HID kit install DIY

[Sayantsi]

For those of us without HIDs from the factory that may want them, here is a DIY on how to add them! Since the Genesis has projector-style light assemblies, all that is needed is a brighter bulb and the power to run them.

To start, I purchased a 35W DDM Tuning "slim ballast" (ie- digital) HID kit ( http://www.ddmtuning.com/products/DDM_35W_or_55W_Slim_Ballast_HID_Kit-101-0.html ) with H11 bulbs at 4300K. I went with DDM based on price and reputation - the set was $65 plus shipping so it came in under $80 for everything you'll need, and DDM has a good history of quality product and aftermarket support, plus a lifetime warranty on the hardware.

Some background - HID kits can come in 35W and 55W versions these days, but imo 35W is bright enough and runs cooler so you don't have to worry about overheating your light assembly, although I think OEM HIDs are 55W...

HID bulbs come in different temps, ranging from a "yellow" 3000K to "violet" 10,000+K. The brightest and closest to daylight are those in the 4000-5000K range, so I went with 4500K - the temp that will give you the closest light to actual daylight that DDM offers.

Now for the installation. What you'll need:

screwdriver or hole bunch
10mm socket
flashlight
drill with a 1" bit, pilot bit.
knife
scissors

Step one - open the hood. Looking at the engine bay over each light you will see the clips and bolts that hold down the cover plastic blocking you from your lights. Here I have my 10mm socket on the bolt you need to remove on the driver's side - the handle is pointing directly to the center most clip you'll need to remove. The first one you remove should be the one holding the end of the cover to the car, closest to the wheels - work your way in.

Removing the bolt is easy - lefty loosey. There are two clips on the driver's side and three on the passenger side that will also need to be removed. To remove these, take your screwdriver or hole punch and gently but firmly push in the center "dot" of the clip until it pops in. At this point you should be able to pull the whole tab up and plastic cover up with it. I don't bother removing the whole cover as I can get to the light assembly without doing so, but if you want to remove the whole thing, just keep popping the clips until you can take the whole cover off.

After you take the clips out and remove the bolt, the cover can easily be lifted. Here's a peek at what you'll be working with - note you can see the back cover of the light assembly:

Grab the cover for the light assembly and give it a quarter turn to get it off.

Now you have access to the light, but we don't touch it yet. Since the Genesis doesn't (that I know of) have an accessory cover you can remove, you 'll need to create one on the cover. You'll need just more than 1" to get the connector through the cover. To give you the basic layout, the HID system takes the car's low voltage current from the OEM connector inside the light assembly, runs it out of the assembly to the ballast, which goes to the ignitor, which goes to the HID bulb with a return wire. Since the ballast and ignitor don't fit inside the light assembly, we need to run the wires out of and back in to the assembly.

So, we'll need around a 1" hole, and thats about as big a hole as you can drill into the assembly cover you've removed. I happened to have a 1" drill bit designed for coring holes for deadbolts - it was part of a doorlock installation kit and it worked perfectly.

I braced the cover against my drill surface in one hand, and my drill in the other, and drilled the 1" hole. If you have an extra piece of wood lying around that you can drill into, perfect - don't drill into your kitchen table!

That hole is "just" too small, so I drilled a pilot hole, then bored it with a larger bit, then used the knife to cut open the clearance on the gap.

The pilot hole:

Bored and cut to open it up:

Now that we have a big enough hole, we can just squeeze the HID kit connector through it - make sure you go the right way through!

Once the big one is through, run the two smaller connecters through, and push through the grommet that is on the wires.

Its not the prettiest looking seal, but flatten out the rubber on both sides and you should be good. You could probably add a silicone seal to the outside if you really wanted to - I didn't think about it until after I was done.

Now... this install originally would have taken me about an hour, but when I first wired everything up, the lights wouldn't work, so I had to do some trouble shooting. The Hyundai uses a "reverse polarity" lighting system ( http://ddmtuning.com/support/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=26&nav=0 ), which basically means you need to swap the positive and negative wires at some point between the car connecter and the HID kit, or the lights won't work.

Look at the connector that goes into the ballast from the bulb assembly:

If you look at the sides, you'll see "+" and "-" and if you look inside, you'll see a guide so you can only connect the wires one way. You'll have to cut that guide out - I think. I didn't actually try to just connect the wire from the bulb to the ballast wire to see if you can just plug them in backward, I just took my knife and sliced at it until it was mostly gone. Make sure you can plug the wiring that goes from the HID bulb in the light assembly to the ballast in backwards. Note the lock and the clip are on opposite sides:

Once they fit, you're prepped and ready to swap bulbs!

