my fog bulbs have never burned out and i run 100 watts

 

is it me or is everyone missing the question. When people switch to after market bulbs do they get the wiring harness that supports the extra wattage???? OR is everyone just putting the after market bulbs in with the regular stock wiring????

 

I would upgrade the wiring harness if you're using higher wattage bulbs, but since I never use higher wattage bulbs, I just keep the stock harness.

remember this is the actual output wattage of the bulb, not that "60/55 watts looks like 100/90 watts" fake crap those blue bulbs advertise!!!!

 

Yep...using stock wattage bulbs

Pe@ce

 

LOL then that is why your bulbs keep blowing up. LoL If you are going to us higher wattage bulbs, you will need to upgrade your headlight wiring system. For example, I'm using 100/90 wattage bulbs but I upgraded my wiring system to handle the extra power.

 

i think Protege5Gurly said her blue bulbs were stock wattage, so I don't think wiring harness is the problem....

 

yes, STOCK wattage on the bulbs... not higher... thats why i also stated that I even had the STOCK bulbs go on me as well

I honestly think its an electrical problem(in the harness probably) that everyone is experiencing.

Pe@ce

 

I have seen Daniel Stern (http://lighting.mbz.org) writing about the benefits of using a higher gauge wiring harness on the Subaru boards. It may be a worthwhile upgrade even if you use regular wattage. It sounds like this is more common on Protege 5s. My bulbs have lasted several years now on my first gen, and I drive with them on all the time. I am betting the wiring has just been cheapened to the minimum standards. Also, remember, you need to change headlights in pairs, because the bulb that hasn't burnt out gets damaged by the voltage spike.

 

If upgrading to the higher guage wiring harness solves the problem even when using stock regular wattage bulbs, then I believe there's a defect with the factory harness or that there is a design error. We may want to get some warranty out of it.

 

Maybe. If there are a couple of people willing to be guinea pigs and upgrade, and it improves the issue, perhaps an issue could be made to Mazda

 

Where can I get the upgraded wiring harness???

 

Protege5Gurl, you jinxed me.

But I'm not mad. After reading your post last night, I went out and 'Behold' my passenger light was out. So I drove with my high beams on all night so ppl wouldn't know. lol But now I'm just going to switch to Sylvania's

 

Heat plays a big role in the life of a bulb. The heat a bulb creates has to go some where ,if the housing is not properly ventilated the heat will build up and shorten the bulb life. Which in some cases with the cheap bulbs is not very long (about 2 months or less). Remember the higher the wattage the more heat it will produce. Also many bulbs are cheaply made to keep prices realitivly low, so they are not heat freindly. Ever notice how most high dollar aftermarket driving/fog light manufactors use aluminum housings instead of the cheap low cost plastic housings like some other companies. This is for heat dissappation and longer life. I have used every bulb under the sun and found that a bulb made from someone who specializes in bulbs will last 10x longer. I have been using Slyvania(sp) silver stars for a couple of months now and so far no complaints. And if you do intend to use a higher wattage bulb I would highly recommend a wiring harness and venting the housing better. Thats my 2 cents.

 

What model of Sylvania Silverstar have you been using? I was under the impression that they didn't make one that matched the H7 for our low beams?

 

they make the 9005 but not the h7