HID's turn off on start up??

[Jcroz91]

so i got the DDM HID's and they have worked perfectly but over the past few weeks they have been acting up. First they would just randomly turn off while riding. Then my high beams (not HID) stopped working completly. so I had to ride home at night with just my running lights. It started to happen more and more often and now when I ride almost every other time I go out ill turn the bike on and the HID's heat up. The ride and make 1/16th of a mile down the road they shut off on me. The HID's dont come back on at all UNTIL I get home and turn the bike off. Then the lights heat right back up. So i dont feel like its the HID kit, but more or less an electrical problem on the bike itself.

Also, i dont know how i found this out. but if I press my starter button while im riding the HID's make a quick flash and go off again. I just got a new battery from the pony. Checked all the fuses and everything is good. I have no idea what the problem is. Bad alt maybe? idk... any help?

[Cheech]

How are the HID's connected to the bike? Did you get the wiring harness that's sold with them? Are they the 55W or the 35W?

Need more info, man.

[Casper]

How are the HID's connected to the bike? Did you get the wiring harness that's sold with them? Are they the 55W or the 35W?

Need more info, man.

Sounds like factory wiring harness, and it's melting.

[Cheech]

Sounds like factory wiring harness, and it's melting.

Wouldn't surprise me, that's why I wanted to know the wattage of the lights and how they were hooked up. Far more likely to happen on the 55W than the 35W.

[Jcroz91]

35W... and they are wired up like they are supposed to. i dont havethe bike right in front of me but I mean they worked fine for months. Now they are just acting up. ill try to find a diagram of how you wire them up. its pretty simple

[max power]

does it smell burny?

[Cheech]

35W... and they are wired up like they are supposed to. i dont havethe bike right in front of me but I mean they worked fine for months. Now they are just acting up. ill try to find a diagram of how you wire them up. its pretty simple

Thanks. I have some on order, but I don't know how they are supposed to be wired up.

+1 on the burn smell, if you turn the bike on but don't move the bike does the problem still happen? It's possible that something has either rattled/melted loose and it's causing an intermittent connection. Leaning more towards the melty side, it can melt loose then reconnect when the plastic or whatever cools and contracts.

[RSVDon]

DDMs ballasts have an undercurrent protection system like most HID ballasts. If they aren't getting enough juice they'll shut down. Your factory wiring harness isn't supplying enough power, you need an accessory harness that draws power directly from the battery after startup.

And I suggest you do it soon before you melt the factory harness. Otherwise you're going to have a whole different mess on your hands.

Wiring is simple for these too so it's hard to do it wrong. Two spades go into factory headlight bulb connector, if they're in the wrong way the bulb won't fire at all so that isn't it. Visually inspect the rest of the wiring in the loop for the ballast to bulb, if you don't see anything and the connectors look good then it's probably not the kit.

If all else fails and they don't fire correctly after installing the accessory harness, it's time to look at a faulty ballast. Good thing DDM has a lifetime warranty on all their ballasts they sell.

Edited April 8, 2010 by RSVDon

[Jcroz91]

does it smell burny?

no burny smell... but i rode it to class one day and when i got to class and turned the bike off the HID ballasts where whining extremly loud. Like almost hurt my ears and that was when I already had my key out of the bike and walking away. I came back out and my battery was dead. (the next day i got that new battery). I mean this happened in the middle of all my problems. The light had been shutting on and off before this all happened.

[Jcroz91]

DDMs ballasts have an undercurrent protection system like most HID ballasts. If they aren't getting enough juice they'll shut down. Your factory wiring harness isn't supplying enough power, you need an accessory harness that draws power directly from the battery after startup.

And I suggest you do it soon before you melt the factory harness. Otherwise you're going to have a whole different mess on your hands.

Wiring is simple for these too so it's hard to do it wrong. Two spades go into factory headlight bulb connector, if they're in the wrong way the bulb won't fire at all so that isn't it. Visually inspect the rest of the wiring in the loop for the ballast to bulb, if you don't see anything and the connectors look good then it's probably not the kit.

If all else fails and they don't fire correctly after installing the accessory harness, it's time to look at a faulty ballast. Good thing DDM has a lifetime warranty on all their ballasts they sell.

can i get that from DDM? or can I rig something of the sort up myself?

[RSVDon]

no burny smell... but i rode it to class one day and when i got to class and turned the bike off the HID ballasts where whining extremly loud. Like almost hurt my ears and that was when I already had my key out of the bike and walking away. I came back out and my battery was dead. (the next day i got that new battery). I mean this happened in the middle of all my problems. The light had been shutting on and off before this all happened.

The ballast should only make that noise when it's being powered. Is it possible that you turned the key all the way to "park" instead of "lock"? Some bikes have a setting on the triple that allows you to lock the forks and it will turn on the headlights and taillights, usually this is set by turning the key past the "lock" position. If it also does this by low-powering the headlight that means you'd never see the HID on but the taillight would be and possibly cause the battery to drain.

