HID relay help!
HID relay help! I bought some 6K HID's for my Silverado and they both worked fine a few days then the passenger side went out and now they're both out. I was told to get a relay to power them. A local shop told me I could get a standard relay from O'Reilly's but I don't know how it will wire up or should I buy a plug and play relay online somewhere? Please help
I had to do it for my F350...any relay will work as long as you have a wiring harness for it. I doubt there will be any plug and play unit as you have to wire it in. Its pretty simple and straight forward...do you know how a relay works and what it does? If so there is nothing to it. Just google relay wiring diagrams and follow the directions....but a relay should fix it.
So I can go to any autoparts store and get a relay? I was told to get two so I have one for the driver and one for the passenger. Do I have to splice into the factory wiring at the harness? I'm going to the store in about an hour to get some so I can have my HID's again. I've read everything online about relays, I'm just afraid of having to splice into wiring and getting to involved with this. Thanks for the help!
So I can go to any autoparts store and get a relay? I was told to get two so I have one for the driver and one for the passenger. Do I have to splice into the factory wiring at the harness? I'm going to the store in about an hour to get some so I can have my HID's again. I've read everything online about relays, I'm just afraid of having to splice into wiring and getting to involved with this. Thanks for the help!
The only thing you would have to splice into the wiring for would be the trigger wire (that would be the hot wire for the headlights.) But instead of cutting the factory harness you should have a pig tail adapter for the sockets now since its plug and play. You will have to cut that off anyway...so just wire your relay into that and plug it into the headlight socket to get your trigger wire. Then wire triggered wire from your relay to your ballast, wire up your ground (both the relay and the ballast), hook the 12V wire to your battery and thats it. (Basicaly follow the wiring diagrams online.) Its simple once you do it.
On The Tree
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 142
Likes: 0
Don't listen to this guy... they do make direct plug and play wiring harness at multiple online locations and will be cheaper.
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...All-Categories
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...All-Categories
If you got a plug and play kit, just cut that thing up and work it into a relay harness that you will have to make. Don't buy one off ebay, they are easy enough to make it's not worth wasting the money and time waiting for it to arrive. I just ran one relay for both headlights, and used the driver's headlight to trigger the relay.
For the power I just tapped into the power supply on the fuse box on the driver's side (the big red thing the the + sign
). Then ran the power wire to the area behind the driver's headlight, and hooked it up the the relay.
Then I cut off one of the 9006 connectors from my HID kit and used that for the trigger to the relay. It plugs into the factory bulb connector wiring (it's blue). You can also buy the necessary connectors from most parts houses if your kit doesn't have them.
The relay switches the positive signal to the HID ballasts. You will just ground the negative terminals from the ballast to the body. I used an existing bolt for ground and both ballasts ground to that spot. I ran a power and ground from the passenger side and hooked up the positive to the switched out from the relay and grounded the negative to the bolt.
You can see the yellow weather-pac, that is what my driver's side ballast plugs into.
Here is a pictures of a diagram with numbers on the relay:
This is what mine looks like:
Notice used a connector with pig tails for the relay. You don't have to use one, female spade connectors work, but it just looks nicer with the connector.
For the power I just tapped into the power supply on the fuse box on the driver's side (the big red thing the the + sign
). Then ran the power wire to the area behind the driver's headlight, and hooked it up the the relay. Then I cut off one of the 9006 connectors from my HID kit and used that for the trigger to the relay. It plugs into the factory bulb connector wiring (it's blue). You can also buy the necessary connectors from most parts houses if your kit doesn't have them.
The relay switches the positive signal to the HID ballasts. You will just ground the negative terminals from the ballast to the body. I used an existing bolt for ground and both ballasts ground to that spot. I ran a power and ground from the passenger side and hooked up the positive to the switched out from the relay and grounded the negative to the bolt.
You can see the yellow weather-pac, that is what my driver's side ballast plugs into.
Here is a pictures of a diagram with numbers on the relay:
This is what mine looks like:
Notice used a connector with pig tails for the relay. You don't have to use one, female spade connectors work, but it just looks nicer with the connector.
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Copy & Paste Moderator
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 9,764
Likes: 208
From: Eastern MA
You can make the harness completely plug-and-play. You don't need to splice any wires in the stock harness.
Here is the one I made for my car:
(The connectors are H9 connectors instead of the stock connectors because I have H9 projectors.)
640x480
1024x768
2592x1944
You can make your own harness or buy a pre-made one from ebay.
You just need to know the bulb part numbers.
For example, the Camaro uses 9006 low beam bulbs, so you need Female & Male 9006 bulb connectors. The Male 9006 bulb connectors would plug into the factory harness and the Female 9006 bulb connectors would plug into the HID kit. The Silverado probably uses different bulbs so take that as just an example and use the correct connectors for the Silverado. The other electrical connections will be simple ring terminals, fuse holders, and relay sockets. The relay sockets hold the relays. The fuse holders hold the fuses. The ring terminals tap into existing power and ground bolts on the car.
When you go to connect the ring terminals to the car, make sure the surface they contact is clean and free of paint or rust. I used a wire brush and files to make sure the areas were bare metal.
Here are the AUX Power and Ground points I used on my Formula:
640x480
1024x768
2592x1944
Check out my post here for more info and pics on my harness:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/11372672-post34.html
Here is the one I made for my car:
(The connectors are H9 connectors instead of the stock connectors because I have H9 projectors.)
640x480
1024x768
2592x1944
You can make your own harness or buy a pre-made one from ebay.
You just need to know the bulb part numbers.
