HID Conversion

ckh

ckh

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Hi all

i was looking into doing a HID conversion to my A3 Sportback, but i was told that it can't be done to the sportback because it blows the wiper motor, is this true? anyway of overcoming this?

Or any suggestion to xenon? or anything that are better than the standard stuff


thanks
 
ignoring the issues about legality etc you have 3 options for hids:

1) hid light kit in standard halogen lights - gives a poor light pattern and tends to dazzle others

2) projector lamps (aftermarket) with the hid kit - good light pattern, plug-in, little or no dazzle but costs another £150 for the headlamps/projectors

3) oem lights with ballasts/starters/lamps for about £300-350 - you will need a wiring adapter to do this for another £30-40, and if you want to add the self levellers then its another 400 euros or so for the parts/wiring

as to the wiper motor controller (in the motor itself), there was a faulty batch around, they often failed on their own, or seem prone to damage from some aftermarket hid kits but not all. later wiper motors do seem to be more robust but its a certain risk.

some very expensive hid kits say they will not cause damage, but for the kind of money they are asking you may as well get oem housings/bulbs/balasts.

i suspect that voltage spikes and/or interference back down the power supply line is the cause of the problem, because the screened hid ballasts dont seem to leak any noticable interference - whether relay kits direct from the battery would negate this i dont know, but then you run in to problems with the bulb warnings unless you use power-wasting resistors to fool the light detectors

alternatively some brighter output halogens would improve things without any of the downsides, but they arent as bright as hid kits
 
Do we have a part number or MY of the 'faulty batch'? Since owning my A3 for 3-4 months the wipers have stopped once (when fuel warning light came on...) and has slowed like it was going to stop but sped back up twice. Is it just going to be a matter of time? :motz:
 
i'm too suffering from blown wiper motor and i'd like to know the actual resistance value to add on the aftermarket HID to correct up the over flown current causing blown motor?
if any pro electronic engineer could solve this for us would be great!
 
hi

i was told by HID-direct that it only blows on the SB model so they advised me not to buy the HID kit

anyone got a links in what to buy?
 
not sure the sportback uses a different wiper to the 2 door though?

i dont think its a current draw thing either - the oem ballast would have a similar start current to most modern hid kits, but the can-bus interface/controller within the motor housing is the thing that gets damaged, not the wiper motor itself.

adding a resistor to the hid will simply cause a hot resistor and a low voltage to the hid unit, possibly with an intermittent failure to ignite. if its interference going back up the power feed line, then a relay kit between the ballasts and battery is going to potentially isolate the problem but i dont know

unfortunately they come as a unit and the mobile audi chap who came out to fix mine under warranty kept a stock in his van cos the ones around 2004-2005 went often.

i think its (bad)luck though - my first motor went shortly after i tried a hid kit, but then i have tried and ran 3 different kits with the replacement motor (about a year now) without any more trouble - 1 was an expensive kit and 2 were dirt cheap ebay kits including a 55w one which i am using now
 
question,
is the oem hid also using 55w ballast? think im running mine off a 40w but dealer specified that this is the correct wattage and it did not show no error code too, how ever the motor blown on me like a wk after.

hearing from other ppl whos also got a problem to this, short-term solution is to not use combination of auto light & wiper switch, but manually switch them on when u need while driving, cos when the car ignites the discharge may run off to this specific circuit and since its been set as "on" if the weather is dark + rainny, higher risk on ur motor may be damaged.

dunno but it does make some what sense to me although not a long-term solution...
 
hi Dunk getting worried now as I have purchased a kit for my A3 2.0 TDI Quattro. I haven't had it fitted yet but am concerned if things start blowing hmmmmm
 
they said to me its just the Sb models, but i think you better check it first, ias your car still in warranty?
 
mines an 08 3door, wiper motor went bang with the HIDS4U ultimate kit which is advertised as guaranteed not to blow the wiper motor. I was given the relay kit by them which solved it but i eventually took them off and they offered me my money back and went back to halogens, too much of a problem every time i went to the dealers
 
is osram nightbreakers better or the PIAA?

anyone used PIAA?
 
Hi Guys
I had a brand new A3 quattro s-line at the time and fitted HIDs I can tell you that it will kill your wiper motor and take out your relays in above the fuse box and it dosnt matter whether your A is an sb or not the electrics in these cars on the light circut and wiper motor circuit run can-bus which is a digital system and voltages need to be read by an ocillascope not even a volt meter will pick up your readings. It also took out my window washer system as well another relay so I would say it isnt even worth the hassle.
It worked fine for two weeks and I went out one day and the wipers wouldnt work so if you have it fitted on a 8P then it is only a matter of time untill it buggers something up.
I hope this helps someone cause if I didnt get it done under warranty it would have been ****** expensive to get fixed.
cheers mike
 
£129+VAT and £18 labour.

thats how much it costs
 
Mikey said:
osram nightbreakers all the way
Click to expand...

A test of 30 bulbs in last week's Auto Extress gave the 5-star Best Buy to the Philips X-Treme Power with the Osram Nightbreakers gaining a Recommended with 4-stars.