Now comes the part you want to be very careful about - swapping the bulbs. Getting the old bulb out is simple enough, but you want to be very careful about removing it and especially installing the HID bulb - you don't want to break it in the housing!

To remove the old bulb, first, disconnect the car wiring from the bulb - its a simple two sided prong you have to pop with your finger nail. Its slightly difficult as you can't see what you're doing, but if you've changed lights on a car before its simple. Once the connecter is off the OEM bulb, give it a 1/3 turn and it will come out. You want to take the wiring off the bulb while its secure so you don't risk breaking it.

Now that the old bulb is out, take the new HID bulb, remove the plastic cover from it, and take the whole wiring harness with the bulb and now the light assembly cover to the car. Work the cover and bulb under the engine cover you loosened and install the HID bulb in the socket.Once that is safely secured, connect the OEM wiring to the connector inside the light assembly so you'll have power from the car to the ballast system. Once that is connected, reinstall the light assembly cover - make sure the rubber weather seal is in place as you do this, or it will become impossible to do! Line up the tabs and a quarter turn and you are done.

Now all you have to do is make the connections from the light assembly to the ballast and ignitor. Remember to connect the wiring from the light assembly to the ballast backwards! (see pic above) Once everything is wired, go turn on the car, turn on the lights, and you should see the HID fire and warm up.

If everything is working, you just need to secure the ballast and ignitor to the car and you'll be done with it. The DDM kit comes with double sided tape and zip ties to help you clean up the install. I took the tape and cut it into three pieces:

The bigger square for the ballast, the smaller rectangle for the ignitor:

Apply the tape to the bottom of the ignitor and the ballast, and tape the ignitor to the ballast:

Now you just need to tape it to the car. Try to stick the assembly some place where its out of the way if you ever need to change the bulb. This is easier to do on the passenger side. Here's the driver's side with everything installed:

One side done, one to go!

 

[scottdk]

Great post FYI to anyone.....All OEM HID systems are 35W. 55 would be way to bright!

 

[Sayantsi]

Great post FYI to anyone.....All OEM HID systems are 35W. 55 would be way to bright!

Good to know - and yes, 55W slides the brightness of each bulb way up, so 4500K end up being like 6000K or so - not necessary imo.

 

[Disaster]

For those of us without HIDs from the factory that may want them, here is a DIY on how to add them! Since the Genesis has projector-style light assemblies, all that is needed is a brighter bulb and the power to run them.

To start, I purchased a 35W DDM Tuning "slim ballast" (ie- digital) HID kit ( http://www.ddmtuning.com/products/DDM_35W_or_55W_Slim_Ballast_HID_Kit-101-0.html ) with H11 bulbs at 4300K. I went with DDM based on price and reputation - the set was $65 plus shipping so it came in under $80 for everything you'll need, and DDM has a good history of quality product and aftermarket support, plus a lifetime warranty on the hardware.

Appreciate the post and the link to DDM. I bought the kit which is now on sale for $50. There have been some minor changes, the sticky pad is two cut pieces for example.

One thing I wasn't impressed with was the connection to the original lighting socket. The kit does not come with a plug. Instead you are just supposed to jam the two metal blades into the original socket with no sealing or retention feature. I was a bit surprised by this. If these blades were to slip back out they could short out. Looks like I'll have to follow up with electrical tape....not the cleanest way to do things.

In the instructions it says you might get a kit with a socket or just plain wires. Not sure if that is the luck of the draw or if there is no socket for H11's.
https://ddmtuning.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=14&nav=0,1

On a positive note, since there is no plug to deal with, one can just reverse the wires at the lighting socket to get the correct polarity.

