HID FAQ Guide

[richphotos]

I am going to to be getting a PNP kit from xenondepot for the TB.

Yeah, I know I should do projectors but just do not have the time currently and want the extra light.

Do I need the relay harness for these trucks? or can the stock wiring handle the HIDS?

 

[Blckshdw]

It's a toss up. Some have gotten away with not running a harness, others have had scorched/burnt pigtails. It's safer to pay the few extra $$$ and run a harness. They ain't expensive.

 

[richphotos]

It's a toss up. Some have gotten away with not running a harness, others have had scorched/burnt pigtails. It's safer to pay the few extra $$$ and run a harness. They ain't expensive.

That is what I thought, better safe than sorry.
They are dirt cheap.

Thanks!

 

[richphotos]

Got the HIDS in today, went with the dual relay harness.
Everything went smooth as can be.

Thanks for the help from all the info in this thread.

 

[littleblazer]

Some one confirm my insanity. So last week my drivers side headlight started to not fire. The passengers side was the one that always gave me trouble. So now I switched everything but the bulbs and the problem remains. Leading me to believe it is the bulb failing. I also noticed it is slightly pink when it first fires which also leads me to believe it is on its way out. Once it's running it's fine it's just getting it to that point.

 

[Blckshdw]

Some one confirm my insanity. So last week my drivers side headlight started to not fire. The passengers side was the one that always gave me trouble. So now I switched everything but the bulbs and the problem remains. Leading me to believe it is the bulb failing. I also noticed it is slightly pink when it first fires which also leads me to believe it is on its way out. Once it's running it's fine it's just getting it to that point.

I'd be leaning in the same direction. Of course, I'd also switch the bulbs and make sure the problem followed. Had a similar issue with @triz and it turned out to be the relays in his harness instead.

But yeah, the color shifting of the bulb would have me looking for a new set.

 

[littleblazer]

I'd be leaning in the same direction. Of course, I'd also switch the bulbs and make sure the problem followed. Had a similar issue with @triz and it turned out to be the relays in his harness instead.

But yeah, the color shifting of the bulb would have me looking for a new set.

I have the bulbs run into the dust caps making it difficult... but yea.

 

[littleblazer]

Just venting my frustration some. So in my last post I swapped everything. Side to side etc. Ballasts ignighters checked connections hell I jumped out the relays to make sure they wouldn't be a problem and I still had the issue. Went back and forth with trs a few times since I'm still in warranty and told them everything I did. They want me to do it again because it may be a connection... I'm sorry what? Like I understand that they want to be sure but a flakey connection on one of the components would have shown up while switching everything I would think. I'm in no way mad at them because I know how it is but to redo everything to get the same result seems counter productive. But I'll make a nice flow chart and go side to side and even switch the housings. I can't switch just the bulbs because I ran the 9006 wires through the bulb dust boot. But iirc the headlight plug that powers the regular bulbs is the same on both sides. Now if it follows the housing and they tell me to still swap the bulbs... I may freaking lose it a bit... especially since it'll make no difference in doing that. If it is a connection it may be the harness itself at the relays... in which case I don't know. I installed it correctly...

Edit: I can confirm that the relays are cycling but I don't know if both are passing power. I don't have the equipment at school to test that.

 

[seanpooh]

So you seem to be in the same boat I was a month ago.

I ordered a DRL killer from VLED in Feb and was back ordered until July.
Regardless, I still had HIDs installed in the low beams. Of course the pulsation on the 12V low beam DRL killed something on the driver side from April thru July but could not figure out what exactly. (I've avoided driving at night)

My bulb would ignite only for about 5-10 minutes then shut off only on my driver side. Bumps or driving didn't affect the outcome. Just time.

Eventually I figured out it was the HID bulb on the driver side.
You have to remember, that DRL with ruin something without the right provision. I 10x check all my hand made relay wiring with speaker wire. It was not a human error on my part.

I was still in warranty and Kensun sent me 2 bulbs just because they are so nice. Fixed my problem in the end.

I only installed the new bulb on the driver side after I installed the DLR killer from VLED. All it is is some unit with capacitors built into it which goes from the stock power from the truck to my relay harness to active my lights.

Haven't had a problem since.

All in all, make sure your DRL is disabled for sure, then replace what ever is malfunctioning or not performing properly.

 

[littleblazer]

I manually kill the DRL but I have the cap mod incase I don't.

