Miles

... for the number of SS Cibie bulbs blown. Since the end of Feb this year my beloved Scooby has just blown it's tenth bulb!!! That's a month a bulb, mostly summer months too. In a vain attempt to get the bulbs to last longer I've stopped flashing people, if it's a busy piece of road at night I don't put on the high beam - only put the high beam on when there's a good chance that the lights will be on for longer than 2 minutes or so.
For reference the car has eighteen month old Xenon headlight bulbs, original indicators but both sidelights have blown once.

Getting very irritating... What's the cost of the PIAA lights, as I'm now considering sending back the Cibies? Esp. as I've been emailing SS to no avail.

Miles
with a very dim Rudolph the red-nosed Scooby.

DavieR

Yes, easily beaten.

In this year, it's 16 bulbs, just worked it out. It's easier if I remember who I bought them from, as I now order 4-6 at a time.

And the car is outside with both bulbs again blown.

That easily meets the extra cost of going for the PIAA's in the first place.

Pete says he will have some wider voltage bulbs to try sometime. If those fail, I'll dump them in the bucket and buy PIAA's

It's been a harsh lesson to learn.

Davie

Mike Owen

Bloody hell! I've only just got mine fitted and one of the bulbs was duff right from the start. SS have agreed to send a replacement and I've ordered a spare, maybe I should have ordered a box full of the bloody things!! Not a lot of good to me if these things only last five minutes. The reason I bought these lights, was that I'm a high miles driver and most is over back roads. Bugger all use to me if these things only last five minutes!!!!!!!!!!!

Must admit that I did think that they appear to pack out a **** load of heat (hand held in front of glass) and wondered how long they would last. Could down size to 100w jobies. I can't even get the 130w ones up here.

Considering the cost of these bulbs, I think Pete C should make an official statement! As it's not like this is a cheap product.

Only just noticed that the other two "posters" are from the same damp part of this country as me (but o'those open roads).

[This message has been edited by Mike Owen (edited 13-12-1999).]

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

Mike,

Let's not get carried away!!! I fitted the 130w ScoobySport Driveing Lights to my car about 4 months ago. I've used them a lot, lots of late night driving down the Hog's Back (v.v. dark!) and fair amount of flashing (but enough of my own personal problems!)

I've had no problems at all. I'm sure there are hundred's of owners who haven't had a problem either. I'm just sorry to hear about Miles problem!

Andy

Miles

Aaah, good I'm not alone! Mike, I tried the 100W bulbs (last set) no difference

I'm gonna hook-up a voltmeter (got one sitting under my desk) and see what voltage she's pumping out across the battery terminals and at which engine revs to see if there's a difference. Will report back.

MorayMackenzie

I had the SS Cibies on my last car, it kept blowing the 130w bulbs with alarming regularity. I never did get around to checking the voltage, but the last set of 100w bulbs seemed to have an extended life over the 130w jobs. Pete mentioned that he only knew of one other guy having trouble with bulb life, and this was probably due to higher than average voltage.

Moray

[This message has been edited by MorayMackenzie (edited 14-12-1999).]

DavieR

Miles,

I checked the voltage on my car last month, and the maximum I got was 13.95 volts.

Some cars are reported to be putting out as much as 14.4-14.5 volts, but mine isn't one of them.

100 watt bulbs do last slightly longer than the 130's and 55's seem to last forever, but that defeats the point a bit.

Davie

Mike Owen

Gents,

I'm no auto electrician, but I thought the voltage regulator was supposed to smooth out spikes etc. Probably talking dogs dabglers here.

Out of interest. What cars are you guys running around in (I.E. could this be a problem only with imports)?!

Miles

Mine's a 98MY Turbo 5dr, completely standard except for an Alpine headunit and the grubby bodywork

Yex

I'll put my twopenneth in here. I am considering the 130W ScoobySport jobbies and have spoken to Pete at length about them. When last at SS Pete put a genuine Subaru select monitor on my car to test the voltage across the rev range. My results were all within .10 of 13.4v from tick over up to 5500rpm.

Pete is aware of the issue with voltage spikes and I am sure he is working on a solution. Perhaps the issue underneath all the problems people are having is with Cibie who supply the parts ScoobySport use. Who knows if they test their products between fine or broad voltage tolerances.

I should be fitting a set of 130W lights when the people at Cibie get the a***s in gear and get some more to Pete, so I will judge the result then.

I'll get off me soap box now

Yex

Steve Howat

Blimey, Pete has alot of problems with suppliers, doesn't he!!

DavieR

Mike,

UK model also, R-reg.

David

Mike Owen

O'dear...

Just back from a run up to Perth and when I arrived up there, noticed that the second bulb had blown! Sorry gents but NOT impressed. Currently running with 2 x 55w bulbs. They are OK for "fill in" but it does somewhat defeat the object of having the bloody things!

So.... first thing tomorrow morning. It's back on the phone to SS.

With the best will in the world, I also don't except the comment that "Perhaps the issue underneath all the problems people are having is with Cibie who supply the parts ScoobySport use". Because even if this is the case, the product was bought from ScoobySport and not Cibie and should hence be fit for the job it was sold for etc. etc.

