Hella headlights break when they hit cold water??

[alaskajosh]

I've got the Hella headlights that I bought from RN. Did a trail run today that involved a few creek crossings.. now both the globes of my headlights are cracked! These were expensive lights that I expected to last for many, many years... That doesn't seem right...

[SafeAirOne]

Funny you should mention...

The only other set of Hella headlamps I've seen had a cracked lens.

I imagine the glass gets hot when they're on and probably doesn't handle being plunged into cold water very well from an expansion/contraction point of view. You'd think the instructions would warn you of this possibility when used in 4x4s...

[o2batsea]

By "globes" I guess you mean the lenses? If you mean the bulbs that's different. Those are a different type of glass and yes if they get wet they'll pop (but they shouldn't be getting wet). I'm assuming that you are referring to the Vision Plus lamps. The glass lens in those lamps is supposed to be able to take that kind of thermal shock. It's tempered, not just plain old whatever. I would be on the phone complaining, whether it does any good or not.

[SafeAirOne]

I've had cookware shatter by dumping a pan of hot spaghetti into a room-temperature tempered glass bowl before. I imagine everything has its limits.

[ThePhotographer]

Just for reference, which lights did you buy? You mentioned "expensive", did you buy a Xenon set?

[mongoswede]

Depends on your opinion of expensive. A set of the 7" hella round headlights cost about $80 for a pair. While these units are a vast improvement over the stock units they are by no mean the best out there and at $80 are actually quite cheap. i have had much better service out of the IPF lighting product line. The IPF's seem to be built tougher than the Hellas.

[ThePhotographer]

Yeah I wasn't sure if he was referring to the vision plus's. The visions are not submersible lights, where as there are submersibles on the market.

[TeriAnn]

I've got the Hella headlights that I bought from RN. Did a trail run today that involved a few creek crossings.. now both the globes of my headlights are cracked! These were expensive lights that I expected to last for many, many years... That doesn't seem right...

Sounds like simple physics to me. Headlamp lenses can get very hot in use. immersion in cold water cases rapid thermal contraction and golly gee hot glass can crack with rapid contraction.

If you are going to go wading it is always a good practice to turn your lights off, preferably with enough time for them to cool down a little. I try to stay out of creeks and shallow rivers at night.

Go wading with you headlamps on and you are taking your chances. I'd save my complaints for headlamps breaking during a rain storm.

[alaskajosh]

We're in some different leagues here because $80 for headlights, when the alternative can be had for a fraction of that, is a lot of money for me. It was a hard decision for me to splash out for these.

I got quite a sales pitch from RN promising I'd be really impressed or they'd take them back... well, as for their lighting performance I'd describe them as "yeah, they're alright". In terms of durability/longevity.. for lights that I expected I might own for a lifetime (part of the pitch, the replaceable bulbs) I'd rate my satisfaction at "poor".

I called RN this morning on it, letting them know right off that I'm not out to get something for nothing but at the least they owe it to their customers, somewhere in the middle of the aggressive sales pitch, to warn them of this weakness. Eric had never heard of this problem before. That made two of us... and left me feeling maybe slightly more frustrated than before.


Now you say I can play the game of "Money-Down-The-Toilet Roulette" at even higher stakes by spending more for better(?) lights?? Nah.

So the beauty of the internet.. free flow of information.. caveat emptor, friends.

[mongoswede]

We're in some different leagues here because $80 for headlights, when the alternative can be had for a fraction of that, is a lot of money for me. It was a hard decision for me to splash out for these.

I got quite a sales pitch from RN promising I'd be really impressed or they'd take them back... well, as for their lighting performance I'd describe them as "yeah, they're alright". In terms of durability/longevity.. for lights that I expected I might own for a lifetime (part of the pitch, the replaceable bulbs) I'd rate my satisfaction at "poor".

I called RN this morning on it, letting them know right off that I'm not out to get something for nothing but at the least they owe it to their customers, somewhere in the middle of the aggressive sales pitch, to warn them of this weakness. Eric had never heard of this problem before. That made two of us... and left me feeling maybe slightly more frustrated than before.


Now you say I can play the game of "Money-Down-The-Toilet Roulette" at even higher stakes by spending more for better(?) lights?? Nah.

So the beauty of the internet.. free flow of information.. caveat emptor, friends.


As I said before the Hella's are ok. They are much better than the stock lights and if you upgrade your wiring so that you are running good quality wire with proper relays you can get a lot out of these units. If you are running the stock rover harness then your increase in performance will be limited by the less than ideal rover wiring. So...did you ever explain whether it was the glass lens that cracked or if it was the replaceable bulb?

I run a set of IPF lights in my Saab...$80 for the housings and I often run the IPF superclear bulbs...another $80. work great. But if you are comparing these lights to the $10 Napa replacements then they will seem pricy.

Now if you really want to start bumping up the performance and you want to eliminate any cracking possibility go get yourself some LED headlights. Pricey but will likely outlive the truck.


and on a side note...here is my race bike with a 7" hella car headlight...has not broken in 8000 miles of racing and trail riding:

http://crazyswede.smugmug.com/Sports/2011-Australasian-Safari-Rally/i-tK4zNHC/0/M/CI-AS11-Moto16-5-M.jpg

and for the record it has been submerged...several times:

http://crazyswede.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/KTM-690-How-To/i-kRb6kRV/0/M/258099994942949348157113274532-M.jpg

[alaskajosh]

...if you upgrade your wiring so that you are running good quality wire with proper relays...
...did you ever explain whether it was the glass lens that cracked or if it was the replaceable bulb?
...here is my race bike with a 7" hella car headlight...has not broken in 8000 miles of racing and trail riding:
and for the record it has been submerged...several times:

My wiring is re-done from scratch far exceeding specs, relays too.

