GSRBoy

I am almost done with my hid retro into my civic. Well about a week ago One of my ballast burned out because I connected it straight to the battery too many times and too long. Now my question is I need to get a wiring harness so I do not burn up my stock harness. I saw an h4 harness on suvlights.com and it looks like a good harness, but will it connect my ballast straight to the battery or will the power from the battery be directed through something else so the power is at a lower level where it will not burn up my ballast again? I already emailed them but still have not heard from them.

Thanks

TallAssFilipino

It's actually recommended that you hook the balasts directly to your batter, but fused to the balasts' recommened amperage. Normally 20amps for true HID kits.

Here's what you can do. For your factory wiring harness that normally runs the headlights, let it run a relay (for switching its coil). So, everytime you turn your headlights on (on the steering column), it switches on the relay. Your balasts should have two sets of connections. One to the HID bulbs and the other to power. The two wires that need to be connected to power, just connect the ground wire to a clean chassis area for ground. Then connect the power wire directly to the battery power (+), but fuse it.

Hawk284

Ahh a subject i fit into. I have been retrofitting for 3 years now. I just finished a Lexus GS400 retro on my Civic. I can provide a picture of how to make your own harness. Its very easy but you need a resistor soldered in to the trigger wire ( light switch ) otherwise it will disintergrate your switch over time. Also, i know your battery is on the right side but you should use the left side headlight connector as the trigger wire because the right sides power isnt as clean for some reason and sometimes it wont turn on plus it can ruin the life of your ballast AND change the color of the bulbs.

GSRBoy

Thanks for the replies. If you have a picture of the wiring that would be great.

GSRBoy

The harness comes with two bosch 40 amp relays is that too high to run my hid's off of? You can see it on http://www.suvlights.com then go to headlight wire harness on the top left. Please help I want to finish this already.


Thanks

cleanasscivic

add some 40-80 amp relays and that should solve your problem

Hawk284

No he musnt use his stock wiring harness. The power supplied isnt sufficient for lighting ballasts day in and day out. It wears and tears on it. Trust me i am an expert when it comes to hid's

cleanasscivic

anyway.... get some relays or use fuses

GSRBoy

Is a 40 amp relay better than a 20 amp relay? Does a relay have some sort of power difuser or something like that built in?

Thanks

GSRBoy

TTT!

TallAssFilipino

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cleanasscivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> add some 40-80 amp relays and that should solve your problem </TD></TR></TABLE>

Since that wiring kit has 2 relays, he can stick with the 40amp relays. One relay to each balast. It will be fine.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hawk284 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No he musnt use his stock wiring harness. The power supplied isnt sufficient for lighting ballasts day in and day out. It wears and tears on it. Trust me i am an expert when it comes to hid's</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hawk, he can use the factory wiring harness. It will only be used to switch the coil in the relay. The factory wiring harness isn't being used to power the balasts directly. The balasts are being powered from chassis ground directly to the battery's (+). Of course with a relay and fuse in between. The balasts aren't being powered through the factory wiring harness AT ALL. The balasts will be powered up in the same fashion that foglights are wired up, using a relay. Running a relay through the factory wiring harness will no way wear and tear anywhere near what the factory halogens will. Just run a multimeter through it and see.

I'll do a little test. To see how much power a relay will draw VS an H4 halogen bulb on the factory wiring harness.
One standard H4 halogen bulb will draw like what... 85W or less.
I have a DEI relay here.
The rating is: 12VDC, 40/30A. The 40 means 40A surge, for instant or short term pulses/surges.
I have a multimeter here.
I'm going to find out the resistance of the coil of this relay.
The resistance is 75.9 Ω Ohms
Since I hate decimals, I'll just say 76 Ω Ohms.
We already know the voltage will be 12V. Sometimes up to 13.2V if car is on. But we'll use 12V.
To find the power, we already know voltage (12V) and resistance (76 Ω).

P = Wattage (power)
E = Voltage
R = Ω (resistance)

The formula will be:

P = E² / R

Which gives us: 1.894 (and so on) Wattage. Much less Wattage than an 85 (or less) Wattage halogen bulb.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GSRBoy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is a 40 amp relay better than a 20 amp relay? Does a relay have some sort of power difuser or something like that built in?

Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

When you see that it says 40A, that just means it can handle up to 40A. If your balast says 20A MAX, then it will be fine to run it on that relay. If the balast says 50A, then you'll damage the contacts of the 40A relay.


