Where did you buy your halos?

Ok looking to buy for my bday.

I want to get all 3 for the headlights then the foglights too.

1 member gave me a website for a guy (Andy or Adam) but i emailed him twice with no reply. :-(

Always like to buy from someone who has bought and had a good experience.

You can try here: AAC http://www.automotivelightstore.com/index.html

Or here: Flashtech http://www.headlightsupercenter.com/

got mine from flashtech. great quality product but they sent me 2 of the wrong size rings. i made it work tho. PLCman on LXforums designed their voltage regulators.

I have AAC halos and so far no problems at all.Easy install and great quality

Flashtech is supposedly coming out with some "revolutionary" new product in a week or two so you may want to wait to see what they come out with.

I, actually, have BOTH...AAC and FT. Neither is installed yet, but I'm going with FT based on 2 things:

1) Customer service (for me) has been better with FT, and
2) plcman. He designed their first regulator and is designing a new one I'm waiting for.

BTW, despite what AAC says, if I were you, I'd recommend running a regulator regardless of which manufacturer you have. I'll PM plcman and ask him to weigh in her on the why...he's the 370 Hemi of electronics (or, 370 hemi is the plcman of lubricants?).



BTW, I am selling my 8-ring AAC amber halo kit.

I also bought mine from AAC. Not the greatest customer service, but no complaints on the product.

Shawn1112 wrote:

I also bought mine from AAC. Not the greatest customer service, but no complaints on the product.

Hello everyone, I am PLCMAN and maybe I can weigh in on this subject.

The first thing is with LED's you need a constant Voltage for there to be a constant current, LEDS are current devices NOT voltage devices. The require voltage for their brightness, but the current should never be over the manufactures design specs. I got involved with the design of a regulator when I bought a set of LED Halos and found that as long as the voltage was around 11.8vdc the current was correct but as soon as the voltage was increased the rings would overheat. This has been reported by a few people that have the LEDS and experienced the LEDs popping off. The current was so high that the dropping resistors were over heating trying to keep the current in check that the resistors would melt the solder at the connections and a back of LEDs would quit.
Thus the regulator, regardless of the manufacturer I would run a voltage regulator. Our cars voltage swings from 11.5vdc to nearly 14.5vdc, there has to be regulation tot he LEDS or problems will occur. Also the power in the vehicle is "dirty" not clean when the engine is started, this needs to be filtered to keep the current spikes from destroying the LED module itself. There are current dropping resistors on each ring that covers groups of three LED's. This resistor is there to regulate the currant into the led string, the larger the voltage drop the larger in resistance the resistor needs to be and it's physical size needs to be larger. Thus this is why the ring I designed runs at either 10vdc or 7vdc, this allows the resistor to drop only 1 volt no matter what the ring color is. Also the regulator cleans the power and keeps the dirty stuff out. IF your cars voltage swings from 11 - 14.5 vdc the brightness will always be the same, using a regulator.

I how this helps.

Raymond Smith
PLCMAN

Thanks for weighing in, Raymond.

Don't be a stranger!

Plcman wrote:

Shawn1112 wrote:

I also bought mine from AAC. Not the greatest customer service, but no complaints on the product.

Hello everyone, I am PLCMAN and maybe I can weigh in on this subject.

The first thing is with LED's you need a constant Voltage for there to be a constant current, LEDS are current devices NOT voltage devices. The require voltage for their brightness, but the current should never be over the manufactures design specs. I got involved with the design of a regulator when I bought a set of LED Halos and found that as long as the voltage was around 11.8vdc the current was correct but as soon as the voltage was increased the rings would overheat. This has been reported by a few people that have the LEDS and experienced the LEDs popping off. The current was so high that the dropping resistors were over heating trying to keep the current in check that the resistors would melt the solder at the connections and a back of LEDs would quit.
Thus the regulator, regardless of the manufacturer I would run a voltage regulator. Our cars voltage swings from 11.5vdc to nearly 14.5vdc, there has to be regulation tot he LEDS or problems will occur. Also the power in the vehicle is "dirty" not clean when the engine is started, this needs to be filtered to keep the current spikes from destroying the LED module itself. There are current dropping resistors on each ring that covers groups of three LED's. This resistor is there to regulate the currant into the led string, the larger the voltage drop the larger in resistance the resistor needs to be and it's physical size needs to be larger. Thus this is why the ring I designed runs at either 10vdc or 7vdc, this allows the resistor to drop only 1 volt no matter what the ring color is. Also the regulator cleans the power and keeps the dirty stuff out. IF your cars voltage swings from 11 - 14.5 vdc the brightness will always be the same, using a regulator.

