HIDEXTRA Owners - Not turning on automatically???

Eric,

What brand ballast do you have?

 

I think you should reconsider leaving your headlight switch in the "on" position.

There is a lot of electrical switching and demands for electrical loads happening at startup (Power On). You're not helping things by trying to fire up the HIDs as well. The HIDs use the most power at startup, then settle in at a much lower voltage when the bulbs are illuminated. I think your HIDs aren't turning on because the ballasts aren't getting the current they need at startup due to everything else going on.

If you don't want to remember to turn on your lights after starting your car, then I'd suggest you use a delay relay to turn on your lights. You can delay the HIDs coming on a few seconds and I think it will help a lot, so that the ballasts get all the power they need. I'd suggest delaying the HIDs turning on for a minimum of 5 seconds.

Posting from my phone, but you can see a link to a delay relay I'm using for my highbeam DRLs. Link to that thread is in my sig below. The link to the relay is at the end of the thread. This relay has an adjustable delay from 3 to 110 seconds.

SCH-I535

 

Whoops, I don't have a link in my DRL thread. Here you go:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=321016256696

SCH-I535

 

Do you know if they are 35 or 55 Watt ballasts? Do you have a relay installed, or is directly via the stock headlight wiring for your power input? I agree with the above post that it may be a power issue at startup...

 

Not plug and play.

The delay relay specs states that the relay has a capacity of something like 15 amps, but the wires coming off the delay relay are really thin, like 22 gauge. No way they could handle 10 - 15 amps current. But they'll handle small current loads as would be the case using them to activate the coil on a separate relay in an HID wiring harness.

I would recommend you use an HID wiring harness with a relay that gets it's power from the engine fuse block. Then if you want to use the delay relay, you would install the delay relay between the OEM headlight +12v (signal wire) and the HID wiring harness relay's coil input. In this eBay link, the +12v signal wire is indicated with the #6 in the diagram. You would install the delay relay by cutting the red wire in the #6 wires and splicing each of the cut red wire ends to the white wires of the delay relay.

 

Because like fluorescent lights, HIDs require a high current draw upon start up. That's what the ballasts are for, to supply the high current for start up.

Most people don't leave their light switch On. Just manually turn on your lights.

SCH-I535

 

What do you want to hear? Two people already told you your problem is likely due to your HIDs not getting the power they require to initialize because you're trying to turn them on at Power On, when the car is initializing a lot of other stuff.

You're lucky the ballasts trying to suck current from the vehicle at Power On isn't causing other, more serious issues with the complicated electronic systems in your Prius.

You can try getting just the HID wiring harness first. The advantage over your current setup is the relay is wired so that the power to your ballasts comes from the fuse block or battery terminal (depends how you wire it), and not the OEM headlight circuit. Then, your HID ballasts just might get enough current/power during start up to initialize.

 

Because, as I explained earlier, HIDs actually use more power at startup than conventional lighting systems. HIDs operate by sending an arc across a gap between two electrodes. True, once the arc is established, HIDs use less power for the given light produced than more traditional lighting like halogens. However, it takes a very high current to get the initial arc across the electrodes when the electrodes are cold (ambient temperature). That's why your HID system incorporates the ballasts, one of their main functions is to provide that large current needed to initialize the arc upon startup of the HID lights.

From Wikepedia (Arc Lamps, HIDs are a type of arc lamp):

An arc is the discharge that occurs when a gas is ionized. A high voltage is pulsed across the lamp to "ignite" or "strike" the arc, after which the discharge can be maintained at a lower voltage. The "strike" requires an electrical circuit with an igniter and a ballast. The ballast is wired in series with the lamp and performs two functions.
First, when the power is first switched on, the igniter/starter (which is wired in parallel across the lamp) sets up a small current through the ballast and starter. This creates a small magnetic field within the ballast windings. A moment later the starter interrupts the current flow from the ballast, which has a high inductance and therefore tries to maintain the current flow (the ballast opposes any change in current through it); it cannot, as there is no longer a 'circuit'. As a result, a high voltage appears across the ballast momentarily - to which the lamp is connected, therefore the lamp receives this high voltage across it which 'strikes' the arc within the tube/lamp. The circuit will repeat this action until the lamp is ionized enough to sustain the arc.
When the lamp sustains the arc, the ballast performs its second function, to limit the current to that needed to operate the lamp.

 

It is what it is... whining about it isn't going to change the fact that using your OEM lowbeam circuit to power the ballasts is giving you a less than satisfactory result part of the time.

I've explained why. I think buying an HID wiring harness and tapping into your fuse box auxiliary terminals for power should be your next step. Complaining to the manufacturer/seller of your HID kit is pointless, IMO considering what you are trying to do (tap your lowbeam circuit for power, and expect it to start 100% at power on).

Some of the OEMs with the automatic lights feature must use a delay.

SCH-I535

 

Not sure, but are you willing to gamble on purchasing another brand which may or may not have the same problem?

Buy the HID harness, it's less than $10.

If you need help with wiring it once you receive it, post back. It's really easy. You basically need to connect to one of the two open terminals in your engine fuse box for power, and connect a ground wire. You already had to ground both ballasts right? So you use the same bolt to ground your HID harness and ballast. Then you switch around some of your H11 connectors from your HID kit and you have a better setup with a more reliable power source for your ballasts.

SCH-I535

 

If you don't feel comfortable installing the HID harness, I'm sure a stereo shop could do it in less than 30 minutes.

Why don't you just turn on your lights manually after starting your car like 90+ % of everybody out there? Or leave things as they are and turn your lights off, then back on when they fail to ignite half the time?

SCH-I535