I checked all 10 with the connector out, there is only 12 V on one of the pins. Not nr 5.

Pin 5 does not give 12 volts in any case, with the connector in place or out.

Is it worth a try shortening pin 5 to 12 V? Or is that a bad idea?

 

THomasX, I am trying to figure out what problem you are having as I am not seeing any previous entries relating to this subject on this thread as it relates to you.

You are correct in that Pin 5 will have a green wire with a white stripe if you are talking about the right hand side headlight. That wire should have 12 VDC on it whenever the headlight switch is in the ON position or with the headlight switch in the OFF position (I am assuming you have daytime running lights since you are in Sweden and should have the Scandinavian headlight switch installed-yes, there are different headlight switches for different markets). If you are not getting 12 VDC on pin 5 in either of these positions, then you have a power issue (I am assuming that your left side headlight functions properly, if not, please let me know as this changes things dramatically). Odds are, you have a bad fuse between the DIP (low) beam relay and the headlight. Depending on the year car you have will define which fuse you need to look at (Fuse 30 for the redesign cars (post 2004.25) or Fuse 17 for the early cars (pre-2004.25), both fuses will be in the engine bay fuse box). If a new fuse does not fix things, then I would say to remove the fuse and then install a jumper wire only at that point. But, beware, you can potentially draw a decent arc if there is a problem with the headlight assembly. You may still get a decent arc since the ballast is going to try and draw about 30 amps if things are working correctly. So, make sure you are using a suitably sized wire (18 gauge stranded wire at a miminum).

 

Hi

I live in sweden, but have "german" 2002 X-Type
However, I have remade the light switch a bit such that the dipped beam is on when the light switch is in the off position. The only thing that doesn't work perfectly with my home made version is the night light on the Nav-screen.

I found this electrical guide that will be a lot of help. Fig 8.2 shows the lights diagram. There definitely should be 12V on pin 5 anytime the dipped beam is on. I did not have 12V there anytime.

http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Auto...x4012002en.pdf

 

Checking resistance between pin 5 and the fusebox seems like a good idea, and also between then fuse and the relay.

 

ThomasX, so, the other dipped beam is working like it should, correct? If that is the case, you have either a bad fuse, bad ballast, or bad wiring between the fuse box and the leadlight assembly. Not much more to the circuit.

You can prove a bad ballast by simply plugging the working side into the questionable side and see if you get a working headlight that way. But, like you mentioned, you are not getting 12VDC on pin 5 which would make this check somewhat redundant. Becuse you are getting 0 VDC on pin 5, that is most likely either a broken/cut completely through wire or a blown fuse. If you were getting 12 VDC, but when you plugged it in, the headlight didn't work, then that would be a high resistance connection.

 

So, after a 500km long drive in total darkness last night back from our mountain cabin, yes both dipped lights went out one after the other, lucky me the fog lights and main beam worked , the car is in the garage. The electric diagram and a multimeter quickly led me to the ballast. So, 5 bolts off and the whole light unit with the ballast came out, that was simpler than I thought Ballast opened, took about as long to open the ballast as it did to get the whole light unit out of the car

Now the question is, will it be possible to fault trace the ballast unit. Everying looks in good order inside anyway. No visible broken parts, unfortunately.

I tried turning the lamp on by connecting the ballast directly to 12V via the battery. The lamp flickered and was on dimly for a few seconds, and then went out again. Basically everytime I attach 12V it tries to light the lamp but fails. And now, actually when I think of it, the last piece of harness was actually still in the loop, between the headlight unit and the ballast, so could still be the connector at the ballast itself, but that seems very unlikely right now.

 

ThomasX, I would try a new bulb before blaming the ballast. Just replace the bulb with the ballast having no power applied. When the ballast tries to initially start an HID bulb, it can apply up to 23,000 volts (yes, 23,000 volts). It will make you jump pretty good (don't ask how I know). You may have something as simple as your HID bulbs failing and all you need is new bulbs. Granted, if new bulbs do not work, then that confirms a bad ballast.

Something to note, are you using a car battery to try and get the ballast to light? Is the power supply atleast rated to handle a 30 amp surge? The reason why I ask this is if you are using say a simple 12V/5 amp power supply, yes, it outputs 60 watts and the HID bulb only pulls 35W, but the initial power draw is around 350 watts for a second or two. This is where using a battery (even a motorcycle battery) will give you the initial surge to get the bulb lit and then have enough to keep things lit. If you are using too "small" of a power source, you can see what you are seeing where the bulb will give a quick flash and then just go dark because the ballast is not able to generate that initial 23,000 volt surge to start the spark.

On a side note, with the HID bulb running, it still has 85V on the terminals. Enough to make you twitch pretty good. Not quite the 23,000V, but you will know you touched something wrong.

 

Of course car battery, but good point
Bulbs tested ok.

 

EUREEEEKKAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Excuse my french, but unbef¤ckinglievable!

I found the problem!
And I could fix it!
Right away!
No spares needed!
At all!

So what, you wonder, we all had bad ground connections?!?!?!

But it wasn't that.
It was something no-one seems to have caught before. And I am sure this issue is the reason for many many flickering xenons.

Surely Hella knows about it.

So, what was it.

Well, a component inside the Ballast that had loosened.
In fact, a MOS-FET transistor that has its back welded onto the PCB, where the back weld had come loose. What we here in Sweden would call a "cold-weld".

You won't see the problem with your bare eyes. But I got suspisious from the fact that none of the components had three welded legs, and they could hardly all be diodes. So they had to have a third connection. Just tried to lift off what appeared to be the final, major, MOS-FET, and it came right up. Welded it back and connected the Ballast.

WHAM - LIGHTS



I'll do a proper write-up with photos tomorrow. When I will fix my other ballast, which, with 99% certainty I dare say, will show the same problem!

 

Here's the write-up I did on how to repair your ballast, not just replace it.

https://magixians.wordpress.com/2017...allast-repair/