I how this helps.

Raymond Smith
PLCMAN

So what you are saying is???? Not trying to be a dick, but are you saying we need a regulator? I have led halo's and I have a decent sound system, and I rock the shit out of my music with the halo's on. I think that would cause a voltage spike or drop and I have had no problems going over a year now. I'm kind of doubting your theory a little bit, because I havent heard of a lot of problems that you speak of, as a matter of fact I dont recall hearing anyone complaining of this problem yet. Your points do make some sense, but if it isnt broke why fix it??

Shawn1112 wrote:

So what you are saying is???? Not trying to be a dick, but are you saying we need a regulator? I have led halo's and I have a decent sound system, and I rock the shit out of my music with the halo's on. I think that would cause a voltage spike or drop and I have had no problems going over a year now. I'm kind of doubting your theory a little bit, because I havent heard of a lot of problems that you speak of, as a matter of fact I dont recall hearing anyone complaining of this problem yet. Your points do make some sense, but if it isnt broke why fix it??

You know someone that has this problem...Brian. The bank of three LEDs that are out on his halos are from this. The soldered resistors each support 3 LEDs. I think the degree you see these issues also varies by the LED color because different colors use different voltages, but I'm not sure about that.

i do have that problem on one bank... havent had the time to get in and fix it... all it takes is to add some more solder to the one resistor and it will be fine... i have been running them for over a year now and other then that have had no problems... the problem happened when i re-baked the headlights to install the led strip that i have in my headlights... i run my led strips 247 when i drive my car...i dont have that problem w/ those strips... if this were a constant problem that is accurate then you would have a lot more of unsatisfied customers... So Sorry dave dont mean to shoot you down here but the theory of the leds going bad because of not using a regulator im still iffy on due to the simple fact like shawn said w/ him and also w/ ivan and other memebers having sound systems with using led halos and theres not having the problem that mine has you cant pinpoint that as a reason to have a regulator...

I mean anyone that knows sound systems knows that there are a lot of peaks and drops in current when using a high powered sound system unless there are 1 or more Capacitors inline w/ the system to help regulate the power draw...i dont know but i dont believe either one are using them i could be wrong... (Shawn Ivan correct me if you are using one but i dont remember seeing one)...This would have def. popped some of the resistors on there halos and prob faster then mine popped... i am leaving my theory to the baking of the headlights that caused the problem...because there are to many variations in the mix...

LEDs have been around for a long time. That's why is mystifies me as to why people have all these problems with them. It's not experimental technology. I attribute it to poor quality products and/or poor engineering. That doesn't mean that every set is shit, but a lack of quality control means that one out of every six is a nightmare delivered by UPS.

Plcman wrote:

Shawn1112 wrote:

I also bought mine from AAC. Not the greatest customer service, but no complaints on the product.

Hello everyone, I am PLCMAN and maybe I can weigh in on this subject.

The first thing is with LED's you need a constant Voltage for there to be a constant current, LEDS are current devices NOT voltage devices. The require voltage for their brightness, but the current should never be over the manufactures design specs. I got involved with the design of a regulator when I bought a set of LED Halos and found that as long as the voltage was around 11.8vdc the current was correct but as soon as the voltage was increased the rings would overheat. This has been reported by a few people that have the LEDS and experienced the LEDs popping off. The current was so high that the dropping resistors were over heating trying to keep the current in check that the resistors would melt the solder at the connections and a back of LEDs would quit.
Thus the regulator, regardless of the manufacturer I would run a voltage regulator. Our cars voltage swings from 11.5vdc to nearly 14.5vdc, there has to be regulation tot he LEDS or problems will occur. Also the power in the vehicle is "dirty" not clean when the engine is started, this needs to be filtered to keep the current spikes from destroying the LED module itself. There are current dropping resistors on each ring that covers groups of three LED's. This resistor is there to regulate the currant into the led string, the larger the voltage drop the larger in resistance the resistor needs to be and it's physical size needs to be larger. Thus this is why the ring I designed runs at either 10vdc or 7vdc, this allows the resistor to drop only 1 volt no matter what the ring color is. Also the regulator cleans the power and keeps the dirty stuff out. IF your cars voltage swings from 11 - 14.5 vdc the brightness will always be the same, using a regulator.