 

[littleblazer]

So just following up my last post, yesterday to eliminate the bulbs I installed my spare set that was new in the box. Still pink on start up. Wait what? Okay. So I then swapped the ignighters. No change. Swapped the ballasts and no change swapped the bulbs and still no change... Okay so this whole time the bulb wasn't firing everyone either. It was actually like one in six times. Out of frustration I start flicking the relay harness. It fires on the third flick... swap the relays. Still not firing on the same side. Flick it a few more times bang goes off again. Huh. Okay. So now, my guess is that it is one of two things. The harness itself is botched, messing with the plug at the relay would make it work sometimes but not enough for me to think it was that. Or I have a bad ground. Which is possible... but both lights share the same ground and the drivers side is the first one on the splice meaning if it was corroded the passengers side wouldn't have a good ground either. So now I'm guessing the flicking was firm enough as to momentarily disengage the relay and re-engage it. Because cycling the lights a few times works as well. I cleaned the grounds not that long ago but it may help to check. Then again for all I know it could be a fault in the positive run. All I know is I messed up and jumped the gun somehow.

 

[Blckshdw]

I would also suspect the harness. At this point, although quite inconvenient, I'd pull the headlights and ballasts/igniters, just so you can swap the relay harness plug positions.

These harnesses are cheap enough to replace pretty easily, or just make your own if you've got spare parts laying around.

 

[littleblazer]

TRS said they would warranty it. When you say plug position, to what are you referring?

 

[seanpooh]

If you feel comfortable, make your own relay harness out of speaker wire. Of course use 16 gauge or lower due to 30 amps.

I've had my set up more that 3 years with no issues. Also it gives you the option to run the ground back into the some place. My grounding is on the engine lift bracket.

But of course before you start, troubleshoot. Switch ballasts, bulbs, and connections.

I did have a bulb go bad and it was warrantied out. Bless the vendors hearts they sent me two bulbs "just in case" and because their awesome.

 

[Blckshdw]

TRS said they would warranty it. When you say plug position, to what are you referring?

So take the harness output that's feeding the passenger side ballast, and plug it into the driver's side, and vice versa. You've essentially swapped everything else from side to side, except the harness outputs.

 

[littleblazer]

So I installed my new harness from TRS. And it works every time now yay! I don't know if it's me but they also seem to warm up faster. As far as the old harness is concerned, everything felt stiff. I like the new style better though, my old one had a ground terminal at each ballast plug but this new one uses a single larger one then feeds it like how the positive feeds each plug so now my engine bay is slightly cleaner.

 

[GeoGoGo]

This is probably a a stupid question but do you get good output from the HIDs when installed in the stock, non-retrofit housings? I really wanted to do the retrofit but I don't have the skills to do it myself. I got a quote from Lightwerkz and it was mind bogglingly expensive. Does anyone have any good pics of the output over halogens?

I know about the glare issue with the stock housings and I hate to say it but I just need more light and am not worried about blinding other drivers. Dick move, I know but I don't think I have any other options.

Any ideas, suggestions, input, or ideas are greatly appreciated!

 

[Blckshdw]

This is probably a a stupid question but do you get good output from the HIDs when installed in the stock, non-retrofit housings?

The glare issue that you hear about is what translates into the owners perceiving more light being output, because there is, the glare lights up everything more than halogens, because there's more light being scattered everywhere.

I really wanted to do the retrofit but I don't have the skills to do it myself.

Yes you do, you just have to take your time. The biggest recommendation many of us who've done it will tell you, is to buy a set of aftermarket headlights, should be able to get a set for $90 off eBay, then you don't have to rush to finish them because you're truck isn't driveable. If you go with a set of mini H1 projectors, you'll need to do very little modding to the reflector bowls. As long as you have a level surface to park on, and a flat surface about 25 feet away to aim them on, the rest is really pretty easy.

I know about the glare issue with the stock housings and I hate to say it but I just need more light and am not worried about blinding other drivers. Dick move, I know but I don't think I have any other options.

You could also buy the ready made projector headlights, or upgrade your halogen bulbs to HIRs (beefier halogen bulbs which are brighter but won't glare like HIDs and LEDs)

 

[BadOptispark]

I ordered a set of high and low HIDs from VVME 2 days ago and they still have not sent me a confirmation email. I went to their site and there is no way to look up my order and when I called them, someone from Pakistan answered and I had to ask her 3 times what the fuck she was saying, then when I asked for someone who speaks english as their native language, she hung up on me. Has anyone else had problems with this company? The reason I ordered from them is because people on here have recommended them.

 

[Blckshdw]

I ordered a set of high and low HIDs from VVME 2 days ago and they still have not sent me a confirmation email. I went to their site and there is no way to look up my order and when I called them, someone from Pakistan answered and I had to ask her 3 times what the fuck she was saying, then when I asked for someone who speaks english as their native language, she hung up on me. Has anyone else had problems with this company? The reason I ordered from them is because people on here have recommended them.