 

[Disaster]

I was just looking to see if there was a better place to cut a hole in the light housing, instead of the cover, when I noticed there is tons of room inside the light housing underneath the bulb. I suspect the factory HID ballast assembly is installed there. I placed the ballast at the bottom of the housing below the light, tucked in the relay and wires and could easily put the cover back on...no drilling required. Here it is before taping it down and attaching the wires. Before stuffing it all into housing I snipped off rubber sealing boot and clear plastic screw cap ring. I didn't want the sharp ring cap to vibrate and possibly cut through the wiring.

http://www.genesisowners.com/hyundai-genesis-forum/album.php?albumid=250&pictureid=1564

Interestingly, I didn't notice much extra brightness on the wall in front of the car after changing one light. It just looked "whiter. (4500K H.I.D.'s vs. 3000K Halogens.) But this also might be because I didn't have them on for more than a minute or two. H.I.D.'s can take a few minutes to reach full brightness. On the other hand, the difference in heat, coming from the light was dramatic. The old halogens throw much more light in the infrared zone. My hand got hot when I held it a few inches in front of the light. I couldn't feel any heat from the H.I.D.'s. Out on a test drive I could really notice the extra light...and again the color...or lack of yellow color. I like how the fog lamps fill with a warm glow.

P.S. One negative to these kits is the light is hard wired to the harness. It looks like the only way to replace a burnt out light would to be to buy another light/harness kit. I'm not sure they even sell them without the ballast/relay.

 

[scottdk]

P.S. One negative to these kits is the light is hard wired to the harness. It looks like the only way to replace a burnt out light would to be to buy another light/harness kit. I'm not sure they even sell them without the ballast/relay.

It's no sweat. The bulb from the harness just disconnects and you can connect a new bulb. My kit is from Diodedynamics, and on their website they sell a pair of HID bulbs for $40 before shipping ($5 more for 3000K).

The following link sells the same brand bulbs for $16 to your door. I bought a set for my Sonata from there since Paul at DD wouldn't send me the correct bulbs. He finally did and now I have an extra pair.

http://www.genesisowners.com/hyundai-genesis-forum/showthread.php?t=4240

 

[Disaster]

It's no sweat. The bulb from the harness just disconnects and you can connect a new bulb. My kit is from Diodedynamics, and on their website they sell a pair of HID bulbs for $40 before shipping ($5 more for 3000K).

The following link sells the same brand bulbs for $16 to your door. I bought a set for my Sonata from there since Paul at DD wouldn't send me the correct bulbs. He finally did and now I have an extra pair.

http://www.genesisowners.com/hyundai-genesis-forum/showthread.php?t=4240

Thanks. I'll take another look at my bulbs to see if there is possibly a similar hookup. When I was looking at them during the install they looked like the plastic fitting was molded on. I do see DDM sells "bulbs only" but curiously the pictures shows a bulb and harness which looks different than the one that came with the kit.

http://www.ddmtuning.com/index.php?p=product&id=264&parent=85

My only other concern is the quality of the light output with the H.I.D. in the Halogen projector. This article makes me wonder if Hyundai doesn't use a different reflector and maybe even lens, with their Halogens. It suggests H.I.D.'s installed in Halogen designed reflectors/projectors will have uneven light because of the difference in the emitters (Halogen coil vs. Xenon gas discharge.) It suggests that this uneven lighting will cause brighter and darker spots that will give the illusion of better night vision but actually make your vision worse, because your eyes will adjust to the hot bright areas and you won't see as much in the dimmer areas.

I didn't notice this when driving down our unlit street...but I didn't particularly look for it, at that time, either. I could have been fulled by the illusion that is mentioned.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

I need to evaluate them more at night to see how they do on the open road. Perhaps I'll even try to take some lighting distribution pictures with my camera. I might try to do some pictures, with and without the H.I.D.'s but I loath to take them back out. The bulb's plastic tabs are REALLY hard to fit in the slots.

 

[Sayantsi]

I was just looking to see if there was a better place to cut a hole in the light housing, instead of the cover, when I noticed there is tons of room inside the light housing underneath the bulb. I suspect the factory HID ballast assembly is installed there. I placed the ballast at the bottom of the housing below the light, tucked in the relay and wires and could easily put the cover back on...no drilling required. Here it is before taping it down and attaching the wires. Before stuffing it all into housing I snipped off rubber sealing boot and clear plastic screw cap ring. I didn't want the sharp ring cap to vibrate and possibly cut through the wiring.

http://www.genesisowners.com/hyundai-genesis-forum/album.php?albumid=250&pictureid=1564

That's great - I might move my ballasts into the light assembly if there's room - I never even thought of that.

P.S. One negative to these kits is the light is hard wired to the harness. It looks like the only way to replace a burnt out light would to be to buy another light/harness kit. I'm not sure they even sell them without the ballast/relay.

Unless something changed, the lights should unclip from the harness. The harness is one part, and you order whichever bulbs you want to go with it. Do you happen to have any pics of the assembly before you installed it?

