HID Not Functioning; Need Help

[Wangan Wagon]

Here's the issue: I have an HID kit with a halogen bulb attached to the system. Neither lights work when I'm not highbeaming, but the halogen works when I hit the highbeams (the halogen is the highbeam and DRLs). When I installed the first kit, one HID and halogen bulb and ballast worked, the others didn't. There was swapping of ballasts and bulbs, and when it was all said and done, neither of the ballasts or bulbs worked and the ones that did work flicked once at start-up, then died. So I took that set in and got it tested on their jimmyrig setup, and the same results as experienced on the car. I got another set and the set was tested and it all worked. When I got to putting it on the car, neither HID bulb worked but the halogens did in the highbeam setting only.
Here are the details:
1996 Legacy L Wagon: 15A headlight fuses (but the HID kit's instructions call for 20A, which I initially tried but made no difference when swapped back)
HID: 35 watt bulb, 9-16 volts input (from power source to unit), 13.2 volts normal output, 3.2A normal inductance , 20A maximum inductance, 35w normal power output, -40 degrees to +105 degrees celsius operating temperature, 23 kilovolts maximum starting voltage

What I'm really asking here is: does anyone have any ideas what might be going on?
P.S.: Sorry, I forgot to mention that it has an H4 bulb connection.

[impreza_GC8]

When you say one bulb is halogen and one bulb is HID, what are you referring to? Do you have the JDM headlights installed with separate high/low bulbs?

[Reason]

Some HID kits for dual beams (H4 for example) have a HID low with a halogen high attached to it.

[BenJernigan]

Seen this issue several times with working with a 9004/9007 setup, the (+/-) is backwards in the plug seems its wired for a 9007 not a 9004 like you need, easiest way is plug the power plug that goes into the ballast backwards, like spin it 180*

this diagram may also help you out on seeing what pins you can swap and show why high beam works but hid's wont (hids need (+/-) correct halogen will work both ways, that is why highs work)

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2009/12/9004vs9007-1.jpg

[Wangan Wagon]

I'll try flipping the plug like you say tomorrow and report back if anything. But are Legacys supposed to be H4 or H3?

[rougeben83]

it depends on what year. Subaru likes to use a negative as the switch. The hi and lo beam have a separate ground pin (instead of positive), and use a common power source (the negative in that pic). Your best bet is to ground the low beam straight to chassis so it turns on regardless of whether the hi-beam is on or not.

[BenJernigan]

I'll try flipping the plug like you say tomorrow and report back if anything. But are Legacys supposed to be H4 or H3?


even if its h4 it can be caused from the same issue, happens alot on older cars just simply spinning the the plug around on the h4 kit will do the trick

[Wangan Wagon]

I finally got the time to install them and here's the issue: the halogen doesn't work altogether, and the HIDs flicker when the night time switch isn't engaged. Oh and the High beams don't work. To this I've disconnected the the halogen. The wiring for the kit has one ground and a positive per bulb, but whether the halogen's positive node is connected or not makes no difference.
The only thing I can think of is that, like rougeben83 says, the ground is a switch that may turn off when the DRLs or hig beams turn on, and high/low current supplies change the bulbs' outputs. I also believe that moving from one bulb to 2 bulbs (twin-coil halogen to HID/halogen) has complicated the system by adding a dead end circuit. Does any of this sound like it makes sense to anyone?

Oh and as for spinning the plug, I basically ended up pulling the HID kit's plug apart the plugging in individual connections, instead of the full 3-point prong. Only the halogen positive connector isn't active right now.

[richysteele]

your not geting the right amount of power your gonna need the relay to fix this. I reversed the polarity on my kit by reversing the wires the same as you but, i also ordered the relay and its supposed to fix the problems all together ie the halogen highs not responding!

[rougeben83]

I finally got the time to install them and here's the issue: the halogen doesn't work altogether, and the HIDs flicker when the night time switch isn't engaged. Oh and the High beams don't work. To this I've disconnected the the halogen. The wiring for the kit has one ground and a positive per bulb, but whether the halogen's positive node is connected or not makes no difference.
The only thing I can think of is that, like rougeben83 says, the ground is a switch that may turn off when the DRLs or hig beams turn on, and high/low current supplies change the bulbs' outputs. I also believe that moving from one bulb to 2 bulbs (twin-coil halogen to HID/halogen) has complicated the system by adding a dead end circuit. Does any of this sound like it makes sense to anyone?

Oh and as for spinning the plug, I basically ended up pulling the HID kit's plug apart the plugging in individual connections, instead of the full 3-point prong. Only the halogen positive connector isn't active right now.

You need to disable DRL if you want your ballast to last more than a couple of months anyway. Running them on reduced voltage will just short them out (like underpowering speakers).

Like I said, ground the low beam straight to chassis, and just connect it to the ONE positive slot in the headlight plug. This will also resolve some of the flickering as ballasts require a lot of amps when they are first fired up to start the arc to ignite the bulb; this usually taxes the small (18g would be my rough estimate when I started doing the HID deal on my car) stock wiring, particularly the ground wires. Ground the ballasts to chassis with 14g or 12g wiring and see how that changes things. The other benefit is that when you switch to highbeams, the low beams will still stay on- the factory turns off the low beam through the negative switch in the headlight plug. You essentially bypass that.

[Wangan Wagon]

Perfect. Thank you much for your help.

[03LegacyWgn]

Good info guys but maybe someone can shed some light on whats happening to me, i first started off the same as the OP then switched the wires on my HID harness and the HID's come on, now i think the highs are coming on as well with the lows and when i switch to high beam the highs are really dim as compared to b4 when the lows were not working.

Any ideas? any help and ideas will be greatly welcome.

thanks guys!

[03LegacyWgn]

Update, ive got it all sorted out, had to re-wire the switched + HID kit to switched - to work with my car.