My HID Ballast Solution

**67electro** · 02-15-10 02:09 PM

I fixed my headlight problem. it was definatly the ballast.

here is what I did, I hope it helps someone out.

I ordered a "Oem replacement Slim Ballast for d1s HID" from ebay. it was 59 bucks plus shipping.

I removed the bumper cover, and headlight to find the ballast with water dammage. I had never done this before and learned that the ballast actually is the bottome plate to the headlight housing so you cant just remove it and use another one. I also saw that the ballast is not water tight from INSIDE the headlight housing (wich is how mine fried).

there is a gap in the corners of the ballast, so I poped it open to see whats inside.

to keep this short, I came up with a plan. I filed the inside of the rectangle a little and the new ballast would fit tight in the hole. so I tore the electronics off the back plate of the old ballast, ground the stand-offs smooth, and bolted the new ballast to it. used a good sealer around the bolt holes.

Just a little bit of filing, seriously like .5mm per side.

Ground inside of back plate smooth

Soldered new Power Wires to the existing power wires from the old ballast (mine was a 12 pin, but only 2 wires were being used, I used a volt meter to find + and -

New Ballast mounted in place of old electronics.

All together, putting screws back in to headlight, using the old rubber gasket from old ballast.

I used some good adhesive bonding sealer around the inside of the bolts and then after, on the outside. I also ran a little bead around the outside in case the rubber gasket didnt seal right, but I belive it was fine on its own.

here is the end result (Bad pic because of Droid Camera over exposes as night)

I also installed some Blue LED 194 lights too.

I hope this helps anyone out. the Whole job cost less then 100 bucks with the Ballast, Shipping, sealer, bolts, etc.

-John
Phoenix, AZ

**talonstylz** · 02-15-10 02:13 PM

I had to do the same on both my headlights. Like you said works amazing and doesnt cost 300+ a ballast..

**67electro** · 02-15-10 02:29 PM

A nice thing about these ballasts is they are sealed. I did fix the crack on my healight so no more water should be getting in. but just incase it does, and pools at the bottom a little like before, its not going to run into the electronics. the plugs are up high, and the ballast iself is water tight.

-John

**CancerJCC** · 02-15-10 05:08 PM

Good information if I find myself down this road one day! Thanks for sharing.

**2manycars** · 02-15-10 06:43 PM

Very Cool!! Thanks for the write up, with all of the great photos!!!

**67electro** · 02-16-10 04:13 PM

no problem. it would be nice if they had somthing like this in the FAQ section, that would have saved me a lot of time figureing out what to do, what ballast to buy.

-John

**DisposableHero** · 05-04-10 12:30 AM

thanks.. just did this myself.. i didnt even mount the new ballast to the old plate like you did.. just shoved it inside and it worked fine. Thanks!

**MostlyStock** · 08-05-10 03:48 PM

Which kit did you buy on ebay? does it use the stock bulbs or are there special bulbs that go with the ballast you bought? From the picture it was difficult to see if the stock shielded cable from the bulb plugged directly into the new ballast or what. Thanks for your help

**67electro** · 08-05-10 03:56 PM

existing bulbs, our cars use D1S Bulbs, so as long as you get a "D1s Ballast" it will work. I got a "mini Phillips d1s ballast" although the one I got looked just like the Phillips one, but it didn't actually say Phillips. I am sure they are made in China like everything else, so far it is still awesome. only difference I notice is the factory one kicks on faster, this one turns on, and takes about 5 seconds to get to full brightness.

the shielded cable did not fit at first into the new ballast.. the new ballast's case was in the way, turns out the metal shielding around the connector pops apart, so the wire is still shielded, but the connector no longer has the metal around it. it seriously took 2 seconds with a small flat head screw driver.
the connector fits down inside a nice metal socket.

I might need to pick up another one, my other headlight now dosnt kick on most of the time. sometimes if I turn the lights off and then back on it will kick on.

-John

**Black Sunshine** · 08-30-10 12:05 AM

Tagged this thread a while ago since my left headlight started leaking and the low beam liked eatin' fuses. Thank you, kind sir, for posting this up.

Bought an Ebay ballast for $80 two months ago and finally took the time to tear the front end apart this weekend.

The ballast I received is identical to the one you used but it came with one pigtail and one short harness with sealed plugs for the ballast and the projector.

Unplugged the ballast to light harness and replaced with new. Plugged right in.

On the power pigtail I had to cut off the GM plug and splice the new one on.

For the left headlight, the main car harness plug to the headlight uses the first 5 slots. The rest are empty. #1 is the power for the HID. I believe it was four and five that are the grounds. My ground wire was on #5.

I just dropped and propped the new ballast into the back of the headlight assembly.

Fires up without eating fuses with no difference from the right side OEM unit.

Now I gotta figure out why my front fender lights aren't working and just noticed on a taco run that I've got a right side radio light out. I hate electronics. 99.9% of the time it's some joker taking a short cut at our expense.

**heavymetals** · 08-30-10 12:15 AM

Very good information.

**jeffthenail** · 08-30-10 10:57 PM

Nice write up John. I don't mean to Hijack this thread but I have another question. I changed my HBs and Fogs to HID and my OE Xenons are now not as bright. Can I upgrade the OE D1s bulb to a higher k#?

**ghettomike** · 08-31-10 12:03 AM

great info, i didnt know these even existed.
i found a couple on ebay, some say they come with the power in cable that you spliced and some dont specify. personally i have a bunch of those kicking around from all the conversion kits ive had but can you post a link to the one you bought and what cables it came with.

**Black Sunshine** · 08-31-10 09:24 AM

Well, my ballast was definitely fubar.

Ballast.jpg

Once I looked up the EBAY receipt to refresh my memory I found I actually paid $63.98 for the unit. The EBAY seller now displays a different unit from the one we used.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220552135384&viewitem=

**67electro** · 08-31-10 01:36 PM

I am glad my use of this forum has helped someone else, usually it is just I who is getting the help.

Wow! that ballast looks like it was recovered from the titanic!

its a good fix we have figured out, its just a shame you have to remove the bumper cover to do it. its a pain.

when I did it, I threw in a set of 8000K bulbs.. nice light blue tint to them. but my left side died 4 months later. (still running the factory ballas on that side). anyway before removing the bumper again, I removed the airbox and plastic air dam (Hard!!!) and got access to the back of the headlight .. and sure enough it was just a bad bulb. it would sometimes kick on... so I was not sure if it was a loose connection at the bulb or what. everything was tight.. so I am going to guess it was the internal ignitor. I put the 6000K bulb I had saved away back in and now I at least have 2 headlights.

fun stuff. I like my 67 Camaro in the fact when I change the bulb, its one piece with a new lens too. oh the simple times.

-John