Seems strange as well, that I've been running with 100/80w's in the main headlights for a couple of months now and they have given no problems....

firefox

Hi guys..

Just a thought..

But are you sure its voltage related ?

I used to run SS driving lights...with no problems....I ran them for a year.. never a blown bulb... but the Kit I had, had the original bracket design in.. which was more flexible.. and hence transmitted less shock/vibration to the bulb.

The PIAA method of fixture is adjustable, and as such doesnt transmit so much shock.

The standard fog lights have plastic mounts..

Some one mentioned utilising rubber mounts... I would try that..

It could be the combination between vibration/shock and the high wattage, that drastically reduces the life of the bulb.

I would get some rubber washers/spacers and place them behind the brackets.

Just a thought.

J.

Miles

Hmm, I reckon the rubber washers are a goer. I'll try that as well, time to get very cold fingers tonight in the snow. Only got one spare bulb, aaa well back on the phone again.

Silence from SS?

Anders

My Scooby Sport driving lights lasted 29,600 miles until dropped at Power Engineering!

Ian Cook

I have had Cibies on both of my Impreza's, and in the time i owned them, I only blew one bulb, now that is over 18 months, the lamps are still working fine, i do a lot of night driving and flashing people (out of courtesy of course )

firefox

Ian,

what brackets are you using? The original T shaped stainless ones? or the new solid type ? Or am I talking Poo ?

J.

Ian Cook

J,

As far as i know all the brackets are very similar, I have the original brackets, but i have seen the new ones off the lamps and apart from being laser cut instead of bandsaw, they look the same. I never actually compared the thickness of the brackets though, as there werent any old ones about. Even the new brackets are T shaped ?

Mike Owen

Thanks for the continuing comments guys. But as my first bulb blew while the car was sat in the garage, I'm not sure that in my case, vibration is an issue! Rather than phone Pete, I've decided to write instead. Letter in the post tomorrow.

As there are at least two other threads that I can find on this issue, I think it only fair that we get some sort of "official" comment from the supplier (that's you Mr C.).

Not as though it's a life or death issue but as commented before, this is a relatively small community (Scooby wise) and SS could well end up lossing sales!

xxxxxxx

Pete Croney

Hi Mike

I didn't want to post anything up, until we had a fix. We've been testing different set ups and back tracking on what changes have been made over the years.

The most interesting seems to be the fuse in the relay. Hella supply the relays, with a 15 amp fuse already installed, although the relay is labelled as 30 amps. Some time ago, we started fitting 25 or 30 amp fuses, to minimise the resistance that this fuse may offer. The 15 amp was always tolerant enough to run the lights (18.8 amps at 13.9 volts) without failing.

Over the past two weeks, we have had one car running the same set up with the original fuse installed, with no problems. This car was running at up to 14.6 volts and was blewing bulbs. The 15 amp fuse is obviously at the top end of its tolerance and this is adding a bit of resistance to the circuit. The voltage at the bulb holders is now 13.6 to 13.9 volts (was 13.8 to 14.5 volts) and the bulbs have stopped blowing. On another car, which is running target voltage (13.7 v +/- 0.3v), the voltage drop is negligable.

If anyone is having problems, please send a stamped addressed envelope and we will send out 2 replacement bulbs and the original fuse.

It is very frustrating that such a simple thing has spoiled the enjoyment of this product on some owners cars. The percentage of cars with problems is VERY small, but I am glad that it is resolved.

All new kits are being supplied in this format.

lokokkee

Pete, can you put an effective shipment date for the introduction of the new fuse rating so that I know whether mine is old or new in case of problem later.
Thanks.

Ian Cook

With regard the fuses, if you look at the relay itself the fuse is on the outside and can be removed replaced without stripping anything down. All you need to do is pop the fuse out and check the rating, it should be moulded or printed on the body of the fuse. They may also be colour coded, but i dont know what colours they would be.

Mike Owen

Thanks for the reply Pete,

But I'm still a little confused! Are we saying that the fuse should be a 15amp, or a 30amp?

I think from your note, that you are saying that they should be 15amp.

PS. I should point out that my Driving lights were only purchased some two weeks ago.

[This message has been edited by Mike Owen (edited 21-12-1999).]

Ian Cook

Mike,

Pete was saying that with a 15 amp fuse fitted the bulbs do not appear to be blowing on a car that was blowing them previously.

Mike Owen

Ian,

In that case.... looks like I have a different problem! As I've just nipped out in the dark and checked the fuse.... and it's already a 15amp!

Mind you, the 55w bulbs have lasted two days so far!

PS. Unless I've just been unlucky and been supplied with faulty bulbs.

Ian Cook

Mike,

How many bulbs have you actually blown on your set ? if its only one or 2 it may just be your were unlucky and got some duff ones, if its been more than that then obviously disregard that statement especially if one blew in the garage, was it the first time you had switched them on after fitting? If it was then i suspect the faulty bulb argument.

The only thing that i will mention, that most (or all) of you will probably know already is not to touch ANY part of the glass on these bulbs, as the contamination can cause hotspots and blow the bulbs anyway.