Spotlamps

[redchina]

Hello folks, need a hand here.. I have a spotlamp out.

I have two spotlamps on the front of a newly bought second hand car - the wiring for the lamps appears to be pretty professional.

I have 13.5V to the fuses and both fuses pass 13.5V once the lamps are on.
I have swapped over the bulbs and they are fine - thankfully at $200 a pop!
the relays appear to be ok... but thats based on taking a reading on one terminal, then comparing it to the other relay, looking for the same voltage.

so if the bulbs are ok,
the relays appear ok..
and the fuses are fine,

what the heck else is there to go wrong?

Cheers!

[Steve_D]

You tested everywhere apart from the bulb holder to see if you had 12v there.

However I'm expecting you to find 12V because my vote goes for poor earth of the lamp itself.

Steve

[perdu]

Steve_D said:

You tested everywhere apart from the bulb holder to see if you had 12v there.

However I'm expecting you to find 12V because my vote goes for poor earth of the lamp itself.

Steve

What Steve says^^^^^^

check the 12v inside the bulb holder and then check the earth path from the lamp, I'd expect the problem to be there.

Add on units often have earth return problems when rust builds up inside drilled mounting holes or if the earth wiring isn't as carefully finished off.

Good luck

[redchina]

thanks guys.

I havent had the chance to look again, but there is one more thing.

At the base of the lamp holders, there are two (one for each lamp) closed boxes, that I cannot get access to, to read what they are.

At the moment, I am assuming that these raise the voltage from 12V to 24-36V to lower the current through the bulbs.

Is this a common thing?

[redchina]

I beleive these closed boxes are called "Ballast" and one has gone...

not cheap : (