DDM Slim Ballast HID Kit Install Writeup (pics)

[Dr. C36]

Hey guys,

Heres my H4 DDM (aka stealth auto) Slim Ballast HID kit. It has a rare feature of having the high beam shield to prevent blinding on coming traffic in an H4 application. Here are the pics (hopefully you can see them).

(pics coming)

[Dr. C36]

Ok heres the general breakdown of the kit and I'll try as be as comprehensive as possible so anybody with even basic automotive knowledge can do this.

First heres the kit itself and how the wiring works, its a bit more confusing than most HID kits but the DDM kit makes it a piece of cake to install b/c of its quality construction and good design. Pardon the cheesy art but it helps explain how it works...

-The connectors circle in orange connect directly to the OEM plug inside the housing. the blue arrows indicate direction (going towards the actual bulb itself so you can follow the path).

- next is the green circled connectors which connect that portion to the ballast (again pretend you are electricity going towards the bulb).

- Next, the ballast and then soon after that the igniter (small black box).

- Next is the small black box (igniter) and then after that the slim ballast itself.

- after that are the connectors circled in yellow which actually connect the igniters to the actual bulb itself which then lights up the bulb.

so basically the wiring harness comes full circle back into the headlight housing and straight to the bulb.




step 1:

Cut a 1" hole in the housing in order for all the wires and everything to pass through. I chose the flat peice directly behind the lowbeam b/c it seemed like the most logical location to install it and also allowed for the most room. The quality of the grommet is car nicer than any other HID kit I have seen, I had an Xtec kit and it was a joke... ebay... forget about it. The grommet has 1.25" inner lip and 1.5" outer lip, the actual diameter being 1.0" so thats what I chose for my hole diameter and its perfect size for that square section of the housing cover

Here are the pics below





had to stop for today b/c of rain & outta daylight. Will finish the writeup in the next few days.

[A.N.]

Hey, just curious what kit you have in your low beams? I want to install an H7 kit in my B200, but a local tuner shop that tried to install them couldn't do it. Apprently the bulb would turn on then shut off after a few moments. They tried different resistors but couldn't get it to work. They didn't get a bulb malfunction warning, 'cause I don't have that option, but it still turned off. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Anthony

[Dr. C36]

Yes, you need the inline capacitors. that happens on all new german cars. Get the special inline capacitors and that won't happen.

[Dr. C36]

hey guys,

finished HID install. I will have pics up later tonight as well as the rest of the writeup. should be interesting to see the results.

[Dr. C36]

Heres the breakdown of the remainder of the install:

Step 2:

locate lowbeam plug and install the blue & black leads. Black goes to the brown OEM plug (ground), and blue goes to the yellow wire (lowbeam). high beam obviously gets nothing.






Step 3:

Install bulb carefully by undoing the springs, putting bulb in, then reputting the headlight bulb spring back in place. Then pass wires through the opening you made in the housing cover (may need to be slightly larger than 1").




Step 4:

Pull grommet through so only the first layer of the grommet comes out and sits flush. Then finish up all your connections (they all go only one way so you can't really mess it up, dummy proof).




Step 5:

make sure you put your Ballast in a place that won't get wet or isn't too far away. I weight or as OEM / stealth install as possible so I chose certain locations that looked nice and clean. Also, remember not attach it to something you may upgrade later (aka airbox, if you plan on getting CAI do NOT attach ballast to airbox). Also you NEED slim ballast do do HID, there is almost NO room on passenger side b/c of airbox so I had to mount the ballast UNDERNEATH the airbox opening, you can barely even see it in the pics its hidden so well.

[Dr. C36]

Pics of the kit at night:

Finally got dark, went outside to take some pics of the kit at night. Surprisingly the bulb reflector/shield did an excellent job of directing the light, you can see just how crisp the cut off is. For an OEM housing this is pretty damn amazing, usually you only get this kind of cut off on projector housings.

There is SOME leakage but its very minor and honestly I don't think it will be an issue (look at hand shadow comparison to see the leakage, its not much but there is a tiny bit. Not that bad though honestly i've seen ebay crystal headlights + halogens with worse leakage than this.

Overall I am very happy with the install and the results. The output is probably between 2-3x more than stock and I can see further down the road than before. those pics aren't even with fogs on so you can see its pretty damn bright. I opted to aim my headlights slightly lower and to the right just to insure nobody gets blinding from oncoming traffic, with the HIDs i felt the stock settings were bit too high and to the left for comfort. Remember be courteous of others when doing this.

The DDM kit with special reflector sheild turned out to be a great investment for $140 shipped. I highly recommend and I would not recommend any other kit for our H4 housing W202s. It really makes it possible to have HIDs in stock housing and is the only kit of its kind that I've seen to do that.