For example, the Camaro uses 9006 low beam bulbs, so you need Female & Male 9006 bulb connectors. The Male 9006 bulb connectors would plug into the factory harness and the Female 9006 bulb connectors would plug into the HID kit. The Silverado probably uses different bulbs so take that as just an example and use the correct connectors for the Silverado. The other electrical connections will be simple ring terminals, fuse holders, and relay sockets. The relay sockets hold the relays. The fuse holders hold the fuses. The ring terminals tap into existing power and ground bolts on the car.
When you go to connect the ring terminals to the car, make sure the surface they contact is clean and free of paint or rust. I used a wire brush and files to make sure the areas were bare metal.
Here are the AUX Power and Ground points I used on my Formula:
640x480
1024x768
2592x1944
Check out my post here for more info and pics on my harness:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/11372672-post34.html
Don't listen to this guy... they do make direct plug and play wiring harness at multiple online locations and will be cheaper.
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...All-Categories
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...All-Categories
Cheaper? Those are $20ish and only have one relay for both headlights. Plus he needs it today. If he listens to me there wont be any cutting involved and it wont be any harder to install than those "plug and play" set ups (which require grounding and hooking up to the battery...not exactly just plug and play.)
Cheaper? Those are $20ish and only have one relay for both headlights. Plus he needs it today. If he listens to me there wont be any cutting involved and it wont be any harder to install than those "plug and play" set ups (which require grounding and hooking up to the battery...not exactly just plug and play.)
You can make the harness completely plug-and-play. You don't need to splice any wires in the stock harness.
Here is the one I made for my car:
(The connectors are H9 connectors instead of the stock connectors because I have H9 projectors.)
640x480
1024x768
2592x1944
You can make your own harness or buy a pre-made one from ebay.
You just need to know the bulb part numbers.
For example, the Camaro uses 9006 low beam bulbs, so you need Female & Male 9006 bulb connectors. The Male 9006 bulb connectors would plug into the factory harness and the Female 9006 bulb connectors would plug into the HID kit. The Silverado probably uses different bulbs so take that as just an example and use the correct connectors for the Silverado. The other electrical connections will be simple ring terminals, fuse holders, and relay sockets. The relay sockets hold the relays. The fuse holders hold the fuses. The ring terminals tap into existing power and ground bolts on the car.
When you go to connect the ring terminals to the car, make sure the surface they contact is clean and free of paint or rust. I used a wire brush and files to make sure the areas were bare metal.
Here are the AUX Power and Ground points I used on my Formula:
640x480
1024x768
2592x1944
Check out my post here for more info and pics on my harness:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/11372672-post34.html
Here is the one I made for my car:
(The connectors are H9 connectors instead of the stock connectors because I have H9 projectors.)
640x480
1024x768
2592x1944
You can make your own harness or buy a pre-made one from ebay.
You just need to know the bulb part numbers.
For example, the Camaro uses 9006 low beam bulbs, so you need Female & Male 9006 bulb connectors. The Male 9006 bulb connectors would plug into the factory harness and the Female 9006 bulb connectors would plug into the HID kit. The Silverado probably uses different bulbs so take that as just an example and use the correct connectors for the Silverado. The other electrical connections will be simple ring terminals, fuse holders, and relay sockets. The relay sockets hold the relays. The fuse holders hold the fuses. The ring terminals tap into existing power and ground bolts on the car.
When you go to connect the ring terminals to the car, make sure the surface they contact is clean and free of paint or rust. I used a wire brush and files to make sure the areas were bare metal.
Here are the AUX Power and Ground points I used on my Formula:
640x480
1024x768
2592x1944
Check out my post here for more info and pics on my harness:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/11372672-post34.html
Thanks for all the replies guys. I went to the parts store and saw everything I needed to do it and realized it wasn't worth the hassle. I just bought one already done on ebay that will be plug and play. It was only $11 and should be here in a few days. For now, I'm going to put the stock bulbs back in. Thanks for all the help though! I got myself an education.
On The Tree
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 142
Likes: 0
Cheaper? Those are $20ish and only have one relay for both headlights. Plus he needs it today. If he listens to me there wont be any cutting involved and it wont be any harder to install than those "plug and play" set ups (which require grounding and hooking up to the battery...not exactly just plug and play.)
FYI the stock headlight ground wiring offers too much resistance which at times does not allow the HID ballast to ignite. This is why it is a good idea to physically ground the wiring.
Its not that hard to do. Buy relay from Advance Auto, part number R3177 BWD makes it, look at the numbers on the terminals of the relay. You will not need to splice any wires, it will work with stock trigger signal/switch from vehicle. Now, you will need to buy some rolls of wires, different colors if you choose, 14 gauge works and some butt connectors and terminals that'll fit relay spades.
30/51 Is power comming directly from battery.
85 Goes directly to a good ground.
86 Is the trigger, its the wire that powers lamps originally from the headlight switch, that trigger wire now goes on 86 where before it used to go directly to power lamps.
87 Is the output wire, its power, it will hook from 87 to (+) on desired lamps, where the trigger from original wire used to hook.
One relay like this should be enough to power 2 lamps such as both foglights, both low beams. This way lamps get power directly from battery, HIDs light up faster, and eliminates the flickering. You should put a fuse between 30/51 and battery.
Hope it makes some sense....
30/51 Is power comming directly from battery.
85 Goes directly to a good ground.
86 Is the trigger, its the wire that powers lamps originally from the headlight switch, that trigger wire now goes on 86 where before it used to go directly to power lamps.
87 Is the output wire, its power, it will hook from 87 to (+) on desired lamps, where the trigger from original wire used to hook.
One relay like this should be enough to power 2 lamps such as both foglights, both low beams. This way lamps get power directly from battery, HIDs light up faster, and eliminates the flickering. You should put a fuse between 30/51 and battery.
Hope it makes some sense....
