Scoobylambo

One of my headlight bulbs have blown and my local car shop wants £120 for ONE...yes 1 bulb.
its a Gas discharge bulb with a single pin at the bottom......can I get these from anywhere else cheaper...??????????

Thanks for any help.

Scoobylambo

Oh and they are 35w

G00ner

You should change them in pairs, try here for help -

http://autolamps-online.com/index.htm

Many scoob owners here will vouch for this company, me included.

Scoobylambo

cheers, I've swapped the bulbs around and the same side still doesn't work...I've checked the fuse so it must be the Starter / ballast...?????

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

I'm assuming we're talking new-age here? AFAIK they are 55W bulbs surely? Each healight has a relay in to switch from main to dipped beam. If the fuse is intact then that's probably the culprit. You'll need to go down your local Lucas centre or similar - should be about £8-10. Getting the old one out may be a struggle if the connector are corroded, but apart from that there's just one nut holding it on.


M

Scoobylambo

the fullbeam is a different light to the headlight and the bulb says 35w Gas discharge bulb, but their is a relay box thing..???

here is my car.....http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=408537

Chelspeed

If it's got gas discharge written on it then it's had a HID conversion. In that case the bulbs are indeed 35W and not 55W which is the power of the original conventional filament bulb.

If it's HID then there will be a ballast box, about the size of a pack of playing cards, with a plug one side of the top taking the power into it and a big thick cable the other side connected to the blub (which is actually called a burner rather than a blub). The power cable will probably have a relay fitted which is in turn triggered by the original cars wiring.

If you swopped the blubs side to side and the faults on the same side then as you say it's either the wiring, the power supply (fuse or relay) or the ballast box. If you can find the ballast box then unplug the wiring (not the big cable to the light!!) and check it goes to 12V when you turn the lights on, if not it's the wiring. If it does it's the ballast.

Be careful with the HID wiring if you don't know what you're doing there's some serious volts around when they strike the arc. I second the suggestion to talk to Autolamps on line, well helpful, very knowledgeable.

Scoobylambo

thanks, I'll try the above in a while.
Just hope it doesn't turn out expensive.?

brihoppy

just a quick one on this...are morrettes known for blowing bulbs or is it quite a rare thing...?!?!

Scoobylambo

ok, I swapped the relay from one side to the other and it made no difference....I checked the voltage to the Starter box and it has 10volts.? but I did notice that the starter box made a buzzing sound.....and it did give out quite a lot of volts to the bulb for about 10 seconds then went dead..????

Scoobylambo

is the 10 volts to the starter unit ok...???

Scoobylambo

bttt

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Bri Hoppy .................

I dream of british summertime so I don't have to use headlights !!!!

MY02 bugeye Morette owner with loads of blown bulbs and buzzzzzzing noises from the nearside which would drown out a Dalek invasion !!

Shaun

spufus

iTrader: (2)

Ask Alcazar in the lighting section - he knows his stuff

Chelspeed

Is the ballast plugged into the burner or hard wired? If it's plugged then swop the ballast from one side to the other. If the fault moves across then it's the ballast at fault. If it doesn't then it must be the wiring.

From the buzzing it sounds like the ballast is misbehaving. From the 10V it sounds like the wiring, you should have a good 12.5V all the time and more like 14V if the engines ticking over.

Can you temporarily hardwire the ballast box direct from the battery bypassing all the switches, relays and wiring? If it works then that's another indication that it's the wiring at fault.

Scoobylambo

OK, I'll try all that tomorrow, I hate car electric's.

Scoobylambo

ok, this isn't going too well, I checked the ok side of my lights and I'm getting 14volts and the other side I'm getting 7 volts to the starter....now I checked the wires to the relay ( before the starter ) and I'm getting 14volts to BOTH relays. so I swapped the relays over and the good side is still getting 14V and the other is still getting 7v....I've wiggled the wires and that makes no difference....HELP...?????

Scoobylambo

help.....PLEASE..??

big500

If both relays are getting 14v and swapping the reals round does not move the fault from one side to the other , in my opinion the most likely couse is one of the wires taking the supply from the relay to the ballast must have gone high resistance or the fault is on the ballast and the ballast is drawing enough current to drop the voltage down to 7v. Do any of the wires get warm ?
You could also meter the 2 wires from the relay to the ballast unit in respect to the battery (check the positive with the red lead on the wire and the black lead on the negative battery terminal and vice versa )

Also you could test the light/ballast temporarily by connecting two wires to it direct from the battery (get someone to help you and measure the voltage across the 12v side of the ballast) , if the reading is still 7v then it is almost certainly the ballast.

Be very wary of the wire that connect the ballast to the "lamp" cos these bu**ers start up at up to 25kv


hope this helps


Steve

Scoobylambo

thanks a lot for the help. I got an Auto-electrician around yesterday to sort the problem...it was a short on a wire and the Ballast had gone bye-bye......working headlights at last.
Thanks