KC slimlites burn time?

[spechuy]

I have a pair of slimlites, they've been on for about 2 months?? The driver side bulb burnt out in about 1.5 months, and just yesterday, the passenger side one burnt out..

There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the wiring, and they join together anyways so if there was a wiring problem, short or whatever, would they blow at the same time..?

any ideas? is this common for slimlites? thoughts? thanks

 

[kj924]

That doesn't seem right to me....I would check to see if the housing isn't allowing water inside and shortening the bulb life.

I have a set of KC Daylighters...I hope they last longer than 2 months.

 

[spechuy]

I have 4 daylighters up top and they seem to be working just fine after 2 months.. just doesn't make sense to me.. I'll double check the housings when its nice outside, thanks!

 

[LibertyFever]

I'm going to suggest that maybe the bulb was dirty, either from greasy fingers or water & dirt inside the lamp. Or simply a bulb that was made on a Friday from a factory in China

 

[blue_kjR417]

I've got two slimlites on the front bumper and 4 daylighters on my roof rack and have had them for over a year with no problems...
I would guess that your housing seal is cracked or something to that nature and they're getting water in them. Be sure that when you reinstall the new ones that you use a towel or something to hold the glass part of the bulb while installing it, because oils on even our clean skin can contaminate the light causing it not to last. Also be sure to check the seal not only around the bezel but also the grommet where the wire enters the lights.

I doubt your wiring is causing this, most the time bulbs are blown from wiring when it receives power but no ground then receiving a ground quickly blowning the bulb much like when fuses blow, but anyway it would be more abrupt when they blew unless there was a bare wire in somewhere that was grounding out sometimes, but it wouldn't take 2 months for that to happen. I just don't think its very probable that that is the cause.

 

[spechuy]

hmm I didn't touch the bulbs before the install.. I just mounted them as they were sent to me, bulb inside & housing completely sealed. again, I'll double check for more seals but iirc when I took apart the driver housing (first bulb to blow), it was dry...

likely that both housings had defective seals? I replaced the driver one anyways so 2 months from now I'll know if its a consistent issue haha

 

[blue_kjR417]

how often do you run them? how many watts are they? where are they mounted? where did you buy them from?

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

Just fyi guys
A bulb that was touched will almost always explode immediately. The oil from your hands transferred when touching a bulb causes it, when it gets hot, to literally explode the first time it gets hot.

And those bulbs get HOT.

 

[blue_kjR417]

Just fyi guys
A bulb that was touched will almost always explode immediately. The oil from your hands transferred when touching a bulb causes it, when it gets hot, to literally explode the first time it gets hot.

And those bulbs get HOT.

yeah thats what I was trying to explain

 

[spechuy]

how often do you run them? how many watts are they? where are they mounted? where did you buy them from?

they're on when the headlights are on (so say... 1-2 hrs a day..?)

100 watts

front bumper mounted (in front of the 05+ fog slots)

autobarn.com

 

[blue_kjR417]

they're on when the headlights are on (so say... 1-2 hrs a day..?)

100 watts

front bumper mounted (in front of the 05+ fog slots)

autobarn.com

that all sounds fine...
did you splice them into the stock fog lite wiring? or did you wire them?

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Just fyi guys
A bulb that was touched will almost always explode immediately. The oil from your hands transferred when touching a bulb causes it, when it gets hot, to literally explode the first time it gets hot.

And those bulbs get HOT.

What Eric said!

Either that or you just happened to get a bulb that was defective to start with!

 

[spechuy]

that all sounds fine...
did you splice them into the stock fog lite wiring? or did you wire them?

I wired them using KC's wiring kit.

I'm hoping they were just defective bulbs... I put some new ones in, hopefully they'll last