 

[Sayantsi]

Appreciate the post and the link to DDM. I bought the kit which is now on sale for $50. There have been some minor changes, the sticky pad is two cut pieces for example.

One thing I wasn't impressed with was the connection to the original lighting socket. The kit does not come with a plug. Instead you are just supposed to jam the two metal blades into the original socket with no sealing or retention feature. I was a bit surprised by this. If these blades were to slip back out they could short out. Looks like I'll have to follow up with electrical tape....not the cleanest way to do things.

In the instructions it says you might get a kit with a socket or just plain wires. Not sure if that is the luck of the draw or if there is no socket for H11's.
https://ddmtuning.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=14&nav=0,1

On a positive note, since there is no plug to deal with, one can just reverse the wires at the lighting socket to get the correct polarity.

Interesting changes - I wonder why they removed the socket.

 

[Sayantsi]

My only other concern is the quality of the light output with the H.I.D. in the Halogen projector. This article makes me wonder if Hyundai doesn't use a different reflector and maybe even lens, with their Halogens. It suggests H.I.D.'s installed in Halogen designed reflectors/projectors will have uneven light because of the difference in the emitters (Halogen coil vs. Xenon gas discharge.) It suggests that this uneven lighting will cause brighter and darker spots that will give the illusion of better night vision but actually make your vision worse, because your eyes will adjust to the hot bright areas and you won't see as much in the dimmer areas.

I didn't notice this when driving down our unlit street...but I didn't particularly look for it, at that time, either. I could have been fulled by the illusion that is mentioned.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

Imo the Genesis uses projector housings that will properly throw light with an HID bulb. If it was a reflector housing, you'd have problems. Light is even and well-dispersed, and while I've seen some faint light artifacts in the form of rectangles up high (like when approaching my garage door), I've seen the same thing with factory HIDs in other cars.

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[Disaster]

1. That's great - I might move my ballasts into the light assembly if there's room - I never even thought of that.
2. Unless something changed, the lights should unclip from the harness. The harness is one part, and you order whichever bulbs you want to go with it. Do you happen to have any pics of the assembly before you installed it?
3. Interesting changes - I wonder why they removed the socket.
4. Imo the Genesis uses projector housings that will properly throw light with an HID bulb. If it was a reflector housing, you'd have problems. Light is even and well-dispersed, and while I've seen some faint light artifacts in the form of rectangles up high (like when approaching my garage door), I've seen the same thing with factory HIDs in other cars.

1. It makes for a clean installation. No sealing issues to worry about. There is enough room in there to stick a couple more of those slim ballasts!
2. I will take more pics of the installation this weekend...including the taped socket. I may be too chicken to remove bulb though. It was a royal PITA to put in...very tight.
3. The lack of a socket looks really cheap, but I've seen other kits that are the same way (including a video on Youtube.) I am even less comfortable after thinking more about it and will devise some better retention than a few winds of electrical tape. I'm thinking of some kind of plastic with slots big enough for the wires, but too small for the connectors. That would slide over the wires and than tie strap to the OEM connector. The tie strap would go between the two wires and around the OEM connector and the homemade plastic clip. Alternatively, I might just look for the OEM connector or harness. One shouldn't mess with the high voltage side of these HID's, but it it wouldn't hurt to cut and solder on a connector on the 12 volt side. Hmmm...just had another idea. Might retain it with heat shrink tubing. Would still fab a slotted piece of plastic...but then heat shrink over it and the original connector. That would hold real tight.
4. That would be the least expensive route...but the poorest by far because a reflector optimized for HID light distribution would not be for optimal halogen light distribution. You'd have the weakest light throwing out the poorest distribution.

P.S. Does anyone know why my photo won't show...but the link works? I pasted it from this forum's own gallery and it shows up fine when I click the link to it in the gallery. I even tried resizing to 640x640 with no luck. Weird because I've posted pics from the albums before.

 

[Disaster]

Imo the Genesis uses projector housings that will properly throw light with an HID bulb. If it was a reflector housing, you'd have problems. Light is even and well-dispersed, and while I've seen some faint light artifacts in the form of rectangles up high (like when approaching my garage door), I've seen the same thing with factory HIDs in other cars.