Their comments on the Philips X-Treme Powers bulbs was "Nothing can match the original high performance bulbs. Our two samples varied, but both outshone the Osrams" No other bulbs came close to these two. PIAA bulbs were not included in their tests.
 
osram nightbreaker on the left, standard bulb on the right:

angel_eyes358.jpg
 
does osram look blue or white ??

looks great in the pic!
 
Hi all
Are you sleeping with your local mechanics at your Audi branch Black on Black Ha Ha :sex: Ive never came across a stealer that charges £18 to fix any problem on any Audi what about diagnostic time replacement parts and labour on top of that if you were paying for it and you told them what the cause was then they might be able to locate the fault but you aint going to tell them the truth if its still under warranty are you so it would be a hell of a lot more expensive than you suggest, so you take the HIDs out and they wouldnt notice the difference.
 
Getting worried now about getting my HID fitted hmmm

Mikey love the black grill mate - where did you get it form - I want one
 
Techimike said:
Hi Guys
I had a brand new A3 quattro s-line at the time and fitted HIDs I can tell you that it will kill your wiper motor and take out your relays in above the fuse box and it dosnt matter whether your A is an sb or not the electrics in these cars on the light circut and wiper motor circuit run can-bus which is a digital system and voltages need to be read by an ocillascope not even a volt meter will pick up your readings. It also took out my window washer system as well another relay so I would say it isnt even worth the hassle.
Click to expand...

It would be the LIN bus that was taken out then as thats what the wipers & others are on guys as below:

G397 - Rain and light detector sensor
J400 - Wiper motor control unit
J730 - Double washer pump relay 2

As Mike has said it wiped out the wiper & washer system so stands to reason its the LIN & someone else mentioned LIN week or 2 ago which led me to go through schematics & as they are on same BUS its almost a certainty, I would hazard a guess when the xenons are switched on oems it could be switching a circuit of the lin that stops are residual current being passed down, but I'm speculating at moment as havnt had time to study the full schematics for lights/lin connections, as it all goes into the central electrics board J519 it could be something to do with circuitry in this.

I'm gonna study this to try & figure whats causing this.
 
audi upgrades
Don't wate your time putting HID in halogen housings.

Your refelctor based halogen headlamps were never designed to take HID bulbs. They will produce a terrible beam pattern and put out less usable light than a premium halogen bulbs such as the Osram Nightbreaker or Philips Xtreme power.

A HID kit in reflector hosuings will just put out a big splodge of blue glare and **** off other drivers. They'll never be anything like real OEM Xenon projector based headlamps which have a sharp and defined cut-off.

The ballasts that normally come with 'made in china' HID kits have very poor RFI protection and are known to cause FM radio interference.

HID in halogen headlights:

beam.JPG


OEM Xenon projector based headlights (LHD), you will never get a beam pattern like this with HID in halogen lamps:

beam_pattern.jpg
 
Techimike said:
Hi all
Are you sleeping with your local mechanics at your Audi branch Black on Black Ha Ha :sex: Ive never came across a stealer that charges £18 to fix any problem on any Audi what about diagnostic time replacement parts and labour on top of that if you were paying for it and you told them what the cause was then they might be able to locate the fault but you aint going to tell them the truth if its still under warranty are you so it would be a hell of a lot more expensive than you suggest, so you take the HIDs out and they wouldnt notice the difference.
Click to expand...


They wouldnt fix it under warranty, Audi wouldnt budge an inch, fair enough i tried my luck.
The first thing the service system says on blown wiper motor is check for signs of an aftermarket xenon system, seeing as they all require an inch hole in the back of the light access door for the wiring they said that was evidence enough, feckers

The Audi dealers were quoting ridiculous £500 figures for what is actually a 45 minute job and a £130 part
As they say its not what you know its who you know :beerchug:
 
i have to thank Sem for talking me out of getting a aftermarket HID kit a few months ago on this forum. I posted up a thread and was dead set to get a HID kit but sem popped up and told me about the beam patterns etc. At the time I had no idea about the wiper motors going balls up. In the end I opted for some Osram nightbreakers. Well impressed with them for halogens, much cheaper than a HID kit, and I have peice of mind that my wiper motor will be safer.
 
Hi All
It would be very interesting to get to the bottom of why the HIds keep blowing things.
When I did mine I took the bumper off and removed the headlamps and drilled the holes underneath so you couldnt see them from the top then when I removed them I put a bit of black gaffa tape over the hole and you couldnt see where they were, so Audi fixed them under warranty but I know the techs at out local Audi branch and thats probably why I got them fixed
 
Cali said:
Oh no - anyone want to buy a HID kit for an A3?????
Click to expand...
Cali I would phone whoever you got them from and get them to tell you if they can guarantee they wont damage your car as per all the posts it looks like it is the hids that are doing the damage on the A3,s so I wouldnt fit them.
If I get a customer in to my workshop and they want Hids I now get them to sign a disclaimer that it is done at their own risk because of the amount of problems we are seeing with aftermarket Hid Units so I would like to find out what is causing the problem.
As per another post the focus of the beam patteren is all wrong and if you were stopped at the side of the road by a VOSA agent or an eagle eyed traffic cop you would get a ticket, and they are now starting to check, even the MOT guys are checking now
 
audi upgrades
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