How to get rid of ABS dash lights after fitting HIDS.

[666markyboy]

Just to add to the wattage debate..... I had 2 55 watt HIDs installed and one failed at xmas so i fitted an old 35 watt HID bulb and balast as a temp measure and to be honest i can't tell the difference between the 2 .... they look identical... to the point i can't be bothered looking for a new 55 watt setup

 

[blazedani]

Just to add to the wattage debate..... I had 2 55 watt HIDs installed and one failed at xmas so i fitted an old 35 watt HID bulb and balast as a temp measure and to be honest i can't tell the difference between the 2 .... they look identical... to the point i can't be bothered looking for a new 55 watt setup

Yes, all this 55w HID kits are identical to 35w kits (99% of them at least)

They are simply 35w can bus ready.
They call them 55w for 2 reasons:
- The ballast equals consumption to the 55w halogen bulbs to avoid the bulb error. (just as 35w canbus does)
- 55w seems better than 35w HID, even is not, so they can sell more to people who is not well informed.

Is just a trick to make people believe they are buying more & better, when actually this 55w HID kits use the same 35w bulbs as other kits.

If you want brigther HID you should look for the output power of the ballast.
There are Real 50W HID kits that produce more lumens than the regular ones.

Example:

 

[krisavant]

Interesting! I may look for that kit as I'm pretty disappointed with the output of my hids.

 

[blazedani]

It's a shame the real deal or good copies are so expensive, those welloem HID kits that were mentioned were nearly 300 dollars.

Now I'd rather invest a few quid in foil to resolve the issues of a 60 quid kit.

So how comes OEM ballasts don't cause ABS issues? afterall there mounted in the same place that most of us are putting them.

You can get interference free HID kits for 100 quid. No need to spend 200 or 300...

Not everybody is so lucky & can use the Aluminum foil trick.
In some cases it doesn't solve the problem completely (depending of the HID you have, some give stronger interferences)

In other cases like the Audi A3, the Aluminum foil trick is not safe.
for the A4 we are just trying to avoid a light in the dashboard.
for the A3, only with 1 time exposure to the interference the wiper motor will blow away.
It can take 1 day or 1 year, but eventually it will happen & the cost of the repair is quite high.

OEM Ballast can cause interference too.
It all depends on quality & technology they use.
The most modern ballast the most advanced technology & the lower the interference.
Older HID ballast may produce also interference. (saw it by myself)

 

[leegsi]

Just re earthed mine and cured the ABS issue.

As the headlight was out I earthed mine on a bolt behind the headlight so its all hidden away.

I made 2 cuts in the wire cover carefully so I didn't cut any wires. Pulled the loom end out a bit and covered in heat shrink and tucked it back in the cover.

At the other cut I pulled the wire back out the cover and put a ring terminal on the wire.

If you look you can see where I re earthed it with a chassis bolt and then used cable ties to secure the ballast.

 

[swarcup]

didnt cure mine but i have now mounted the ballasts under the headlight as per woorlords earlier advice and wrapped the ballast in tin foil. So far so good. Previously i had secured the ballast to the expansion bottle which is next to the abs module and was getting a lot of errors. Although i only got the errors if i switched the lights on within say 15 seconds of start up

 

[DrStrange]

Hi Chaps,

Just wanted to repost this thread, as I found it excellent for trouble-shooting issues with aftermarket HID's.

i would recommend all members have a read if experiencing any of whats mentioned in this thread as it helped with mine.

Shielding the HID wires and ballasts with a good amount of tin foil has appeared to block the EMI causing my ABS/BRAKES & ESP light on the dashboard to go NUTS!

Thanks very much for the shared information.