Thread: Signs of dying Xenon Bulb?

I'd suspect a connection issue. The xenon bulb needs a good clean connection - as I said it needs over 20,000v to get it to start. This is why the igniter is often mounted directly onto the bulb. My suggestion would be to pull it apart and clean it along with all the connections to the ballast/controller unit.


Someone said LR uses Volvo sourced electronics - if that's true (a lot of the systems definitely resemble Volvo systems), the ballast/controller will be a Valeo unit - these are pretty reliable and only tend to fail when moisture gets into the headlight housing. They also tend to fail completely - either they work or they don't, not occasionally.

Well, I never got the chance to swap the igniter over - the colour of the light has changed over the last week and these past 2 nights it has given up the ghost entirely.

Now I'm looking for a reliable source of genuine Philips D3S units. LR spare parts says they are over $300 per bulb/igniter unit, whereas I thought I found a reliable eBay seller with good feedback and photos with Philips stickers etc at $130/pair, but then when they arrived there were no signs of them being genuine. Paypal claim in progress...

I have always found powerbulbs.com. to be a reliable source and they are around $260/pair, but I might as well upgrade to the Xtreme vision for $264.

Anyone know any good suppliers?

I went searching about 2yrs ago, found that the DS3 globes were non existent here and dealers were selling them for over $300ea

Heaps overseas, especially England and Phillips globes, which is what is fitted to the D3/4, and you get a pair for less than half the price from LR for one.

Just looked at Powerbulbs.com, $165.97AUD for one, that's pretty good, your price is for a pair, are they cheaper if you get a pair??

Baz.

Originally Posted by Redback

Just looked at Powerbulbs.com, $165.97AUD for one, that's pretty good, your price is for a pair, are they cheaper if you get a pair??

Yeap, if you buy 2 or more a discount of 20% is applied over the whole order.

I have bought H7 bulbs many times from them and they have always been good. One time I claimed the 12 month warranty at the 10 month mark and no problems at all - just sent them the blown bulb and they sent me a new one straight away.

Ok, just to close the thread off...

The eBay seller said the version sent is still from the same factory yada yada yada just without the sticker, and offered to refund the difference to their generic brand (in my hands) or I could swap them over to the ones with the sticker (postage at their expense).

So in the end I thought why not, give the $90/pair a go, and if it all goes sour then buy the genuine items from Powerbulbs and spend the extra on the upgraded output ones.

So I swapped one globe over last night and it is all good so far. The colour temp is slightly higher than the originals, still a nice shade that I prefer (not too white/blue).

The original bulb definitely has some issue with it - you can see some cloudiness in within the bulb so something is not right. BTW, the orginal was an OSRAM and not a Philips.

Thanks for all the advice and help.