• February 12, 2009
• Category: DIY
• Written By: Chris
• No Comments

I remember when I first started modding cars years ago that HID retrofit kits were far and few between and terribly expensive at that. Today, retrofit kits can be had for under $100.00! Amazing what technology and Chinese manufacturing can do. What I want to do is show you how to install them properly to avoid blowing them out, flickering, or overheating. Some of these images will be coming from my cardomain page for my MDX when I still had it. The images are mine, the hands you see are mine. Lets get started!

Tools Required:
Soldering Iron
Solder
Needle Nose Pliers
Cigarette Lighter
Scissors
Heatshield material
Zip ties
Double stick tape
Electrical tape
Duct tape

Step 1: Disconnect and remove the bulbs you already have in there. This is typically an easy task on most cars, but some don’t give you much room, you may find yourself having to move things around a bit which is beyond the scope of this DIY.

Step 2: Your kit will most likely come with some connectors and some wires (red and black), these wires then go into some metal prongs that then slide into the connector that fits your stock socket (i.e. 9006, H1, 9005, etc…). What you’ll need to is solder those wires to the metal tabs, this insures a good connection and will help against flickering or short circuiting. Take your time here this can be a delicate process.

Step 3: Now slide those soldered metal ends into the connector, you’ll want to uses some needle nose pliers to grab the other end and pull it until it gently pops into place. Now, wrap the end of the connector to the wires with electrical tape, this again helps with short circuiting and/or shorting out. It also helps keep things in place.

Step 4: Now mount your ballasts someplace where there wont be much or any water intrusion and as far away from heat as possible. Use zip ties for this instead of drilling into anything because you want to relocate these at another time.

Step 5: Connect the ignitor module and locate it someplace just like the ballast, as little heat and water as possible. Insert your HID bulbs into your headlights being careful not to touch the bulbs with your bare hands (if you do wipe them down with rubbing alcohol and a q-tip).

Step 6: Connect the plugs and turn on your headlights, if they work hooray! if they don’t try again. Remember it’s not good to run HID’s on just battery power alone, if you want to stare into the light start the car up. Just be sure you have proper ventilation!

Step 7: Now if you’re like me when I did this you couldn’t find a good spot to mount the ballasts away from a lot of heat. So here’s where some heat wrap comes into play. What I used was a starter heat shield from Summit Racing. Measure the dimensions of your ballast then trace those dimensions onto your heat wrap, get out the scissors and start cutting.

Step 8: Cut several squares of double stick tape and place them onto the ballasts then stick your cuts outs to those squares. Then wrap the edges where the different layers meet with duct tape (alot like wrapping a gift). That’s it, now your ballasts can withstand some serious heat for those hot summer days idling at a light.

I hope you found this DIY helpful! If you did please forward it on to your friends or simply use the bookmarks below! Thanks!