Salab219

What was the coldest temp you have used your car in with the HID kit? Also does your day runners still work?

Thanks.

eggyacid

So with Hylux ballast, you don't need Relay or harness? I'm about done with all the other ones, they work for few weeks then I start to get error messages. I want a kit doesn't need all the relay and harness... If it works for you, i'll buy them and try it.

zoomx2ian

I am using it for over a year now. Other forum members use my suggest ballast as well, direct plug and play. If you use wire harness then you need to drill hole on the dust cover; too much work for me. I think I repeat this 100 times already in this topic already. This is going to be last one, thanks everyone.

Salab219

Zoomx2ian, your information has been quite helpful. Thanks for sharing. I was originally thinking of the TRS XB ballast but another user had issues with it and eventually took your recommendation and of course it worked! I understand your frustration of repeat questions, however I haven't seen anything about how cold you have used it in. I did see you are in Canada so my guess is pretty cold. Did you have any problems in the extreme cold?

Thanks again.

Salab219

I purchased the Hylux kit from ebay posted earlier. The kit took 20 days to arrive, but that is normal from China. I installed the kit on Saturday so it is too early to say how it performs, but they are clearly brighter and much bluer / whiter than the halogen. I would say the 5000k bulbs are almost identical to the LED running lights in color.

The install was not easy but is quiet possible to complete. The hardest part for me was figuring out the whole bulb holder situation since I couldn't see what I was doing.

1) remove the black pin from the wheel well access panel. I found a puddie knife worked well to pop the pin. Pry the pin out at least a 1/4 inch and then pull it out with your fingers.

2) slide the panel vertically about half an inch. And then it releases.

3) turn the dust cap of the headlight housing about 90 degrees counter clockwise and remove. I would wear a glove since there is not much room and you probably will slam your knuckles.

4) the bulbs turn counter clockwise about 3/4 of an inch and pull out. Unfortunately this was where I got stuck for a while since I couldn't see how the bulbs where held in.

5) bend the two metal clips, that are clipped on to the side of the black bulb base holder, out so you can pull the bulb out of the base. The two wires from the car go into a black base that the bulbs sit in.

6) next I would recommend separating the wires that are joined by the rubber gromit. I used scissors to cut the rubber. Be careful not to cut any of the wires.

7) the wires with the spade connectors plug into the black plastic base. You may have to reverse these if the lights do not turn on.

8) next squeeze the two wires from the bulb through the center of the metal bulb holder.

9) pinch the metal tabs that originally clipped to the plastic base so they bend inward slightly. This way when you slide the metal holder up to the base of the bulb it will hold it snugly.

10) connect the ballast to the bulb connection and then the other end to the leads from the original black bulb holder.

11) now the important and difficult part, make sure to place the bulb with the metal rod facing down. Unfortunately the design of the bulb and the key fit of the H7 holder in the ML, encourages the rod to be facing up. If you install it like this you will see a shadow in the light pattern. So you have to make it fit the opposit way. I couldn't see what was preventing it to lock-in properly but I was able to twist it with some effort and get it to hold. Remember the bulbs twist clockwise and lock-in by two metal tabs.

12) at this point everything is connected so try the headlight and make sure it lights. I had flickering when I tried the first light, but once both lights were installed the flickering completely went away.

13) once I knew it worked I looped back the leads from the black plastic base and zip-tied the wires to the factory wires leading in to the base. This way they should not come loose.

14) next I stuffed everything into the housing and placed the dust cap on and turned it clockwise.

15) test the lights again and if everything is good put the access panel in and slide it down.

16) place the black plastic pin in and push it in until it is flush.

17) do the steps above on the other side.

Salab219

1 week later and still no problems. I'm Thinking the retrofit source XB35 4700k are probably the best bulbs. 5000k matches the LEDs well but are maybe slightly too blue. Also the XB bulbs have a clip for the metal holder clip to connect to.

eggyacid

did you get the 35W or the 55w version? Did you use the relay? I'm going to order it this week, is eBay the best source?

Salab219

I went with the 35w. No relay just what came in the kit from eBay that was posted earlier in this thread. Here is the exact link...
http://m.ebay.com/itm/381096348196?_mwBanner=1&_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2 649

I am not sure if I would go with the 5000k bulbs or 4300k. The system has been great so far. I use the lights in auto all of the time. The lowest temp was around -3 fahrenheit.

There are no instructions so just follow the above and you should be fine. I am contemplating removing the bulbs and cutting a mirrored notch so the bulb could easily be flipped. It is important that the wired rod is facing down.

eggyacid

cool, i just ordered... now I have Kenson set I could put on eBay. Never installed just don't want to deal with Relays

listen2thebeatt

Are you guys installing HIDs because of the color/look or the brightness?

