Dealing with condensation in headlights

[Yugguy]

Since fitting my HIDS I'm getting condensation sometimes in my head light units when it's very cold. Various theories abound about this - it's to do with cutting a hole in the rubber cap for the ballast wiiring, or it's to do with HID bulbs running cooler than halogens.

Anyway I have fixed it by taking out the bulbs and blasting a hairdryer through for a while but my thoughts have turned to preventing it coming back. From what I've read even sealing the cap wire hole with flexible sealant doesn't work.

So I pondered a couple of solutions. First is some form of low output 12v heating solution - heated element wire, a motorcycle handle heating pad, or a small radiator - you can get these. Problems with this are controlling the heat and stopping overheating the bulbs and lowering the life.

Second is something I have read about which is mounting a PC cooling fan in a cutout, to draw air through and draw moisture out, this would have the advantage of keeping everything nice and cool.

Anyone got any thoughts?

 

[HDi fun]

Mine suffers from this as well, but it happened before the HiD fitments as well. No cutting with the HB4/9006 fitment so I have to assume that the headlights have become 'porous' elsewhere.

 

[Yugguy]

I also wondered if there were some drain or breathing holes underneath the units that had become blocked, I might take a look at the weekend if I can be bothered to drop the bumper fully.

 

[obi_waynne]

It needs to be airtight not watertight, this is not easy to achieve but a rubber bung would probably do the trick. Any damp in the air will condense on the cold outer headlight casing.

 

[Yugguy]

It needs to be airtight not watertight, this is not easy to achieve but a rubber bung would probably do the trick. Any damp in the air will condense on the cold outer headlight casing.

I think this is the reasoning behind the pc fan solution, constantly drawing out the moist air. With the ballast wiring coming through the rubber cap I'm not sure I'd ever get a good seal even using something like silicon sealant.

 

[obi_waynne]

I also meant to write about a problem with the hairdryer. Warm air suspends more moisture than cold air, so when using a hair drier the moisture is not vanishing, just becoming airborne ready to condense when it gets cold again. Leave it all open on a warm dry day then seal it up.

 

[Yugguy]

Well the idea with the hairdryer is to remove all the bulbs and port covers and blow through.

 

[Country Bumpkin]

Clean and dry the headlights and all sealing areas. Insert a small bag of silica gell that comes in certain electrical or dry goods boxes. This will work. You may want to put a bit of double sided tape to the bag to stop it roaming around the light unit. It may even need replacing at some stage in the future but it does the job for a considerable time.

 

[gummy]

Clean and dry the headlights and all sealing areas. Insert a small bag of silica gell that comes in certain electrical or dry goods boxes. This will work. You may want to put a bit of double sided tape to the bag to stop it roaming around the light unit. It may even need replacing at some stage in the future but it does the job for a considerable time.

Very good tip! havent heard it before,but very good :bigsmile::bigsmile:

 

[HDi fun]

Where would the silica gel go without disrupting the light reflected from the, err, reflector?

 

[HugoBoss]

I'm guessing just behind the lens HDI[I think]

 

[Country Bumpkin]

I placed mine on the bottom of the reflector. The bags are not exactly huge and I've not yet seen one interfere with any beam pattern or get hot. Don't discount this happening as lights vary so it may be a good idea to just keep an eye on it for a while with regular checks. However, it does work.