It was the lenses, not the bulbs. They're garbage as soon as water seeps in there, clouds the reflectors, and grows some organic goo.

So what was wrong with (both of) mine!!??

Thanks for your response--

[SafeAirOne]

So what was wrong with (both of) mine!!??

The water's 25 degrees colder in Alaska??

[I Leak Oil]

I don't think it's reasonable for the lenses to crack. It's an automotive product, inherent in it's design to get hot and at the same time encounter water. Cracking would not be acceptable to me.

[ThePhotographer]

However encountering water and being submerged in it are two different things. I understand your frustration because I also believed Hellas wouldn't do this. Do you have an idea of the temp of the water?

[ThePhotographer]

Here a thread I found about some stock headlights cracking, but the Hellas making it through fine.
http://www.discoweb.org/41704archive/discusarchive/messages/17/23494.html

I think it's important to note that hot glass and cold water just don't mix. I know a lot of people have gone to LightForce because of their composite lenses that are less likely to crack.

[TeriAnn]

I think it's important to note that hot glass and cold water just don't mix. I know a lot of people have gone to LightForce because of their composite lenses that are less likely to crack.

And some folks just don't cross streams with our headlights on. I've been running IPF headlamps with 140 watt bulbs for about 10 years now problem free. I normally do not run trails in the daylight with headlamps on and certainly do not do water crossings with headlamps on. It is the nature of parts on a trail rig to break. I figure the best thing I can do on the trail is to minimize stress on components while on the trail. It is a LOT cheaper that way. Rapid expansion or contraction puts stress on glass. Your Hellas might have lasted a bunch of years if you had realized that and kept your headlights off during and before a water crossing. Or one might get cracked the day you install it from a rock launched by the vehicle in front of you.

Should the sales person warn you that hot glass can crack when it meets a cold water splash? Or is that something a person should be expected to know? The safety debate on products boils down to what a reasonable person needs to be told vs. what they should know and what precautions a reasonable person should be expected to take. Some people argue that society cuddles them too much and puts too many restrictions on what they can do and how they live their lives. Other people need to be told of every possible consequence of any action they might make to keep from walking off a cliff or getting swept over a waterfall. And even then some will ignore the fence and sign that says do not get too close to the edge of the cliff. Happens all the time at the Grand Canyon.

Better picture opportunity without the fence and the sign in the way and closer to the canyon but you had better snap the picture fast before the subject gets away.

[Les Parker]

I am curios to know of the leaking lens'. I have had Hella Visions on both Series and my current D90 and, after being correctly adjusted, very happy with the light patern at night. I have forded a couple of streams with the lights on, without either the lens' leaking or cracking.

How long have the lens' been fitted? If they are leaking water past the outer part to the reflector, we need to know about this.

Please send (PM me) some further data.

[I Leak Oil]

My $25 Wagners have been fine for many years, submerged, -25F weather, etc.
I think this is an odd conversation. There seems to be the acceptance of these cracking yet on the GnR board there's the thread about the guy using a blitZ can to stoke his fireplace in his home, killing his daughter and burning his home down. Winning a lawsuit over it. I just think it's strange that we (as in people in general) will accept a broken headlight just because it got wet, yet when some dumb arse uses a product in a completely inappropriate manner, people find the gas can manufacturer at fault. I know there are different scales of responsibility in play there but I still wouldn't expect an expensive pair of automotive lights to crack because they got wet. Perhaps Hella should provide a graph with the amount of water, water temp., lense temp, and the probability of cracking so the consumer can make and educated decision!:thumb-up:

[stomper]

I agree with I leak Oil. This issue seems very odd. They broke under what I would consider normal use. Either replace or refund the money as the purchaser is not satisfied with the product. If not, chalk it up to a lesson learned, and don't buy them again. With lights being a very competitive accessory, I'm sure there are brands that would be better for your application.

[mongoswede]

Perhaps the original poster should have first spoken to the sales department about his concerns and happyness with the product prior to posting his displeasure on the forum.

[SafeAirOne]

I suspect the OP had the dual purpose of putting out a feeler to see if the breakage was normal/happened to others, as well as to register a gripe about the product...

[yorker]

Perhaps the original poster should have first spoken to the sales department about his concerns and happyness with the product prior to posting his displeasure on the forum.


meh- How is he supposed to know if this was normal or a know occurance without mentioning it here? Is he running the standard bulbs or higher wattage ones? I've never had modern sealed beams crack when they hit ice cold water in stream crossings.

[Partsman]

Perhaps the original poster should have first spoken to the sales department about his concerns and happyness with the product prior to posting his displeasure on the forum.

I happen to agree with mongo on this one, I have been doing business with our hosts for many years very happily, if I've ever been dissatisfied with a product(this is extremely rare), I would contact the sales dept. right away. They have always bent over backwards to make things right. Many times going far beyond anything that I've asked, they even go so far as to put me on the line with a technician who would spend as much time as I needed to understand all of the steps involved with replacement and installation of a part. They are by far one of the best run outfits in this community. If the OP had contacted the sales dept. I'm sure they would have done the same for him as they have in the past with me.

[alaskajosh]

I suspect the OP had the dual purpose of putting out a feeler to see if the breakage was normal/happened to others, as well as to register a gripe about the product...

Exactly. Also I refuse to be that guy who you see throwing a fit at the customer service counter demanding to talk to the manager, demanding this and that. I put it out there to the salesman, curious to see how he might handle it, but without making demands.

I'd describe the water crossing as a typical and prescribed BOW WAVE. I don't know how the word submersed keeps being thrown around. Did they get thoroughly soaked? Oh, no doubt.

These are road legal bulb combination. They were on low beam.. 55w.

[SafeAirOne]

Maybe your issue can be traced to all those logs floating in the water you were crossing. :D