Automotive News

Are your headlights burning out more quickly than you believe they should? There are plenty of causes for why your headlights may be ending their life early. Once you identify the issue you can save yourself money because you do not need to replace or change the bulbs as frequently.

The Times You Use Your Headlights Affect their Usage

The life of an original halogen light bulb is typically 350 to 400 hours. If you do a lot of driving during the winter, at night, or have your headlights on during the day you could be using your lights up in two to three months.

Its important to note that if you have fitted upgrade xenon bulbs they will normally last only around 200 hours, because they have been in effect tweaked to improve their light output. For drivers who do use their headlight bulbs for long periods you can reduce the amount of time between changes by fitting long life headlight bulbs.

These tougher car bulbs contain heavy duty reinforced components and so last normally three times longer than standard halogen bulbs, whilst still offering the same lighting performance as normal halogen bulbs.

Do You Wear Gloves to Change the Headlight Bulbs?

If you touch the glass section of the headlight bulb with bare hands, the natural oils within your skin will leave a small residue of grease behind. Once the halogen bulb is illuminated this oil patch will create a hotspot within the bulb and lead to it failing early. Therefore it is a good idea to wear latex gloves when installing new halogen bulbs.

Are The Bulbs Getting Wet Or Suffering Excess Vibration?

Light bulb creators for vehicles do use a heavier glass when they build headlight bulbs; however there are still some areas where the glass can be more vulnerable. For example thermal shock is when the bulbs meet water, which leaks into the headlight unit, thus ruining the bulb. You do need to make sure the bulb is correctly replaced, and ensuring it is secure and protected from jolts and bumps to avoid damaging the filament.

Is The Car’s Electrical System Working Correctly?

The connectors in the headlight holder are electric. They are the source of power from the battery to the bulb, and these metal connectors need to be properly secured to the base on the headlights. If this does not occur a short circuit or blown bulb will result.

It is also important to check that the alternator is not overcharging the battery and delivering more voltage than the bulb is designed for. Typically the maximum voltage of a bulb is around 13.2 volts.

Are You Buying Good Quality Headlight Bulbs?

Inexpensive is something you tend to look for because you want to save money, but it is not always better. Quality of the materials used to create the light bulbs has a direct effect on how long they will last. Osram and Philips are two top manufacturers of light bulbs. The highest rating for bulbs is called the E1 mark, which Osram and Philips have. It means testing and quality has been found to be the best.

Replacing your Headlight Bulbs can be quite time consuming and fiddly, so you should always invest in high quality Car Bulbs which have been stringently tested, will last a long time and will produce an optimum performance throughout there lifespan.