ok so tonight i go get in my truck to leave work, and i turn on my lights and they go bzzt pretty colors and GONE!!!! does anyone have any idea what could have happened to make them short out like that

 

voltage regulator could be shot and you over powered them.

Check the voltage when it's running

 

well i wasnt even driving, but my voltage does fluxuate alot and thats what i was thinking was wrong with them

 

What is the max though?

 

They didn't short out, they burned out. Usually lights will burn out when power is first applied due to the shock of the sudden heating of the filament. Might have also had a crack in the lamp housing or bulb that let in some air and caused them to burn up like a flash bulb. Normal operating voltage in a vehicle is up in the 13-14 volt range, depending on the state of the battery. If you have a very discharged battery the voltage may be higher for a while while the alternator is charging the battery, but typically drops back into the 13.6-13.8 volt range. If yours is a lot higher than that, could be a bad voltage regulator, check it out with a good volt meter.

 

at first it gets kinda high because of the alternator charging it like you said, but it may have burned them out but why they are brand new

 

Assuming a quartz halogen bulb, you might have accidentally touched the bulb with your fingers while installing them. That can leave a fingerprint that will cause a hot spot on the quartz envelope and cause it to burn out faster. And there is a thing called "infant mortality" on new electrical parts where there is a higher rate of failure on new parts. That rate of failure falls rapidly as the parts break in and then stays low until you begin to reach the normal lifetime of the part and then the failure rate starts to rise. So could have been bulbs that were manufactured improperly, maybe did nto have enough or the right mix of gas inside or had a leak that let in oxygen from the atmosphere or something like that.

 

no it was none of that it was a broken voltage regulator, i was running at near 18 volts

 

So I was right, eh?

 

well it says your right in your sig ^ so i guess so