[RSVDon]

can i get that from DDM? or can I rig something of the sort up myself?

It's $10 for the kit from DDM, but $15 shipping which sucks.

[Jcroz91]

Don... is this what your talking about?

http://www.ddmtuning.com/index.php?p=product&id=133&parent=94

[RSVDon]

Yes, I would call them though and ask if they have one that's motorcycle specific. I think that one is setup to run two ballasts.

Also,

"Use this relay harness to connect HIDs to cars with very small gauge wiring that cannot supply the initial surge current required to light the bulbs reliably. Symptoms indicating the harness is required would be intermittent starting or lights going out after being turned on for several minutes and requiring you to turn the lights off and back on for them to turn back on again."

Sound familiar?

[Jcroz91]

yeah after i read that it sounds like the exact problem. im mad my bike has a pussy little wiring harness. wtf! cant even hold a 35W hid kit!

oh well.. at least I think you guys got the problem narrowed down for me. ill try it and see how it works.

[Cheech]

Yes, I would call them though and ask if they have one that's motorcycle specific. I think that one is setup to run two ballasts.

Also,

Sound familiar?

As I will be wiring up a set of DDM's here shortly, this is interesting. I picked up the wiring harness with the order, so I'll let you know how it works out when I finally get it.

Jcroz, without seeing the harness, I'm guessing that there's a direct battery connection to a relay that's watching for voltage on the headlight circuit. Once voltage is detected, the relay closes the battery circuit and power is supplied to the HID ballasts. Creating your own for test purposes shouldn't be that hard, however I'd seriously consider ponying up the cash for the pre-made harness as the relays are usually smaller and the connections are better insulated.

[Cheech]

yeah after i read that it sounds like the exact problem. im mad my bike has a pussy little wiring harness. wtf! cant even hold a 35W hid kit!

oh well.. at least I think you guys got the problem narrowed down for me. ill try it and see how it works.

it's not the wattage, it's the amperage. High gauge wire is expensive, especially about the time that your bike was being built, factories (my company included) were going apeshit over the copper price trends in '06.

If you are going to try to roll your own, make damn sure you put a fuse on the wire connecting to the battery, as close to the battery as you can make it. You can find inline fuses at any auto parts place. Make sure you get some spares as well, you'll might blow one or two getting the amperage right or if you accidentally short something in the wiring process.

[Jcroz91]

it's not the wattage, it's the amperage. High gauge wire is expensive, especially about the time that your bike was being built, factories (my company included) were going apeshit over the copper price trends in '06.

If you are going to try to roll your own, make damn sure you put a fuse on the wire connecting to the battery, as close to the battery as you can make it. You can find inline fuses at any auto parts place. Make sure you get some spares as well, you'll might blow one or two getting the amperage right or if you accidentally short something in the wiring process.

i already ordered the DDM's they said it will work for a bike

[Cheech]

i already ordered the DDM's they said it will work for a bike

I sure as hell hope so, I ordered the same thing.

[Jcroz91]

lol ill let you guys know if it works!

$17.50 to ship the thing. it prob weighs .3 lbs.

[D-Ramey]

my kit does the same thing on my bike i have to keep turning the bike on and off to get it to stay on or go down the street and turn the bike on then off when riding lol its sucks idk wtf is wrong with it

[Cheech]

my kit does the same thing on my bike i have to keep turning the bike on and off to get it to stay on or go down the street and turn the bike on then off when riding lol its sucks idk wtf is wrong with it

umm, have you tried reading the thread instead of using retarded acronyms? I'm pretty sure we covered the problem, lol.

[smashweights]

when was the last time you charged your battery? my 35W DDMs start to act up a bit when my battery is starting to run low. trickle charge it overnight and see if that fixes it.

[RSVDon]

my kit does the same thing on my bike i have to keep turning the bike on and off to get it to stay on or go down the street and turn the bike on then off when riding lol its sucks idk wtf is wrong with it

And I quote myself....

Yes, I would call them though and ask if they have one that's motorcycle specific. I think that one is setup to run two ballasts.

Also,

"Use this relay harness to connect HIDs to cars with very small gauge wiring that cannot supply the initial surge current required to light the bulbs reliably. Symptoms indicating the harness is required would be intermittent starting or lights going out after being turned on for several minutes and requiring you to turn the lights off and back on for them to turn back on again."

Sound familiar?

[Sniper_308]

Sorry to hear about your HID’s bro, I was up in the air about purchasing a set for my bike. After hearing about your headache, I think I’m going to go for a set of Piaa H7 light bulbs. Good luck with your lights.

Edited April 9, 2010 by Sniper_308
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