[Landor]

So I bought an OPT7 55w 5000k 9005 low beam kit and relay harness. The kit specified it was for the CANBUS system. It came with two capacitors. On my last truck (2007 Ram 1500) I didn't have capacitors, I had a heat sync resistor soldiered into the relay harness.

So I installed the kit this weekend But have a couple questions. I emailed OPT7 three days ago but they suck at customer service from what I read after I bought them.

1. The kit only required me to use one capacitor and the lights work fine except for the auto lights on function. It is luck of the draw that the one light with the capacitor installed comes on automatically or not. So with that said, If I install resistors can I take the capacitor out of line?

2. Even if I need the capacitor should I still install resistors?

Thanks for the help.

 

[johnj]

Why do you think they're capacitors? All the OPT7 kits advertised show a pair of ballasts but no capacitors. The ballasts are essentially power supplies which convert 12VDC to the high volate power required to ignite the HID bulb (about 20kV) and then to keep it arcing (about 90V). They're typically metal boxes. Usually if a capacitor is exterior to the ballast, one is required for each ballast. Capacitors are sometimes used to help create that initial ignitor voltage. If you're not lighting both lights up, maybe the other capacitor is needed. Did you install 2 ballasts?

 

[Landor]

They are capacitors. Here is the link to the product. They are meant to fool the trucks computer on voltage so the lights dont flicker. They are connected right to the ballast's then the wiring harness plugs into them.
http://www.amazon.com/OPT7®-Xenon-C...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

Here is the wiring diagram from OPT7.
http://i.imgur.com/ghK65p3.jpg

Here is Morimoto HID souution for 2016 RAM trucks. Their product comes with both, one capacitor and two resistor packs.
Dodge Ram 2015+ Headlight Harness : Relay Wire Harnesses : Morimoto HID

The OPT7 kit is working fine, I am just not sure if I can use just capacitors or for longer life span of product I should use both capacitors and resistors. I know what they both do I just don't know if using both over one like the Morimoto kit is better or not.

 

[johnj]

Yeah, that helps. It wasn't in the OPT7 kit info I found online. Those caps are definitely not part of the ballast trigger.

I see right away that these capacitors are not tied to the CANBUS at all. They're connected directly to truck power through the relay and sitting right in front of the ballast. This would help smooth/filter power into the ballast, keeping the lights from flickering due to minor surges/drops as the truck electrical system runs. This is normal in a vehicle, especially if the alternator is running at a heavy load. It might also slow the ignition process in that ballast as it comes up to voltage more slowly,

I think one of two things is happening: either the capacitor is bad (maybe a bad connection inside of it) that is causing less power to get to the ballast, or the ballast is on the edge, not working correctly, and possibly exacerbated by the auto-on circuitry which likely doesn't handle the current load that the main headlight switch does.

The Rebel's got a pretty solid alternator in it, 160A stock, more than the 135A unit that comes with other 1500s. You many not need the capacitor at all. You might want to try moving it to the opposite headlight. If the problem moves with it, remove the capacitor and test. If the problem stays with the same headlight, ballast is a bit off. (or the wiring between the ballast and the relay)

 

[Nightshade]

Yeah, that helps. It wasn't in the OPT7 kit info I found online. Those caps are definitely not part of the ballast trigger.

I see right away that these capacitors are not tied to the CANBUS at all. They're connected directly to truck power through the relay and sitting right in front of the ballast. This would help smooth/filter power into the ballast, keeping the lights from flickering due to minor surges/drops as the truck electrical system runs. This is normal in a vehicle, especially if the alternator is running at a heavy load. It might also slow the ignition process in that ballast as it comes up to voltage more slowly,

I think one of two things is happening: either the capacitor is bad (maybe a bad connection inside of it) that is causing less power to get to the ballast, or the ballast is on the edge, not working correctly, and possibly exacerbated by the auto-on circuitry which likely doesn't handle the current load that the main headlight switch does.

The Rebel's got a pretty solid alternator in it, 160A stock, more than the 135A unit that comes with other 1500s. You many not need the capacitor at all. You might want to try moving it to the opposite headlight. If the problem moves with it, remove the capacitor and test. If the problem stays with the same headlight, ballast is a bit off. (or the wiring between the ballast and the relay)

I may be mistaken, but I believe that they use PWM signals on the headlights when they provision for hallogen and that causes havok on HID kits.. I was told that the PWM allows them to increase bulb life by not heating them to fast.. but regardless of the reason, the TIPM does use PWM when powering the headlights.. (oh, PWM is pulse width modulation.. think of it as pulsing 12V really quickly..)

adding a cap across the 12/ground for this will smooth out the pwm into a pretty much steady 12V..

on my old 08 dodge avenger, I didn't have a small cap kicking around so put in a bigger than normal one... I would turn the headlights off and they would stay on for a few seconds till the cap discharged... unintentional delayed headlights.


so there is the surge/sag in the electrical in addition to PWM.. caps are definitely needed to make things work more consistently.

 

[johnj]

I may be mistaken, but I believe that they use PWM signals on the headlights when they provision for hallogen and that causes havok on HID kits.. I was told that the PWM allows them to increase bulb life by not heating them to fast.. but regardless of the reason, the TIPM does use PWM when powering the headlights.. (oh, PWM is pulse width modulation.. think of it as pulsing 12V really quickly..)

adding a cap across the 12/ground for this will smooth out the pwm into a pretty much steady 12V..

on my old 08 dodge avenger, I didn't have a small cap kicking around so put in a bigger than normal one... I would turn the headlights off and they would stay on for a few seconds till the cap discharged... unintentional delayed headlights.


so there is the surge/sag in the electrical in addition to PWM.. caps are definitely needed to make things work more consistently.

Except in this diagram isn't it showing the the headlight power is used to trigger the relay coil for the HIDs? Which means the relay's coil is what's getting the pwm. If the relay doesn't bounce/chatter, then the HIDs are getting steady power straight from the battery, through the relay and fuse provided in the kit, to the ballasts. At least, that's the way the wiring diagram looks to me. There are some pieces that aren't real clear, but it's not a detailed schematic, just a vendor diagram.