cbrenn71 Posted March 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 I received contact from jpeckinp that the HID system works without any flickering, buzzing, or strobing. Apparently the kit was shipped without a necessary capacitor. Once installed, the system works as it should. I will inspect each kit personally from now on before shipping to ensure that the capacitor has been installed on the relay harness. Chad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solas989 Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 The lights are in and working. :happy feet: Now for the low down. You NEED the relay system, I must have got lucky yesterday and when I turned on the lights I must have been pulsed just right to get them to come on. I hooked back up today and only one light at a time would come on but if I turned the fogs on and off it would pulse the other light so if I done it fast the light came on to stay, that pretty much told me that yes I needed the relay. The ballast tie down was the worst part, trying to find a place to tie down on the driver side isn't easy. I ended up tying off to the wiring harness to the relay box. The passenger side I tied off to the washer fluid it was perfect. After the weather gets a little warmer I will also try a new place to tie off the driver side ballast I'll go out tonight and re-aim the lights and see how easy that will be. One thing I did notice that if you have the lights on for a few minutes to get at full temp and you shut them off and turn back on before they cool down they do a really cool strobing light show. It kind of looks like wig wags from a police car. Not recommended! You also hear the relay buzz but it's is easily drowned out by road noise or the radio. All in all if you know what you are doing they do install pretty fast, Chad is right 15-20 minutes and they should be up and running. If anybody wants to see pics let me know and I'll take some at night after they are aimed. One last thing. After you remove the plastic ring at the bottom of the light you need to pull the rubber gasket down in the spot where the ring was so it will fit in and lock in the housing. You might also need to clip the keyed part of the light so it will fit in the housing, I had to but that just might be me. Yes, please post pics - two ways if you can. 1) Open Road (like an alley or something) and 2) Against a wall or garage on level ground about 20-30 feet away. Again if you can. Thanks! Solas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpeckinp Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 Yes, please post pics - two ways if you can. 1) Open Road (like an alley or something) and 2) Against a wall or garage on level ground about 20-30 feet away. Again if you can. Thanks! Solas You will have to give me a few days but I'll do it. The next few nights for me are busy after I get off work so finding the time might be hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solas989 Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 You will have to give me a few days but I'll do it. The next few nights for me are busy after I get off work so finding the time might be hard. No problem - take your time - I myself am in no rush. Beggars can not be choosers here. Solas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpeckinp Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 (edited) Ok here are a few pics of my Edge with 4300k kit. 1. This is a straight on shot. If you notice the passenger side has just a small tint of yellow compared to the driver side. 2. This is from 25ft the top of the light line is at 40" on the wall. 3. This is about 8ft from the wall, again you can see a slight yellow tint on the passenger side. The post in the middle helps separate the lights. 4. This is showing the passenger side mount of the ballast. I tied it to the washer fluid bottle. It is very hard to find good tie off points so I didn't take one of the driver side at this time since I am going to try and find a better spot for it later. I know you probably wanted a shot of the cap/relay mount but I wasn't able to get a good angle to show it well. Sorry. The installation is pretty easy on the Edge since it is very easy to get to the lights. The only problem that I really had with the set was a mistake from the vendor not including the relay harness with the cap pre-installed, after that was figured out things were great. Some things I don't like about the way the kit is manufactured. 1. It would be nice if there was some kind of bracket or mounting holes on the ballast, just using the tie strips the ballast can still move around. I haven't seen any other kits that are built with this either so I guess there is no way around that at this time. 2. All of the extra parts, I have a boat load of screws that are in no way mentioned in the instructions, and the extra wires??? I think they are meant for lights that you have two power connections for and have to cut a hole in the back of the light housing. Again nothing about these in the instruction manual. Thats about it for what I don't like, now for the capacitor fix. The instructions from Chad's vendor says to use a 470uf 35v Electrolytic capacitor in parallel with the relay. I used a 1500uf 35v and it works just fine for this application. The main part is to at least use a 25v cap and above 470uf, so if you used a 680, 1000 or a 1500 you should be fine. The reason is the Edge lights are a pulsed 12v and by not using a cap the relay will sound like an electric razor because it switches so fast, but by using the cap you are basically adding a small battery on the line to keep the voltage at 12v long enough for the next pulse from the junction box to keep the relay switched on. The 1500uf holds a charge just a fraction of a second longer than the 470uf is the only difference. In all I am happy with the kit and the lights. This was my first HID set and I used 4300k I would think the 6000k set would look just fine also, maybe if I was to do it again I might use a 6000k just o give it a try. Now for my next mod. I plan on switching all of the other lights to LED's. I have already done the license plate lights on the back and I like the look of that so I want to do the rest. Edited March 5, 2008 by jpeckinp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbrenn71 Posted March 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 (edited) Jerry - there are brackets included with the kit. They are located inside the case under the plastic tray/liner. The ballasts slide into the brackets and are held nicely in place. The screws and whatnot are to mount the brackets Edited March 5, 2008 by cbrenn71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solas989 Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 jpeckinp - thank you for the picture - excellent job. Now I gotta see if the wife will let me get them. Solas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpeckinp Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Jerry - there are brackets included with the kit. They are located inside the case under the plastic tray/liner. The ballasts slide into the brackets and are held nicely in place. The screws and whatnot are to mount the brackets Really? I'll have to take a second look I don't remember seeing anything. The wife has the car today, so I'll check tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craiger Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Ya, they are there....i wondered the same thing when i looked in the kit. Then i pulled the plastic tray/liner out and sure enough, there are 2 brackets hiding underneath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Talionis Posted March 7, 2008 Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 now for the capacitor fix. The instructions from Chad's vendor says to use a 470uf 35v Electrolytic capacitor in parallel with the relay. I used a 1500uf 35v and it works just fine for this application. The main part is to at least use a 25v cap and above 470uf, so if you used a 680, 1000 or a 1500 you should be fine. The reason is the Edge lights are a pulsed 12v and by not using a cap the relay will sound like an electric razor because it switches so fast, but by using the cap you are basically adding a small battery on the line to keep the voltage at 12v long enough for the next pulse from the junction box to keep the relay switched on. The 1500uf holds a charge just a fraction of a second longer than the 470uf is the only difference. Interesting note. For my own edification and clarification, though we do not use the same manufacturer & I do not run a relay nor capacitor on my 35w kit, are you using a 55w or 35w kit? I can't seem to find this detail if you mentioned it elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpeckinp Posted March 7, 2008 Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 Interesting note. For my own edification and clarification, though we do not use the same manufacturer & I do not run a relay nor capacitor on my 35w kit, are you using a 55w or 35w kit? I can't seem to find this detail if you mentioned it elsewhere. 35w Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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