Electrical Failure

I usually lurk and let the regulars do all the talking here, but today...I've got something to say. I'll apologize in advance...

I have ebay HIDs. They work aboutas well as folks have mentioned in this thread...sometimes light, other times not.

I noticed the autolamp thing too - the ballasts seem to work better when the voltage is above battery voltage. The skinny wires mentioned above also concerned me.

I wired in 12 gauge wiring and a relay for each headlight. I used the factory wiring to close the relays I installed. I was sure this would fix the problem and make those ballasts work like Henry Ford made them himself (that means good, in case there was any doubt).

Anyway, the ballasts work about like they did before. They light up sometimes on the first try, almost always on the second try. This is a bummer for state safety inspection; "dude, your headlights don't work. oh, wait, now they do."

So, now I am sure that the ballasts are, ahem...of poor quality. I kind of suspected as much.

So, I'm now considering installing a capacitor in the wiring to the ballasts. Maybe that extra voltage available when I turn on the lights will make them more reliable.

Then it hit me: why not use the factory ballasts (actually made by Henry) and the aftermarket bulbs? Brilliant? No, it didn't work. Different voltages I guess.

Once this is all straightened out (either by capacitor or buying some other ballasts) I plan to figure out a way to trick the message center into realizing that the light are actually working.

I'll go out on a limb and say now you already tried heavier wire and it didn't work, I don't think it will EVER work as Mr Ford intended..... unless you go back to the original setup. Good luck getting a lamp manufacturer gearing up to make the original bulbs!

Yeah, the whole original bulb thing is a bummer...I've modified the aftermarket bulb base to get a more-correct focal point out of the lights.

I do think there is a way to make the message center work with having relays in the circuit. If anyone cares, I'll post it once I figure it out.

Does anyone have any suggestions on better quality ballasts?

Me things the ballasts are sold with the lamps as a matched set......

You can get real ballasts like Hella, and with a wire adapter you will be able to use them with the junky rebased bulbs. They won't be cheap though.

As far as getting the message center to work right with the relay, I'm sure you can, but it will only tell you that your relay is OK.