HALOs...my own personal HELL

I quote Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation: "Look around you Ellen...we are on the threshold of HELL!!!"

Had bad customer service from AAC. Flashtech pics showed way more LEDs (72) on their largest ring v. AAC (60). More LEDs = looks more like a ring. Flashtech was sounding really good on customer service.

Then they shipped my amber halos. All of a sudden, they're 7-volt instead of 12-volt. What??? And they were out of turn rings. And I had their voltage regulator which they tell you to keep dry, but not where to mount it. Also, it has a big old heat sink, so they don't put it in a box so the heat can dissipate. So don't put it in a waterproof box?

THEN...we LIT THEM BOTH, AAC amber and Flashtech amber, side by side. In this vid, AAC is on the top, Flashtech is on the bottom:

yea not amber at all. at least you got the right size rings. i got the six ring kit and 4 of my rings were all left side low beam rings. i had to make it work by using a dremel to hack off 6 rings on the end of 2 of the rings to fit the high beam rings.

i ment 6 led's at the end of the rings...

jontoad wrote:

i ment 6 led's at the end of the rings...

From Flashtech or AAC?

Damn i am so sorry you all had so much trouble i didnt have any really at all w/ AAC...

yea everything went smoothly for me with my AAC order. although they did forget to ship me my free remote. but i did get a quick response and they shipped it out to me 2day air. Matt is now the proud owner of the remote. i didnt feel like messing with them anymore. what a pain in the ass when i put them in!!!

Yeah.. Seems like nothing but trouble from flashtech.. No trouble at all from AAC except my remote kit was messed up but they paid shipping both ways for me to get it back in hardly no time..

Well, I have to give you all an update.

I spent 90 minutes on the phone with Raymond, "plcman" on the forums. He made the regulator. I learned a LOT on the call.

The ring is red (and HOT!) because the regulator wasn't properly adjusted by Flashtech before they shipped it out (Joey, listen up...I'm looking in YOUR direction. CHECK YOURS!) Mine's adjusted for probably 10v, but the rings are 7v. Sure enough, too much juice WILL change the color! Who knew? Not me. So first thing tomorrow, we're measuring it with a meter and adjusting it. That should make the color more amber (and he said I can actually adjust the color by adjusting the voltage between 6v and 7v). That guy is GREAT and may have saved Flashtech a product return and some bad press.

it was the flashtech kit. don't get me wrong i love the halos, the company just has some kinks to sort out for sure... sending me 4 of the same size rings was a major mess up on their part.

Iguanaman wrote:

Well, I have to give you all an update.

I spent 90 minutes on the phone with Raymond, "plcman" on the forums. He made the regulator. I learned a LOT on the call.

The ring is red (and HOT!) because the regulator wasn't properly adjusted by Flashtech before they shipped it out (Joey, listen up...I'm looking in YOUR direction. CHECK YOURS!) Mine's adjusted for probably 10v, but the rings are 7v. Sure enough, too much juice WILL change the color! Who knew? Not me. So first thing tomorrow, we're measuring it with a meter and adjusting it. That should make the color more amber (and he said I can actually adjust the color by adjusting the voltage between 6v and 7v). That guy is GREAT and may have saved Flashtech a product return and some bad press.

the regulator is a nice piece. I'm glad i got one of those in my kit. it looks way over engineered for the task it has. that heat sink is huge for powering 3 rings of LED's.

Iguanaman wrote:

Well, I have to give you all an update.

I spent 90 minutes on the phone with Raymond, "plcman" on the forums. He made the regulator. I learned a LOT on the call.

The ring is red (and HOT!) because the regulator wasn't properly adjusted by Flashtech before they shipped it out (Joey, listen up...I'm looking in YOUR direction. CHECK YOURS!) Mine's adjusted for probably 10v, but the rings are 7v. Sure enough, too much juice WILL change the color! Who knew? Not me. So first thing tomorrow, we're measuring it with a meter and adjusting it. That should make the color more amber (and he said I can actually adjust the color by adjusting the voltage between 6v and 7v). That guy is GREAT and may have saved Flashtech a product return and some bad press.

So how exactly would you adjust the power? I have the bullet halos and I had to put really big resistors on the red lights because they were 7V and the blue is 12V. I have mine in a box mounted under my front fascia on top of the grill. Its in a plastic project box but I cut a hole on the top of the heat sink so air can get into it.

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Iguanaman wrote:

Well, I have to give you all an update.

I spent 90 minutes on the phone with Raymond, "plcman" on the forums. He made the regulator. I learned a LOT on the call.

The ring is red (and HOT!) because the regulator wasn't properly adjusted by Flashtech before they shipped it out (Joey, listen up...I'm looking in YOUR direction. CHECK YOURS!) Mine's adjusted for probably 10v, but the rings are 7v. Sure enough, too much juice WILL change the color! Who knew? Not me. So first thing tomorrow, we're measuring it with a meter and adjusting it. That should make the color more amber (and he said I can actually adjust the color by adjusting the voltage between 6v and 7v). That guy is GREAT and may have saved Flashtech a product return and some bad press.

