BriteBoxer's Beware !!!

[BradyJ]

... headed home from work the other evening (after dark)... long, dark, lonely, stretch of road, tooling along minding my own business and POOOF!!!... no headlights. Didn't hit any bumps or anything. "No problem. "... "I'll just get my flashlight out and change the bulbs with the ones I always keep in my glove box. " Except, I neglected to refill my stash the last time I upgraded my lights (6 months ago), so no spare bulbs. AND, my flashlight is laying back in my garage.



It's about midnight, so no traffic. I decided to turn on the hazards and make the 10 or so mile dash home. Thankfully, I met no officers, deer or stray bovines on the way. Turns out that BOTH bulbs had flashed and melted the tips off... catastrophic failure on both sides at once. Clearly some sort of voltage or current spike. Mr. Multimeter determined that something was shorted in the circuit. After a short break for cursing and kicking, I unwired the BriteBox and checked the circuit continuity and voltage. All good, so new bulbs back in and we have light.



My BrightBox had been in the truck for just about a year. The bulbs were about 6 months old. Not sure yet if I've toasted any of the rest of the wiring (gotta dig my megger out to check that). Several lessons here... and you can bet I'll not be putting another BriteBox back in there!!!



Gotta have more light though... and that new BuckStop has room for four lights... All about redundancy!

 

[fkovalski]

I have had the BB on both my trucks never an issue, However- I had a symptom similar to what you describe on 1 light on my '05. It was due to installation error on my part. I did not have the plug on 1 side fully engaged- kept getting a "lamp out" indicator. After checking both sides for proper install I have not had a problem since. I would check your plug connections.

 

[WDixon27]

i just ran two relays per side directly off the batterys to cary the load and use the orignal wiring to switch the relays taking the load off the switch, not sure how well this would work on the newer models where i think they are a switched ground, still relayable just a little bit more work

 

[p-Bar]

BradyJ , Why don't you send that back to britebox and explain what happened. Give them benefit of the doubt. Curious how the box would create a "voltage spike" since it's only switching 12volts.

 

[BILLVO]

Had my bright box for 3 years and no problems. Just replaced the dimmer switch that has acted up since before the bb went in.

 

[BradyJ]

I'll probably send it back in so they can take a look-see. However, I won't be putting it back in my truck, regardless. I'm not flaming their product at all. It works as advertised. I'm just big on redundancy. One trip driving by hazard lights at midnight is enough for me!



To clarify my initial post...

I should have said "... clearly some sort of voltage or current spike that may or may not have been caused by the BriteBox". However, I'm pretty sure something shorted in the box and got a transient current surge... ends of the bulbs were melted--almost like they flashed off. After removal of the BB, the circuit functioned normally.

The "beware" part wasn't intended to be "beware of the britebox", but rather, "beware of doing stupid things, like not carrying spares and flashlights"!



Connections were solid (I'm REALLY careful about that). When I took everything back out, everything was still snugged up fully.



Problem was probably exacerbated by the fact that the bulbs were not stock replacements, but rather the "hotter" variety. If I recall correctly, the current draw was only about 5% over the stock bulbs, though...

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

For the life of me, I can't see ANY way the addition of relays or switches could create a surge or spike of an unusual nature - the truck electrical system is 12 volts, and the bulbs are for 12 volts - so where would excessive voltage come from - and why would it not fry lots of other stuff in the truck as well?



The Britebox does NOT create voltage, it simply works with what's already there!

 

[Joe G.]

The so-called 12 volt system will vary from about 8 volts to over 14 volts in our trucks. The bulbs should be able to stand that since it's normal. I would take a look at your charging system. I use relays to do the same thing as a bright box plus turn on my running lights. Cheaper and works just fine. If there are any large capacitors in a bright box it is possible to get a voltage spike. Unlikely.

 

[JFaulkner]

I don't think it would be a voltage problem. The only way I could see the britebox doing anything would be overheating the bulb. I put 100w bulbs in A 99 prelude I had and they would get so hot they melted the plug. So my understanding all the brightbox does is turn on both filiments when on bright, so the excess heat may weaken the glass. But all bulbs are different which is why some have problems while others don't.



P. S. The relay thing only works on the older trucks because the newer ones use the computer to monitor the lights. The brightbox is the relay but it tricks the "lamp out" indicator.

 

[Bob4x4]

BradyJ , Why don't you send that back to britebox and explain what happened. Give them benefit of the doubt. Curious how the box would create a "voltage spike" since it's only switching 12volts.

Unprotected switching CREATES spikes.



Bob

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Unprotected switching CREATES spikes.



Bob

Voltage "spikes" of any significance, USUALLY occur in relatively lightly loaded circuits, and normally only affect peak-sensitive devices - that's not the case in a headlamp circuit, where there's a pretty heavily damped load and the lamps themselves should have a pretty decent voltage latitude...

