Odd HID issue

[Mick VT]

So on my first Gen1 - a 2012 - I converted to HIDs. I did my own retrofit build with upgraded projectors, an uprated ballast and bulb, and C clamps. As the 2012 was halogen I fitted the Morimoto harness and all was good.

Roll forward a couple of years - I sold the 2012, and now have a 2013 with stock HID units. I had kept my upgraded units from the old truck and went o swap them in yesterday...

I pull the stock units and plug in the retrofitted one - the projector comes on and stays on. Lights are switched off in the truck etc. The projector should not be on. I swap the stock back, and it is not, go back to the retrofit, same issue. Try the other retrofit, same issue.

Somehow these retrofits are behaving differently on a truck wired for HIDs than they did on the Morimoto harness. They are also behaving differently to the stock units. I am guessing this may be some kind of ballast issue / incompatibility but thought I would reach out here before messing with it.

Can anybody (excuse the pun) shine a light on what might be going on?

 

[Nick@Apollo-Optics]

The harnesses are different. When we had my 2013 truck retrofitted, my installer created his own harnesses; he didn't use the pre-2012 conversion harness. Sorry I'm not more help on this, it's all I remember. This was a few years ago.

 

[bruiser]

So on my first Gen1 - a 2012 - I converted to HIDs. I did my own retrofit build with upgraded projectors, an uprated ballast and bulb, and C clamps. As the 2012 was halogen I fitted the Morimoto harness and all was good.

Roll forward a couple of years - I sold the 2012, and now have a 2013 with stock HID units. I had kept my upgraded units from the old truck and went o swap them in yesterday...

I pull the stock units and plug in the retrofitted one - the projector comes on and stays on. Lights are switched off in the truck etc. The projector should not be on. I swap the stock back, and it is not, go back to the retrofit, same issue. Try the other retrofit, same issue.

Somehow these retrofits are behaving differently on a truck wired for HIDs than they did on the Morimoto harness. They are also behaving differently to the stock units. I am guessing this may be some kind of ballast issue / incompatibility but thought I would reach out here before messing with it.

Can anybody (excuse the pun) shine a light on what might be going on?

sounds like the wiring is different, like you constant is in the wrong place, might be able to swap pins around,i had to on my 08 f150, to get them to work, but im not sure on the factor HID models

 

[Raptor Retrofit]

Sounds like you wired the inputs wrong for the harness.


The harness for your old truck was an H13 so what did you do cut the input off and wire it directly? The output on your current truck is a 4 pin, not 3 pin H13 like the old one.


I don't check the forum often but if you need the correct harness with a 4 pin input I can make you one for $60 plus shipping. Email - [email protected]


If you already cut the connector off truck side then you wired it wrong, leave the thicker gauge inner wire from the truck side 4 pin out, its constant hot and you do not need it.

 

[Mick VT]

Sounds like you wired the inputs wrong for the harness.


The harness for your old truck was an H13 so what did you do cut the input off and wire it directly? The output on your current truck is a 4 pin, not 3 pin H13 like the old one.


I don't check the forum often but if you need the correct harness with a 4 pin input I can make you one for $60 plus shipping. Email - [email protected]


If you already cut the connector off truck side then you wired it wrong, leave the thicker gauge inner wire from the truck side 4 pin out, its constant hot and you do not need it.

I did no wiring as such. The retrofits from the 2012 were simply stock HIDs with upgraded ballasts, bulbs and projectors. Stock wiring. I added them to the 2012 truck using a morimoto harness, all worked well. When I sold the ruck I removed them, intending to out these upgraded units inot the new truck. The new one has factory HIDs so no conversion harness needed. I thought it would be plug and play, but as soon as I connected them the truck they lit up and stayed on... I am confused. I have been talking to support at TRS, so far they have not been a ny help at all

---------- Post added at 10:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:19 PM ----------

sounds like the wiring is different, like you constant is in the wrong place, might be able to swap pins around,i had to on my 08 f150, to get them to work, but im not sure on the factor HID models

It certainly is sounding that way - were there different pin configurations on different years for the HIDs?

---------- Post added at 10:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:28 PM ----------

Maybe I am confusing matters by calling my old lights retrofits - they were stock HIDs I ad upgraded with high output ballasts and better projectors. So the wiring, other than the conversion harness should all be the same - or so I thought

 

[Matt Nelson]

Did you solve this? I recently had the exact same issue. As someone else mentioned, OEM HID's on a Raptor have 4 pins. There are two hot wires, 1 is a trigger wire, the other is an "always hot" wire. For some reason aftermarket ballasts pick up power from that trigger wire (even if you pull the fuse in the BCM, pull the relay in the BJB or battery cable, or headlight connector is the only way to turn them off.) Switch your factory Ford blasts in and you're aftermarket lights will work as normal. Take a look at the D3S ballast output - the Ford OEM is a 42 volt output, almost all aftermarket D3S ballasts have an 85 volt output. I figured this out after 20 + hr's - finally had to pay Motorcraft for a wiring manual and spent 2 more hours with a probe to finally figure it out. I'm amazed nobody else has run into this issue before.... if you need complete wiring diagrams for a 2014 Raptor lemme know!