So how exactly would you adjust the power? I have the bullet halos and I had to put really big resistors on the red lights because they were 7V and the blue is 12V. I have mine in a box mounted under my front fascia on top of the grill. Its in a plastic project box but I cut a hole on the top of the heat sink so air can get into it.

not sure exactly where because i haven't had a reason to look for it yet, but the instructions say there is an adjustment screw for if you want them to run dimmer (change the voltage lower)

jontoad wrote:

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Iguanaman wrote:

Well, I have to give you all an update.

I spent 90 minutes on the phone with Raymond, "plcman" on the forums. He made the regulator. I learned a LOT on the call.

The ring is red (and HOT!) because the regulator wasn't properly adjusted by Flashtech before they shipped it out (Joey, listen up...I'm looking in YOUR direction. CHECK YOURS!) Mine's adjusted for probably 10v, but the rings are 7v. Sure enough, too much juice WILL change the color! Who knew? Not me. So first thing tomorrow, we're measuring it with a meter and adjusting it. That should make the color more amber (and he said I can actually adjust the color by adjusting the voltage between 6v and 7v). That guy is GREAT and may have saved Flashtech a product return and some bad press.

So how exactly would you adjust the power? I have the bullet halos and I had to put really big resistors on the red lights because they were 7V and the blue is 12V. I have mine in a box mounted under my front fascia on top of the grill. Its in a plastic project box but I cut a hole on the top of the heat sink so air can get into it.

not sure exactly where because i haven't had a reason to look for it yet, but the instructions say there is an adjustment screw for if you want them to run dimmer (change the voltage lower)

Oh, I didnt even notice that. Well I sure as hell aint gonna pull the box back out now. I had a hell of a time getting the bastard to stay where it is now.

In this picture, it's the small brass screw on top of the blue box, on the left side of the heat sink:



You hook up a volt meter to the leads on the other side of the regulator and measure the voltage; adjust that screw until it's 7v max (and not less than 6v) for the 7v rings.

Iguanaman wrote:

In this picture, it's the small brass screw on top of the blue box, on the left side of the heat sink:



You hook up a volt meter to the leads on the other side of the regulator and measure the voltage; adjust that screw until it's 7v max (and not less than 6v) for the 7v rings.

Ahhh thanks. I gotta keep mine at 12V cuz of the blue halos. I guess thats y I have the resistors for the red.

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Iguanaman wrote:

In this picture, it's the small brass screw on top of the blue box, on the left side of the heat sink:



You hook up a volt meter to the leads on the other side of the regulator and measure the voltage; adjust that screw until it's 7v max (and not less than 6v) for the 7v rings.

Ahhh thanks. I gotta keep mine at 12V cuz of the blue halos. I guess thats y I have the resistors for the red.

Based on what I heard, I WOULDN'T DO THAT. Contact plcman and let him know your setup ASAP (contact him on lxforums). He'll be able to give you the right guidance.

Iguanaman wrote:

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Iguanaman wrote:

In this picture, it's the small brass screw on top of the blue box, on the left side of the heat sink:



You hook up a volt meter to the leads on the other side of the regulator and measure the voltage; adjust that screw until it's 7v max (and not less than 6v) for the 7v rings.

Ahhh thanks. I gotta keep mine at 12V cuz of the blue halos. I guess thats y I have the resistors for the red.

Based on what I heard, I WOULDN'T DO THAT. Contact plcman and let him know your setup ASAP (contact him on lxforums). He'll be able to give you the right guidance.

Alrighty. I really dont want to have to open that box up again but ill contact him and see what he says.

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Iguanaman wrote:

liljoejoe54 wrote:

Iguanaman wrote:

In this picture, it's the small brass screw on top of the blue box, on the left side of the heat sink:



You hook up a volt meter to the leads on the other side of the regulator and measure the voltage; adjust that screw until it's 7v max (and not less than 6v) for the 7v rings.

Ahhh thanks. I gotta keep mine at 12V cuz of the blue halos. I guess thats y I have the resistors for the red.

Based on what I heard, I WOULDN'T DO THAT. Contact plcman and let him know your setup ASAP (contact him on lxforums). He'll be able to give you the right guidance.

Alrighty. I really dont want to have to open that box up again but ill contact him and see what he says.

Tell him I sent you.

Dave, when are you gonna tackle this install? Is plcman local?

Man i am glad i didnt have to do any of that shit... really glad...

irishrt5.7 wrote:

Man i am glad i didnt have to do any of that shit... really glad...

Me too. Halos will never be going on my car.

I'm glad I didn't have any trouble with mine.. Just a misleading that cause about an extra hour of work wiring them up but that's no fault of AAC.. Just my fault for following what someone said on a post on the Z..

irishrt5.7 wrote:

Damn i am so sorry you all had so much trouble i didnt have any really at all w/ AAC...

same here.Actually as far as install n quality AAC did their part.The only problem I had was mine were shipped to wrong address.I called AAC and within days they shipped me a new set!!!I for one live AAC

The only problem that i had was my led strips didn't ship until 3 weeks after i got my halos... as far as the halos i just need to re solder the one resistor and i will be good to go... hooked up to a 12v switch and that is all... no box to worry about or anything...