HID Headlight Bulbs / HID Projector Retrofit

[Kayslay]

Hey guys, one question I had. I want to attempt the Sierra spec 35w Morimoto HID kit for my 2014. Does it retain the factory wiring etc. so that if something goes wrong and lights go out on the highway or something, that I can just turn around disconnect quick and throw in the original bulbs and be on my way?

Yes all the factory wiring stays the same and on the spec kit the bulb is the same as stock so you can pull the hid bulb out and put your stock bulb back in

[Kayslay]

My question (which I'm not sure is here) is how to get past the damn permaseal. I'm trying to open some winjets and baking just isn't working.

Don't know what a winjet is but chances are you aren't heating hot enough for long enough. Some guys go up to 260, I did 250 and leave in for 15-18 mins

[Huetatos]

Don't know what a winjet is but chances are you aren't heating hot enough for long enough. Some guys go up to 260, I did 250 and leave in for 15-18 mins

Winjet aftermarkets.

I tried 250 for 20 minutes, 260 for 15, 230 for 25 minutes (per retrofitsource instructions) and all I've managed to do is completely mangle up some of the plastic on the top.

[FastWS6TA]

Hey guys, one question I had. I want to attempt the Sierra spec 35w Morimoto HID kit for my 2014. Does it retain the factory wiring etc. so that if something goes wrong and lights go out on the highway or something, that I can just turn around disconnect quick and throw in the original bulbs and be on my way?

Yes. Keep your OEM 9012 halogen bulbs in the glove compartment as backup/spare in the unlikely event you have an issue.

 

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[FastWS6TA]

Winjet aftermarkets.

I tried 250 for 20 minutes, 260 for 15, 230 for 25 minutes (per retrofitsource instructions) and all I've managed to do is completely mangle up some of the plastic on the top.

Start on the bottom, outside corner.

 

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[Kayslay]

Winjet aftermarkets.

I tried 250 for 20 minutes, 260 for 15, 230 for 25 minutes (per retrofitsource instructions) and all I've managed to do is completely mangle up some of the plastic on the top.

Whoa some tough lights. Not sure why they are so hard to open. Try 260 for 20, flathead screwdriver and repeat as needed. The oem lights weren't easy either. Could always chop open with the dremel. Good luck

[Doug64]

Question for the HID gurus here. Does anyone make bulbs with a 90 degree angle on the connector like the standard bulbs?

[wade_660]

I don't think so. If you can, I've never seen them

 

 

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[ClemsonFan]

If you are baking, cook at 250 for 15 mins, and if needing to reheat, leave In for at least another 10 mins don't just throw in for 5 at a time, it will take you much longer. Get as much of the old permaseal out as you can while the lights are warm. I didn't get it all out but sealed them up good and no issues so far

 

Also when prying the lights apart, wrap your screwdriver with something soft or tape shortly above the tip so the metal doesn't dent/gouge the headlight lens when you're prying against it for leverage. I have some marks,

Nothing major but wish I noticed sooner

 

I used a small wrench to pry off the stock projector and bracket from the housing. Takes a good amount of force, make sure the housing is still warm or heat it up a bit before you pop them off to reduce the chance of breaking something

 

Also, make sure you plug in the drl led to the headlight when test fitting/aiming. I didn't and nothing would turn on even with the truck off. Had me stressing for awhile as I didn't thing that would be a problem but it was. Need it plugged in for anything to work

 

This is for a slt Sierra hope it helps.

Huge difference though my favorite mod. And use fast bracket it will make your life easier, just double check some of the drill bit sizes recommended in the instructions they are off

 

What are the pros and cons of going in from the front vs back? I was planning on cutting the rear of the headlight. I thought it might be a little easier.

[Kayslay]

 

What are the pros and cons of going in from the front vs back? I was planning on cutting the rear of the headlight. I thought it might be a little easier.

