weird noise after HID install

[solteroblues]

this only occurs when the DRL function is on, i.e. during the day. It's intermittent, but when the DRL's are on, there's a weird noise, can't really describe it, but a hum, like maybe electrical interference, but only with the DRL enabled. If I turn the knob to parking lights or to full on headlights, it stops, and then I can turn it back to automatic, and it will usually stay gone. I have a 55 watt, AC digital ballast system, with a relay harness. Could the relay be bad? Or is it a grounding issue?

[C586]

Where did you get your kit? What kind of bulb??

[solteroblues]

i bought them from a local shop, the brand is xenon. They are H13's.

[spyder]

I also had the same noise when I installed aftermaket HIDs on my LS. It is some sort of electrical interference. I didn't want to use DRLs anyway so I got rid of the feature where the lights come on automatically at start-up.

[DraggnFrameGMC]

yeah, ive gotten it on almost every camaro ive put hids on. It is the drl brain, sounds like its from behind the glove box. No lasting negative effects from it though

[C586]

Your running 55w HID in your stock housings?? Ugh. Glad I don't have to get blinded by idiots like you around me.

[snickerdoodle]

^ this

[solteroblues]

Originally Posted by C586

Your running 55w HID in your stock housings?? Ugh. Glad I don't have to get blinded by idiots like you around me.

maybe you shouldn't be sitting in the middle of the road where idiots like me aim their headlights. It's the high beams (OEM halogen, too) that blind you in oncoming traffic or from behind you, not the bright low beams that go to the side and down low.

[C586]

If you have HID in the factory location you do not have halogen high beams. When you install HID in a headlight designed for halogen like you have done it scatters light everywhere and blinds everyone else on the road. Not just people sitting in the middle of the road. Lol. Camaro housings are one of the worst ones for this stupid mod. Especially 55w. But it seems you have no clue what your talking about so I doubt your gonna understand what I'm saying.

[solteroblues]

Originally Posted by C586

If you have HID in the factory location you do not have halogen high beams. When you install HID in a headlight designed for halogen like you have done it scatters light everywhere and blinds everyone else on the road. Not just people sitting in the middle of the road. Lol. Camaro housings are one of the worst ones for this stupid mod. Especially 55w. But it seems you have no clue what your talking about so I doubt your gonna understand what I'm saying.

No, I understand what you're saying, and I didn't start this thread to get into arguments about all of the misconceptions about HID kits and legality of it (it's really pushing the boundries to try to say that they are illegal, all of the so called proof I've seen is from 20 years ago, when even factory HID lights weren't allowed into the US or other parts of the world). I only have low beams, no high beams, so the position of the light is the same as the OEM low beams, and therefore the light travels in the same manner as the OEM low beams.

Have you actually seen how the light is scattered from one of these kits? I mean in real life? Not just in fairytale land, or on the internet? I have. I own them. I've sat in my driveway with the lights on in the dark and saw how the pattern is. I've been in front of my wife driving the car, and I wasn't blinded. I have the same cutoff line as I did with halogen, the light doesn't randomly go up into the sight line of other drivers. And I've also seen many cars with the aftermarket HID kits installed, and I've never been blinded by them. I have been blinded by idiots that leave their lights on high beam, where the beam pattern has been raised above the road level (by changing the source location, therefore, the focal point of the parabolic reflector, not the light itself), where it is directed into the eyes of oncoming traffic and into my side view and rear view mirrors. That's what blinds people.

I'm an engineer, I understand focal points and light theory, and all of that. But I also know what I see. When I turn on my lights, it's the same pattern as the OEM halogens. Just because the light source is different, that doesn't mean that the light beams reflect differently and violate the laws of physics by being scattered everywhere. The Camaro doesn't have all of the diffuser patterns that some lights do, it's basically a clear lens with a parabolic reflector. Do you know why they use parabolic reflectors? It's because parabolic shaped reflectors concentrate the light to it's focal point. The light type doesn't change where that focal point is, so why would anything be different? Whatever trajectory the halogen light beams travel in, so do the HID light beams. The difference is the intensity and the color, not the laws of physics and how the beams reflect off of objects. That's the dumbest, ill-informed, statements anyone could make.

Let's end the debate over whether or bad or good. The point of the thread was what was causing the noise, not how I'm "blinding" innocent drivers.

[C586]

I'm sure your an engineer. What kind?? copy and paste?? I have seen camaro housings with HID. Not good. And since a HID bulb has a different focal point your argument just sucks. If a reflector has a source of light from 2 different locations it will reflect the light 2 different ways. And how come you have no high beams at all??

[stacks510]

so did you ever get it fixed? If so What did you do

[DraggnFrameGMC]

I never get flashed for having my hids on. They are however only 35w but the light does stay on the road in front of me and not distributed all over the place. The only vehicle I get flashed when driving is my hummer, but its lifted so the lights are up alot higher. And like soltero said, I've been driving in front of my Camaro with my wife following behind and I didnt feel blinded.

[wutshotDJroomba]

Originally Posted by solteroblues

this only occurs when the DRL function is on, i.e. during the day. It's intermittent, but when the DRL's are on, there's a weird noise, can't really describe it, but a hum, like maybe electrical interference, but only with the DRL enabled. If I turn the knob to parking lights or to full on headlights, it stops, and then I can turn it back to automatic, and it will usually stay gone. I have a 55 watt, AC digital ballast system, with a relay harness. Could the relay be bad? Or is it a grounding issue?

Yo man, had the same issue with my lights, there's a few options in my opinion and you may not like them, the noise could very well be the harness, I purchased a kit from a reputable source, had the same issues also had flickering from the DRL's and it ended up being the harness. You could buy a new harness from the retrofitsource(probably best least expensive option), you can purchase a DRL harness and install it to prevent further interference. And lastly you could pull the kit out altogether, I ended up being very unsatisfied with my HID purchase, next time I plan on going straight through Ofer with his RS harness and set of RS lights. When it comes to your camaro no amount of money is worth saving when modifying it. hope you find some of this info helpful