I how this helps.

Raymond Smith
PLCMAN

I'm glad i have your regulator bro. it looks way over engineered for the job it has but i like that.

I guess my education was a wash then! What else can I say, other than it isn't that you have had problems but that you WILL have problems. And yes there are inferior products out there, but you will minimise the effects with a constant voltage.
If you do not run a regulator the Halos get very hot where the voltage increases, also just adding solder fixes the problem termperarily only, heat equals cold solder joints guaranteed. I have been involved with electronics for 45 years I guess I am just wrong.
Goog luck guys you will need it.

I know absolutely nothing about these things but I have heard more than a few stories of frustration over them. Have also heard of those like Shawn that have not really had any issues at all. One of the great things about these forums is learning from other's experiences and knowledge and IF I ever do go with halos and am pretty confident that based on what Plcman is saying, I'd definitely put the regulator in. Like JT says, it may be over-engineered, but I'd rather pay a little extra for something that is over-engineered than to have the headaches and frustration - especially given the amount of work involved in the installation.

Plcman wrote:

I guess my education was a wash then! What else can I say, other than it isn't that you have had problems but that you WILL have problems. And yes there are inferior products out there, but you will minimise the effects with a constant voltage.
If you do not run a regulator the Halos get very hot where the voltage increases, also just adding solder fixes the problem termperarily only, heat equals cold solder joints guaranteed. I have been involved with electronics for 45 years I guess I am just wrong.
Goog luck guys you will need it.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Shawn1112 wrote:

Plcman wrote:

I guess my education was a wash then! What else can I say, other than it isn't that you have had problems but that you WILL have problems. And yes there are inferior products out there, but you will minimise the effects with a constant voltage.
If you do not run a regulator the Halos get very hot where the voltage increases, also just adding solder fixes the problem termperarily only, heat equals cold solder joints guaranteed. I have been involved with electronics for 45 years I guess I am just wrong.
Goog luck guys you will need it.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Shawn its not really an opinion. he is an electrical engineer...

I understand that, but his theory is still an opinion.

Shawn1112 wrote:

I understand that, but his theory is still an opinion.

Sorry to disagree, not trying to be a dick, but no it's not opinion...it's experience. Informed experience based on 45 years practicing in an industry. Just like I'd trust a nuclear physicist to understand more about nuclear reactors than I do, and a chemist to understand more about fluid dynamics and molecular compounds than I do, I trust an electrician with that kind of track record to know more about this topic than I do, because he's basically spent his life involved with it.

Yes, Eric, it's true that LEDs are not experimental technology, but LED rings powered by a variable voltage battery in a car are more experimental. I run my car in diagnostic mode all the time, and my battery always runs at 13.9-14.5v while driving around. Hell, it's only at 12.5v sitting still and turned off. Even AAC's halos are advertised to run at 12v, so I trust that it can be only a matter of time. I have both AAC and FT halos...I hooked them up and FELT in my hand that even the AAC's got hot. I learned a lot in my 9 months so far, on this journey to get halos. One thing I learned is that these things are being assembled and marketed by people (at BOTH companies, AAC and FT) that know a lot less about this technology than you would think and hope, seeing as you're putting this in your car. I'll put my trust in Raymond and his knowledge. When it's ready, I'll be proudly running his new regulator, he'll be on my show poster (whenever it is I make one) and I'll be going to him for all my electrical questions. It's why 370 hemi is my lubricity guy. I find someone that has the right knowledge, passion for what they do, and great customer service, I stick with them.

Having said all that, that IS what's great about these forums...and Freedom, in general. You want to do something a certain way, and it's not hurting anyone else, go for it! That's American Freedom, baby!

ok i am trying to be a dick... is it working... lol

irishrt5.7 wrote:

ok i am trying to be a dick... is it working... lol

lmao

irishrt5.7 wrote:

ok i am trying to be a dick... is it working... lol

You don't have to try very hard.

i know...lol

I thought I was gonna have to get out of the kitchen....it was getting hot in there!