Put an HID kit in the low beams of my 2002 V70 last month. Today, the passenger side wasn't lighting, so I popped the hood and checked all my connections. Swapped out the ballast with a known working one, still nothing, so I proceeded to put a new HID bulb in. Still nothing. I installed a normal bulb, nothing, put a 12v tester on it, it's dead. highbeams work fine on both sides, and of course the fuse is good (drivers side works fine). Main question is...do you think the wiring fault could be internal in the headlight, or maybe somewhere between the relay and the headlight? Anyone heard of or experienced this issue before?

 

Your light switch does not directly control your lights. It only supplies the necessary inputs to a control module which is what triggers the lights (via a bunch of relays). As far as I can make out, it's located somewhere behind the cabin fuse "box" (which just clips out as far as I remember). Check the relays, might have a "burnt" one.

What sort of amperage do those HID's pull?

 

I know how headlights work. Maybe I should rephrase the question.

 

Solved the problem. There are THREE fuses for each low and high beams. There is the single fuse in the panel on the dirvers side dash panel, and TWO fuses under the hood. One 10a for each RH/RL high and low beam. Turns out the RH Low Beam fuse was blown.

I figured this had to be the case.

To answer the question of amperage on the HID's: They pull 15 amps at fire, and 11 constant, so a few amps less than Halogen bulbs. This is probably why they trigger a lamp out warning without the warning canceler harness installed.

 

Ah, one of those over engineered features

I was just trying to explain that the switch does not directly connect to the relays, but to an interface which is software controlled.

I would have though the HID's would pull more amps than the halogens, but then again, I have never worked/fiddled with them.

 

Nah, they pull less. They pull slightly more at startup, since the ballasts send something like 24k volts to fire the bulbs, and then drop to 4k volts during operation. They use 35w versus 55w of a halogen setup. This is why they trigger a bulb out warning. I've had then in my S80 and in my V70 and have loved them. I'm trying to talk myself into doing some 4300k (extreme yellow) bulbs in the fog lights, but the install is a bit tricky the way the bulbs are designed. I would have to really modify the volvo H1 bulb holder, so we'll see. If I did install them, they would be very stylish AND effective!