22 replies to this topic

[shanegtr]

Ok, its not for my torrie, but it is an electrical problem
Has anyone had anything to do with H2 bulbs? See the link for a pic of them. http://db.hella.com....odver&flrecid=3I've been through about 6 globes since I've had my spotties. At first I thought I might gotten my finger prints on them because they are fiddly to install. But the last 3 definatly have not had any finger prints on them as I have gotten the intallation down to a tea now. Worst thing is Im lucky to get a run out of each bulb, average life seems to only be a matter of hours - if that :x . I'm half thinking that because they are a smallish bulb then they cant get rid of the heat quickly enough? I'm almost at the stage of pissing these spotlights of and getting something with normal bulbs :bad-words: Any ideas?

[shanegtr]

The lights are cibie turini's. Using 100w bulbs. The original bulbs didnt last long. I've run a few different brands of bulbs through them and it dosent seem to make any difference

[shanegtr]

No covers are used on the lights. Im getting 13.78 volts at the lights with the engine running. All the crimp connections are brand new (thank you work ) and the whole lot was only installed about 3 months ago - when the lights went on. Had problems since the start.

[shanegtr]

Before jumping at that I would also be asking teh question what the globe life of these should be. This will give you an indication of what they expect as normal, before you state they last about an hour.

Cheers

The majority of them have only lasted about an hour of run time. My nearest town which is Roebourne is half an hour drive and I've had 3 new ones blow on the way home from there. The longest running globe has just blown yesterday morning and that would have done around 30hrs (lasted 1 trip to Perth - do around 8 hours night driving each way) and a while running around town here. Im serioursly not underestimating the run time. Although the first 2 could be put down to misinstallation

[TerrA LX]

mmmm maybe when you install them you touch them, leaving an oily residule on the globe, these globes will overheat quickly with it on them, try glad wrap and wether you touch them give the globe a good clean with metho or the like.

Edited by ALX76, 28 December 2006 - 08:33 PM.

[Dangerous]

Three things kill globes - heat, which DA has covered pretty well, excess voltage, and vibration.

AS DA said, the globe relies on really good electrical and mechanical connection to dissipate heat - are these globes clamped very tightly when installed? If not, they will not only heat up, but will vibrate as well which will quickly kill them. That's why they have such a large metal contact area - both heat dissipation and mechanical clamping.

Excess voltage - sounds like about the right voltage, but are there any spikes on the voltage suppley? - See Tinker's wiring thread about alternators/wiring.

Vibration - have you installed support brackets on the top of the spotlights, back to the vehicle? This goes a long way in stopping the whole spotlight mechanism from vibrating and rattling around, especially on dirt or rough roads. For a short term trial, you can use just a large hose clamp as a spotlight support bracket. Undo it completely, straighten it out, fix one end to the top of the spotlight and the other to the radiator support/grille/whatever, and then use the screw on the clamp to adjust for spotlight aiming.

With the oil from fingerprints issue, this will usually cause the glass capsule to fracture, due to localised overheating and/ differential expansion. Are the globe filaments failing, or is the glass fracturing?

Also, I'd be keeping all of the failed globes, as the globe supplier and Spotlight supplier will undoubtedly be blaming each other.

Another thing to try would be to temporarily wire one light up directly to the battery (no switches, relays, minimum connectors), and leave the other hooked up as normal. See if one lasts longer than the other.

[shanegtr]

Im starting to think that the cause is vibration, although when the beams are ilumminated you cant see any movement in the light, I think it requires looking at a little more closley. I get the stuffed bulbs out of the lights when I can and post up a pic of what they look like for ya's.

[shanegtr]

EDIT: Forget all that, you are talking spotties. Are you running them through a relay?

Yep

[Dangerous]

Relays normally hold in quite strongly when energised, but if you have a high resistance switch or joint, or an old relay, sometimes they can have intermittent contact with vibration. Try tapping on the relay when the spotlights are on, and see if they 'blink'. That will kill the filaments as well.

[shanegtr]

Found the problem. Turns out the bulb holder was not clamping tight enough on the bulb, which was causing either poor or no electrical contact with the bulb. A few carefuly placed bends in the holder and all is good

[Dangerous]

Good stuff on the fix, Shane.

DA, about the globe life - Increased brightness by having a higher voltage at the globe will definitely shorten their life quite a bit, but it's a trade off - the closer the globe gets to its rated wattage consumption, the whiter the light it produces is. Personally, I'd rather have brighter whiter lights (sounds like a washing powder commercial ) and keep a spare or two in the glovebox.

On globes in general, I'm firmly of the opinion that they don't make 'em like they used to! Old car globes, whether they be instrument globes, tail light globes or headlight globes just seem to last a lot longer than brand new rubbish quality stuff. Same with the 3AG glass fuses. I always keep the old ones whenever I wreck a car, or see the opportunity to salvage them out of a wreck. New globes and fuses, no matter what the brand or cost, just seems to be a lower quality.

[shanegtr]

Personally, I'd rather have brighter whiter lights

Thats why now any light that I can I change over to HID. Its a bit of a shit that there is no H2 bulb for HID's or I would have swapped to them. I havent seen any of the moving HID bulbs in action yet, but for the HI/Lows I just stick with normal globe, but any dedicated hi beam HID or nothing

It is also good that you've posted back here what the prob was so we can all gain something from your experience.............not just the globe manufacturers!

No matter how simple the answer is or how stupid it makes me look for changin at least 3 bulbs that most likely werent stuffed

[Dangerous]

Shane, by HID, do you mean a real ligh intensity discharge unit, or just a high light output 12 volt globe? HID usually refers to a high voltage Xenon lighting system, where an electronic unit converts 12 volts DC into a high frequency high voltage, and then feeds that to a HID globe inside the headlight assembly. Damned expensive, but work well, if a little directional.

[shanegtr]

yep, I mean the true HID lights. The kits can be had for a couple hundred off ebay now.