I believe most of us who bought HIDs from them, did so through eBay vendors that were stateside. Otherwise you'll be waiting on a shipment from China, which will take considerably longer.

 

[TollKeeper]

That's where I got my VVME kit from, eBay. About 2 months after I bought my kit, I got an email from the vendor that VVME had been bought out, and because the quality of their products had gone down hill that the eBay vendor that I bought my set from, was no longer going to carry VVME products.

I don't know if their is any truth to it or if the vendor was just trying to get out of the warranty. I won't be buying VVME anymore. When my HID's burn out, going to go CREE thru our local gmtnation vendor.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

You likely got a good wait since my VVME HID are still good after about 6 years.

 

[BadOptispark]

Well, my VVME HIDs were delivered this morning. I may have been overreacting, but VVME DEFINITELY needs to work on their communication and customer service. Shipping time was good; I ordered these on Tuesday, they probably processed the order and shipped on Wednesday, so not bad at all. If you can get the product from a vendor other than VVME, I would recommend it. Otherwise, I would say stay away. I can only imagine the headache that is coming if these fail within the warranty period. Oh, I almost forgot, the packaging said that the contents are "fuel system for car audio". Yeah I was pretty heated when I seen that lol

 

[l008com]

...buy a set of aftermarket headlights, should be able to get a set for $90 off eBay

Unless you drive an LT, then you're boned. Are there any known sources for LT lenses less than $300?

 

[Blckshdw]

Unless you drive an LT, then you're boned. Are there any known sources for LT lenses less than $300?

You can't source individual parts of the headlights

 

[l008com]

I know i'm talking about the whole assembly not just the cover.

 

[l008com]

Ok I have so many questions, but I guess I'll start at the beginning.

How do you pick which kit to get?
I'm looking on The Retrofit Source (https://www.theretrofitsource.com/complete-retrofit-kits/universal-kits.html), there's the $270 that's been suggested, then theres $320 kits, $430 kits, and a $135 kit. What is the difference? They all look the same, and they don't really give you any explanation on the site. The one thing I was able to determine is that the projectors of the $270 kit and the $135 kit are the same physical size. So they should both fit just fine. Looking at the specs, the more expensive kit does produce more lumens, but not a ton more.

Second, I'm still confused about installing the projector. I know I have to disassemble the headlight, but once it's apart, does the projector just lock right in? The installation guide on the site leaves out the actual projector installation. I read on this forum before that the projectors will fit in the high beam 'bay' but you will have to modify the opening a little. Does this mean you do not have to do this if you install them in the low beam bay? Do you have to deal with orienting the projector in any way, or does it just sit flush when installing, so you just have to do normal headlight adjustments when you're done to properly align the beams?

 

[xavierny25]

Second, I'm still confused about installing the projector. I know I have to disassemble the headlight, but once it's apart, does the projector just lock right in? The installation guide on the site leaves out the actual projector installation. I read on this forum before that the projectors will fit in the high beam 'bay' but you will have to modify the opening a little. Does this mean you do not have to do this if you install them in the low beam bay? Do you have to deal with orienting the projector in any way, or does it just sit flush when installing, so you just have to do normal headlight adjustments when you're done to properly align the beams?

http://gmtnation.com/forums/threads/projector-retrofit-on-a-budget.15500/
Although it's my envoy it's pretty much the same deal. Adjusting them is a MUST before you seal it all up. It's not like ur dropping in new bulbs it's more like putting another light housing in a light housing. Hope I worded that right.lol

Edit: You should pull the trigger already and take it as a learning experience. Your back and forth with basically the same questions that are already answered on the threads your posting to.

 

[Blckshdw]

How do you pick which kit to get?

This goes back to what I was telling you about cross posting, and spreading your discussion across multiple threads. You asked this same question in your other thread a month ago, where I tried to give you a useful break down. Did any of it make sense?

Have you looked through the member's retrofits thread? My projector retrofit build thread? Now you have @xavierny25 as an example. There are also a TON of Youtube videos.

 

[SBUBandit]

You likely got a good wait since my VVME HID are still good after about 6 years.

Mine went 6 years before one finally turned pink for a few days then died. Swapped in a brand new pair of just bulbs again from VVME and have been good for about 2 years now. I've bought/installed at least 6 sets of VVME bulbs and so far that one that died after 6 years is the only one to go out at all.

I did have trouble once where I thought I had a ballast issue, turned out to be corrosion on the the ground wire. I was fiddling with it trying to find the problem and accidentally set my arm right on the ground, completing the circuit. Hurt like hell but the light came right on.

