Faulty hid ballast connector (bent socket pins) - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

soR1n · 10th August 2007, 13:48

Long story short, i bent (folded) the two metal pins in the bulb socket while trying to upgrade my Hid bulbs. i tried to straighten the pins out but now my right side hid only ignites/illuminates the bulb once in a while, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. when it doesnt, it makes a spark sound abt 4 rapid clicks, like its trying to ignite..

My question is.. Is there any way to replace the hid ballast connector or socket, whatever its called... its the wire with the socket for the bulb that goes from the ballast? i found these on ebay but they have "AMP" connectors which i dont see on my OEM ballasts.. and thats what im looking to replace..
(THIS)

or do i have to replace the entire ballast unit with something like this ?
(THIS)

i found some hid ballast connectors on ebay (see pic1) but im not sure how i would go about removing the old wire/connector from the OEM ballast and replacing it, or if it can even be replaced ?

...

Shardul · 10th August 2007, 23:20

how many wires do you have comming out of the oem connector. if you have two, then just but the ebay connector and cut the wires and use the sockets from the oem one.

On the other hand you can visit some salvage yards and see if they have some.

soR1n · 10th August 2007, 23:41

the bottom pic looks just like the OEM ballast that i have on my car. yah i think i can probably buy just the connector wire from ebay (top pic), and then cut my oem wire (i think it probably has 2 wires coming from it as well, i cant tell it looks just like the bottom pic) and splice them together.. that might work?..

Shardul · 10th August 2007, 23:44

that will work for sure. just make sure you insulate them properely.

soR1n · 11th August 2007, 05:30

i ended up picking up an entire ballast assembly (the one in the 2nd pic) off ebay for about $50. so i will just replace the whole unit and see how that works out.