HID-upgrade on a Citigo

[Citigo2032]

Is it possible to upgrade to HID without problems (Except problems in some states or countries that has rules against HID conversion kits)

 

I ask because I have tried to upgrade my own Citigo with HID (Bi xenon). The problem is that when switching from high to low beam, there is a short "blackout" of the lights. Sometomes this short blackout cause one or both bulbs to shut down completely. So I have to switch from hig to low again to ignite the bulbs again.

 

I normally use the original H4 bulbs on public roads, because in Norway it is not legal to use these kits on public roads, even if the pattern and the light output is fine - and in my case it would be dangerous when the headlights was accidently turned completely off when it is dark outside...

 

Br.

 

Vidar

[mannyo]

its because HIDs don't like to be turned on/off, they like to be turned on and left that way. When a HID turns on, it takes about 2 seconds before there is any light at all and then another 3 or 4 seconds for the lamp to reach the correct colour temperature. For this reason, even those with true Bi-Xenon with the shutter in the lens have standard Halogen bulbs for headlight flashing.

 

The reason they go out, is because the ballast cannot cope with all the turning off/on/off over and over again.

[Citigo2032]

I think I found the "root reason" why the HID bulbs blinks between high to low. The high and low pin in the H4 socket switch polarity. When the low is positive, the high pin is negative (grounded), and vica verca. But it appears to me that it takes a short brake from when the high pin is positive and the low pin gets positive. The high pin must go negative first before the low pin goes positive. If not, I assume that a short circuit will occour between common pin and one of the high/low pins. I can measure on the power inlet to the ballast that the voltage drops to zero for a fraction of a second.

 

So now I have worked out a solution that solved this.

 

I connected a relay (via a bridge rectifier and a capacitor between + and -) to H4 high and low pin, and connected a fused wire directly from the battery, via the switching relay, to the ballast. This way the voltage dropout between high to low is smoothed by the capacitor over the relay coil so the relay doesn't switch off for that short moment. The bulbs shutter is driven by two wires that I have connected between common-pin and high-pin on the H4 socket so high beam is activatedwhen needed.

 

However, without sufficient load, the H4 socket would not cooperate - it did not put out any voltage. So I tried to put resistors between common-low and common-high. I used 40W 27 Ohm resistor (At 12V it draws approx 5 Watt). And that worked! Now I have allways 12V into the bridgerectifier which in turn powers the relay. Now the HID lits smooth, and the shutter works fine.

 

Baybe I should make a drawing of this so I don't forget what I did...

[Citigo2032]

This is the wiring I did for HID conversion kit for my Citigo. It works well.