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02-13-2013, 12:14 AM | #1 |
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Alpine V3s flickering upon startup
Dear 1Addicts community,
Lately my Alpine V3 angel eyes flicker upon engine startup on my 2008 128i. As soon as I turn the ignition on, they flicker, then return to normal within about 5 seconds. What's strange is that I've had them for about 1.5 years with no problems. My current headlight settings are on auto (bi-xenons). Was wondering if anyone knew how to solve this problem. Thanks in advance! P.S. Apologize if this is the wrong section to post.. |
02-13-2013, 09:04 AM | #2 |
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with all the forums here, noone really has time to post in the right one. I think i might start a rant thread on this.
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02-13-2013, 10:53 AM | #3 | |
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if anyone knows the solution to this..... Last edited by adobeee; 02-13-2013 at 11:01 AM.. |
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02-15-2013, 01:11 PM | #5 |
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Check all the wires and the connections. There are supposedly no problems with the V3 and I haven't heard of any. Alex told me a while ago that I was literally the only one who had a problem, and what happened was that the wiring shifted and ended up resting on the hot engine block. It melted the plastic and exposed the wires and messed up the HID kit pretty bad, but Alex sent me replacements ASAP. If that's not the case, then you might have one of the first ballasts to go bad, but if it's only 1.5 years old it should still be under warranty and Alex should send you a new one right away.
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02-16-2013, 03:34 AM | #6 |
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Feel free to read my thread. Please let us know if you actually get a hold of them.
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...light=litebulb
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02-28-2013, 10:23 AM | #8 | |
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I contacted Alex and he told me to contact him a few days later. He said it might be a battery problem, but the car doesn't show any odd signs of an old battery (however, sometimes when I leave my GPS plugged in, it shows up with a message saying that I need to plug in for power). The flicker varies (a lot vs. a little) and only happens when I unlock my car or start up my car. Anyways, I contacted him a few days later, but he never got back to me. I will continue to ping him. Any further insights? |
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03-03-2013, 12:33 AM | #9 | |
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03-03-2013, 06:58 AM | #10 |
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Sorry to hear about your continued issues buddy. I gave up on Alpine and took everything out. Hope you get some resolve but I wouldn't count on it.
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03-03-2013, 11:24 AM | #11 | |
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Hmm, guess that wasn't much help. |
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03-03-2013, 04:21 PM | #12 |
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If it helps, I actually have a battery that is going bad from sitting this winter, to the point of throwing codes and telling me to take it in for service.. and my Alpines are working perfectly.
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03-03-2013, 04:23 PM | #13 |
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I've read that the electronic system sends signals before the car is fully running (5-10 seconds) to 'check' the lights.
Seems like those low electric signals are showing?
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03-04-2013, 08:18 PM | #14 |
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I think (but don't know for sure) that occurs when the car is started up. Not at the door lock / unlock step. Could totally be wrong, good idea either way.
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03-06-2013, 07:21 PM | #15 |
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Adobeee if he is gonna send you new bulbs get ready to wait for-fucking-ever. I ordered new bulbs January 27th and I still haven't got shit but keep getting replies to my emails saying that the bulbs will get shipped out.... Needless to say I have received nothing. Good luck.
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03-06-2013, 08:26 PM | #16 |
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It really sucks that Alpine is letting so many of you guys down I have always been a huge fan of the angel eyes and the customer service, but I guess it happens..
If you are looking for new bulbs, check out DDM tuning (http://www.ddmtuning.com/) and look at their HID bulb sets. They are not 100% plug and play with Alpine's kit, but they are very similar. If you are comfortable simply cutting the connectors for both bulbs, and splicing the Alpine connectors onto new DDM bulbs, it works 100%. I did this to get a bluer color bulb than what I bought with my Alpine kit for cheap. It's even better if you can solder them together, but just cutting, twisting the wires together, and packing it up with electrical tape should work fine. If that doesn't work, it sounds like a ballast problem. As far as I know, the V2 ballasts were riddled with problems, but no V3 ballasts have had issues thus far. These new problems could be the earliest reported batch of V2 problems, but I'm not an expert. If it's the ballasts, then I'm not sure if the DDM ones could be configured to work.
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03-07-2013, 10:23 AM | #17 | ||||
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I met up with Alex and he's been extremely helpful with fixing my Alpine v3s. Turns out the person that helped me install it a year ago placed the wires and power block very close to the oil tube left of the engine. The flickering occurred because part of the wire and power block melted (thus being partly functional) and eventually gave out. I should have been smarter to notice the issue. He helped replace the wire and installed an additional power block and all was fixed in 10 minutes. It helps if you guys are local...Alex is extremely busy. I met up with him around 8 at night to help fix. Overall a pleasurable experience.. |
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03-07-2013, 12:16 PM | #18 | |
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that is exactly what happened to me. it was the only instance (up to that point) that alex had ever heard of his v3 kit failing. it was an installation error and alex still hooked us both up i'm glad you were able to sort it out!
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