Good point!!!

Should've read "Normally, the bulbs are supplied with power from the fusebox". There is a bit of a potential drop due to the fusebox, small gauge wiring, and the length of wiring for all the routing. The harness offers a short thick path.

BTW, while surfing around I found another low-buck source for harnesses. http://www.import-store.com/nokya_wirekit.htm One thing I didn't like about the suvlights harness was that when one bulb blew, the other bulb lost power which left me with no headlights. This Nokya is for individual lights, which is why you have to buy two kits. At $7 each, $14 is still lower than anywhere I've seen yet.

Oh, and for our Canadian readers. . . are the DRLs at lower power than when the lights are on? If so, when you upgrade the headlight harness, the lights will be on full power all the time.

zmzmp5 - what type of harnesses were used in your peer study? The reason I ask is becuase usually, the harnesses only use one source to for the relay to switch, either from the stock left or right socket. The relay then switches on/off power from to battery to power the lights. Since the driver's side light problem still existed in your study, then the problem may not be with the wiring but perhaps another source. Strange indeed.

 

I was thinking about getting those harnesses and heavy duty headlight socket sells at pepboys. since they don't have H7 heavy duty headlight socket i'm going to get H4 instead.
they sells it for 5 each.
GNO, thanks for the link.

 

You're welcome.

However, I should've looked more carefully. This Nokya kit allows you to change your bulb type. Not like the other harnesses, which change your power source. So there's no real comparison between the suvlights kit and the Nokya kit.

 

I don't get it ?? is that a good thing or bad thing?

 

Good or bad. . . depends on what you want to do since they are completely different.

This Noyka kit is totally different from what I originally thought it was, it's simply allows you to change your bulb type. Like if you were running 9004s and wanted to upgrade to H4s.

The Harnesses like what is sold at suvlights allow you to use the same type of bulb. You can use a higher wattage (same style) bulb if you like because of the upgraded wiring. You are also supplied with more power if you chose to stick with your stock bulbs.

 

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oh i c... i was thinking about getting suvlights harnesses. b/c I want prevent my wires and headlight socket from melting when I replace with aftermarket bulbs. bulbs like over 70watts.
hmm..but, even with suvlights harnesses made bulb blew up?

 

Yes, my other car uses 9007 bulbs, stock is 55/80 and I was running 80/100W. They were cheap bulbs bought off eBay though, so there's another factor to consider.

I think AwaKeN and hihoslva brought up a good point. There's no real need to upgrade the P5's low beam. However, the other Pros have different lighting and may benefit from upgrades.

Okay, I've put a little more thought into the original problem. . . the driver's side burning out. This is just a hypothetical, so bare with me please. purewhitemp5 mentioned a good point about heat. It's easy to assume that the right and left capsules and lenses are simply mirrors of each other, but I think that might be an incorrect assumption. Designers take into account that oncomming traffic is on our left side, so design the reflector and lens to minimize the glare on oncomming traffic. In doing so, light is directed elsewhere, some of which is reflected back to the bulb. Radiant heat follows a similar pattern as light, so if some of the light is reflected back to the bulb, some of the heat will be as well. Consequently, the driver's side lamp runs a little hotter than the passenger side resulting in premature failure of the driver's side bulb.

As zmzmp5 mentioned, even those with an upgraded harness were experiencing this problem. This would lead me to believe that the stock wiring is not the culprit. I don't think improving the ventilation characteristics would be a good idea, since the possibility of water and other contaminants entering the housing would increase. Perhaps a heatsink. . . Anyone have a spare cpu heatsink and fan?

 

I just had the first bulb burn out on my Pro yesterday (it´s just over three years old, with about 35,000 miles on it). It was the passenger side brake light bulb.

No other bulbs have burned out yet. I´m surprised some of you guys have so much trouble with headlight bulbs.

 

They have problems because they put "HID", blue or higher wattage bulbs lights.

 

And BACK to the orginal post. . . she had stock bulbs. And yes, I too just had my driver's side STOCK bulb burn out.

 

PIAA has some new bulbs out:

H4 X-treme Force 60/55W = 130/120W 4700K

H4 Plasma Spark Blue 60/55W = 110/100W 7500K

I bet these burn out in a week!

 

i got piaa superwhite lights

driver's side burned out in a month or 2

passenger's side still going strong

 

Ok, I'm a little late to the discussion, but I'm having the same problem.

I installed some white bulbs back last year, not expensive, but had the driver's side bulb actually explode in less than a week. Put back the stock bulbs, and the driver's side went out on me yesterday. This has got to be something Mazda can look at.

 

pro5girlie, are u using the stock wires or did you upgrade your wiring harness?

 

PR5 low beams will burn pretty often because they are always on as DRL at what seems like 80%. If you drive car 2 hours a day, it will be 720 hours a year. Now what is design life of halogen bulb?500 hours? Add to that night trips etc.
Second reason-how many of you use parking brake? People with automatics usually just put it in park. That means when you turn ignition key on your DRL come on. When you crank the engine you send spike of voltage through them-they flicker, right? So that's extra abuse. I didn't use parking brake in winter-was afraid of freezing, but I use it all other times. I got one Philips bulb die this winter. But my stock bulbs lasted 1 year and I put one back and it still goes.
Scheiser PIAA and Co. are probably not made to quality tolerances found in OEM $10 Osram H7, so they're much more sensitive to all those voltage spikes. My friend, who workes in audio install shop said that they put some kind of stabilizator or resistor to fight those spikes,sorry I don't remember the details.

Remember-if it came from Japan it doesn't mean it's the best.
For now-try to start/shut engine with parking brake ON.


Alex