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Ed’s Reps Headlights - Passenger side HID sometimes won’t fire

Raginrhino

New member
Location
Milwaukee
Car(s)
2018 VW GTI S
UPDATE:

The warmer above freezing weather has been going on for a week now, and the problem seems to persist.
I've tried going with the light switch off, which works - unless they fail the first time - then I have to shut the car off and on again to get rid of the error. Less than ideal.

I've also found that if I leave the lights on the "Auto" setting, and spam the unlock button a few times they work - and can visually see that they fail the first or second time its unlocked but fire consistently after. It seems to work the same when the switch is turned off and this is done, but I cant visually verify it. Less than ideal.

This cant be great for the life of the bulbs or ballasts, right? I doubt that it would be my battery starting to go, since I had this 2018 GTI brand new since March 2019, but maybe?

I will be checking the grounds and connections to see if there is anything weird there, and replacing the ballast via warranty if the connections check out.

If I am still seeing these issues after all of that, Ill just go and buy Ed's LED bulb kit for these lights.
 

averyislost

Go Kart Champion
Location
Charlotte, NC
Car(s)
2020 GTI S
Before spending more money on the LED kit, or worrying about your battery, just disconnect both ballasts and swap the passenger/driver ballasts.

If the issue follows the ballast and now the driver side won't fire, then you know it's just the ballast.

If the passenger side STILL won't fire.. then swap the bulbs around and try again. This will narrow down the issue to either the bulb/ballast/possibly wiring.

The LED kit I believe works well in the BEC lights but Ed has confirmed in the past that the HID kit is brighter, so you may lose a little light output going to LED. Not a huge deal, but something to be aware of. But the upside is no longer dealing with annoying ballasts or bulb warm up time. LED does have upsides over HID in some aspects.
 

GreatFallsofGreen

Ready to race!
Location
SoCal
Car(s)
GFG 7.5, 6MT
Well if I had kept my BEC LEDs any longer, I’d offer them to you. The LED kits worked great. I don’t think any difference of brightness between the LED and HID would have any real world consequences.
 

GTI_Jerm

Go Kart Champion
Location
SoCal
BMPtuning recently released a full LED mk7.5 design headlight. I wish retrofitting was easy so I could run a morimoto HID projector. The light out put was ridiculously good and when properly aimed, you’re not blinding anyone. I had an old set of the BEC headlights that were broken and tried to bake em to open em up.. housing completely melted.
 

mr wrong

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Franklin TN
BMPtuning recently released a full LED mk7.5 design headlight. I wish retrofitting was easy so I could run a morimoto HID projector. The light out put was ridiculously good and when properly aimed, you’re not blinding anyone. I had an old set of the BEC headlights that were broken and tried to bake em to open em up.. housing completely melted.

Does anyone know if the LED bulbs are replaceable with an off the shelf LED bulb in the event of failure? My concern is that the availability of these seems pretty spotty at best. If you had to replace the whole thing you might be waiting awhile - weeks if not months, or??
 

JerseyDrew77

Autocross Champion
Location
Virginia & NC
Car(s)
2016 TR GTI S 6MT
Does anyone know if the LED bulbs are replaceable with an off the shelf LED bulb in the event of failure? My concern is that the availability of these seems pretty spotty at best. If you had to replace the whole thing you might be waiting awhile - weeks if not months, or??

What's so hard about sending Ed an email and asking him what bulbs his headlights use? Then when Ed replies, all you have to do is buy the bulbs online.
 

mr wrong

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Franklin TN
What's so hard about sending Ed an email and asking him what bulbs his headlights use? Then when Ed replies, all you have to do is buy the bulbs online.

Actually I did... Days ago.. And it wasn't hard at all. Just thought I'd ask here if anyone had personal experience. which I take it you don't..
 

JerseyDrew77

Autocross Champion
Location
Virginia & NC
Car(s)
2016 TR GTI S 6MT
Actually I did... Days ago.. And it wasn't hard at all. Just thought I'd ask here if anyone had personal experience. which I take it you don't..

Nope because I haven't had any issues with mine, which I have had for 3+ years now. But if I do start having issues with them, Ed would be the first person I would go to. Did he respond back to your email?
 

mr wrong

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Franklin TN
Nope because I haven't had any issues with mine, which I have had for 3+ years now. But if I do start having issues with them, Ed would be the first person I would go to. Did he respond back to your email?

