SonikBoom

Hi all,

I installed Halo projector headlights on my 96 civic yesterday. I have a question on how to go about installing an HID kit I plan to purchase if anybody can help me out. These are the headlights I bought which require H1 bulbs:



If you look at the back of the headlights, there's only one harness (connector) for both the high beam and low beam. I don't see any splitter coming with the HID kit so the high and low beams are separated out. Am I going to have to cut some wires to get both high and low beams to work? Would definitely appreciate some help. Thanks in advance.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

you pretty much need to make a new wire harness for the hids and use the stock harness for the separate hi beam halogens. i think the older civics still use ground-switched system but you need to make sure. basically in a ground switched setup, one prong of the H4 plug will be hot (+12v) in both hi and lo beam modes. this is the trigger wire you want for the hid harness you make. the other two prongs are LO and HI and will become grounds depending on which lights are on. for example in lo beam mode, the +12v wire will be hot, the LO wire will be a ground (so the lo beam works), and ther HI wire will be hot (so hi beam does not work). in hi beam mode, the +12v wire will be hot, the LO wire will be hot (so lo beam does not work), and HI wire will be ground (so hi beams work). if that fits your testing of the h4 plug, you can use my diagram. the color of the trigger wire may vary, so you still need to find the right wire to use.

for my 2002 civic with tyc projectors (hid lo beam, halogen hi beam) this is how i wired it.

98dx

i have the same exact problem. any simpler ways?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah alot of people wire it directly to the factory harness and then find out a few months later that the excessive power of hid ballast fried the wires and switch. so you have to spend $800+ to rebuild it all. or you can make the extra harness in my diagram for $20 using common parts at the auto store. all you need is 14 gauge wire, a fuse holder with fuse, and a 30/40 amp relay along with some ring terminals.

SonikBoom

Thanks for the reply, gearbox. But man, that sounds a bit complicated for my newbie brain. I managed to install my headlights thanks to YouTube. I suppose you wouldn't have any pics would ya? Eh, in any case I guess I'll just have to pay for a shop to do it.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

you could also have someone build it for you or get a premade harness on ebay (problem there is low quality materials and bad connections). check hidplanet.com/forums and post something there see if anyone can make you one.

98dx

wats a relay harness? it says it directly connects the ballast to the battery. wuld that work? if i were to put the hid bulb into the low beam lens and then connected that to the battery using the realay harness. and then leave the high beam bulb that came with the projectors thats connected to the 3 pronged plug and just connect that into the socket thats atttatched to the car. wuld i be able to use both hi and low beams?

SonikBoom

Yea, I saw relay harnesses for HID kits on eBay for around $8 bucks and was thinking about buying one. The quality didn't look that bad. If I get it, hopefully I'll find a diagram to show me how to wire it all up on a 96 civic. If I don't, then screw it...I'll pay. Wouldn't really want to though cause it looks like a fairly simple process. Hopefully, I won't have to cut any wires.

Edit: Hey, I just saw this video on YouTube. Might be able to help you out, 98dx.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0aqlhf-NNY

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

the relay box is labeled with numbers too. but if you post a pic of the harness you buy, im sure we can figure out how its wired. you use that for the hids, then connect the hi beams to the factory h4 plugs so both will work.

SonikBoom

gearbox, if you're still out there somewhere, can you please point me in the right direction with this HID installation? Below is a pic of one of my HID bulbs and the other is a pic of the relay I'm going to buy on eBay (haven't bought it yet cuz I had to tend to getting a new cylinder head for my car and getting all that crap fixed). I'm only confused with how to wire up the Hi beams.

I know how to go about connecting the neg. and pos. terminal rings and the plugs to the ballast. Knowing that I only have to connect one side, once I remove the relay harness' black plastic (to have better access to the spades), the spade connectors from the blue and black wires coming from the relay harness go to the car's stock H4 harness, right? That would take up 2 of the 3 holes in the civic's stock H4 connector.

What would be the next step to connect the hi beams? Would I have to try and pry out the single blue wire/spade connector from the halo headlights (the halo's have 3 wires connecting to the h4 plug- red, black and blue...I'm guessing blue is the hi beams) and connect it to the remaining hole on the car's factory h4 harness?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

im not sure exactly what the wire colors are on your h4 plug. i believe the blue wire of that ebay harness should go to the h4 connector on one side (to the wire that is hot in both lo and hi beam mode, you need to test this with a voltmeter). you should only need one trigger wire. the black you prolly dont need to hook up. the hid ballast plugs should go directly to the ballast for each side, and you do not need the extra connector that is shown with the bulb. the two bulb connectors will plug to the ballast. for the hi beams, just hook them to the stock honda harness on each side. you should be able to reuse the h4 plugs the projector headlamps already include and just plug them in to the factory h4 sockets. just unhook the extra trigger wire for the hid harness and connect it directly to the harness blue wire.

SonikBoom

Thanks a lot, gearbox. I really appreciate your help. As soon as I get my car back (and get the relay harness in the mail), I'll go ahead and give it a whirl. Sounds simple and straight forward. Best part, it'll save me around $75 doing it myself.