I think the back would be easier, but if you want to paint the bezel like I did or mod the reflector you have to open from the front. Just a projector swap the back would be the way to go

[abominable z71]

I'm not an HID guru but I have my degree in electro-mechanical engineering so I thought I'd share in laymans terms what is going on with the circuitry for your HID kit to help anyone that's trying to trouble shoot your install.

There's is two different ways the factory head lights work on the GMC.

Base models and SLE models that use the main head light as your day time running lights function slightly differently than Models with the LED's as the running lights (all SLT's and Denalis and SLE with the option)

First are the non LED models the headlight bulbs are supplied 12 volts with the headlights in the on position whether auto or manual, when off and functioning as DRL's the computer modulates the signal meaning it turns the signal on and off really fast creating the dimmer glow for the DRL this is acceptable for resistance style headlights like halogens but not for HID lighting that uses and arc to generate it's light. Trucks with LED's only have voltage applied to the headlights when they are on whether it's manual or auto. The difference between them is what creates the need or eliminates the need for the capacitor link in the wiring of the HID kit which I'll explain next.

 

The kit consists of several parts.

The relay harness, the ballasts, the igniters, the burners (bulbs), and a capacitor link.

How they all work together.

The wiring harness connects the two relays directly the battery to provide a steady 12 volts to the ballasts. This is where the capacitor link comes in. The relays job is to physically decouple the truck wiring from your HID system by means of a magnetic coil. The relay is basically a switch, when it's off the ballasts are not connected to the battery when it's on the ballasts are directly connected to the battery. This is where the connection to your factory wiring comes into play as well as the capacitor link. When the head lights are turned on the signal that would normally go to your factory head light bulb is now routed to the coil side of the relay, the coil energizes a magnetic switch in the relay that closes and connects the ballasts to the battery, when the head lights shut off the coil de-energizes the magnetic field and the switch opens. Now for the capacitor link if you have a model without LED lights you need the capacitor and here is why. Because the signal is pulsed meaning turned on and off really quickly the coil on the relay is going to open and close really quickly as well which would also pulse the signal on the load side of the coil which is what connects the battery to the ballasts. This creates a problem for the relay as they're not designed to do this especially DC relays this also creates a problem for the ballast which are designed to control and regulate the incoming voltage before sending it to the burners more on that later. So what is a capacitor and how does it help our DRL situation. A capacitor is like a storage tank for electrical current it will accept current coming in and release it slowly (much more to it but irrelevant for this discussion) So the choppy incoming DRL signal comes into the capacitor and is released as a steady flow to the coil side of the relay keeping it from opening and closing allowing the connection on the load side to remain closed and steady. Without DRL's the signal from the factory wiring is already a steady 12 volts and the relay functions as normal. This is why the capacitor is not required on the SLT's or Denalli's, but the kit is a one size fits all and the capacitor link is always included. If everything is wired correctly with head lights turned on, the two leads marked ballast should have 12 volts measured across them using a multimeter. Check here first if the lights do not come on to make sure voltage is making it's way to the ballasts. If not make sure you have voltage going into the relay on the coil side. This is the connection from the factory light plug into either the capacitor link or into the patch cable. A trick for checking if the connection is bad at the connectors themselves. Using your meter put the negative probe directly to the battery ground take a really fine sewing needle and tape it to the positive probe of your meter and use the needle to pierce the insulation of the positive wire and check for voltage between the connectors this can help pinpoint the bad connection.

 

