Splitfyr3

Hi all, Just thought I'd give you all an update on this as it's now sorted. Fortunately, my brother has a Zed with exactly the same HID's, so I was able to swap components about until I got things nailed down. To cut a long story short, we eventually ended up parking the Zeds nose to nose and using his car to power my bulbs - his switch, his battery, his cabling, his relays, his ballasts... and the lights still flickered! Got a couple of new bulbs sent down FOC from ZCentre (cheers guys!) and all is now good - no more mobile rave! Looking at the bulbs, there's some sort of yellow residue in the capsule in the middle - maybe it was some sort of manufacturing defect that let some foreign material in when they were being made? It seems weird that they flickered and didn't just blow, but I suppose that's because they don't have an element that can break like normal bulbs.

Hi Dan, Thanks for the info :) I had another quick check last night and it definitely seems to be arcing that's causing the flickering, and it doesn't necessarily seem to be related to one ballast. My lights were fine for a while, but then (maybe as the ballasts warmed up?) the RIGHT one this time started arcing. It seemed to be coming from inside where the cable exits the ballast on the output side. So I may have at least one ballast on it's way out. The different colour bulb has sorted itself out now btw, I think it was just getting a bit upset with all the arcing etc... When I get a chance while there's still a bit of light I'll check everything properly as suggested and let you know!

You did? When? :wack: And I THINK they came from DTA - think, because they were a Christmas pressie from my bro. And no, on mine there is no extra relay. Basically I just disconnected the original bulb connector, wired the input side of the ballast into that with spade connectors, ran an extra ground wire (can't remember why now - think I had trouble at the time!) and connected the output side of the ballast to the HID's.

Cheers mate - by 'a relay' do you mean the LH and RH dip beam relays?

Hmm - 23,000 volts? Not sure if I like the sounds of that, and I'm sure my little £10 digi tester wouldn't be too pleased! I'll try unplugging a few things and see if I can isolate the problem. Driving in this morning the lights were fine for about 10 miles, then started flickering again and that's the problem - I can't replicate it when I need to! You mentioned something further up the line, relays etc. - is there anything that I can swap out to check?

Cheers Kev, This has only just started happening though - they worked fine for a year and I've got an import, so hopefully shouldn't be the case.

Cheers mate - knew you'd be able to give some suggestions! When checking with a meter, I assume you mean on the input side of the ballast? I though that if I checked the output side, it'd probably fry the meter, me, or both! I'll also run some better grounding wires to see if that helps - I've installed a ground net so running a new cable to that should be OK, right? Will have a good check and let you know... Karl

Cheers for that - maybe I have a break in the cable on the output side of my left hand ballast then? Considering it's such high voltage I suppose the spark could be jumping the gap most of the time and playing up at other times. What I will do is try unplugging the left hand ballast and see if the right hand side still flickers. It has to be either one ballast or some other joint component in the lighting system I would think though, as they always flicker in sync. Ian - I did wonder about that initially, but it happens whether I have the engine running or not, and I don't seem to have any other electrical issues so I don't think the alternator is shot.

Arrgh! Help! It's driving me nuts! Can anyone (Groover? :bow:) help me figure out why my HID's are flickering? Not been driving the Zed much recently because I've had to use my bike to commute to work (no parking on site for us lowly contractors :mad:) but hit a stone or something going round a roundabout recently and smashed it up :( Since using the Zed again, the HID's have been flickering badly (i.e. like a strobe!) and sometimes the left one cuts out entirely. I thought that I had sorted it this weekend as I heard arcing coming from the cable on the output side of the left hand ballast, taped it all up again and the arcing seemed to stop. The strange thing is, the arcing seemed to be inside the positive connector, so I don't know what it can be earthing to. However, it's happening again, and now my left hand light is a slightly warmer colour. Is it a problem with one ballast? If so, would that make both lights flicker together? Or is there something else that could be causing the problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated - it's getting dark early now! Karl

Cheers guys, I'll have a look. It might have even been me that disturbed something last time I had the door card off. Everything else to do with the mirror seems to work fine - the adjustment and electric folding work great - so hopefully nothing too difficult!

Hi all, I discovered the other day that I have heated mirrors! Awesome! However, what isn't so awesome is that I have in fact got heated mirror. As in the driver's side one. The passenger one doesn't work! Is this a common thing with a common fix, or shall I just pull it apart and start checking?

Still reckon it looks like a warthog but DAMN that looks like fun! :D

Holy cr@p! Wouldn't like to be following him! Bet he got away without a bloody fine (lol - see my 'So disappointed' rant ;) )

LOL yeah - that'd have gone down well ;) There were plenty of speed traps about that night, but made sure I was legal at all times - that's why I'm so pi$$ed off at myself for being stupid with the fogs! Seriously though - you just pulled in and got a warning? I reckon I attend unofficial cruises everytime I get my shopping from Asda then!

You know what, that might be a damn good idea! Thought about sending something with the payment but I reckon writing to the Chief Constable would be a good idea. More than likely wouldn't make a jot of difference, but might make me feel better ;)