Hey guys,

I purchased HID bulbs from Excelerate about 1.5 years ago and I noticed from the start that one or both of the bulbs would go out on its own while driving or when parked--I would have to flip the lights off and back on again to turn them back on. Mind you, it would go out about every mile. I emailed Excelerate after I realized the problem and all they said they could do was to sell me another set of bulbs for a discounted rate. I got absolutely fed up with these bulbs after being pulled over a couple of times for a broken headlight that I decided to take it into a few shops to diagnose the problem.

Come to find out, all the shops said there was nothing wrong with the filaments but the construction of the bulbs led to high resistance that would automatically trigger the bulbs to shut off. Basically, poor design.

I am sending this message as a heads up so you won't run into the same problem.

 

Ive had Kaixen 6k bulbs for longer than you from Excelerate
The problem is twofold and its NOT the bulbs

A: the ballast system for the TL is very prone to moisture failure
If you have the very common prob of droplets inside the lens- thats your problem!
contact hidextra for a full hid kit at 59$!
and reseal your housings

B: the system is also set to very tight tolerances on resistance and voltage
Its suggested to install 1 relay kit $16, bypassing acuras wiring totally so you will never have a problem
Its NOT the bulbs automatically shutting themself off, its a power issue from the car

So the bulbs NOT bad if it lights up,
its acuras inabilty to co-operate with aftermarket parts

If you install a new ballast kit- that will solve the problem of needing to cycle the switch
and driving with 1 headlight

Actually, many of us find that light prob as a symptom of ballast failure,
bulb goes out driving- switches side that go out, wont come on till switched several times,,,
BUT NO pink or purple tint to bulb at startup (thats age death sign for bulb)

all of that stops with the new kit installed

My 01 did it, until BOTH sides went out at night on the dark freeway
I speak from experience,,hid kit got ordered the next day and went in easily = problem solved

even running 1 side kaixen 6k and other side hidextra 5k to compare color, brightness and USEABLE light
5000 k wins hands down, way more white light on the road to see obstacles with-
thats what Im concerned with, not hitting stuff-potholes etc
picking out the white lane edge marking lines is a bonus the OE lights didnt offer
(super foggy here-often suddenly less than 100 foot vis, those white lines were originally called Fog Lines!) and road signs light up,,the stripe tape on semis still reflects well

Now my car doesnt do the off-on bs at all anymore,,and thats with different bulb brands side to side
talk about potential for electrical differances!

blame the right part and replace the NEEDED parts to solve your issue

Josh made me the same offer on discount, he didnt know about the real
cause of `failure` and was trying to help
Will advise him of the real fix,,its not a warranty issue on bulbs

 

Hey man, Thanks for the heads up. Im sure you just got a set of bad bulbs. Just last month I made purchases from XLR8 performance parts. Joshua from XLR8 was mad helpfully to me. My 1st time shopping there. If you want try these 2 sites if your looking for hid bulbs. www.aacstyle.com & www.dashzracing.com. Good luck.

 

01tl4tl has covered the issue fairly well already so there isn't much for me to say. The warranty on the bulbs is 1 year. After that time I can offer you a discount to help you out. We cover all the warranties ourselves; it isn't warrantied by the manufacturer. And honestly in the years I have been selling KAIXEN I've had less than a dozen warranties out of hundreds of bulbs sold.

So, again, if you'd like another set I'm more than happy to offer you a set at a discounted price in order to help. PM me for details.

 

sooooo why bring excelerate into this?.. if you bought a bad set of bulbs from autozone, would you blame autozone and not the bulb manufacturer?

*edit*
of course he posts right before me.. hah..

but seriously..