Yes, just today actually. He said that the LED bulbs were not replaceable. I'm glad to hear they've been trouble free for you. Which one's are you running? I'm assuming since you've had yours for 3+ years they are the HID's, yes? Right now all I find on his site are the full LED versions, which I was advised against.

Thanks for the feedback.

EDIT: Just took a look at your build thread and saw which one's you are using.. Car looks really nice btw..
 

JerseyDrew77

Autocross Champion
Location
Virginia & NC
Car(s)
2016 TR GTI S 6MT
Yes, just today actually. He said that the LED bulbs were not replaceable. I'm glad to hear they've been trouble free for you. Which one's are you running? I'm assuming since you've had yours for 3+ years they are the HID's, yes? Right now all I find on his site are the full LED versions, which I was advised against.

Thanks for the feedback.

EDIT: Just took a look at your build thread and saw which one's you are using.. Car looks really nice btw..

Thanks and yes, I have the HID's (Morimoto Elite 5500K).
 

blaqsheep

Autocross Champion
Location
Canada
Car(s)
IS38 GTI
Right now all I find on his site are the full LED versions, which I was advised against.
Advised against from Ed or the online community?

I would have thought that they would be LED H7/D2H bulbs that are replaceable, guess not. Are you sure he meant the low/high beam bulb or was he referring to the LED DRL?
 

mr wrong

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Franklin TN
Advised against from Ed or the online community?

I would have thought that they would be LED H7/D2H bulbs that are replaceable, guess not. Are you sure he meant the low/high beam bulb or was he referring to the LED DRL?

The online community. I was told that LED's weren't ideal in inclement weather.

Ed wasn't specific about which one was not replaceable (if any), but also said that the projector is LED specific.

I went ahead and pulled the trigger, so I'll keep you posted..
 

Raginrhino

New member
Location
Milwaukee
Car(s)
2018 VW GTI S
Another Update:
The warmer 60 degree weather also hasn't solved the issue. When I keep the lights in auto mode and leave work, I have no issues since the DRL's are on while its still light out. However, as soon as I pull into my dark garage after my 15 minute commute, only the driver side low beam turns on and the passenger side doesn't fire on a consistent basis. Only fails to fire once, and works fine after, but I have to restart my car to get rid of the error message. Same thing happens in the morning before work, in my dark garage when in auto mode, but I can spam the unlock button and the passenger side fires on the second time consistently.

The shop that installed them switched the bulbs, checked connections, and had the ground area cleaned, but the intermittent firing issue still is present on the passenger side HID's.

All signs point that I just have faulty Hylux ballast with this test, but I have my doubts since they are only 2 months old, and seem reliable enough since they come a 3 year warranty. I already got a replacement, but I'm hesitant to take everything off and mess around with it just yet because I'm not quite sure the ballast is the root cause. Wouldn't I be seeing more random inconsistent firing on the passenger side if the ballast is bad, and not just the first time they're turned on?

Could It be my battery related? Is it not supplying enough voltage to fire these on the first try? My GTI is a 2018, purchased in 2019 so the battery is getting up there in age. I had my battery tested last week and it was just in "good" condition. Ed had mentioned to me that "It may be related to the battery may have a little less power in the morning, and the ballast is not getting enough power to fire up. Once the car is running, turning on the lights normally should work as you have seen. If the issue persists for awhile, you can change it to our LED bulb set, it has less demanding on power and should work better when it is cold."

I'm trying to list every little detail I can think of to see if anyone can help diagnose my issue with these, and help others that may be experiencing similar issues with this HID kit.

The online community. I was told that LED's weren't ideal in inclement weather.

Ed wasn't specific about which one was not replaceable (if any), but also said that the projector is LED specific.

I went ahead and pulled the trigger, so I'll keep you posted..
Very interested in an update to how the low beam LED bulb kit works out for you and how they hold up over time, especially in cold weather. I'm seriously considering getting Ed's LED low beam kit if I cant figure out my issues with my HID's. I cant seem to find the setup or bulbs he's offering anywhere online, which makes me think that they have the potential to be unreliable and made cheaply somewhere overseas.
 

2slowvw

Moderator
Location
VA
Car(s)
2022 Tesla Model 3
I had an older version of the helix golf R style headlights and had Morimoto HIDs where I would get bulb out errors, i could usually just turn the headlight switch off and on after the car was running for a while and it would work. Usually happened more in colder weather.

Fast forward to today I am using the new Eds rep golf R facelift style with the LED bulbs in them for about a month now and have had no issues with them. They are plenty bright and look good. I lent with the LEDs on these ones because of past issues with HIDs.
 
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