ron mcatee

A couple of months ago I converted from H-5's on my 88 Carrera to H-4's with 80/100w bulbs. When I converted, I put in the Marcus Sucro relay kit and everything was working well until last night. I left a club board meeting and turned on the lights and almost immediately the low beams burned out on both the left and right sides. I thought it was the switch or fuses, but they checked out OK. I put in the old 55/60w H-4's that came with headlamps and they worked. Does anyone have an idea as to why these low beams on the new bulbs (less than 90 days old) would fail in such a short time?

spider911
88 Carrera coupe

Dan Cobb

I would initially suspect that they are not Bosch or Sylvania bulbs. I believe these 2 brands to be superior to any of the others that I have had experience with. The others all cost a bit less, but do not seem to last nearly as long under normal conditions.
JMHO
+++

ron mcatee

Dan, they were Hella bulbs, from the dealer. I'm going to get new ones, preferably Sylvania. Just wondered if anyone else had ever had this problem. It pays to carry a couple of spares unless you want to drive with brights on all the time..

CDiercks

That is strange that both of them burnt out at the same time! I was first going to say that there might have been grease (as in a fingerprint) on the bulbs, but that is too much of a coincidence that both went at the same time. I would think low quality bulbs and a voltage fluctuation that the bulbs couldn't handle. I have the exact same set up as you do, and haven't had any problems yet, but I also keep a spare set of bulbs in my glove box. I got my bulbs from Pelican Parts and they are Narva (Sp ?).

ron mcatee

I'm always careful to use a clean cotton handkerchief when I handle any light bulbs, so i don't think that caused the problem. All I can do is get new ones and press on. thanks for the inputs.

RoninLB

afaik Hella doesn't make H-4 bulbs. Narva and a couple of others are good. PIAA sucks imo.

ron mcatee

Thanks ronin.

RoninLB

This headlight guy caled Dan Stern has a site that's a wealth of info. I ran into his site a few years ago and, after 30yrs of trial&error, I've found him to be a home run in supplying my needs. Just be specific on what your needs are. ie: is it routine normal city street or like me a cross country go cart that needs big light on non-lit roads in order to safely stop from 75-90mph.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/