After a ride this weekend, I noticed that the light would not switch on - when I switch it on, the light flicks on and off twice as if it is trying to fire up but does not then come on.
I don't know the electronics in this product, but I'd guess there is water or something shorting the HT wire or bulb connection (20,000volts!). The ballast may be trying twice then shutting down because of a fault.
But it could be a lamp or electronic ballast gone faulty. With those kind of voltages and the arc running voltage up to 400 volts, I'm not prepared to suggest tests for fault finding.
Make sure the battery is good, the wiring to the HID ballast is ok, check the wiring to and from the ballast, in particular the HT ignitor wire (usually fat like an HT cable), and the bulb holder connections. Look for moisture or water. If you take the panels off and try to light the lamp in the dark, you may see arcs and sparks from wiring which could give a clue.
Otherwise, presumably you have some warranty? Remove the whole kit, test it on a battery and if the fault repeats, return it.
Be careful, HID voltages are dangerous and may remain in the wiring for a while after a battery is disconnected.
What he said - sounds like possibly a wiring problem or, more likely, a problem in the ballast. When testing the lamp off the bike, remember the bulb gets extremely hot (fire hazard hot).
The most fragile part of a HID bulb is the internal ignitor wire that runs top to bottom. It's relatively fragile and doen't take kindly to rough treament in the mail and some have been known to detach.
Yes, you may be right about the lamp because the ballast will usually try and start 2 or 3 times then lock out if an arc is not struck. It does this because the arc ignition is the most stressing on the ballast electronics and also to prevent fires. I've seen that high voltage ignition when I forgot to re-connect a lamp and the ballast connector was just hanging. It isn't just like an HT coil spark. It's full of massive energy and I have no doubt it could do you serious harm.
The problem with kits is there's always a risk it could be the ballast or even a wire insulation fault, so after doing some checks I'd still return the whole thing.
Which HID did you have? 35W? 50W? 55W? The H7 bulb is 55 watts, so if you had the 35 watt version in there, it may not have been drawing enough to satisfy the CAN-BUS module that controls the low beam.
Could also be the type of pulse load the ballast presents to the lamp failure monitor, particularly during the lamp start period. Now I remember when I bought my ballasts they were specified for oem use and that included cars fitted with CAN lamp failure monitoring.
But they weren't cheap units and a little bird told me they were the same inside as Hella oems.
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