Modified by TallAssFilipino at 8:56 PM 10/1/2004

GSRBoy

This is all it says on the ballast:

2.00kh/DOT
D2S/D2R/D1S/D1R
35W max.
1200V DC/85V AC

Thanks

TallAssFilipino

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GSRBoy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This is all it says on the ballast:

2.00kh/DOT
D2S/D2R/D1S/D1R
35W max.
1200V DC/85V AC

Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's nice that your balasts plug into both D2-type and D1-type HID bulbs.

As far as how much current your balast (one ea.) will draw... you gave me 35W max power and I'm assuming the input Voltage is 12V.

35W / 12V = 2.916 Amperage.

The relay's you showed can handle 40A ea. So, you're fine.
Also, those 40A relays will be able to handle 480W ea.


Modified by TallAssFilipino at 9:45 PM 10/1/2004

GSRBoy

Thanks.

GSRBoy

Just curious, why do you think my ballast burned out just by connecting it to the battery? Bad ground, bad ballast?

Thanks

TallAssFilipino

Just PM me.

FredoSP

Hey guys ..

This post kinda helped me out, and hopefully it can offer more help.

Here's my situation. I have a 00 Si and i want to do a S2000 HID retro fit. Right now I'm concerned with the "wiring" end of it. I have already acquired the headlights, bulbs and ballasts all off an S2000.

Now, from reading this post you guys are saying you COULD use the stock headlight harness (cut and splice), but over time its not recommended. Im pretty sure my Si comes with an H4 bulb (dual filament).

I have two options (maybe 1 if I don't get this).

1. I can use the stock harness and add a relay onto it, so when I turn on the headlights this will hit the relay and the ballasts will draw the power directly from the battery?

2. Or can I buy a new harness (like on SUVlights.com) and use that as a replacement for my stock harness?, this new harness will accommodate the HID's.

I hope this isn't too confusing, like I said Im still not 100% sure how this works. I've read that 35+ page HID thread and I really didn't get anything out of it as far as the wiring.

Any help is appreciated, even if you have to explain it like I'm a 2 year old. **** I'll even paypal you $ for your time.

Thanks

FredoSP

ttt

TallAssFilipino

Since Hawk has been retrofitting for over 3 years, you can ask him about that whole deal. I've only done a few. As far as the actual wiring, I can help you with that.

I was looking at headlight wiring from SUVlights.com. I don't see one for the H4 but I'm guessing they have one for the H4 wiring. Looking at the picture of the wiring, your option 2 appears to be the same as option 1 with difference being that option 2 is already wired up and ready for plug N play. For $55 + $8 S&H, I don't think it's worth it. I just went to Home Depot and bought some heat shrink tubing, wiring looms, and certain connectors for under $6. I had some relays and wiring left over. But even if I did have to buy wiring and relays, it still wouldn't have cost me anywhere near $55.

But yeah, just have the factory headlight wiring run a relay and have the balasts powered up directly from the battery through the relay. Fuse it as well. As far as your factory wiring, don't "cut and splice" it. That's ugly. If you can't find the H4 wiring coupler for it and if you have to do anything directly to the factory wiring, then just use some T-taps (instead of cut and splice). T-taps will be fine if you're just powering up a relay or two. For electrical components with high output, don't ever use T-taps.

FredoSP

ok great, this is a step in the right direction.

I can get this stuff at radio shack? Im going to make up a list with pictures and run it by everyone. I'm thinking of making a "How To" so that people can learn.

I'll be sure to get back to you guys, thanks!

GSRBoy

That would be great if you could do that.

GSRBoy

Where could I get an h4 coupler?

POE

yes that would be good.!

TallAssFilipino

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GSRBoy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Where could I get an h4 coupler?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have no idea on where to look for the male H4-connector. I don't know if they're even readily available to the public. I had one set that came with one of my HID kits. You can also do a homemade one, but it's a pain in the ****.

But you can still pull the metal pieces of the male spade connectors and stick them into the factory H4 female socket.

TallAssFilipino

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GSRBoy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Where could I get an h4 coupler?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Who's your daddy? lol

After searching Google, I had no luck.
I tried eBay and VOLA! Go to eBay and search: "H4 male plug". I just ordered myself 2 sets of two.

Now you don't have to do any ghetto cutting/splicing or tapping.