Tadas...Has S3 refunded you yet?!



P.S.: I'll try to take the xenon kit pictures tomorrow when I take of my carburetor to adjust the fuel screws....
Oh, and my HID bulb has failed keeps going on and off by itself although the battery voltage is constant....so I'm back to the stock halogen bulb had to buy a new one because the motha F**** chinese is ignoring my emails and won't replace the bulb that came with the kit!
Bought a 55w H4-3 6000k bulb this time from an good reputation ebay seller.. for $15,50 USD shipped..


Vando

Yep, S3 refunded as they had promised, apologized for the inconvenience and etc. Quite nice guys, just messed me up and cost me a lot of time and trouble

I'm waiting for the discs to be shipped from Germany, the seller said that he might be able to ship them on Monday.

Too bad your xenon bulb died it may well be a faulty bulb, but if you already have left positive feedback then Chinese guys won't reply to you... Maybe it's a loose contact or something else? Well you will know when you get your new bulb, it might be a ballast or that other high-voltage thingy. Check everything!

My xenon kit cost 28.45GBP ("free" shipping), that was last October, and now I found a kit exactly like mine, even the box matches! 55W 50w HID Xenon Motorcycle Slim Kit H4-3 Bi-xenon High Low 6000K Moto Bike | eBay
I didn't need to cut a single wire. Just plug and play.

It's most likely the bulb... I had the multimeter attached to the battery with the bike running and the battery was a stable 13.4v charging and the lights just flickered on and off repeatedly several times...

I bought my kit directly from an Alibaba seller for 26€ shipped and with 2x100cm extra extension cables..

I have the pictures on my camera... forgot it in the garage earlier this night.. I'm gonna go get them and upload them...


Vando

Pics:

ImageShack Album - 6 images

The 23000v part was better secure before but the cables were a bit tight and while trying to figure out what the problem was I secured them in that black electrical insulator tape...


Vando

These ballasts are made better than, let's say, for cars.

I had installed two Xenon kits to my car (not bi-xenon), and after a year or so one headlight (out of four: two low beam and two high) started flickering.

It was because of poor sealing of the ballast: moisture got into it and started messing it up. When I opened the ballast I saw that when it's buzzing (you know how ballasts do...) the sound was also "flickering" along with the light, and I saw a spark jumping from one electronic component to another (inside the ballast).

But I doubt that that's the case in your bike.

Anyway, let's wait for the new bulb and then it will be clear what's causing it.

Alibaba is full of fraudulent sellers, and it's good that you have received your purchased item at all. I wouldn't have bought from there if I were you
Everything is going to be okay, and you will be able to make other drivers blind just like me I'll need to adjust my headlight, because I feel it's too low (I had the headlight completely disassembled during sandblasting and painting...).

P.S. can't wait to get my brake discs!!!

Moisture in there sounds probable! I noticed immediately when the kit arrived that it sure wasn't waterproof... some screws weren't fully tightened of the ballast and there were tiny gaps on were the two thick cables go into the ballast.. I told the f*ing chinese and he just ignored that part of the email.

When I get my new bulb back, if it doesn't solve the flickering on/off I'll remove the ballast, open it up, dry it with a hair drier and non-conductive epoxy glue the inside of it like it's supposed to be!


Vando

If the new bulb doesn't solve your flickering problem, I really hope that opening and coating the electronic elements inside with epoxy would help!

At first I tried swapping the bulbs with non-flickering ones to test if that was the bulb's fault, but the "good" bulbs also flickered with that faulty ballast.

Then I've done the same thing on the ballasts: I dried the ballasts on the radiator in my living room for a few (2-3) days, to make sure they're completely dried (there was some condensed moisture on the inside of the covers), and then I applied lots of silicone sealant before putting the covers back and screwing them into place. Didn't help at all, flickering continued...

The damage may have been done, so I would suggest to open the ballast now and dry it ASAP. I ignored the flickering for a month or more, don't make the same mistake as me and act!

Cheers!

P.S. if you end up buying another kit I would recommend the one like mine: it's completely sealed, meaning you cannot disassemble the ballast, and no moisture can get inside because there's no leaky covers!

Flickering xenon bulb sounds like a ballast problem.

Everytime the bulb shuts off, it needs a new boost of voltage to make the xenon burn. The ballast only does that when you turn on the ignition (if things work properly). So if voltage gets too low and the bulb goes out, you need to cycle the ignition to turn it back on, where a normal bulb just dimmers.

So if it turns on/off by itself, it sure sounds like the ballast is shorting someway.

