On my FL 2013 Scout I've recently installed a London colour supplied non canbus HID kit in the low beams. At first all seemed fine. After a week or so of living with them an annoying bulb error light occasionally lights. The error light comes up when I use the flashers or high beam in the first few minutes after the head lights are turned on i.e, when the HID bulbs are still cold. Occasionally I get an error when starting the car when the head lights are already on (auto lights). Some times when this happens the low beam goes out, but an on/off of the headlight switch brings them back on. This doesn't seem to happen after the headlights have been on for a few minutes and has presumably warmed up the gas in the bulbs so then they're not sensitive to voltage fluctuations. The error goes away when the ignition is turned on/off.

 

I got  VCDS coded but the only option available was 'xenons with shutters' (obviously I don't have shutters) which I ticked but I did not untick the 'Cold diagnostics' option.

 

So my question is should I have unticked 'cold diagnostics'?

I think this is being caused by a drop in supply voltage to the HID ballasts. Perhaps I need to beef up the earthing to the HID kit? Would an earthing strap from the -ve on the wiring to the ballast direct to the body help?

 

I really don't think there is a problem with the battery or alternator the car is 6 months old and hasn't shown any signs of low voltage, but of course I could be wrong.

On my 2012 vRS the bit 3 "xenons with shutters" didn't work correctly so I had to use bit 4 which is undocumented (you have to manually change this yourself)

Maybe worth a try to see if it solves your issue? It is documented here on page 1

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/264447-hid-aftermaket-kit-help-for-definitive-how-to/

Thanks very much xpower, thats very helpful, i'll try that when I can get a VCDS meet set up!

On my 2012 vRS the bit 3 "xenons with shutters" didn't work correctly so I had to use bit 4 which is undocumented (you have to manually change this yourself)

Maybe worth a try to see if it solves your issue? It is documented here on page 1

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/264447-hid-aftermaket-kit-help-for-definitive-how-to/

For other people with 2012 / 2013 cars, xpower's solution to manually change bit 4 has worked for me too,