this didn't seem like a difficult enough question to ask in the "under the hood" forums, so i'm gonna ask it here.

i know in the headlight baking instructions, the author noted that people didn't have problems baking the entire headlamp unit with the HID Ballast and wires still attached to the unit. I had intended to take it out anyway, but I only had one day to do it (because of work) and the shops were closed so I couldn't buy the tamper proof bit needed to take the ballast off.

I baked the headlamp with it in. I sort of lost track of time during the process, cause I was tinkering with other areas of my car while waiting for the headlamp to bake.

I noticed after reattaching everything (and a really shitty sealing job) and driving back home, that my HID's weren't as bright as I'm normally accustomed to. They work fine, but it seems to have gotten a bit dimmer.

I'm afraid the heat might have damaged the ballast and that it's gonna give out or just fizzle and die while I'm on the road, so I'm wondering if that's happened to anyone due to an overbaking of the headlamp unit with the HID unit still in place. I also don't think I sealed it well enough, so I'm slightly concerned about my headlights fogging up, but I think that would be the lesser of my worries at the moment.

*note: I know for sure I didn't bake it longer than 25-30 minutes, but the temp was at 250 and when I took the headlamps out they were friggin hot.