Problem With Lighting Upgrade-Any Electrical Gurus Out There?

[ARAMP1]

So I decided to upgrade the headlights in my GTO. I mapped out and put together a new harness of 12 gauge wire with relays and all. I decided to go with two H4 headlights per side. Anyway, I used them one night and they melted the low beam bulbs and the plastic housings that the bulbs go in. Not sure if it was a cheap ass bulb, but it didn't pop the 25 amp circuit breaker. Any ideas? I'm swapping out some other H4s to see if it does it again.

 

[ryoken]

as long as the bulbs would light, the breaker wont trip, melting plastic or not.. it needs a dead short to trip... sounds like the bulbs are too much for the housings to handle heatwise...

 

[Kjunky5]

How many watts were they rated?

 

[oakknight]

if it burned the plastic housing its probably too hot .. if just the lamps could be that you touched the bulbs with bare fingers? oils form your fingers boil under the heat and destroy the lamp

 

[Jessie James]

Yeah, looking at those bulbs I would say oil from your fingers got on the glass which can cause that. Try a new set and put them in using paper towels or latex gloves.

 

[ARAMP1]

Well, I'm positive that I didn't touch the bulbs. They seemed to have melted in the same place. I pulled them directly from the package via the base to the housings. I've swapped the bulbs. We'll see what that gives. Thanks for the suggestions and ideas.

 

[ARAMP1]

How many watts were they rated?

The package says 60/80W-->145/185W "Super Low Beam"

The other ones that didn't give me any trouble say 60/55W-->135/130W. They may have been too much juice.

 

[Jessie James]

Perhaps they were simply bad bulbs, or poor quality? I would return them to who ever I bought those from and ask for a refund. I've run 160w bulbs that fared better than that and lasted for years.

 

[Jessie James]

Hey, wait one second. You said you used two H4's per side. What do you mean? Did you have two bulbs in one housing on at the same time? Or did you run both filiments at the same time? I don't think you meant that but I am just checking...

I would suspect in either of those cases you will generate too much heat which may have been an issue. If that is the case, then run only one bulb per housing at once, and only one circuit (filament) per bulb at a time.

 

[ARAMP1]

Hey, wait one second. You said you used two H4's per side. What do you mean? Did you have two bulbs in one housing on at the same time? Or did you run both filiments at the same time? I don't think you meant that but I am just checking...

I would suspect in either of those cases you will generate too much heat which may have been an issue. If that is the case, then run only one bulb per housing at once, and only one circuit (filament) per bulb at a time.

Yeah, it's one bulb per light, two lights per side.

 

[ARAMP1]

Perhaps they were simply bad bulbs, or poor quality? I would return them to who ever I bought those from and ask for a refund. I've run 160w bulbs that fared better than that and lasted for years.

Yeah, doing a bit of research, it seems to be all low quality stuff. Like they say, "education cost money, and I just paid for a little bit." Looks like I'll be buying some higher quality stuff now.

 

[Jessie James]

Seeing your car you should not had that problem. Cheap bulbs seem to be the cause. Get a refund if you can.