Osram Nightbreaker headlights - burnt out after a year

[ColoradoDriver]

2014 CX-5 Touring

Well I was driving home yesterday at night and noticed my light seemed rather dim. Well turned out the left bulb was burned out and the right is on its way. Had these on the car less than a year.

I guess its true, these higher brightness bulbs don't last all that long. I think at this point I'll go back to more standard bulbs and look at some sort of HID/LED replacement housing/lighting in the future.

So what are fellow halogen users using? Are you happy with your bulbs?

 

[theblooms]

I use Philips Standard bulbs, but instead of 9005's, I use https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)'s. And instead of H11's, I use https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)'s.
Go that route, I promise you won't be disappointed. These bulbs are still halogen, but a different type of halogen. The 9011's are HIR. No, not HID, HIR. Halogen Infrared. Because they're halogen, they behave perfectly in our factory housings, no mods to the housings whatsoever.

You will have to *slightly* modify the bases of the bulbs with some wire cutters or maybe even some fingernail clippers, but it's easy, and well, well worth that tiny bit of effort.

 

[Chocolate]

On my previous car, I replaced the H11 bulbs with a replacement LED bulb. It's a huge improvement over the halogen bulbs. There are many plug and play LED kits you could try. Do some searching on Amazon and find a highly rated one, Prime with 4 stars or above, then return (at no cost) if necessary. Here's an example (no affiliation)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

A quality unit will have both a heat sink and cooling fan.

 

[yrwei52]

2014 CX-5 Touring

Well I was driving home yesterday at night and noticed my light seemed rather dim. Well turned out the left bulb was burned out and the right is on its way. Had these on the car less than a year.

I guess its true, these higher brightness bulbs don't last all that long. I think at this point I'll go back to more standard bulbs and look at some sort of HID/LED replacement housing/lighting in the future.

So what are fellow halogen users using? Are you happy with your bulbs?

Have you touched the bulb glass when you install these Osram Nightbreakers?

Yeh those brighter halogen bulbs sacrifice the filament life for brighter light. But one year seems to be too short from my past experience.

You can try some newer H11 (low beam) LED replacements as the technology should be mature now. And like @Chocolate said, if you don’t like it, just return it to Amazon.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

Have you touched the bulb glass when you install these Osram Nightbreakers?

Yeh those brighter halogen bulbs sacrifice the filament life for brighter light. But one year seems to be too short from my past experience.

You can try some newer H11 (low beam) LED replacements as the technology should be mature now. And like @Chocolate said, if you don’t like it, just return it to Amazon.

No. I always wear gloves when handling halogens and still do best to not touch the glass part of the bulb.

I was always under the impression you needed a completely new housing for LED replacements to work right. Is it really just plug and play into the current ones?

 

[theblooms]

was always under the impression you needed a completely new housing for LED replacements to work right. Is it really just plug and play into the current ones?

You are correct. To do a *proper* retrofit of either LED or HID, you are required to install new housings. There is exactly *one* ECE legal LED that can be placed into a Halogen housing, and that's the Osram Night breaker LED H4. But we don't have H4 housings, so that's a moot point.

Get the H9/9011 halogen combo I was talking about. You will be pleased, I promise.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

I use Philips Standard bulbs, but instead of 9005's, I use https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)'s. And instead of H11's, I use https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)'s.
Go that route, I promise you won't be disappointed. These bulbs are still halogen, but a different type of halogen. The 9011's are HIR. No, not HID, HIR. Halogen Infrared. Because they're halogen, they behave perfectly in our factory housings, no mods to the housings whatsoever.

You will have to *slightly* modify the bases of the bulbs with some wire cutters or maybe even some fingernail clippers, but it's easy, and well, well worth that tiny bit of effort.

OK, what exactly did you clip/cut off?

 

[madar]

For some of these brighter Halogen bulbs you have to go in and check the specs on how many hours these are rated for. If you get something that only has a life of 200 hours and you typically have them on for an hour a day total you're not going to get a years worth out of them.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

For some of these brighter Halogen bulbs you have to go in and check the specs on how many hours these are rated for. If you get something that only has a life of 200 hours and you typically have them on for an hour a day total you're not going to get a years worth out of them.

I honestly don't drive that much at night now that I am full time work from home. Maybe one or two nights a week at most where I need to use the headlights. Really been true for the past few years now.