I got flashed on a trip last night so I decided to measure the beam height 25 feet from our garage (Beam should be two inches below headlight height. It was fine or if anything, a bit low...measured approx 24".) However, what I did notice was very poor dispersion...especially in the lower and side portions of the light. This matches what I saw when I drove last night. I noticed as I came up on other cars, they cast a light down at the ground in front of their cars. When I drove up next to them their downward cast halogen light was much brighter than the light coming from the HIDs.

In the garage shot, the right light seems to be a bit brighter too...or more concentrated.

I should run a beam test of the original halogens to see if they were this bad. The fog lights really help fill in the ground area. When I get a chance I'll run comparison to my '03 Acura TL which has reflector HID's.

and here is with foglight fill...much better.

FYI: Camera setting for this picture was shutter speed 1/50th, aperature F5.6 and ISO 400. Taken with Canon Xti w/18-55mm stock lens set to approx. 50mm from driver's seat.

P.S. I had the car idling for about 5 minutes so the HID's should have been to full strength.

 

[Sayantsi]

Disaster, how do you feel about placing the ballasts and ignitors in the light assembly? Do you think things might get too hot to have everything stuffed in there? I took a look tonight, but I'm not sure that I want everything crammed in there...

 

[Sayantsi]

Fwiw, I've had HIDs in cars for years and I've been getting flashed since day one, even with stock lights set too low. Some people just think the lights are too bright and assume you have your brights on. Its the worst on my way to the beach when I'm driving through the country - those folks really haven't seen HIDs before and pretty much everyone flashes me.

As for the hot spot, I do not have that in my lights...

 

[Disaster]

Disaster, how do you feel about placing the ballasts and ignitors in the light assembly? Do you think things might get too hot to have everything stuffed in there? I took a look tonight, but I'm not sure that I want everything crammed in there...

That is a good question. It would certainly be more contained environment for heat, having the ballasts in the housing. However, unless the ballasts were actually damaged by the heat, I suspect it isn't the issue because I get less light directly...not just after the ballasts warm up.

I have two suspicions to follow up on. First, the lights might not be located correctly...causing the bad beam patterns. This is likely because if they were just dimmer the entire beam pattern should be dimmer...not have hot spots (unless running dimmer causes poorer distribution in the HID itself.) The other possibility is bad ballasts.

I'm going to investigate some more and use a heat gun to measure temps.

P.S. I saw your light distribution shot, in your gallery, and it looks great. Something is definitely amiss with mine.

 

[Sayantsi]

It concerns me that you said the DDM kit is different - also, are you using H11 bulbs?

 

[Disaster]

I ordered the kit with H11 bulbs...though I have no idea how to tell if that is what I got. They fit the slots...but are really tight to install.

They did look like the H11 bulbs in this Philips picture....though there was another clear plastic washer under the red washer. I wonder if that washer should be removed?

http://www.xenonguru.com/products/bulbs_ballasts_wiring.shtml

 

[motorsportsauthority]

Yes, you remove the washer.

 

[Disaster]

Yes, you remove the washer.

Ackkk....he says...sheepishly. I just got back from removing the washer when I read your note. The light is much better. It is hard to believe that 2mm of washer could make such a difference.

The light is much better but I'm still not sure if it is where it should be until I can compare it to my Acura's HIDs. My son is out with that car now so I'll have to wait till he gets back to take pics.

Here is the updated pics with the washer out. The first pic is without the fogs...the second with them. The car is 25 feet from the garage wall...per the standard light test requirement.

As promised, here are the Acura's stock reflector HID's. These are 7 years old so they've probably dimmed some from when they were new...with and without fogs.

and the very pitiful 10 year old Toyota Avalon Halogens. The lens covers are yellowed which probably doesn't help matters.

 

[Sayantsi]

I think part of the issue is how you are taking the pics - they look underexposed - its almost better to take a pic at dusk when you can get a better idea for the light spread. Either way, the HIDs in the Genesis look much brighter than those in the other cars, even with hot spots. Also, maybe you have the lights inserted upside down? Don't know if that makes a difference, but when I inserted mine, I had the 90° plug perpendicular to the ground and twisted it down as I locked the bulbs to the assembly.

Headlights in general should illuminate from ~10' to 350' in front of the car. The light pattern should drop 2" every 25'. I think the Genesis headlights should cast light up to 150°, to the pattern should be wide. I will take some pics of my headlights tonight and show my patterns.

One thing you should see is constant light on the ground from about 10' out. Fog lights typically illuminate 0-25' out and up to 180° - the purpose is low speed, low visibility, so they are to help focus on the road right in front of you.