 

Im surprised it started right away.. and OP didnt do anything about diagnostics then

I put up with the prob for a few weeks until the dual side failure
then 60 bucks didnt seem like so much!! compared to OE parts or even bulbs,,,,
I dont care if the kit only works a few years at that price-
but based on its construction it will go much longer

`Asking a few shops`,,yeah that worked,,acuras are not normal cars!
over-engineer is a keyword to their design team

go ask the same guys about the egr port clogging problem--wont even be aware of it

 

my story was the bad bulb that use to go out while driving, making turns or while turning.... try troubleshooting the problem by trying new set of bulbs and see how it goes....

 

I had the same issue with bulbs from Excelerate. they worked perfect for about 1 year then started randomly turning off but would always turn back on when I turned them off/on - and yes he offered to replace at a discount. I didnt feel like paying again for bulbs that may or may not work so I put my original bulbs back in and have had 0 issues.

Nothing at all against excelerate but wanted to throw in my 2 cents

 

its NOT the bulbs people!!
you have ballast/capacitor internal moisture issues that need to be resolved, then you can run quality bulbs again

eventually your OE bulbs will stop working too

ANYONE with moisure inside the headlight housing lens is subject to the ballast failure prob
you NEED to reseal them, and replace the damaged parts with WATERPROOF ones

 

If the bulbs turn on,,they are good !!!! please stop blaming the wrong source

if they randomly turn off,,alternate side failure,,repeated cycle of switch restores light=
you have a ballast/capacitor issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
plain and simple

 

there is 0 moisture in my ballast or the lenses, trust me there. LIke I said the OEM bulbs work 100% of the time. I have had this car for a very long time and know what is going on with it

if it is an issue with some aftermarket bulbs not working with the OEM ballast then that is a different story. in that case it wont be a problem with the bulbs OR the OEM ballast but a problem with the combo. with 185000 miles/12 years on my OEM ballasts/lights I am sure that could have something to do with it (maybe some sort of electrical or voltage issue)

no need to scream please, you are not the forum daddy. some of us have been on here for quite a long time (myself) and have quite a bit of knowledge about our cars

 

^+1
01tl4tl believe me... i had the same problem and it was fixed with new bulbs and now it's over 8 months now!

 

My first set of Kaixen 6000K bulbs had the same issue. About 9-10 months of owning it my drivers side bulb would shut off on its own while driving. I switched the 2 bulbs around and then the passenger side would shut off. I contacted Excelerate and got a new set at a discounted rate. The bulbs were under warranty but I didnt want to make a warranty claim. Yes I am that nice. I had the 2nd set for 13 months before I had the same issue again. I went back to my Philips bulb just because the 3 years I used them there were no issues. Then I did a projector retrofit and went to a D2S bulb still using the OEM ballast with over 5000 hours.

 

the !!! are to make a point,,as it were
when misinformation and blame is being placed on a vendor for something thats not true
I will step in loudly,,this threads original title blamed excelerate

you may think your ballast parts are fine- not considering 10 years and worsening roads might take their toll,,have you had them apart this week? tested for performance?
hows the capacitor??--the other failure prone part of the light

Yes there can be an issue with resistance variences between brands and acuras wiring,
BUT
if that were true with the kaixens, why doesnt it show immedialty with everyone??
Mine went 4 years on Ks before the ballast prob
the bulbs went in with new housings... which were replaced due to mositure!!

Note: I am running 1 side with hidextras ballast and 5k bulb
the other side on stock ballast and kaixen 6
the off-on problem totally stopped after the 1-right side ballast was replaced
Doing this to test each part of the system- looking for the core fault
and real world comparison of the color diff of 5 and 6

Where does that leave us for resistance??- acuras over sensativity to aftermarket parts?
or are we just at age related parts wearout
cars are not designed to go forever, 10 years and off to the auto dismantler is the car makers desire

 

The OEM HID bulbs seem to last much longer than a year.

When I sold my 2002 TL-S three months ago, it had racked up 150K km, and it was still on the original OEM bulbs.

 

Yeah, excelerate shouldn't be selling faulty bulbs like this. I switched the bulbs to OEM dealership bulbs and it is working fine now. So that debunks the 'moisture in the housing' or 'bad ballast' hypotheses.