 

[DPeltonen]

Gary is correct. My guess is your "spike" may have happened in a sense when one of your bulbs went. You said you are running hotter bulbs... . they don't last as long as a normal wattage bulb because they are physically hotter (that is why they are brighter and draw more amperage). When you put the bright box on there and light up both filaments, you are creating WAY more heat. Those filaments are close to boiling (well in fact they are boiling in a halogen environment) off and failing with the least bit of aggravation. Let's say you changed out the regular bulbs at the same time with "hot" bulbs. These hot bulbs have half the life expectancy of regular bulbs. Now you put on the bright box and really up the ante where heat is concerned. When a system regulated to around 13-14 volts looses one big draw (one bulb), you will see a jump in voltage maybe up to 14. 5 (not really all that much), but that could be just enough to overpower the other bulb (since the filament temp limit was exceeded long ago by a huge margin) and presto, no lights at all.



When you put devices on a vehicle and don't understand how they work, you are bound to be surprised when something breaks. In this case, you added a bright box and that should have worked fine because of the built in tolerances of the standard bulb to allow a decent longevity. But you went beyond that and put hotter bulbs in expecting everything to work as a stock installation would. Kind of like chipping your engine with a chip maker guarantee that your engine would be fine, and then adding propane to the mix and getting mad at the chip maker because your engine blew up when you put your foot into it towing a 5er.



If you are going to exceed the specified limits of anything on your truck by adding aftermarket enhancements to it, you need to understand what and how you are changing within your truck, and always accept responsibility when it breaks. Most performance mods ask for more performance than Dodge or Cummins intended (and sometimes designed) your truck provide. Bottom line, you can have a bright box, or you can put hotter bulbs in, you just can't have both. If you do..... well I guess you already know what happens when you do.



I guess that's a little more than $. 02.

 

[testraub]

I don't think a megger is a good idea on a 12V system JMYC

 

[NoSeeUm]

The instructions I got with my BriteBox were pretty clear about not installing brighter (hotter) bulbs.



Jim

 

[RJOL]

. . My BrightBox had been in the truck for just about a year. The bulbs were about 6 months old. Not sure yet if I've toasted any of the rest of the wiring (gotta dig my megger out to check that). Several lessons here... and you can bet I'll not be putting another BriteBox back in there!!!

... Problem was probably exacerbated by the fact that the bulbs were not stock replacements, but rather the "hotter" variety. If I recall correctly, the current draw was only about 5% over the stock bulbs, though...

... The instructions I got with my BriteBox were pretty clear about not installing brighter (hotter) bulbs. Jim

... When you put the bright box on there and light up both filaments, you are creating WAY more heat. Those filaments are close to boiling (well in fact they are boiling in a halogen environment) off and failing with the least bit of aggravation. Let's say you changed out the regular bulbs at the same time with "hot" bulbs. These hot bulbs have half the life expectancy of regular bulbs. Now you put on the bright box and really up the ante where heat is concerned. When a system regulated to around 13-14 volts looses one big draw (one bulb), you will see a jump in voltage maybe up to 14. 5 (not really all that much), but that could be just enough to overpower the other bulb (since the filament temp limit was exceeded long ago by a huge margin) and presto, no lights at all.



When you put devices on a vehicle and don't understand how they work, you are bound to be surprised when something breaks. In this case, you added a bright box and that should have worked fine because of the built in tolerances of the standard bulb to allow a decent longevity. But you went beyond that and put hotter bulbs in expecting everything to work as a stock installation would. Kind of like chipping your engine with a chip maker guarantee that your engine would be fine, and then adding propane to the mix and getting mad at the chip maker because your engine blew up when you put your foot into it towing a 5er.



If you are going to exceed the specified limits of anything on your truck by adding aftermarket enhancements to it, you need to understand what and how you are changing within your truck, and always accept responsibility when it breaks. Most performance mods ask for more performance than Dodge or Cummins intended (and sometimes designed) your truck provide. Bottom line, you can have a bright box, or you can put hotter bulbs in, you just can't have both. If you do..... well I guess you already know what happens when you do.



I guess that's a little more than $. 02.

That about sums it all up...

 

[RDyson]

I've had my britebox and silverstars on for 2 years--no problems.



Randy

 

[DieselDoghouse]

Sounds like the bottom line once again there is no such thing as a free lunch in physics. Those having good luck may be running 'domesticated' wattages, those with failures have just test the thermal fatigue horizon for running 2 filaments in a bulb designed for one at a time. I understood the quest for 'more power' led engineers to nonincadescent lights - HID!!

 

[Bill Weber]

Have a 2004 with a Brite Box. It is a great impronement over the stock system. I tried a couple of "hotter" bulbs. Had some bulb failure alarms within a couple of days. Then one bulb burned out before I could change the worthless things (very low light output). The one that went out was REALLY fried. Back to stock. Dodge P/U lights suck. My wifes 4runner really puts out light. Why can't Dodge use good lights? The ones on my 97 were poor also.



Bill

 

[biggy238]

I have a problem with the power wire into my brite box breaking the circuit and that's it. I'm 70% certain thats from something I or my brother have done to the box at one point or another over the year i've had it on.



Only Symptom is no High+Low on high beam.

 

[Parks]

NoSeeUm is correct about the higher wattage bulbs. My understanding is that the Brite Box is designed to only work with stock bulbs. By adding a higher wattage bulb you risk damage to the bulbs. Example, melting the ends off of the bulbs.

BradyJ, I am glad you made it home ok.