Why not to use chinese HID's??

So my HID's have been acting kinda funky lately, sometimes when i turn them on it'll sputter. like flash really fast for 2-4 seconds, then stay off.
well i notice my wiring keeps arcing over to my bumper, THRU the insulation on the wire, which remains undamaged by this.
can anyone tell me why this is happening/how to fix?

the lights are chinese converted hella500's. xentech i beleive(if it matters)

don't use cheap wire. make your own harness with QUALITY 12awg wire and you'll be good.

the harness the hid's run off is a hella harness, piggybacking a h4 conv harness i made via go-jeep, both grounding to the battery. is there a way to check grounds with a multimeter? im no electrician

The arcing occurs after the ballast box, any special care need to be taken here? isnt post-ballast box voltage higher? . the wire does kinda look cheap, but its connected to the ballast w/ connectors, i will look and see if i can go around the connectors or get new ones.

Well if your just using 12V automotive wire thats why,You should probably be using wire rated for 1KV.

past the ballast i am using the wire that came with the HID's.
or do i need that high voltage wiring all the way from the source to the lights?
what about grounds, do those need to be ultra high flow as well?

everything does, HID's pull an incredible amount of amps vs. halogen or stock. to check your grounds use the ohm's function, it should be very very low, I can't think off the top of my head what the acceptable range is. Also check the wire that came with it. There was a good article in JP mag about 6-9 months ago involving what to look for in wire. The insulaion should be on the thin side with lots and lots of strands. Good wire is worth the extra money.

It sounds like the insulation isn't rated at the voltage that is being run through it. The electrons are leaking between the atoms in the insulation and arching to ground. It's technical.

Woah so the arc is coming out of the ignitors?? Those are the wires that connect the bulb to the ballast. That should definitely NOT be happening.

yeah, i have them turned off for the time being awaiting further inspection.
the wire i built my harness from was the 10awg primary wire from autozone, not the best,hopefully not the worst. im gonna try replacing the 'ignitor' wires, thanks for the terminology.

im guessing i would be half assing it, and inviting failure to assume i could just tape over it, or something, so im not even gonna lie to myself about that!

to keep this thread away from leading people astray, otherwise i was impressed with the light output, and budget! NO WAY could i afford the next step up in HID's, so budget still gets points.
build quality is apparently something else entirely, hopefully this can be solved easy enough.

DanMan2k06 said:

Woah so the arc is coming out of the ignitors?? Those are the wires that connect the bulb to the ballast. That should definitely NOT be happening.

Click to expand...

Maybe the insulation was damaged during installation, wear and tear, or just faulty to begin with.

Of couse I could just be wrong. :wierd: