Changed my halogen bulbs but my brights are not bright anymore? need some help here

[chris82]

Hey all, so I just put some new bulbs in my headlights. They're the GP Thunder 7500k super white ones. I only replaced the 2 DRL bulbs so far, and now my brights are no longer bright. They're both turning on when I hit the switch, but they are no longer bright! They don't project at all. What did I do wrong? It's the exact same bulb type, H7 12 55 which is what the stock bulb said on it too. They snapped in and plugged in fine, but maybe they are not perfectly in there? These lights did not have any sort of grooves that would make the bulb go in only one way. You can rotate the bulb any which way you'd like and it fits in fine and the metal piece secures over it. Any ideas?

EDIT: Going to try rotating the bulb so it's in the opposite way that it is currently

[chris82]

I think I have answered my own question. I read about how these halogens work on Popular Mechanics, and I think I need to rotate the bulb, I have a feeling that the high beam filament is on the bottom when it should be on the top. I had no idea this was how these bulbs worked. I'll post an update when I do this tomorrow

[Gray_Panther]

Interested in your follow up.

[irnotfob]

Yeah the tab from your bulb (towards the bottom of your closeup pic) should be seated into the groove in the housing. Hope that solves it. Or it's possible you reversed the connection also.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by irnotfob

Yeah the tab from your bulb (towards the bottom of your closeup pic) should be seated into the groove in the housing. Hope that solves it. Or it's possible you reversed the connection also.

Yes these are not stock headlights, so there were no grooves or anything that would make the bulb fit only one way. How could the connection be reversed? Is there a positive/negative on the bulb? How would I tell?

[chris82]

Originally Posted by irnotfob

Yeah the tab from your bulb (towards the bottom of your closeup pic) should be seated into the groove in the housing. Hope that solves it. Or it's possible you reversed the connection also.

Hmmm, I don't think it is possible to reverse the connections from what I've read. It appears in a bulb like this it just needs to complete the circuit.

I found these posts on some other forums.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1978543

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...have-terminals

[MightyMouseTech]

The bulb is a straight resistor. Does not matter + or -.

Although, when you install a "coloured" bulb like that, they will never provide anywhere near the light of a standard bulb.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

The bulb is a straight resistor. Does not matter + or -.

Although, when you install a "coloured" bulb like that, they will never provide anywhere near the light of a standard bulb.

Really? The light they produce right now is pure white, not blue at all. I would think this would be brighter which is why I bought them.

[MightyMouseTech]

They are the same wattage as stock, so produce the same amount of light at the filament.

The "whiter" colour is achieved by a coating on the glass. That coating reduces the amount of light emitted. All coloured bulbs will throw less light.

That being said, in your pic, the bulb may not be seated in the housing properly. Take out the bulb and show a pic of what the housing looks like. You can see the tab of the base of the bulb at the bottom. That tab should be sitting in a slot in the housing.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

They are the same wattage as stock, so produce the same amount of light at the filament.

The "whiter" colour is achieved by a coating on the glass. That coating reduces the amount of light emitted. All coloured bulbs will throw less light.

That being said, in your pic, the bulb may not be seated in the housing properly. Take out the bulb and show a pic of what the housing looks like. You can see the tab of the base of the bulb at the bottom. That tab should be sitting in a slot in the housing.

Will do this when I get the chance, but honestly, since the light output will be less (and the whole reason for getting these bulbs was to improve visibility), I might just put the "stock" bulbs back in . . oh well

[MightyMouseTech]

If you want more light than stock, I would recommend the Philips X-treme vision.

Actually produce more light than stock (130%), and only have a small band of filter, so they improve the colour, without cutting the light output.

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/H7-...ulb_search=car

I used to order all my bulbs from these guys. Free worldwide shipping.

I had these bulbs in my Mazda3 and really liked them. Also found the UK version of the bulbs are better quality (last longer) than the NA branded ones.

[chris82]

So here is what I'm dealing with. No sort of notches or anything. It's like there is no "wrong" way to put the bulb in. When I latch that metal piece across it sits in there securely, but like I said it doesn't fit snug or anything until I put that latch across.

I almost feel like I'm missing a piece there. these are Spyder lights so I don't konw if they're ilke this by design or not. Weird.

[MightyMouseTech]

Looks like the tab on the bulb is supposed to be at the top.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Looks like the tab on the bulb is supposed to be at the top.

Yea I just rotated it so it's at the top. I'll see how they look when it's dark. But the bulb just sits there, I wish it would snap in or something so I'd know it was lined up perfectly.

[MightyMouseTech]

It won't snap in, but I bet if you try and rotate it, it won't.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

It won't snap in, but I bet if you try and rotate it, it won't.

Okay, lined them up perfectly. But I went back to stock. Even when i turned the other bulbs around they were useless. Nice and white, but useless. My stock bulbs are Osram which are pretty good from what ive heard. Back to seeing the road ahead again, thanks for the help mightymousetech!

[MightyMouseTech]

Glad to help.

If you actually want to increase the light, check out the ones I posted earlier.

[3002 tii]

I recently installed these in my parents car and it was a huge improvement over their factory bulbs

Philips - Diamond Vision H7 Halogen HID Bulbs

Not sure if these fit the 128i but maybe they offer Diamond Vision in the correct bulb type for your car. Worth checking out IMO.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by 3002 tii

I recently installed these in my parents car and it was a huge improvement over their factory bulbs

Philips - Diamond Vision H7 Halogen HID Bulbs

Not sure if these fit the 128i but maybe they offer Diamond Vision in the correct bulb type for your car. Worth checking out IMO.

I believe it, but I think I'm good for now with the stock bulbs. Already wasted $20 on these GP Thunders