It can be both things!

Most likely it's a Bulb problem...Toyota US was law-sued because the same happens with most Toyota Prius with HID lights from 2006 to 2009, once the bulbs are replaced everything works properly.

So I went with the bulb.
Will find out when it gets here..

I saw an youtube clip a couple of days ago and it shows several dead HID bulbs and what happens when the guy tries to turn them on.
Very same problem as I'm currently having!

So yeah, bulb!

Okay, let's say it's a 50:50 chance that there's either the bulb or ballast:

but the bulb is cheaper to test so prior to buying a more expensive ballast you should go with the bulb

Cheers!

Hey there!

Still no brake discs - the seller dude said the machine broke down and he'll ship the discs on Monday. I can't ride due to crappy weather anyway (lots of rainy days).

Vando, how's the xenon repair going on? Still no new bulb I guess, but have you opened/dried/filled with epoxy to try and fix it before you get the new bulb?

Cheers!

Ahoy xD

You should've gone with the normal rotors as I did... Do you really think those ones from S3 Performance are any different from the Chinese ones?


Well, Still waiting for the bulb..hopefully this week it's here but probably only next Tuesday or Wednesday..
I disassembled the back case of the ballast and nothing looked burnt..
It actually looked almost nicely covered in epoxy.. still I'm gonna fill it up better after googling how to properly do it..


Vando

Vando, why does it seem that you ain't reading the posts?

I didn't go with the S3 brake discs. I got refunded from them.

I would have gone with the discs that you bought previously, the ones from China, but the Chinese don't ship the rear disc to Lithuania.

And after Jens showed this matching set of brake discs, that are pretty much the same price (or cheaper) as the other discs, I went with those. These discs are made in Germany. Also, should be shipped today

So no, I didn't go with S3 discs, and the Chinese refused to ship the rear disc to Lithuania, so f**k them.

Regarding the ballast - my faulty ballast didn't look burnt too. Try turning the lights on when the ballast is open, and look for a jumping spark. Also listen, the ballast buzzes when turned on, so it should go bzzzz-UM bzzzz-UM (when bzzzz is normal buzzing and UM is when the light bulb flickers). Well we won't know for sure until you receive the bulb.

Cheers!
Tadas.

Hey there!

I do read the post! I actually read the threads from beginning to the end.. Unless it's a Mezo rebuild.. than I just go for the pictures and a few posts!

Damn those Chinese with the rear rotor...
Almost as bad as the British.. I want a Venhill braided front brake hose for the YZ250 front suspension I got on my XT and the F*****s won't ship it to Portugal!


So, have the rotors arrived yet?

Regarding my ballast it's working ok for now..
I opened it up, added some "3-second glue" on some parts that looked not properly covered with epoxy that came with it, let it cure during the day in the pool house, closed it and used some liquid gasket to seal the seams all around the ballast.
Went to try it and... FAIL! Flickering on/off problem was still there!

So, after scratching my head for a couple of hours searching on google tonight, looking for a way to solve the problem I realised the only thing I hadn't tried yet was running the ballast power straight from the Headlight socket (it was previously connected directly to the battery using a special relay harness that came with it) and guess what, It now works!

Usually it's the other way around... but at least it's fixed!

And there won't be any problem with the myth of "melting wire" by running the ballast power directly from the headlight socket.. 1mm2 cable can handle around 16.5 amps and the ballast only takes 5.2 on warmup and 3.2 running!

Now at least I got a spare bulb!

Vando

Hi!

Sorry Vando, I thought you might not have read or maybe forgot (or maybe I wasn't clear enough) that I didn't go with the S3P

So maybe there was something bad in your wiring loom hacking?
If you can't get the hoses shipped directly from seller maybe forum members can help re-shipping them to you.

Yesterday I was gone whole day kayaking, but still I was expecting for the brake discs to arrive. After I got back home after baking under the sun for a whole day and getting a heat stroke, I found the discs - they were delivered!
So, never mind the headache, I went to change the discs on my bike, and after 20minutes, at about 11PM I was done. You know, I couldn't have slept if the discs weren't changed that night there was a thunderstorm, so I had to wait until this morning to test drive the bike...
And the bike stops great! Brake pads are still bedding in, but there's no more "jittering" in the front when I brake. Also, the bike looks great does anybody know what for is the large rubber ring between the original brake disc and spokes?

Here's some pics after first 20km ride






And here's the outline of the old brake disc: the old brake disc left a groove in the brake pads. It's still bedding in.


Cheers!