I currently have a set of cheap $60 HID ebay fogs. I've been having a few problems with the fogs, and could use some advice:

When the car is on battery power (engine not running) and the fogs are on, after about 30 seconds the right side starts to flicker. Also, when I'm driving (engine running), and I use my high-beams (which turns the fogs off), about 30% of the time there is a half-second delay with the right fog coming back on...and sometimes it doesn't even turn back on, in which all I hear is a buzzing sound which I'm guessing is the ignitor (kind of the same sound you hear from the ignitor of a gas stove, but faster). Usually turning the fogs off and back on again fixes this, but it's just a PITA and it looks cheap when both fogs don't turn on at once.

My question is this: Is this a problem with the ballast or bulb, or is the whole kit just cheap garbage? Could my underdrive pulley have anything to do with this?

At this point, I do plan on upgrading the fogs, but the seller is offering to replace any defective parts, which I'd rather do before spending an additional $150.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks

EDIT: Brand of the kit is Xentec. Bought here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=160306607809

 

it sounds like it isn't getting enough power. Did you buy a relay wire harness so the fogs are connected to the battery directly or did you put the plug straight into the fog light sockets?

 

No relay, plugged straight into the sockets.

 

Get the relay harness. It seems like everytime I read about someone having HID kit issues, they almost always did not install a relay harness.

 

Yup, just need to use a relay

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I went ahead and ordered a relay. This is what I ordered, hopefully I got the right kind:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...3AIT&viewitem=

 

Relay harness for sure, it'll draw power directly from your battery and solve all the flickering/delayed start problems.

 

relay,relay,relay. I don't have one but the same shit happens. I hate that I can't turn my fog's on with the keyfob(even if they don't flicker and fire up which is highly unlikely, they turn off when I start,then I gotta switch off/on and they're good) For now I alway's turn them on when the car is on and off before I exit to protect the ballast fron struggling too hard. Dunno if it's related but I use to let them flicker and after a couple month's I blew a ballast.