I’ve had my Gen3 now for about 19 months now and thought it was time to upgrade the headlights. My stock ones still worked perfectly fine. I dropped $50 on a pair of the PIAA Night Tech H11 bulbs. Install was easy and they are much brighter than stock. Yesterday I had one burn out. I pulled the bulbs and found one with a burnt filament and the other was blistered and was black inside……..It was going to blow soon. I took them back to NAPA and they exchanged them no problem. I’ve purchased quite a few PIAA products in the past and have no problem with them so I started to wonder. With the bulbs installed and the lights on I checked the amperage and voltage to the bulbs. Each bulb draws 4.4A and the voltage is steady at 14.5. I’ve been a technician for over 25 years and worked on almost every manufacturer of vehicle. Most vehicles run anywhere from 13.0 to 14.0 volts most of the time and run a little higher or lower depending on demand. A call to PIAA tech support with this info got me an answer I did not want to hear, “Our bulbs are designed to work with a sustained voltage of no more than 13.8. Your voltage @ 14.5 will shorten the life of the bulb”. He further said that the stock bulbs handle the voltage better because of the different gas and tungsten in the lamp. He said that He was not aware of any issues with the Prius vehicles. I would hate to back to stock bulbs. Here are my questions…… 1. Is this an isolated problem or has somebody already been through this? 2. Is a sustained 14.5v normal? 3. Any other aftermarket brands burning out prematurely? Thanks
Haven't had any problems with Sylvania Silverstar halogen bulbs. They've been in for 8 months, and they're not known to be the longest lasting bulbs.
