W5W / 501 white side light bulbs.

[Audax]

Can anyone recommend a good W5W/501 white side light bulb? I've now had to replace 4 white halogen side light bulbs from Osram in 19 months and I'm getting bored of it. I'm not really wanting to try out LED replacements unless someone can suggest a good well known led bulb rather than some pointing at stuff  on ebay as I don't want to have to keep replacing bulbs or get bulbs that will melt the headlight (have seen this before with people using LED replacements). If not I think I will just go back to having yellow sidelights and get long life bulbs!

[aerojon]

Halogen!!!i'm running osram 501s 3yrs+..if they are true halogen like the h4 h7 etc..then you can't touch the glass.

[Audax]

I always wear gloves when fitting bulbs. The Osram 501's that I'm using are the "cool blue intense" bulbs which don't last!

[sgould]

Have you got an issue with vibration?  That's what kills bulbs.

I've seen this from the old days of cars with rusty fixings on the lamp unit, to a friends car which we traced a vibration to some broken screws on the undertray.  Are the bump stops on the bonnet set correctly?  If that's touching the body...

[Audax]

No, it's just the bulbs are rubbish, many people using these bulbs have the same complaint, I was looking at the philips long life white equivalent which they rate as lasting around 450 hours, but even then they would only last me just under 18 months assuming that you got that life in the real world.

[Audax]

Looking at this a bit more, Philips say their long life 501's last 2000 hours vs. 450 hours for the white ones. Osram say their long life 501's last twice as long as the white ones, think I will just go back to the long life yellow bulbs

[Max Headroom]

Audax what are the fittings? I can't remember.

I have used a company more associated with vintage car lighting, but their products are superb and above all I have had no problems with reliability.

Take a look at Dynamo Regulator Conversions - its possible they might have something with the correct fitting. They might not be pricey but there is a lot of Chinese cheap stuff incluuding fake Osram and Bosch products out there too.
They're very helpful

[aerojon]

501/W5W are wedge..

[Max Headroom]

They do two Wedge lamps; I know this because I bought a pair for the Jimny at a restoration show the other week.

The website is not the best to navigate but if you scroll to the bottom of THIS page there are two - a T5 and a T10.
I cant remember what those translate to in normal bulbs but I think the T5 = 501 W5W, and I THINK the T10 = 580W 21W

So the T5s are what you'd want. They are very bright. I'll see if I can find my photos of the Jimny No.Plate bulbs I fitted

EDIT:

The attached photos shows a run-of-the-mill LED fitted in the RH position. The LH bulb is the one from Dynamo Regulator Conversions and is significantly brighter!

The other photo is an illustration of the quality comparison...

The bulb with the clear lens is the eBay one (described on eBay as "Super bright"! Needless to say, I complained to the vendor about that description and sent the same photos as evidence) - also note that the contacts are just very thin wire.
 
The DRC one has a much more substantial metal strip for contacts giving greater contact area. The whole thing is much better made than the eBay Chinese job, and comes boxed. I believe DRC may have had these commissioned themselves.

How long the DRC ones will last remains to be seen but I have heard no complaints from the vintage car world about any of their products; on the contrary - only praise.

FURTHER EDIT:
Looking at the photo on the DRC site the T5 looks exactly like the crap ones on eBay!! I can only assume that is an old photo and that DRC stock is changed to the type in my photo