Now to the ballasts, The factory halogen lights use a resistive element that gets hot the heat starts the halogen cycle in the bulb and creates the light. The wattage is controlled by the resistive element itself (kirchoff's laws) the voltage drop created by the resistive element creates current flow. the current multiplied by the square of the resistance equals power ie a 35watt bulb or whatever the bulbs rating may be. HID's utilize an arc to generate the light and the arc will continue to draw more current if it's not regulated. This is the ballasts function, this is why with the HID kit you are buying has ballast's rated at either 35 watts or 55 watts and the burners themselves are only rated by temperature or color 4500K 5k and so on the burner itself has no control of the wattage like the factory halogen bulb. The last piece is the igniter, HID lighting typically has long start-up time's and long gaps between restrike meaning the time required between turning the lamp off and back on again. The igniter eliminates this by momentarily providing a much higher amount of power to get the bulb up to full operating temperature and minimize the time required for restrike. The last piece is the burner or bulb. Unlike the halogen that has a resistive element to create heat an HID burner uses and arc created by a momentarily supply of really high voltage potential across two electrodes just like a spark plug. this arc ionizes gas in the bulb typically xenon the heat from the ionized xenon vaporizes salts in the bulb and fails the resistance between the electrodes and the ballast kicks in maintaining the proper voltage and current supply to main a stable arc whether it be 35 watts or 55 watts. The odds of getting 2 bad ballasts, 2 bad igniters and 2 bad burners is extremely unlikely and because the voltage post ballast can hit 20k - 25k volts I would not recommend checking these with a meter if you still have problems and have a steady 12 volts to the ballast try each ballast, igniter and burner combination. but the odds are the problem is before the ballast.

[Kayslay]

I'm not an HID guru but I have my degree in electro-mechanical engineering so I thought I'd share in laymans terms what is going on with the circuitry for your HID kit to help anyone that's trying to trouble shoot your install.

There's is two different ways the factory head lights work on the GMC.

Base models and SLE models that use the main head light as your day time running lights function slightly differently than Models with the LED's as the running lights (all SLT's and Denalis and SLE with the option)

First are the non LED models the headlight bulbs are supplied 12 volts with the headlights in the on position whether auto or manual, when off and functioning as DRL's the computer modulates the signal meaning it turns the signal on and off really fast creating the dimmer glow for the DRL this is acceptable for resistance style headlights like halogens but not for HID lighting that uses and arc to generate it's light. Trucks with LED's only have voltage applied to the headlights when they are on whether it's manual or auto. The difference between them is what creates the need or eliminates the need for the capacitor link in the wiring of the HID kit which I'll explain next.

 

The kit consists of several parts.

The relay harness, the ballasts, the igniters, the burners (bulbs), and a capacitor link.

How they all work together.

The wiring harness connects the two relays directly the battery to provide a steady 12 volts to the ballasts. This is where the capacitor link comes in. The relays job is to physically decouple the truck wiring from your HID system by means of a magnetic coil. The relay is basically a switch, when it's off the ballasts are not connected to the battery when it's on the ballasts are directly connected to the battery. This is where the connection to your factory wiring comes into play as well as the capacitor link. When the head lights are turned on the signal that would normally go to your factory head light bulb is now routed to the coil side of the relay, the coil energizes a magnetic switch in the relay that closes and connects the ballasts to the battery, when the head lights shut off the coil de-energizes the magnetic field and the switch opens. Now for the capacitor link if you have a model without LED lights you need the capacitor and here is why. Because the signal is pulsed meaning turned on and off really quickly the coil on the relay is going to open and close really quickly as well which would also pulse the signal on the load side of the coil which is what connects the battery to the ballasts. This creates a problem for the relay as they're not designed to do this especially DC relays this also creates a problem for the ballast which are designed to control and regulate the incoming voltage before sending it to the burners more on that later. So what is a capacitor and how does it help our DRL situation. A capacitor is like a storage tank for electrical current it will accept current coming in and release it slowly (much more to it but irrelevant for this discussion) So the choppy incoming DRL signal comes into the capacitor and is released as a steady flow to the coil side of the relay keeping it from opening and closing allowing the connection on the load side to remain closed and steady. Without DRL's the signal from the factory wiring is already a steady 12 volts and the relay functions as normal. This is why the capacitor is not required on the SLT's or Denalli's, but the kit is a one size fits all and the capacitor link is always included. If everything is wired correctly with head lights turned on, the two leads marked ballast should have 12 volts measured across them using a multimeter. Check here first if the lights do not come on to make sure voltage is making it's way to the ballasts. If not make sure you have voltage going into the relay on the coil side. This is the connection from the factory light plug into either the capacitor link or into the patch cable. A trick for checking if the connection is bad at the connectors themselves. Using your meter put the negative probe directly to the battery ground take a really fine sewing needle and tape it to the positive probe of your meter and use the needle to pierce the insulation of the positive wire and check for voltage between the connectors this can help pinpoint the bad connection.

