4300k - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

 

[swapmeet]

Just ordered the XD kit with Phillips bulbs.

 

[CookieRoe]

Trs........

while you are at it, get a wire harness (they typically come with a relay or 2). The ballast may run at 35W, but at startup, they can cook nice (not sure of the specs). Anyway, not much $$, be safe. 99% of HID (quality) kits have them.

As far as "bull brightness", most HIDs won't be a full brightness for 5-10 seconds. Mine are about that. Always have been.

Good luck! :thumb3:

 

[4Rager]

I bought a Xentec 4300k kit for my old car was disappointed just like you. I would have put stock bulbs back in, but I bought it because one was burnt out anyway. In all honesty, it was so dim that I didn't even bother installing the other kit I bought for a second car. Other than the lack out light output, I was also disappointed in the fact that even thought I bought a 4300k kit, the light was very blue(4300k should be pretty much white), leading me believe the bulb was really in the 5500k range. I definitely would not recommend a kit like that, unless you pretty much only drive in the city and only care about color.

 

[riceandpho]

It stays on dim and blue because they are cheap dc ballast. Dc ballast have bad warm up time and do make everything don't fully warm up. If u can get a cheap good set of ac ballast, you'll see what I'm talkin about. There is a quality difference between dc and ac ballast. Ddm and xenon depot and trs do use ac ballast.

 

[swapmeet]

while you are at it, get a wire harness (they typically come with a relay or 2). The ballast may run at 35W, but at startup, they can cook nice (not sure of the specs). Anyway, not much $$, be safe. 99% of HID (quality) kits have them.

As far as "bull brightness", most HIDs won't be a full brightness for 5-10 seconds. Mine are about that. Always have been.

Good luck! :thumb3:

I believe the XD kit comes with relays. So on your suggestion I will hook them up.

I'm used to the 5-10 second warm up thing. To me thats normal and standard. My issue is that they just never get bright.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the XD kit looks. I hope its awesome, since its 7x more money.

 

[jicko]

I'm looking forward to seeing how the XD kit looks. I hope its awesome, since its 7x more money.

7x!? I thought the XD kit is only $150.... with the Philips is like still less than $200...... so your original set that you bought is under $30? And you expect it to work?

Anyways.... you will be glad about the XD kit..... be sure to report back!

 

[hrrsamrovk]

they are cheap and dim. You need to find a real ac kit.

 

[swapmeet]

7x!? I thought the XD kit is only $150.... with the Philips is like still less than $200...... so your original set that you bought is under $30? And you expect it to work?

Anyways.... you will be glad about the XD kit..... be sure to report back!

Ok ok... 6x as much.

But look, i've had eBay HID's for years in a variety of cars. YEARS. And they've all performed well. All the way back to when a "cheap ebay kit" was $75. I'm no spring chicken! When I bought my first car, HID's didn't even exist in the US at a OEM level.

But i've never had a set that sucked as bad as these do. Never ever. And i've had this brand before.

Hopefully I get my XD kit before I return the eBay kit. I'd like to do a side by side or a before and after.

 

[riceandpho]

should of brought the trs kit, H11: Morimoto Elite HID System - HID Systems from The Retrofit Source Inc
h11 xb4500k