Alrighty my take on things is the life of a H3 bulb sucks major ***...


I have to run H3 55w bulbs in my STOCK Ford (hella style) foglights like so



every freaking like 2 months my foglight bulbs burn out. when i install them i never touch the bulbs. there wired correctly so idk what the freaking problem is, does anyone know of a better bulb to run instead that will work?????

if not i swear to god i am gonna kill these things!

 

does silverstar make any or sylvania?

 

I buy replacement Sylvania bulbs there not cheap...

been threw like 4 sets of them

 

Where do you have them grounded????

 

battery... my last ground on the body was a problem...so i just went right to the source...

 

What are you using for connections???? Is everything soldered or just crimped??

 

H3 bulbs have single lead, and a "lead frame" that provides the ground.

In addition, most have the lead frame attached to a metal piece to help disperse the heat.

Cheap bulbs may have the lead frame around the glass in a way that contributes to early failure at extended high temperatures. Try a better brand of bulb and see what happens. Also, make sure you're mounting them well and that the metal-metal interface between the leadframe and mount is clean.

What is your system voltage? Are you sure it's not too high? At startup it may peak over 14 volts, but it should generally run at about 13.2 to 13.8. If it's much higher than that, high temperature halogens like H3's may run too hot for their tiny size.

Water getting in when they're hot could cause them to lose their seal due to splintering of the glass. This could be very small voids that are hard to see in the base of the bulb. Although the part of the bulb inside the reflector may be well isolated, make sure the REAR of the bulb isn't getting wet and that wire entry seals and so forth are in good shape.

Not much more I can think of. H3's are a less reliable bulb -- but I used mine a lot and never had those problems so something ain't right for sure.

 

there is a better manufacture then Sylvainia? do tell?

I have a volt guage and my whole trucks Volts are 14.2ish

and i know its definally not water that was the problem with my old procomp lights that i used for fogs but thats why i switched to Ford housings because they seal so nice...

honistly i am out of idea's

 

all soldered

 

It's 14.2 under full load with the lights on? That's actually on the high side and will make lights nice and white, but last less long.

Maybe they're not real Sylvania's -- maybe they're counterfeit. Happens nowadays. Try buying them at a different store and see what happens.

 

try piaas i have them in my reverse lights and also my work van i have them in the fog ights and reverse and every headlight in all vehicls .they are a lot better and brighter to me never had luck with sylverstar thats why i changed to Piaa and i have talked to there techs and they do know how a good bulb is soposto be made.
try them out cant really be any worse right maby a lil more $$ but u can test them right?

o ya and dont buy off there websight to much $ get from like a store that does a lot of upgrades and stuff not like a advanced normaly there a lot less $$ there and they warrenty the bulbs normaly also

 

yes thats my running truck volts all the time lights on or not..its always above 14.. hell with my ligths and KC's on it goes down to like just below 12...

i have bought them from Murry's auto store, autozone, Napa...idk where else to get them.....

I acully might do that GF dad can get them wholesale i didnt even think about that

 

get Xtream White Piaas and if there cheep enoufgh get them for ur headlights i have done comparisons and they are 10X brighter.

good luck tell us what u come up with

 

ya i am gonna check his catolage for his company here in a min

 

PIAA's FTW!