HID's causing noise.

K Tried this before and got nothing, so I'll try again since theres more folks with HID's now.

A while back I had a 92 XJ which I installed HID's into. Whenever I had the headlights on, the radio(not CD) has an incredible amount of static/noise. I got rid of that truck and bought my 2000 XJ. Installed my lights and everything was fine and dandy since May. However, the noise has just recently come to the 2000.

I have no idea how the HID's are causing noise on only the radio. I'm assuming the antenna is picking up noise from the frequency(ies) of the ballasts?

Is there any way to ditch this noise? I have satelite radio, so radio is pretty much my main source of sound...Could I wrap the ballasts with tin foil or something? LOL.

Any help or ideas are appreciated. My thoughts were that the headlight and radio were somehow on the same ground, but then it would affect CDs also, so it must have something to do with the antenna? The noise doesnt change with RPM or speed or anything, but disappears as soon as the lights are off. I have installed a noise eliminator thing on the radio before(one that spliced into all the +12, memory and ground wires) and that didn't do anything either.

Again...thoughts and ideas are welcome and apprciated...can't deal with the sound anymore

Sounds like you have a ground loop somehow. Are the HIDs just grounded to the chassis or do they run back to the battery?

They're plugged into the factory headlight plugs irate1:

Try grounding both ballasts to the sheet metal. You should have both ballasts on a dedicated relay using the head lamp switch to trigger the relay (for best performance) if you don't already.

If not grounding them to the sheet metal they should be run back to the (-)neg post on the battery. Yes Slo-Sho is 100% correct when he says you should be using the headlamp switch to trigger a relay.

Are they run off of the stock harness? If so that's a big no-no. Your stock switch is gonna get fried. I've had tons of problems with grounds and ground loops, so I made a seperate power distibution block just for my aftermarket accessories.

The hid's on my vw were noisy too. You could hear the ballasts pretty well. I grounded them and the relays to the chassis and upgraded my grounds and the noises went away and my charging system and lights seemed to perform better.

My xj has a fair amount of rpm sensitive feedback through the grounds somewhere. I grounded my relays for the headlamps to the body. That got rid of some of the noise. I grounded my cd player to the firewall and that got rid of alot more noise. I just need to finish making new ground for the engine bay and that should quiet the rest of it down.

I dont have a relay setup, and yes, they ARE plugged into the factory headlight wiring. There is NO reason not to. They use less amps than halogens, so there isn't a need for any of that...I havent had any problems for the 2 years that these have been in my truck(s). Other than the radio noise that is. My ballasts only pull like 3 amps, where halogens pull from 6-10 amps.

I'm definitely going to ground the ballasts to the body, if nothing then the battery directly. With my old truck I had tried grounding the CD player to the sheet metal, but recall that didn't do anything.

Thanks for the help all...definitely got a little more help this time around.

Vanquish said:

I dont have a relay setup, and yes, they ARE plugged into the factory headlight wiring. There is NO reason not to. They use less amps than halogens, so there isn't a need for any of that...I havent had any problems for the 2 years that these have been in my truck(s). Other than the radio noise that is. My ballasts only pull like 3 amps, where halogens pull from 6-10 amps.

I'm definitely going to ground the ballasts to the body, if nothing then the battery directly. With my old truck I had tried grounding the CD player to the sheet metal, but recall that didn't do anything.

Thanks for the help all...definitely got a little more help this time around.

Click to expand...

The ability of wires to carry current degrades over time. The OEM head light harness is no exception. Where the headlamp harness plugs into the rest of the body harness is not sealed. Water, dust and anything else in the engine compartment could and would get into the connectors and increase the rate of degredation. This have happened to both my '94 and my '96 XJ's including one wire completely rotted away at the connector. This may not be what is happening in your case but it would not hurt to upgrade to better wires and relays. :cheers:

Thank you for that actually. Didn't know the connection there was not sealed? Where would this be?

However I do know my lights are getting proper amount of jiuce, or they would flicker, and I could not use them. (I've seen it, having the heater going and defroster+mirrors, and stereo, voltage can drop kinda low at idle...even with a red top.)