ransj

Last night I put my 4th new PIAA driving light bulb in.

When I have removed the old bulbs the filament has always been OK but what had caused the bulb to stop working was the little pins which go through the glass to the filament had come off the metal body of the bulb.

I'm going to approach PIAA because I think this is a design problem. Has anybody else experienced this sort of thing?

Simon

Darren Thompson

I have had to replace 2 PIAA bulbs in 6 months with the same fault as your with the filament still intact and ok.

AndyMc

Hello

Ive had 4 bulbs fail in 15 months.Three have failed on the pins going through the glass and one on the filament.
It seems the 120 watt bulbs bulb run very hot causing the terminals to oxidise.

I use them for long periods on bumpy roads and thought it was just something else I had to put up with along with the monster tyre/brake wear etc.

Also I've always had the bulbs fail in pairs,did yours do this?

I moaned at my dealer and surprise,surprise he couldn't understand why I thought there was a problem with replacing 35 pounds worth of bulbs, every 7 months, on an official upgrade costing 350 pounds.

No where in the kit does it say that shorter bulb life than normal should be expected.

It goes to show that a lot of the Prodrive gear might not be as well designed/researched as they would have us believe.

Post again if you get anywhere.

Andy

PS I've got 55w bulbs in at the moment which work surprisingly well as my dealer has ordered the wrong ones for the second time.It took them 6 weeks to get the first pair

ransj

Andy,

The first pair of bulbs did go within a couple of weeks of each other.

I e-mailed PIAA UK yesterday and as soon as I get a reply I'll let you know.

If you are having problems getting the bulbs, give these people a go

ransj

Here is the reply I've had from PIAA. I will be sending them a bulb.

Simon

-----------------
We are sorry to hear of your problem. Please can you forward one of the
bulbs with details of the vehicle the lamps are fitted to. The immediate
thought is that the failures could be due to vibration so details of the
vehicle and if the vehicle has updated suspension etc will help us. If we
find it is due to a problem with the product we will of course replace.

The bulbs is sold in more than 4,000 lamp kits in the UK alone in a year and
I have just checked our failure rate. We have received only 18 bulbs back.
--------------------

Dave T-S

ransj
Spooky timing (cue x-files music)

I'm sure you've seen it, but, ....

Dave T-S

Folllowing up on my earlier post, lower profile tyres, stiffer suspension (and if round here crap roads...) will all exacerbate the vibration problem.

mal

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by ransj:
<B>Last night I put my 4th new PIAA driving light bulb in.

When I have removed the old bulbs the filament has always been OK but what had caused the bulb to stop working was the little pins which go through the glass to the filament had come off the metal body of the bulb.

I'm going to approach PIAA because I think this is a design problem. Has anybody else experienced this sort of thing?

Simon[/quote]

mal

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by ransj:
<B>Last night I put my 4th new PIAA driving light bulb in.

When I have removed the old bulbs the filament has always been OK but what had caused the bulb to stop working was the little pins which go through the glass to the filament had come off the metal body of the bulb.

I'm going to approach PIAA because I think this is a design problem. Has anybody else experienced this sort of thing?

Simon[/quote]
I had a similar prob with short life of PIAA 120w bulbs,contacted PIAA sent them the burnt out bulbs they sent me 2xSB2-85w these give off 130w,and seem to have cured the problem.

andymac

I've just had one go on me in the last week. Is the best option to replace with the other 65W bulbs ? Surely that won't be as bright as before and I like being able to see 3 miles ahead ;-)

Oh, and while I'm at it, how easy are they to change. I can do the normal headlights but I've not tried the driving lights.

cheers
ANdy

[This message has been edited by andymac (edited 18 December 2000).]

PaulL

What is this, PIAA bulb failure season?

Just had my first bulb failure after just 18 months - and I don't even use them that much.

Having spoken to a few peeps, it looks like vibration is the most likely cause.

Think I'll try the solution mentioned in the other thread.

Interesting that although Prodrive supply us folks with the PIAA kit, they use Hella on the WRC cars...

Paul

AndyMc

The pins are still connected OK on my bulbs, the pin connections have turned to a fluffy white powder type stuff that is not letting the juice flow.I would be surprised if vibration is causing this,saying that I have had quite a few sidelight bulbs go too.

I might have to try Dave T-S's trick to see if that helps.

Andy

Sonic Boom

Just had the PIAA lights fitted a month ago. Don't expect a failure for a few months, but will be using the lights alot this Christmas up in Newcastle and then Ireland.

Will post when the first bulb goes !!

SonicB

Carolyn T-S

Just had my first PIAA bulb failure after 5 months - to really put the icing on the cake it was not me who spotted it but the boys in blue who pulled me over for driving with defective lights

Bl00dy lights were fine when I left for work in the morning - must have blown on the way home