I originally sent excelerate an email a few months (less than a year) after I purchased the bulbs and all he could do was offer me the bulbs at some discounted rate. Why would I pay for another set of bulbs and potentially run into the same problem? There was no recommendation to file a warranty claim.


Moral of the story: There are a handful of people with issues with the bulbs. That's a fairly good sign that someone could also get bulbs that run into the same problem. If I read posts like these detailing this issue and I was shopping for HID bulbs, I wouldn't consider purchasing these. Just saying.

 

I say go OEM, then you eliminate the bulb. (Assuming headlight assy, is properly sealed.
Paid like 60 for both bulbs. ebay

 

hard to believe you got genuine oe bulbs for 60 a pair! thats a score
dealer price is 125-150 dollars each!!

for the majority of excelerates customers over 10 years,,versus what is literally a handfull of reports on here of problems,,
which in most other cases was proven NOT to be the bulbs fault--it still works
Power was the issue

IF your car is hypersensative to electrical, and you have no other known bulb/ballast/capacitor death issues...
then I would look at a ground wire replacement kit from acura
they are 10 years old too !

note that 10 year old bulbs are not as bright or same color as they used to be.
HIDs peak and start downhill,,sure it may keep going to what you guess is 5000 hours(do you run a hobbs meter on them?) but side by side to a car with new ones, and you will see a definite differance

other sellers handle kaixen,,are you going on ebay and telling them of the prob?
Blaming Josh is not the fix, he is a good seller and long time sponsor of this forum--which makes it happen free for all of us to use~ thanks to all our vendor/sponsors

 

in fairness I have heard of 2 times an hidextra bulb failed on install,,and was replaced no charge

to have a problem months after install.......different issue

 

at least he worked with you.. as josh said, he hasnt had that many problems with buyers, so just because YOU had a problem with the bulbs, you blame HIM for selling the bulbs?.. he offered you the discounted price because obviously its not a common problem as he stated..

aftermarket companies, hell even big name companies have issues now and then.. if anything, you should contact kaixen (or whatever brand you bought) and talk to THEM since they are the manufacturer..

moral of MY story: just because you chose to buy this particular brand of bulbs from excelerate and not another distributor doesnt mean that you should blame excelerate for the defective part.. just sayin..

 

I was having problems with Kaixen bulbs - 2 pairs exhibited the same on/off randomness. I switched to OEM bulbs and the problem was gone. I scored mine on eBay as well for about $80. I haven't had a problem for about one year now. I've also been using them more than usual since I've lately needed to commute through a highway that requires daytime headlight use.

There's no visible moisture problems with my headlamps. So I'm waiting to see if these fail eventually also, but It doesn't seem like it. If they do I'll replace the electrical components with new ones from hidextra.

As 01 mentioned, I wouldn't blame the bulbs so much as the TL's seeming incompatibility with non-OEM parts.

 

wow you guys sure get after people when they simply tell their TRUE stories. NONE of us has said anything negative about excelerate - just that honestly that the bulbs he sells are not the best for our vehicles. not a big freaking deal.

explain this to me - my STOCK bulbs and ballasts were fine for 155000 miles, I relplaced the bulbs with 5k bulbs from Excelerates store, worked great for a while (1 or so year) then started randomly turning off. so I put my original OEM bulbs back in to confirm ballast issues. 0 issues again for the last 15k miles on the ORIGINAL OEM bulbs and ballasts.

make your own determination but like I said nothng against anyone just stating personal experiences

 

i never referenced you right?.. so nothing i say is directed towards you..

the original title had "excelerate" in it and has since been taken out.. thats why mine and joshs (excelerate) comments came into play.. with a title like that (and i guess the rest of the posts by the OP), he was basically calling out excelerate for selling a defective product.. i was simply saying that, being that hes only selling the bulbs and not manufacturing them, he shouldnt be called out like that.. just bad press for no reason..

and i have no clue what you are getting at with your "explain this to me" comment.. obviously oem bulbs will work better with oem parts.. thats common sense.. there is always a risk when you run an aftermarket part, especially when its electrical..

i never disagreed that the bulbs may have caused the problems.. i am simply saying that getting mad at a distributor for another companys manufacturing flaw is not right.. im not "getting after" anyone either.. it just annoys me when people blame others for other peoples faults..

