Headlight ballasts

ghohouston

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2013
Location
Lewisville, Texas
TDI
2001 Jetta Sedan TDI 5 Speed
I have a set of Midwest Light Biz lights on my 01. Great lights, quite a few issues out if the ballasts as of lately (they have exceeded their rated lifespan). I'm wanting to buy a new set of ballasts, but the W99's my lights came with, have nothing identifying a brand on them. I would be glad to spend a little more on a quality product rather than cheap- short lifespan, if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks in advance.
 

PakProtector

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
Son's car has Hylux A0050, 45W hella-clone ballast on it, and mine has been running Morimoto 35W. No troubles with either. I usually deal with Retrofitsource, unless there is good reason( like patience, and time to wait on an Aliexpress order).

Douglas
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2002 Golf 6MT; 2015 Sportwagen 6MT; 2016 A3 e-tron 6DSG
....and time to wait on an Aliexpress order).
Somewhat unrelated, but lately, orders from Aliexpress have been barely longer than Amazon for me. Even though there's an Amazon distribution warehouse 250km from me here on Vancouver Island, everything I order is 7-10days (and I pay for Prime 🤔).
Last few AliX orders have arrived in 12-16 days (free shipping). One was even 8 days.
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
Cheap Ballasts: DDM Tuning. But you'll want to open the cover and apply a thin bead of RTV around the seal. The "seal" in them isn't great. I've done this to a few sets and they've been going for 8 years +

Modern/spendy: Morimoto. Haven't had any issues with their ballasts.

Best: OE Hella Gen3. They came in early Audi, BMW, Benz, etc. you can find good deals on eBay. These will seriously outlast anything. I buy them up when I see them. Running them on 2 vehicles with no issues. Combined with some Osram or Philips OE bulbs, they're a workhorse
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2002 Golf 6MT; 2015 Sportwagen 6MT; 2016 A3 e-tron 6DSG
Best: OE Hella Gen3. They came in early Audi, BMW, Benz, etc. you can find good deals on eBay.
Just took a quick look for those on ebay....just under $500?!
I'm assuming these are not the "good deals" you were referencing; I'll have to keep checking back, I guess.
Do they ever come down below $100? Or is that a little too optimistic?
 

PakProtector

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
Just took a quick look for those on ebay....just under $500?!
I'm assuming these are not the "good deals" you were referencing; I'll have to keep checking back, I guess.
Do they ever come down below $100? Or is that a little too optimistic?
Just called up one for $38... actually, two for $78 delivered, and bought them... :)

These have the ignitor built in, and have *MANY how-to upgrade them( lower R_ds-on MOSFET's, and lower drop diodes ). It is relatively easy to get a set of AMP connectors from folk like RetrofitSource and drop the D2S plug to run projectors that take H1 bulbs.

Douglas
 
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KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
Just took a quick look for those on ebay....just under $500?!
I'm assuming these are not the "good deals" you were referencing; I'll have to keep checking back, I guess.
Do they ever come down below $100? Or is that a little too optimistic?
Yeah I usually buy them around $25-30. You can upgrade them, but risk the life-cycle of them. I opted to keep all mine in stock form, there's PLENTY of light.

@PakProtector, I went as far as actually cutting off the connectors that come on the ballasts and adding amps directly to the ballast. Gives more freedom of connections and such. You can use an intermediary harness with D2S ballasts to the amp connectors which makes tucking the wires cleanly, easier.

Hella 00776047 is my goto when I look for them, but there's a lot of the "same" ballast out there with different part numbers for the different OEM vehicles they were in. All can be used you might just have to add your own amp connections, which is easy
 
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KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
Just took a quick look for those on ebay....just under $500?!
I'm assuming these are not the "good deals" you were referencing; I'll have to keep checking back, I guess.
Do they ever come down below $100? Or is that a little too optimistic?
@Nuje , one left, $40:

Gen 3 Ballast

Also in that link, if you scroll down the page you'll see "similar" used ballast like it for the same price. They're out there. I saw one in there for $31 as well,
 

PakProtector

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
MIne got in. Nice condition too. The lower R-ds-on MOSFET's are likely going to be a good idea in order to keep the rest of the bits in there cool. Mouser makes hunting such things pretty easy. How much gate capacitance, what the on resistance is, D-S voltage tolerance...and so on. Fortunately, newer is generally better in all of the parameters.

Douglas
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
MIne got in. Nice condition too. The lower R-ds-on MOSFET's are likely going to be a good idea in order to keep the rest of the bits in there cool. Mouser makes hunting such things pretty easy. How much gate capacitance, what the on resistance is, D-S voltage tolerance...and so on. Fortunately, newer is generally better in all of the parameters.

Douglas
Did you order from that eBay link I posted?
 

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”
Click the eBay link I posted, there is one left for $39. If you scroll down there are "similar" items (same ballast) for around the same price and cheaper
Well shucks i can't even log in to eBay on my phone apparently 🤔 Haven't logged on there in a while
 

SilverGhost

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Location
Back in So Flo - St Lucie
TDI
'05 Golf - totaled :(, wife's '13 Beetle - buy back, TDIless
Anyone have a write up on fixing and/or upgrading the Hella ignitors? I got a set from a user that didn't get to them and can't find that thread.

jason
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2002 Golf 6MT; 2015 Sportwagen 6MT; 2016 A3 e-tron 6DSG
I had no idea that was even possible. I remember taking one of those apart once and just saw a circuit board and wiring, all caked into sealant of some sort. Punted then and there.
If you find some kind of DIY, please post back here, though.
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
Anyone have a write up on fixing and/or upgrading the Hella ignitors? I got a set from a user that didn't get to them and can't find that thread.

jason
Are you talking about being able to run them as 55w ballasts? If so, IMO, don't. Those hellas are workhorses as is and 35W is plenty of light. Going to to 55w will wear your bulbs out quicker as well. HID planet should have the write up though.
 

PakProtector

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
The primary benefit to the Hella is they fire up the bulbs quite quickly. Where the Mori, and even the Hylux take a bit to have the bulbs up to full brightness, the Hella are darned near instant in comparison. I have not modified any of mine, past taking two and applying AMP plugs instead of the D2S plug. Two ready to go, and two(maybe 3 ) unmolested on the shelf.

Douglas
 

SilverGhost

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Location
Back in So Flo - St Lucie
TDI
'05 Golf - totaled :(, wife's '13 Beetle - buy back, TDIless
I found it! There is a post in "what did you do to your MkIV today" back in Jan 2021 talking about it. I got my ballasts from a member and never got around to the mod. BTW, here is link to the post LINK.

The post by @KrashDH linked to a FB post that still works. It is pages of a PDF posted as pictures, but it is there. Only thing that sucks is the links to DIGI-Key don't work (picture of the PDF - links don't carry over). I have found most of it on DigiKey.com for about $50. Here is a link to shopping cart with the parts LINK. The heat sink is total guess - I figure as long as it is big enough I can trim to fit

Jason
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
The primary benefit to the Hella is they fire up the bulbs quite quickly. Where the Mori, and even the Hylux take a bit to have the bulbs up to full brightness, the Hella are darned near instant in comparison. I have not modified any of mine, past taking two and applying AMP plugs instead of the D2S plug. Two ready to go, and two(maybe 3 ) unmolested on the shelf.

Douglas
Yeah I also have a lot of spares since I was using them in the car and truck. Converted to amp as well. Now they're all for the truck.
 
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