Ok, so I got my hids about two months ago and they are great. But when I got my blazer back from the mechanic yesterday one of my bulbs wouldn't ignite. Does anyone know if this looks normal for a two month old bulb?



I don't know if the hazing is from the uv rays or what. The 'bulb' part is blackened now too. I don't know if this is normal or not. I'm relitively new to the hid scene and could use some help.

 

Compare it to your working one.

 

It looks similar, with a little more hazing on the bad one. I just don't know if mabey they gave me 35w bulbs instead of 55w like they are supposed to be. I know that running 35s at 55w will shorten life.

 

Switch the ballast from the good one to the one that doesn't start if it starts is the ballast if not is the bulb out, hope this helps you.

 

I did switch bulbs and the one light up, so it's not a ground or power or balast problem. I know it's the bulb, why it went out so fast is more my question.

 

if they are cheap bulbs this is a common issue. as to the 35W bulb on a 55W ballast, yes it shortens life, but I ran them like that for about 2 years in my 3000gt I used to own.

if your bulbs are constantly turning on and shutting off this helps wear them out quick. such as constantly going from low (HID) to high (Non-HID). Now granted this will not matter if you have Bi-Xenon HID....

As to the hazing... that looks pretty normal to me. they way the HID works is by the electrical arc burning "salts" that are in the bubble. over time this will cause hazing such as what you are seeing. now your comment about the bubble being blackened... that is something I have never seen, and I have been using HID and retrofitting projectors into housings for quite a while.

where did you get your setup? if it was DDM Tuning they offer a lifetime warranty on their products. if you didn't buy from them, you might look into it. I normally use either them or I buy Morimoto products from theretrofitsource.com..

 

Yeah, they are DDM, but I'd rather not have to send more than one back if I can help it. They are the bi-Zenon, sort of. They are the kind that move the bulb back and forth, so no, they are not turning on and off.

Thanks guys. It was probably just a bad bulb then. If it happens again, I'll look into some morimoto retrofits.