High beam issue (started when replaced with h1 LED)

[desertmike680]

So I just installed two h1 high beam bulbs (if you will) and my left HID now comes on randomly and when I turn on my fog lamps, the high beam indicator comes on as well. Now I know that LEDs dont require as much electricity to power and obviously when you turn on your high beams the fog lamps turn off as well. So I'm thinking that with the lower power consumption of the LEDs, that it totally threw off the entire circuitry for the lights. However, I cant prove this since I threw away the standard bulbs. So I unplugged the h1 high beams and its still doing the same thing.

Any take on this? Regardless, I'm heading to pep boys to get standard bulbs tomorrow.

 

[SteveJ]

I have the wiring diagrams for the 2006. I'll try to remember to take a look later today.

 

[SteveJ]

The only place where the circuits seem to be close is at the front fog light relay. If replacing the bulbs doesn't resolve your issue, you might try changing that relay. The relay looks to be $15.61 + shipping at Online Mazda Parts.

 

[desertmike680]

I replaced the LED H1 high beams with the standard bulbs and it solved all the problems, but the left HID still does not come on all the time. But once it comes on, its on and obviously will not power off until I turn them off. The right HID is fine. However, the left one randomly will not power on. It would make more sense to me that the relay would need a replacement versus the HID bulb. Does that make sense? Thanks for your help.

 

[SteveJ]

Okay, now let's speculate. How much power do the LED bulbs need to complete a circuit? Is it less than the HID bulbs? If so, could there be bleed over through the relay? If there is, it could be enough power for the LED bulb but not enough for the HID bulb. If it's not enough current flowing through the HID bulb to light it, the high beam indicator wouldn't light up, either. Only ammeters and voltmeters could say for sure.

 

[desertmike680]

Hmm...interesting way to put it. I'm not sure how much power an LED requires vs an HID, but it seems to me that an LED requires much less. So, considering that my left HID comes on randomly (but when it comes on, it stays on. Hence giving me the impression that its not a bulb issue), could that be a problem with the relay then? I pulled the LED high beams and replaced them with the standard as well.

 

[SteveJ]

Wow, going back through the thread, I realize that I completely misread your earlier posts. So let's get back to what I can figure out. I've been looking at the wiring diagram again, so let's look at your symptoms...

my left HID now comes on randomly and when I turn on my fog lamps, the high beam indicator comes on as well.

That was the money quote. All four lights are separately fused. The high beam indicator comes off of the left high beam fuse and gets grounded through the high beam switch on the turn stalk. It almost seems like the backfeed is coming through the instrument gauge and when you turn on the fog lamps, the circuit gets a path to ground. I'm going to have to think about this some more.

I'll need to scan in some pages from the wiring diagram to help explain my rants. Meanwhile, if you could search for the mod that allows you to run high beams and fog lamps at the same time and post a link to it, that would help me figure out what may have crossed when you changed bulbs.

 

[desertmike680]

Steve, thanks for your help. Its such a minor, annoying issue that was caused by replacing the high beams with LEDs. However, with that it wasnt a mod that caused the fogs to stay on along with the high beams, it was just a matter of replacing the high beams with LEDs that caused that issue. And once that happened, the left HID started to randomly not come on when the lights were turned on.