HID Headlight Bulbs / HID Projector Retrofit

[GMC-AT]

Here is what I ordered on Friday -

MOPAR LOW BEAM: MORIMOTO ELITE HID SYSTEM

Ballasts - 3Five DSP

Harness Type - HD Relay 9012

Bulbs – 3Five 4,300

Capacitor Link

Seems some are getting Canbus, some Capacitor... not sure what the difference is or what any of it means. But it seems both are working fine for folks.

Where are guys grounding?

[ozzyto]

It's an easy install. The only "non plug n play" items are you do need to drill holes in the back of the headlight housing covers for the wires, you'll need to find a +12V source and a decent ground location if you use the HID relay harness (and I recommend you do). I wouldn't consider these items plug n play, but they are also very, very easy. A novice should have no difficulty whatsoever.

Dumb question. And probably too late for me, but what's the difference between getting the can bus and stand alone relay?

[bdbake01]

CANbus is a device level communications protocol often implemented in vehicles and other machinery to allow low-ish speed communication between numerous devices using the same two wires used to also carry power. What u get is DC with a high frequency AC signal superimposed over the top. Most CANbus devices have a capacitor (which blocks DC and passes AC) inside to separate power and signal into two lines inside the device.

 

In the case of our trucks, it allows communication between different engine and body sensors with only two wires. MUCH better diagnostics while saving weight and expense.

 

CANbus eliminators have a cap and (most likely) a resistor to essentially bypass the AC around our HID's and fake a halogen-like load. This keeps the ballasts from flipping out over the AC (which they don't like) and keeps the truck happy because it still sees a bulb load thinking everything's ok.

 

A relay harness is entirely different as it takes the truck's CANbus loaded signal going to the original

Bulbs as the input to turn the relay itself on, which in turn sends nice, clean, battery DC straight to the ballasts directly from the battery. If u have an original CANbus or low PWM (pulse width modulated) DRL bulb signal trying to turn on this relay, well it can chatter/pulse and generally get all upset like then HID ballasts do. So having a relay harness doesn't preclude the need for a cap or CANbus eliminator device.

[GMC-AT]

how is CANbus and capacitor link kits different?

[ozzyto]

I'm confused now. Mine is working perfectly, should I change anything?

[GMC-AT]

I don't think so. The way I understand everything is you can't go wrong with either. Many have stated their HID lights are working fine both CANbus and capacitor link. But I'm not sure what the difference is... I know next to zero about this stuff.

[J-Jeezy]

To my understanding. Canbus send a signal to trick the system into thinking the electrical load is the same wheras a cap gives a physical electrical load to make the computer believe the electrical load is the same

[bdbake01]

how is CANbus and capacitor link kits different?

As I've never taken a CANbus kit apart, some of this is speculation on my part so please forgive me if it's not 100% accurate.

 

The cap will bypass the AC CANbus signal. It kinda acts like a short for the AC, and that's it. It doesn't actually take any current (watts), so it presents no load to the vehicle like a halogen bulb does. I think the CANbus kits have the same capacitor installed in the same manner as you would yourself inside that little box. In addition, they seem to have some load source, such as a simple resistor, to provide a dummy load to the vehicle so it "looks" like a light bulb to the truck and doesn't throw any alarms.

 

Little background here, the truck is looking for a certain magnitude of load, ie watts, to know that the headlights are working. If this suddenly drops in half, well then one of your lights is blown, that simple. But if you put in a relay harness, or directly connect a set of HID ballasts, then the measured load on the truck is waaaaay less than the original 110 watts from two halogen bulbs. The reistor/load/etc. in the CANbus eliminators puts this load back so the truck *thinks* the bulbs are still there and working. A capacitor doesn't do this.

[bdbake01]

I'm confused now. Mine is working perfectly, should I change anything?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! If you don't have any flickering lights, unreliable operation, or buzzing relays, consider yourself either talented or lucky and be happy!

[bdbake01]

I don't think so. The way I understand everything is you can't go wrong with either. Many have stated their HID lights are working fine both CANbus and capacitor link. But I'm not sure what the difference is... I know next to zero about this stuff.

Seems GM's implementation is slightly different between different models. One that that's definitely different is on the LED DRL equipped trucks, they don't use PWM to dim the headlights for DRL, and that's a good thing when it comes to getting HID's to work. This is one reason which may explain why some have XYZ and it works while others don't.

[bdbake01]

To my understanding. Canbus send a signal to trick the system into thinking the electrical load is the same wheras a cap gives a physical electrical load to make the computer believe the electrical load is the same

Close, but you're kinda thinking in reverse here. The truck's computer (the BCM I believe) is sending out the CANbus signal, and it's also measuring the DC current in the lighting loops to monitor bulb function. The CANbus eliminators use a capacitor to bypass the CANbus signal around the HID system that we add on so that this "noisy" signal doesn't bother the relays or ballasts. The cap doesn't provide any load, it just gives the CANbus signal an alternate path which it can take. The load has to be restored in some way to keep the measured DC load above whatever threshold the BCM uses to decide that a bulb is out, I'm guessing somewhere in the >30 watt range per bulb. This seems a bit high for a simple resistor, so I'm not sure what the CANbus eliminators employ. It could be a resistor and they just run a bit hot. I dunno. I really want to take one apart.

 

Hey, if anybody has a BOW3 or other "CANbus eliminator" that you don't care about, or has failed, crack that puppy open and take pics!

[GMC-AT]

My head is spinning now... I guess both kits work fine. I just ordered the Capacitor kit because a few others with SLT ( LED drl) ordered as well and they are working great.

[bdbake01]

My head is spinning now... I guess both kits work fine. I just ordered the Capacitor kit because a few others with SLT ( LED drl) ordered as well and they are working great.

 

Sorry Trying to keep it simple, but it's a somewhat complex topic. I think SLT's or others w/ LED DRL are fine with just the cap, as are the Silvy's. In all cases I'd recommend the HID relay kit.

[Mike1220]

If you have a 55W kit you should only need a wire harness on SLT Sierra and all will work fine

[GMC-AT]

Can some of guys post pics of your install... pictures of where you mounted everything? It would be helpful since there actually isn't a whole lot in this 29 page thread.