Salab219

Partially both, but for me mainly the brightness. I was having trouble seeing potholes, objects on the side of the road, and the road in poor driving conditions. My last car had great factory lights and the ML the worse of any of the cars I have had. Now they are second or third in visibility. I think it is pretty sad Mercedes would sell the ML with these halogen lights. They should be embarrassed.

pcsgrp

Sorry for the delayed response. We decided to go to Florida for the winter. However last year up in canada we were in -10 deg F and I did have a problem with one firing but I think the problem was the poor connection. I had the same kit on my e350 the year before an we were at -20 F. Without I
Issues. When that setup was installed we had a larger spade on the connection and it fit tight into the oem connector. On the cold days it does take a few seconds to get to full output

Salab219

Thank you for the response. I ended up getting the kit and so far so good. It has been in the negatives here and no problems. It warms up quicker than I thought and it is good to let your car cycle properly when it is cold so that gives the lights time to warm up.

listen2thebeatt

Totally agreed, I hate the look of halogen headlights and LED DRLs. Color temps are so off its gross. I opted to replace the halogens with 5000k h7s instead of going all out with HIDs (had HIDs in my last vehicle - 2011 XTerra Pro-4X - an had problems with them) and I am really happy with the h7 bulbs. I also replaced the parking lights with LED W5W bulbs and they are 10x brighter then the OEM parking lights. Combined, the headlights are a lot brighter and match the DRLs perfectly.

If anyone else wants to do the same, these are the h7 bulbs I purchased from Amazon

ricardo124

I concur. Those hylux ballasts actually work (for now). I do see a slight minor flicker that occurs occasionally but you really have to pay attention to see it. It's not the annoying flicker that actually turns off the light and turns back on like you're high beaming someone. I can certainly live with this. I'm impressed the ballast is actually managing the power fluctuations from the OBC quite nicely.

Selling the MTEC HIDs.

eggyacid

Where are you putting the hylux ballasts? I was going to stuff everything inside the housing but it's bigger than the previous ones. I had mine ziptied outside the ballast, just wondering what's everyone else doing

Salab219

I was able to stuff it in. I haven't heard any rattling either. It is tight but if you put the ballast in first and the igniter second it fits.

pcsgrp

I just had a funny thing happen with my lights on the right side. We had a fast drop in temp and my right light didn't fire up after the car was sitting. After I drove it a few minutes and restarted, it fired up. Went home and checked the connector into the ballast and noticed that the ballast pins were angled in towards the center. I bent them out a little and reattached the connector, it felt a little tighter. Hopefully that solved the problems. I am not having any connection issues with the lights in my e350 just the ML. I wonder if it is because they mount differently on the E then the ML

Matt-Dallas

I purchased the Hylux kit from ebay that was mentioned above. After installation on both sides, the lights turn on for the first 5 seconds and then turn off.

Any thoughts on correcting the issue?

Thanks

pcsgrp

I don't know about that kit, I got mine from HIDRUS and it appeared to be high quailty and they said it would work with the ML's without any error correctors. Once I got the connnection issue figured out and used a better connection (see my prior post about the connections) it worked without a hitch until a few weeks ago. I again seem to have a "connection" issue but also may have been a corrosion issue. To solve both that and a possible connection issue, I spread the pins out on the ballast and also cleaned the connectors with electrical connector cleaner. When I looked at them they seemed to have a light layer of corrosion so this weekend I am going to take the connector on the ballast apart and get in there with a scotchbrite pad and rub any off. These ballasts are very tricky when it comes to having a good connection. If somethign isn't right they just don't work

Matt-Dallas

Figured out the issue: crappy kit. Purchased another one from Xenonsupply.com and it works great. I would recommend others from buying the ebay "Hylux" kit. It's garbage. Waste of $100!

schorert1

this describes every aftermarket HID kit.

Matt-Dallas

For those who've stuffed your ballasts and igniters into the headlight housing, has anything overheated or melted during hot temperatures? I live in Dallas, and the temps here run in the 80s or even 90s at night.

pcsgrp

I put the ballast underneath the housing by attiching it with industrial velcro. Stays in place and I don't have to worry about overheating

VTENGR

Which LEDs did you buy? I'm looking to pick some up, but don't want to buy any that you can see the LED diodes since you can see the bulb through the headlight housing. I was thinking about these bulbs, but the 6000k has me nervous that they will look blue and not white.

Philips Bright White 194 (W5W)