Turbocoop Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Ive been reading about this and I thought id share- If you put an HID kit in your car or truck and it has the auto on feature like most of your trucks probably do- it is really bad for the bulbs and ballasts. I forget the details but when you start the truck your key goes to ACC and ON first, so the lights some on for a split second, then when you crank it the lights turn back off for a sec then back on. Apparently that quick power surge is bad for the high voltage stuff in the ballasts. I cant prove it or anything but Ive had 2 HID bulbs go bad on me in about 6 months and that isnt good. Im curious as to how it works so Im gonna look in service info tomorrow and see what the pins on the connector are for. I got this off some other site, Im gonna try it out later this week. How To Disable Auto-On Headlight Feature: "To disable the auto headlights you need a 1.5K ohm resistor (Radio Shack) and 2 Scotchlok Tap Connectors (Walmart). First locate the Body Control Module (BCM) which is under the dash, below the steering column. Laying on the floor, this should be visible without removing any dash panels. You should find a purple connector (C3). Unplug it. Locate the white and gray wires (A4 and A6). I don't remember if white is A4 and gray is A6 or vice versa. It doesn't matter anyway. BTW - there are two gray wires in the connector. The one you want is the one farthest away from the white wire. Tap the gray wire from the plug (C3) to one end of the resistor and the white wire to the other end. You don't need to cut the wires. Make sure you tape up all wires to prevent a short. You should now have a gray wire coming from C3 tapped to one lead of the resistor and the white wire from C3 tapped to the other resistor lead *. Plug C3 back into the BCM. Start the truck and make sure the lights are off. Throw a dark towel or something over the light sensor on the dash and verify the lights stay off. Try your light switch that has probably never been used and that's it! Takes about 5 minutes. *You can add a switch here if you want. Just connect one end of the resistor to one of the wires in the connector (doesn't matter which one) and the other end of the resistor to one side of the switch. Then connect a wire from the other side of the switch to the other wire in the connector. This will allow you to turn Twilight Mode on and off." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTMD8R_SS Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Good write up. When i decide to get another set of HID's ill deffenatly disable the auto-on healight thingy lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badkarma Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 awsome! i have been shopping for HID's and been wanting to disable that damn sensor. Good write up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalltownguy Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 thats some good stuff...im about to put my HIDs in that i just got and im gonna try to just hold the lights off until the truck gets into gear and rollin or somin but nice info!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12'SROCK Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 ok look if the auto lights feature was really bad for the light i dont think, BMW, MB, Cadillac, Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc., would have that feature on their vehicles which all come with factory installed HIDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badkarma Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 (edited) Thats a good point. Maybe there charging system kicks in faster than ours. We all know our powergrid isnt the best lol. Edited March 5, 2008 by Badkarma (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTMD8R_SS Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Our trucks take all the juice to start and starve the ballast which makes it work harder. And the MB, ferraris and lambos all come whit REAL hid's not aftermarket and are designed better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12'SROCK Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 i still think all the HID myths are hear say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badkarma Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Id like to see a tech or someone with more info chime in on this. Id like to see some of those myths layed to rest myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r8rs4lf Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 i still think all the HID myths are hear say I say it's a bunch of crap as well. I've had mine for over a year without a hiccup. If everyone is soo worried about the lights turning on real quick then off during start up, just turn the key faster. I did that this morning and the lights didn't turn on until the truck was on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12'SROCK Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 I say it's a bunch of crap as well. I've had mine for over a year without a hiccup. If everyone is soo worried about the lights turning on real quick then off during start up, just turn the key faster. I did that this morning and the lights didn't turn on until the truck was on. yeah so no worries everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlkSSnCpt Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 I say it's a bunch of crap as well. I've had mine for over a year without a hiccup. If everyone is soo worried about the lights turning on real quick then off during start up, just turn the key faster. I did that this morning and the lights didn't turn on until the truck was on. -Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbocoop Posted March 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 First of all I didnt write this I was just passing it along so dont give me any credit. I also dont know if it has any affect on anything in a negative way- and cant think of a way to prove it either- somebody call the mythbusters and ask them to try it out... I just dont like my auto on feature cause since my winshield is tinted my damn lights are almost always on, and when I get in the shade for like 1 minute they will come on in the middle of the day. Its just getting annoying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2006SilverSS Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 ok look if the auto lights feature was really bad for the light i dont think, BMW, MB, Cadillac, Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc., would have that feature on their vehicles which all come with factory installed HIDs. I'm not sure about those auto makers, but when I had my Audi with HID's, at night the lights would stay on while the car was being started. I had always heard it's bad to have the lights on when starting a car, but I'd assume they know what they're doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elitesurfer50 Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 im on my 3rd set i always wondered why they went out so fast maybe this is it.. good thing for a warrenty on the bulbs these things are so dam exspensive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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