Fried Fog Bulbs

[kroberts]

Yesterday I discovered that both of my fog bulbs are fried. I think I know what the basic problem is but I lack the necessary "electrical-savy-ness" to put it all together in my head. I know that if I just replace the bulbs I will fry them again. I need some troubleshooting advice. Here is some prize winning background info...

I have a JSW "S" trim car, no factory fogs. I could not afford to do it right and buy the correct CECM (is that right?) so I bought new, OEM clear glass fog lights for H11 lamps and a relay-powered wiring kit for...wait for it...9006 bulbs. Yes, I ****ed up and didn't notice what I had done until I had everything installed and couldn't fit the proverbial square peg in a round hole. My fix was to go to NAPA and buy two H11 plugs and splice them into the 9006 harness in place of the 9006 lamp plugs. I also (obviously) bought the correct switch for fog lights.

The H11 lamps are (were) 55 watt. Do I just need 35 watt bulbs? I am confident that all my connections are sound, no shorts or anything. I am lost and deserving of scorn and ridicule.

TIA

[rootrider]

how long are you bulbs lasting before they're "fried"?

What you're describing for the installation sounds just fine. As far as I know all of the fog bulbs used in the recent VW's are 55W. Switching the plugs for the different bulbs just changes where the wires go and has nothing to do with power. If your harness is truly killing bulbs then it would be something like a short, cheap relays that screw up the power some how, etc.

I went through two sets of rather expensive Hella yellow bulbs in my fogs.. each set lasted around 2 - 3 months. I went to the Ziza bulbs that ECS sells and that set lasted around 1.5 years (my fogs are on quite a bit). In that case it was just the bulbs.

As another example, the last couple of sets of license plate light bulbs I bought have lasted maybe a month at the most.. where as the factory provided set probably lasted almost two years.


So, unless you're bulbs are burning out almost immediately, I wouldn't discount that you're just using crappy bulbs.

[kroberts]

Replaced the shiity ones with a couple of Sylvanias that weren't made in China.

Thanks

[rootrider]

[earobbs]

I got the lower grill fogs from ecs the projectors, and the bulbs they came with lasted 4.5 hours.
I called ecs back and they send me ziza free of charge, and they are still on after 5 months of full time use....
But I'm going to put the hid 35w kit in after the bulbs burn out. ddmtuning...

[truwagen]

Did you happen to get the fogs on eBay? Mine fried the first time I powered them up.

[BsickPassat]

Yesterday I discovered that both of my fog bulbs are fried. I think I know what the basic problem is but I lack the necessary "electrical-savy-ness" to put it all together in my head. I know that if I just replace the bulbs I will fry them again. I need some troubleshooting advice. Here is some prize winning background info...

I have a JSW "S" trim car, no factory fogs. I could not afford to do it right and buy the correct CECM (is that right?) so I bought new, OEM clear glass fog lights for H11 lamps and a relay-powered wiring kit for...wait for it...9006 bulbs. Yes, I ****ed up and didn't notice what I had done until I had everything installed and couldn't fit the proverbial square peg in a round hole. My fix was to go to NAPA and buy two H11 plugs and splice them into the 9006 harness in place of the 9006 lamp plugs. I also (obviously) bought the correct switch for fog lights.

The H11 lamps are (were) 55 watt. Do I just need 35 watt bulbs? I am confident that all my connections are sound, no shorts or anything. I am lost and deserving of scorn and ridicule.

TIA

9006 is 55W also, btw.

if you want 35W.... you need an H8 bulb.