 

Now to the ballasts, The factory halogen lights use a resistive element that gets hot the heat starts the halogen cycle in the bulb and creates the light. The wattage is controlled by the resistive element itself (kirchoff's laws) the voltage drop created by the resistive element creates current flow. the current multiplied by the square of the resistance equals power ie a 35watt bulb or whatever the bulbs rating may be. HID's utilize an arc to generate the light and the arc will continue to draw more current if it's not regulated. This is the ballasts function, this is why with the HID kit you are buying has ballast's rated at either 35 watts or 55 watts and the burners themselves are only rated by temperature or color 4500K 5k and so on the burner itself has no control of the wattage like the factory halogen bulb. The last piece is the igniter, HID lighting typically has long start-up time's and long gaps between restrike meaning the time required between turning the lamp off and back on again. The igniter eliminates this by momentarily providing a much higher amount of power to get the bulb up to full operating temperature and minimize the time required for restrike. The last piece is the burner or bulb. Unlike the halogen that has a resistive element to create heat an HID burner uses and arc created by a momentarily supply of really high voltage potential across two electrodes just like a spark plug. this arc ionizes gas in the bulb typically xenon the heat from the ionized xenon vaporizes salts in the bulb and fails the resistance between the electrodes and the ballast kicks in maintaining the proper voltage and current supply to main a stable arc whether it be 35 watts or 55 watts. The odds of getting 2 bad ballasts, 2 bad igniters and 2 bad burners is extremely unlikely and because the voltage post ballast can hit 20k - 25k volts I would not recommend checking these with a meter if you still have problems and have a steady 12 volts to the ballast try each ballast, igniter and burner combination. but the odds are the problem is before the ballast.

Great info thanks

[ClemsonFan]

Hi guys,

 

I am in the middle of this retrofit. I have the RX 340 projectors mounted, wires ran, but the headlights will not come on. The LED strips and turn signals are working.

 

I have the relay hooked directly to the battery terminals (+ and -). The capacitor link is grounded (I sanded the spot). I have the OEM input from the passenger headlight plugged into the relay. I even reversed this connection to test for polarity. I do not have the plug from the drivers side headlight hooked to anything.

 

I've watched the videos from FastHeadlights and Fondupot. The only difference I can find is that I am not using a straight d2s to amp adaptor and do not have the same ignitors. I think my ignitors are built into my bulb plug.

 

I only have one cord going from the bulb to the ballast.

 

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[Herd Thinner]

Pm sent bro

 

 

quote name="ClemsonFan" post="1743190" timestamp="1452997522"]Hi guys,

 

I am in the middle of this retrofit. I have the RX 340 projectors mounted, wires ran, but the headlights will not come on. The LED strips and turn signals are working.

 

I have the relay hooked directly to the battery terminals (+ and -). The capacitor link is grounded (I sanded the spot). I have the OEM input from the passenger headlight plugged into the relay. I even reversed this connection to test for polarity. I do not have the plug from the drivers side headlight hooked to anything.

 

I've watched the videos from FastHeadlights and Fondupot. The only difference I can find is that I am not using a straight d2s to amp adaptor and do not have the same ignitors. I think my ignitors are built into my bulb plug.

 

I only have one cord going from the bulb to the ballast.

 

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[Crf450r420]

Run test leads from battery to power kit instead of the truck wiring. TRS supplies a lead for this with bare red and back wire end. If it work it's how truck is hooked to it. If not it's wire or part failure in the kit. Most likely wiring or relay as all other parts will only kill one side while the other works

 

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