037

I was wondering if the HID ballast still draws power from the car if a bulb is removed.

Assume that the switch for power is turned on.

2nd question.

If it does still draw power (let's assume low beam) can the fuse be taken out to cut power to low beam while leaving power to fog lights?

KB1Spec

iTrader: (4)

Yes and it will causes serious injury or death.

037

no one knows?

Chas2

I think the only way to know for sure is to put a meter on it. You would think the circuit would be energized, but if the bulb is physically not there to complete the circuit, not just burned out, maybe not.

Good luck.

PS What are you trying to do? Is this getting ready for the photoshoot?

poppintec

i would imagine it would but definitely doesn't use as much power with the lights on

stevesrl

Don't consider the ballast and igniter as components they are just paths the current (amps) will pass through. The current wants to complete the circuit and go back to the negative terminal on the battery.

So when the bulb is inserted and the switch is on, current flows from positive terminal to ballast to igniter to bulb and back to the negative terminal. Note that the voltage is constant and the amps drawn is dependent on the bulb size (wattage). Amps=watts/volts. The load is dependent on resistance from the bulb.

When the switch is on and the bulb is not inserted, current flows from the positive terminal to the ballast to the igniter and to the socket that the bulb is inserted to. Since the path cannot be completed, their is no load (current can't flow). However, make no mistake about it, the bulb socket is enegized and if the circuit is completed (like you touch it and are grounded) you will get zapped.

In simplest of examples: A receptacle is allways energized but no power is used unless something is plugged in that completes the circuit. If you check the recepticle the voltage is their.

I am speculating this may be used to turn on the fogs only (install a switch between the output of the igniter and input of the bulb). Yes this can be done. You would turn on the installed switch to turn off the headlights (breaks the circuit). The wire size would have to be correct for this wire would carry the load of the lights. Engineers use relays and switches in the cabins to avoid carrrying high loads over long distances and keep them out of the cabin.

stevesrl

Note if this is used to turn on fogs only, like I mentioned below, you can't turn the headlights back on with the turning off the installed switch. You will have to turn off the installed switch and turn off the headlight switch and then turn the headlight switch back on. This is because the igniters have to ignite the salt and they are controlled by the headlight column switch.

Final thought...I don't recomend this.

A better method for fog only operation would be to install direct wiring to fogs from battery and incorporate a relay which is tied into a switch in the cabin.

037

wow...lots of comments in one day.

I guess it's time to tell what I'm trying to do.

I wanted to go 50w HID for the low beams. Stock ballast is a pain in the @$$ to get to so I just unpluged it and used the high beam power and dropped the bulbs into low beams.

Stock ballast is now flapping without a bulb and threw no error in the car. That means that if you lose a bulb or a ballast you'll keep driving the car won't say anything (lame).

So with regular low beams on All I get are the side markers, rear lights and fogs.

In the end, I have lost the high beam.

Something to note is that I immediately blew another 10A fuse for the high beams and replaced it with 15A. Also, I am having problems with both lights staying on and I assume that is due to low current, I will run separate wiring (actually make my mechanic do it) to the 2nd light to make sure my 50s are well juiced.

For the brief period that they did work the light output is quiet uber.

Also...driving with just 3k fogs on at night doesn't seem to attract too much attention from cops, I went by 3 or 4 cars and no ticket yet.

On a side note, when using aftermarket ballast with no light bulb the ballast makes a humming noise which is not present when a bulb is attached, hope that helps.