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-NEW-OEM-A...item51996f847b

The part number listed within is the number for my car. As far as I know Acura repackages Osram and Philips as Acura. So I bought similar white box bulbs.
I know they're 75ish, I think I paid less. So everyone buy OEM in this case and be done with it.

 

Thank you for this link. I'm thinking about heading OEM too. I'm having to many issues with Excelerate HID bulbs. It's very frustrating when the problem is intermittent for that manner. If I'm sitting at the light driver side will go out. I swapped bulbs from driver to passenger and thought it was the ballasts and truth be told its the bulbs. Because it surely went out on the passenger side. I went through 3 sets of Excelerate bulbs. All had problems. Time for OEM.

 

I kinda feel bad for Excelerate, not really feeling that we should blame them for problems with the parts they sell.
Anyhow hope OEM works for you.
I'm glad I had that website too, a car I was working on had intermittent bulb failure, it was 187 PER BULB. IS 250.

 

you guys are spending too much and relying on a part the factory bought a million of for the cheapest price

aftermarket kit will end the capacitor issue- which is often part of or the root cause of failure
and new WATERPROOF ballast are a big plus since ours are prone to leakage and circuit damage--see pics on azine

I replaced only passenger side ballast/capacitor/ignitor with hidextra on the 01
and installed hidextra 5k bulb there

driver side still has OE ballast/capacitor/igntr and 4 years and kaixen 6k with approx 500 hours on it
That CURED instantly- the on off or both off or goes out yada yada that required several flips of the switch,,(very bad for bulbs) to get lights back on- then off again...
Eventually (soon) need to put the other 5k bulb in driver side
Its obvious when aimed at the garage door of the color differance and overall brightness because of more white light
On the road- side by side like that- a real life test shows 5k is hands down the winner for being to be able to see the road with,,and blends in with most other cars~
doesnt stand out to LE eyes like 6 or 8k does, I laugh at cars with those purple/blue coming at me
bet they cant see shite on the road (shite= bad things--remove the e for more graphic understanding)

note hidextra compares their bulb quality and spec to osram and phillips

Excelerate is not selling junk bulbs- a few in thousands of sales,,and those seem to be certain acuras,,,thats not a bulb quality issue,I have loved mine over the stock 10 year old bulbs for sure!

 

I like a relay kit just to bypass acuras bs system and its issues with aftermarket bulbs for some of us
16 bucks for relay kit gets full power to lights- not run thru tiny wires that came stock

search online for what it looks like and does
easy to make one from radio shack parts if desired

 

Sorry to those who have had an issue. The defect rate on the KAIXEN bulbs is extremely low. That is why we have chosen to import them. They are much higher quality than the cheap Chinese bulbs and they have lasted on many customers' cars for years.

In fact, I just had an email yesterday from a customer who has had the bulbs on his car for 4 years and one bulb just went out. He wants another set and one for his friend. And I offered him a discount too because he purchased one set 4 years ago. Keep in mind too that 4 years ago these bulbs were $140 too. Now they are down to $95 for the pair.

All I can say is that we stand by the KAIXEN product. If a bulb fails within one year we will warranty it. If it's after a year we will offer you a discounted set as a courtesy to the customer.

 

thats awesome of you Josh!
its amazing how many here try to blame the bulbs for acuras wiring issues

not to mention the ballast and ignitor problems

my kaixens have served me well for 4+ years without issue on the 01 TL