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Beware of HIDs in subfreezing temps


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New member here.

 

I installed HIDs last fall in my '17 Edge and worked great till we hit about 0 degrees while visiting Minnesota (road trip from KC) for Christmas; neither bulb lit up. I didn't know/notice till the trip home in the evening. Thankfully I kept the OEM bulbs with me but I think I'll stay with the halogen bulbs and not have to worry about headlight failure on a family trip.

 

I don't know if was the bulbs or ballasts that couldn't handle the cold. All I know is after that cold night, it didn't work. Other than that, it was in the teens before failure.

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I've fired mine up below zero many times in upper Michigan and Da UP without any problems. Mine are a 5 year old set 35 watt DDMs with a beefy harness. Probably be a good idea to post what brand you are using, wattage and if you're using a harness. Hids need some good power to fire and cold weather doesn't play nice with batteries. A nice solid power connection straight to the battery with at least 12 gauge wire and an equally sized ground cable might solve your problem. I remember having problems firing my ballasts when I first got them and finally figured out it was the cheap thin gauge e-bay harness causing the problem.

Edited by fishx65
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I installed an aftermarket set on my 94 Lincoln mark VIII and never had a problem in the cold. My 13 MKX came with the adaptive HID's and I thought if I had any problems it would be with the movement from side to side, but still no problems. Maybe you can install a set from a 13 MKX? Just a thought. There nice and bright, I get flashed from time to time.

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Ive been in temps as cold as -15 with my HID and never had any issues at all. It comes down to quality of the ballasts, wiring, install method (I.e. direct wire harness), relays, etc.

 

I have found that having an 800 CCA battery has helped tremendously. Never as much as a hiccup remote starting in the cold.

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