 

[l008com]

I agree I've completely lost track of all the different threads I've posted in on this subject. Between the threads here, and the offroadtb thread, the trailvoy thread, the tbss threads, and then the amount of time that has passed since I started looking in to this, I keep discovering new threads I forgot I even posted in, or started. Also some of the threads I started were very specific questions that morphed into a general hid discussion.

That said, I'm not just going to "go for it" without doing research first and figuring out the right things to buy.

But the main reason this has been taking so long is simply that I'm waiting to sell an expensive set of snow tires to pay for this upgrade.

 

[djthumper]

Trailvoy is not worth posting to... ORTB is more looking at function then cosmetics for the most part. They come here for anything that is not there related to off-roading. A few of us are on there as well. All of your cross posting you are likely getting answers from a lot of the same people.

 

[Mike534x]

So I don't mean to literally necro-revive this thread.

The mod bug has bit me, and I ordered up a HID conversion kit from the retrofit source's website. I snagged some aftermarket headlights off a truck at pick and pull to practice on, before I tear mine apart and install the projectors into the housing. I know typically, these would be connected to the positive terminal on the battery to power the ballasts. I really don't want to mess and risk messing with the actuators resetting. Would it be safe to wire the positive cable to the what I assume to be the positive stud on the fuse box where the megafuse is? Or would it be better if I bought a fuse tap, and tapped into the ignition fuse or somewhere else in the fuse box? The HIDs come with a relay kit, so they don't burn out or get damaged from them being used as the DRL's.

 

[Blckshdw]

The relay kit only provides the power source for the ballasts, the on/off signal still comes from the headlight pigtail (usually the one from the driver's side as it's right by the battery) So the PWM signal would burn out the relay armature after too many cycles. You'll need a DRL killer, or do the capacitor mod to keep your DRLs running at full duty cycle, or keep a stash of spare relays for replacements.

It's been a while, but I think some who've been paranoid about disconnecting their battery, also used the "what's this red wire" spot, as a power source for their relay harnesses.

Edit: This would work, for a plug and play solution

ANTI-FLICKER CAPACITOR LINK​

 

[Mike534x]

Thanks @Blckshdw !

I somehow missed that on retrofits source's website. The one I purchased is this from hidnation, unless the morimoto anti-flicker is better? or would I use it in tandum with the relay?

I do see the spot for the "red wire", I would need to find a nut/fastener that fits the threading to keep that relay connected there. Is that stud typically always powered? I did see a red wire hanging off to the side further down on the wiring harness. Didn't know if that was necessary to anything.

 

[Blckshdw]

You'd use these together. With just the relay harness, the headlight plug inside the housing would be pulled out and into the engine bay near the battery, and connect to the trigger input of the relay harness. To prevent DRL damage, you'd use that 2nd harness in between those 2 and the built in capacitor would fill in the gaps of the PWM signal to give a constant "on"

You may be able to find the same thing cheaper from somewhere else, I know the TRS stuff can be a little overpriced for the simple things.

I did see a red wire hanging off to the side further down on the wiring harness. Didn't know if that was necessary to anything.

Pulled this post out of the red wire thread.

If you install it to the stud on the left of this picture, it feeds 30A of 12V to a designated pin on the trailer receptacle on the rear of the truck that will recharge a trailer battery as you drive. Most large trailers have this connection, but many smaller ones don't.

 

[Mike534x]

I somehow overlooked that when I looked through the thread...wow....it was literally in front of me.


Well, I'd rather be safe then sorry. I don't want to cause premature wear, or have these things eventually burn out/get damaged sooner then intended. Costed about $30 bucks in total, so its worth it in my book. I appreciate the info!

 

[Mike534x]

Received the anti-flicker cap link from TRS, I went ahead and wired up everything (to make sure everything works). I'm getting a buzzing sound from the relay harness, which causes the driver side to flicker, and the passenger side to turn off. Turning the headlights from the auto setting to just "on" fixes the flickering/buzzing. I'm about 99% positive everything is wired up as it should be, but I'm a bit at a loss for why its doing this. I take it a second anti-flicker link is needed to plug in-line with the passenger side ballast too?

 

[Blckshdw]

The connections should go as follows. Driver's side 9006 plug -> anti flicker link -> relay harness -> both HID ballasts.

If turning the headlights to full on fixes it, either the capacitor link isn't installed properly, or you got a bad one. I believe there's a ground wire coming off that capacitor link, where did you choose to ground it?

 

[Mike534x]

I grounded both the ballasts and the anti flicker link to the fenders. I removed two of the top facing mounting bolts on both the driver/passenger side, and cleared some of the paint away so they make a good connection.

I'll need to go back out there and re-check the wiring, but I do believe that everything is connected as it should be in that order. I did disconnect the capactor link, thinking that may be the issue but it still does the same thing.