 

[yrwei52]

No. I always wear gloves when handling halogens and still do best to not touch the glass part of the bulb.

I was always under the impression you needed a completely new housing for LED replacements to work right. Is it really just plug and play into the current ones?

Although it isn’t perfect, but you really can get a pair of H11 equivalent LEDs like the link by @Chocolate to replace your old Osram Nightbreakers. They should be plug-and-play, as long as the heat sink and fan doesn’t require too much space in the headlight bulb installation area (hint: the smaller, the better).

6000K color temperature is too whitish / bluish to my liking and I personally prefer 4500K to 5000K like the OEM LED headlights.

 

[cz5gt]

I use Philips Standard bulbs, but instead of 9005's, I use https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)'s. And instead of H11's, I use https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)'s.
Go that route, I promise you won't be disappointed. These bulbs are still halogen, but a different type of halogen. The 9011's are HIR. No, not HID, HIR. Halogen Infrared. Because they're halogen, they behave perfectly in our factory housings, no mods to the housings whatsoever.

You will have to *slightly* modify the bases of the bulbs with some wire cutters or maybe even some fingernail clippers, but it's easy, and well, well worth that tiny bit of effort.

I have used Osrams and Philips in the past. Osrams always burn every year. Philips are much better. But that was days before the LED were widely available.

OP, Nowadays probably see how to add some decent LED or HID or go with decent halogen Philips.
Although headlights without lens tend to glare ongoing traffic with led or HID. Halogen are ok for non-lens headlights.

 

[theblooms]

H9 mod

9011 mod

 

[yrwei52]

I looked at the specs and features of the AUXITO H11 LEDs @Chocolate suggested. I like them other than the 6000K Cool White color temperature. They obviously not DOT approved and if your state inspects the headlight type and forbid any conversion during annual inspection, these LEDs may cause you trouble to pass.

For $47.99, I definitely would give them a try.

 

[yrwei52]

I have used Osrams and Philips in the past. Osrams always burn every year. Philips are much better. But that was days before the LED were widely available.

Same experience here. Tried Osram bulbs once and they definitely had shorter life than Philips bulbs I had been using.

OP, Nowadays probably see how to add some decent LED or HID or go with decent halogen Philips.

I believe the HID is a thing of past.

Although headlights without lens tend to glare ongoing traffic with led or HID. Halogen are ok for non-lens headlights.

Are you talking about headlight reflector? The CX-5 halogen headlights use reflectors to reflect the light source from halogen bulbs. Those H11 LEDs imitate the H11 halogen bulb tying to make the light source as small as possible. The reflectors are still needed to reflect the lights from the LEDs. And the low-beam cut-off will be provided by the headlight housing, just like using the H11 halogen bulbs.

 

[theblooms]

Anyone who thinks that cheap Chinese LED's are a drop in needs to read this:

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

 

[Chocolate]

That's a biased source. He wants you to buy his overpriced obsolete filament bulbs.

In one sentence: halogen headlamps must use halogen bulbs or they don't—can't—won't work effectively, safely, or legally.

That's right they MUST use halogen bulbs. All the customer pics you see are fake. You should consult with Daniel Stern and his Paypal account for some old fashioned filament bulbs. You must also stay with stock wheels and tires, and use only Mazda branded engine oil while you are at it.

You can get excellent output out of replacement LED bulbs. Some will produce an excellent beam pattern, others may not which is why I would buy a highly rated one on Amazon so you can return if you don't like a particular one and try another. I bet you can find one with excellent output.

 

[theblooms]

You can get excellent output out of replacement LED bulbs.

Your sources, the companies that make those horrid LED things, are biased as well. If they were good, they'd be legal to use. Which, except for that one particular example that I already posted, the Osram Night Breaker LED H4, they're illegal. All of them.

Also, if you read DSL's entire page, he links to independent lab studies that adhere to FMVSS guidelines showing simple retrofits simply can't be done. Did you read those reports before calling the guy a shill?

 

[theblooms]

Oh and as an aside, 99.44% of the time, factory aluminum wheels pretty much always look better than aftermarket. Search your feelings Chocolate, you know it to be true.

 

[Chocolate]

What about the Pizza wheels?

 

[theblooms]

Way better than this abomination