Hey Guys,

Does anyone know how far HID ballast can be from the Globes in terms of wiring?
I'd like to patch ballasts into the factory loom and have them mounted out of sight.

On another forum I've found info but not automotive specific.

"keep the cords to less then 6 feet after the ballast" and "All three sets work even though I could only shorten the cord to 7 feet or so"

So looks like what I'm trying to achieve will be possible.

I wouldn't be running the high voltage power from the ballast to the globe through the factory wiring, the insulation on it is nowhere near capable of handling it. last thing you want is HV leaking out your lights back into your PCM.

Good point but the insulation on the kits I've used before don't seem any better than the factory wiring itself.
But HV in the rest of the cars system does sound like a bad time, at worst i can run new lines in the factory harness which i might need to do anyway to avoid running the ballasts through the common ground.

I'll use a 240v 3 wire cable.

That will give me +, - and an isolated ground i can attach to the chassis in case things get all too excited.
It might bulk up the loom a little but the replacement loom I'm rewrapping is already miles slimmer than the mess that comes factory in the EBs.

There's also two stages of insulation in that, the outer casing and the casing on the wires themselves.

Will a chassis ground even work seeing how the chassis is earthed to the battery?

Considering the strike voltage for a HID lamp is several thousand volts, 240v wiring is NOT sufficient for your needs.

Using incorrect wiring, connectors, etc will lead to poor performance or problems, electric shocks, electronic noise/interference etc

Why not hide the ballasts underneath the headlight? Theres plenty of room to mount the ballast to the underside of the headlight or the back of the bumper/reinforcing.

I'm well aware of the voltage required to create the Arc.

I've dissected a HID kit before and while I'm not real good with wire gauges, visually there's not a whole lot of difference between the wiring provided on the ballasts and normal multi-strand automotive wiring.

I want to keep the ballasts together and under the overflow bottle near the battery in their own shielded box.

My concern with the length between the ballasts and HIDs was that the HIDs wouldn't work or that the resistance created by the extra lengths of wire would cause the ballasts to burn out.

Time will tell though.

its not just the conductor size you need to worry about, its insulation as well.

Yeah I think I've got insulation covered.

It's in a post or two above.

Just because the insulation looks the same doesnt mean it performs the same.

The insulation used for 12v looks pretty much identical to that used for 240v, and apart from size, doesnt look any different the higher you go with voltage, but theres no way I'd use 12v rated cable in a 240v application

Doing electrical testing I've seen the insulation on 240v equipment fail with as little as 1000 volts (the upper level for 240v equipment) pushed into it, and thats with next to no current

What caused the insulation to fail at a voltage that should normally be ok? the insulation gets exposed to contaminants and heat, movement and abrasion damages the insulation physically.

EVERY factor there you will find in a cars engine bay, and not just in small doses.

Add to that the connectors in the headlights are of mediocre quality, not sealed and prone to corrosion which can cause you grief, if the charge from the ballast hits a high resistance connection at the headlight connector, it could cause the insulation in the cabling to fail, sending a short burst of high voltage to the first thing it can arc out on, which will be the body of the car, potentially killing the computers in the car.

While we're at it, any corrosion on the connector at the headlight will increase the resistance in the circuit, effectively increasing the length of the cable between ballast and the bulb.

Also, the ballast will have a negative and positive wire going to the bulb, if you're serious about avoiding damage to the ECU's, dont even try to earth the HID system at any point that is connected to the body of the car, keep the two wires totally separate from everything else.

Having the ballasts in a shielded enclosure is only half the battle of reducing electrical noise/interference, the high voltage running through the wires to the headlights is going to cause a lot of inductive noise, especially with the high voltage wiring being wrapped up with the cars wiring loom, even if only for a couple of feet. just ask any car stereo junkie thats run his power and signal cables side by side.

Thanks man, very informative.

Do you know anywhere or of any sites you can link me to that will sell the type of cable i need for my application?

do you already have the ballasts and bulbs?

If not, any reputable seller should be able to custom make a set of cables to suit

That said, I think mounting them under the headlights behind the bumper would be the best option in terms of reducing electronic noise/interference and being discrete, especially given you will need 2 per side

Yeah I already have the Ballasts and Bulbs.

I would prefer to do it myself but with the correct cabling.
I can source weatherproof connectors from mouser.com or rs-online.com

Can you suggest any reputable seller and maybe specifications of the cabling I'm looking for?

I'm only swapping the secondary high-beam/fog light in the headlight assembly.
I don't want to blind people with unfocused HID low beams and I feel it would be no different from adding driving lights to the car (as far as passing scrutiny goes).

I'm not dismissing your suggestions to keep them close to the headlight assembly but if the ballasts can be mounted elsewhere with the right equipment then I'd like to pursue that.

How does this look?

http://au.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Alph ... 32L1dXw%3d

it looks like it *should* do the trick

where did you get the ballasts and bulbs from?