HID Kit Draining Power?

[arogal]

Forum Sponsor

When I purchased the '09 zx6r there was an HID kit installed (low beam only). In September I needed to replace both the stator and rectifier. The previous owner went through the OEM stator/rectifier, and when it was sold to me they had been replaced with Ebay China aftermarket (found this out months later). My mechanic advised me to never get cheap aftermarket charging system parts for the bike, so they were both replaced with OEM. He also said that HID kits can be hard on the charging system as it takes alot of power on the initial start up of the bike, but once they have charged they actually use less power than regular bulbs.

Little back story here....back in July my lights would cut out on me when I hit bumps for a about 2 weeks, then my bike felt like it wanted to stall every here and there....and eventually cut out on me when I pulled in my garage. Low and behold there was a loose battery connection on the positive terminal. I tightened everything up and she was good to go. I didn't think at the time that it would have been a good idea to charge the battery, as it most was likely dead from not getting a proper charge. Would the loose battery connection for 2 weeks or so put alot of strain on the charging system, and maybe that's why both the stator and rectifier needed to be replaced? I an see it possibly being a cause as the stator and rectifier were over working to keep the battery charged while it was losing connection....and with time they just crapped out.

Anyways, back to my main point, do HID kits really put that much strain on the charging system? If so am I better off getting an LED kit for the bike? It does have projectors, which put out awesome light at night with the HID kit. If the bike had the stock lights I would opt to an LED kit, but since there is already and HID kit in there I'm not sure if it worth the time and money or not.

Thanks!
(PS I should have posted this in the technical section)

 

[bitzz]

Yes a loose battery terminal can kill your alternator.
A poorly designed HID/LED setup can cause all sorts of electrical problems. Why don't you test it to see what it draws?

 

[arogal]

Yes a loose battery terminal can kill your alternator.
A poorly designed HID/LED setup can cause all sorts of electrical problems. Why don't you test it to see what it draws?

Ya only thing was that my charging system failed about 2000kms after my loose terminal and was a bit confused why it would have taken s long for the charging system to hit the schitter after that little issue.

 

[Brian P]

"Draining power" when the bike is on, or when it's off?

The cheap ones draw their entire power from the same circuit that feeds the headlights normally, through the same headlight plug, with the same switch and relay in the circuit. It's impossible for those to draw power when the bike is off because that whole circuit is off. It's also impossible for that circuit to pull more amps than the stock headlight circuit is rated for because it is drawing power through the same fuse (assuming someone hasn't changed the fuse) - usually this is a 10 amp circuit. Your normal 55 watt high and low beams (on together) draw 4 amps each at 14 volts = 8 amps total. It's basically impossible for this circuit to draw significantly more than the stock power draw for more than a fraction of a second without blowing the fuse.

The good ones use the stock headlight circuit as a control circuit which in turn switches a relay that is fed (through an aftermarket fuse holder) from the battery. You'll know this because generally there will be a non-stock wire going to a non-stock fuse holder. What's in that fuse holder ... who knows.

There are 2 more potential issues - inrush current, and electrical noise. HID requires a momentary pulse of inrush current to fire the igniter (which basically produces a high voltage spark inside the bulb that initiates the arc). It is for a fraction of a second, not enough to blow a fuse (hopefully). This is why the good systems have a separate wire fed straight from the battery. By the way, standard incandescent bulbs have inrush current, also. It's for a different reason but it's still there. If your battery is good and your wiring and grounds are good, the momentary voltage drop from the inrush current shouldn't do anything. (Your starter motor creates a MUCH bigger voltage drop in the system!)

Electrical noise ... may or may not be an issue (and the driver for LEDs can produce electrical noise as well). This is a can of worms. Again, with HID, the use of a separate power relay fed straight from battery power minimizes electrical noise fed into the rest of the bike's electrical system. (LED doesn't need this)

I've had HID or LED in a few vehicles and I've never had any issue with them affecting the rest of the electrical system.

Your loose battery terminal probably put much more stress on the charging system than your headlight circuit did.

 

[arogal]

"Draining power" when the bike is on, or when it's off?

The cheap ones draw their entire power from the same circuit that feeds the headlights normally, through the same headlight plug, with the same switch and relay in the circuit. It's impossible for those to draw power when the bike is off because that whole circuit is off. It's also impossible for that circuit to pull more amps than the stock headlight circuit is rated for because it is drawing power through the same fuse (assuming someone hasn't changed the fuse) - usually this is a 10 amp circuit. Your normal 55 watt high and low beams (on together) draw 4 amps each at 14 volts = 8 amps total. It's basically impossible for this circuit to draw significantly more than the stock power draw for more than a fraction of a second without blowing the fuse.

The good ones use the stock headlight circuit as a control circuit which in turn switches a relay that is fed (through an aftermarket fuse holder) from the battery. You'll know this because generally there will be a non-stock wire going to a non-stock fuse holder. What's in that fuse holder ... who knows.

There are 2 more potential issues - inrush current, and electrical noise. HID requires a momentary pulse of inrush current to fire the igniter (which basically produces a high voltage spark inside the bulb that initiates the arc). It is for a fraction of a second, not enough to blow a fuse (hopefully). This is why the good systems have a separate wire fed straight from the battery. By the way, standard incandescent bulbs have inrush current, also. It's for a different reason but it's still there. If your battery is good and your wiring and grounds are good, the momentary voltage drop from the inrush current shouldn't do anything. (Your starter motor creates a MUCH bigger voltage drop in the system!)

Electrical noise ... may or may not be an issue (and the driver for LEDs can produce electrical noise as well). This is a can of worms. Again, with HID, the use of a separate power relay fed straight from battery power minimizes electrical noise fed into the rest of the bike's electrical system. (LED doesn't need this)

I've had HID or LED in a few vehicles and I've never had any issue with them affecting the rest of the electrical system.

Your loose battery terminal probably put much more stress on the charging system than your headlight circuit did.

I will look into it a bit more. I don't talk to the guy that sold me the bike anymore, so I'm not sure what brand of HID kit it is, or how it is all wired up. I do know there is the ballast and then a little black plastic box which the black wire feeds through. I don't believe anything is on a separate circuit, just looks like a typical HID kit (plug and play from factory harness).
My mechanic did a multimeter test after the stator and rectifier were replaced and said everything in the charging system is working properly. Not sure if he performed it as the bike was started up to see voltage drops or not though.

 

[Brian P]

You won't see the voltage drop from the igniter inrush current with a meter. It's too quick (milliseconds). You might catch it with an old school oscilloscope. Even at that ... if your battery is healthy and the connections are good, it should be minimal, and will probably be buried in a whole bunch of other noise from other events happening at the same time ... ignition coils, fuel injectors, the contactor for the starting motor dropping out, etc.

Forum Sponsor