I helped my brother install HID's in his truck and they work great- except for some of the time when he starts the ignition only one of them comes on. When he turns the ignition off and then back on it comes on. This happens like 1 in 4 times that he turns the ignition. BTW, they are the same exact ones I have and I haven't ever had any problems. Anybody have any ideas?

 

It is the ballast. Sometimes you just get a defective one. Mine do it every now and then. You don't have to turn the ignition off. Just turn the lights off then back on. I found some on Ebay that are not suspose to do that or flicker. I am thinking about getting some.

http://stores.ebay.com/V-LEDS_V-HID-...QQftidZ2QQtZkm

 

HIDNY says that their digital ballasts don't flicker and can run at 9 volts if need be.

 

Mine did this every time you started the truck. It doesn't because the truck need so much power start and takes from the ballast. I and bother have same year truck and kit and his doesn't do and mine does. I replace the sensor on the dash with 12v red led so it thinks its day time all time. So I have turned the lights on by a switch.

 

says they have a 15 second warm up time, that's quite lengthy... mine take about 6-8 seconds and that's too long for me now.

i think tootall said his set flicks on, then 3-5 they are fully warm....

 

Yup, too much power is drawn on startup and one of the ballasts isnt firing. either disable your sensor so you lights will be manual, start the truck with the parking brake on then take it off once you are running or keep doing what you are doing but instead of shutting off the truck just flip the high beams on for a sec. when you go back to low you will have enough voltage to kick over both ballasts.
I have HID's that do this as well and right now I use the parking brake technique.

 

Does it hurt the ballasts to start the truck with the headlights on?

 

No doesn't hurt lights it’s just a pain. My hid take 2000v at start up for each ballets to enight the gas in light and after that use hardly anything.

 

Here are some links to check out how to disable auto headlights.
http://www.gmfullsize.com/forum/show...&postcount=106
http://www.gmfullsize.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110262
http://www.gmfullsize.com/forum/show...uto+headlights
18 post down i think on this above link about the 12v led.

 

Mine did this too. It was the passenger side lamp. I checked voltage at the bulb connector while starting. Cant recall what it was but it dropped much lower than the drivers side. I disabled the auto headlights and havent had a problem since. It's been over a year now.

You could probably also try hooking up a relay at the bulb connector and run a larger wire from the fuse block or battery if you wanna keep the auto headlights. Just an idea though.