When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I was doing some research for my project and I came across this thread linked from the "Cheap DIY Mods thread"
Then I saw it was originated in 2013, and I figured I was too late to the party... then I saw the most recent post was from today and the OP is still keeping at it.
7t2vette - You are the man. This forum is great because of people like you.
We are getting better customer service from you than I see from many vendors - and you aren't even profiting from this.
I was doing some research for my project and I came across this thread linked from the "Cheap DIY Mods thread"
Then I saw it was originated in 2013, and I figured I was too late to the party... then I saw the most recent post was from today and the OP is still keeping at it.
7t2vette - You are the man. This forum is great because of people like you.
We are getting better customer service from you than I see from many vendors - and you aren't even profiting from this.
Since I am the originator of this thread, I see it as my duty to offer my assistance to anyone who needs it. I'm not in it for the glory or riches!!
I'm getting close to wrapping this up (finally, lol) and one of the last things is what to do with the backup socket wiring after the conversion. I've got this black end (with contact at the end) that used to go to the backup light socket but is just hanging there now. Obviously I need to do something with that end, what did everyone else do? Cut it off? Wrap it up in black tape? Thanks!
So I finally got my car going (brakes weren't working, had to tow it into the shop) and finally got to drive it last night. Does anyone else have radio interference when the lights are on? I turned on my lights and my radio station cut out, then I turned them back off and the radio came back. Tried it a couple more times and yep, it's killing the radio. Did anyone have to put a noise filter somewhere?
So I finally got my car going (brakes weren't working, had to tow it into the shop) and finally got to drive it last night. Does anyone else have radio interference when the lights are on? I turned on my lights and my radio station cut out, then I turned them back off and the radio came back. Tried it a couple more times and yep, it's killing the radio. Did anyone have to put a noise filter somewhere?
The led lights themselves do not cause electrical noise issues, you have something else going on in your electrical system.
The led lights themselves do not cause electrical noise issues, you have something else going on in your electrical system.
I'm about 99% sure the problem is the halo rings. I've had this car for 6 years with not one interference issue, and the second I turn on the lights now (turning on the halo's) the radio signal cuts out, turn the lights off it comes right back. It's the only change I've made to the lights. Luckily I think I can verify this by temporarily pulling the power to them.
Btw, it's not necessarily electrical noise on the wire, but RF noise interfering with the antenna.
I'm about 99% sure the problem is the halo rings. I've had this car for 6 years with not one interference issue, and the second I turn on the lights now (turning on the halo's) the radio signal cuts out, turn the lights off it comes right back. It's the only change I've made to the lights. Luckily I think I can verify this by temporarily pulling the power to them.
Btw, it's not necessarily electrical noise on the wire, but RF noise interfering with the antenna.
I started this thread 5yrs ago, and myself and dozens of others have done this to our cars, and you are the first person to report this happening. I have 4 headlight halos and 4 tail light halos, and they have never caused any issues with anything else. I am sceptical that the led halos are causing any EMI or RFI issues, but I’ve been surprised by things before. Exactly what led halos did you use? I’m curious to find out if the problem goes away with just the halos disconnected.
I started this thread 5yrs ago, and myself and dozens of others have done this to our cars, and you are the first person to report this happening. I have 4 headlight halos and 4 tail light halos, and they have never caused any issues with anything else. I am sceptical that the led halos are causing any EMI or RFI issues, but I’ve been surprised by things before. Exactly what led halos did you use? I’m curious to find out if the problem goes away with just the halos disconnected.
It may just be the brand? Or maybe because I don't have any other filters in my radio setup? When I say I lose them all, I literally lose them all...the seek wraps all the way around, unable to find a station.
It may just be the brand? Or maybe because I don't have any other filters in my radio setup? When I say I lose them all, I literally lose them all...the seek wraps all the way around, unable to find a station.
If it is a "Retrosound" - yes, you could be having a problem with the LED's interfering.
And the only way to fix it- is replace the radio- as there are numerous threads on the web of EVERYTHING causing a problem with that radio.
Making a post in this now legendary thread.
anyone have a current source for a good headlight sized and taillight sized LED ring?
there's a heap of options and i don't necessarily trust em.
the brighter and more uniform the light, the better
also, located an alternative to a reflector housing, these are inexpensive PROJECTOR housings, $90 for a set of four that come with some crap halogen bulbs you can toss immediately. No idea how easy it'd be to pry these apart to put in a halo https://www.octanelighting.com/5-34-...w-clear-1.html
Making a post in this now legendary thread.
anyone have a current source for a good headlight sized and taillight sized LED ring?
there's a heap of options and i don't necessarily trust em.
the brighter and more uniform the light, the better
also, located an alternative to a reflector housing, these are inexpensive PROJECTOR housings, $90 for a set of four that come with some crap halogen bulbs you can toss immediately. No idea how easy it'd be to pry these apart to put in a halo https://www.octanelighting.com/5-34-...w-clear-1.html
It looks like the exact LED halo rings I used are now hard to find. An eBay search did find several listing for both 126mm and 85mm units, all from China.....but that is where I sourced mine from, and they are still working perfectly more than 7yrs later.
This eBay listing for 85mm rings looks exactly like the ones I used:
This eBay listing for 125mm rings look very similar to the ones I used; the differences are that they have some sort of device in the wiring harness and they are 1mm smaller in diameter:
Trying to dig up sources for so called "HD" led halos, which use a coating of phosphor on the light scattering ring cover to remove the dashes between the individual LEDs of the rings, turning it into an unbroken ring of light.
the $120 diode dynamics ones do that but, well, $120
but i mean, lookit dat, pretty
it does seem like the industry, like many, has a huge gulf between really high quality american made stuff that's extremely spendy, and absolutely bottom of the barrel chinese stuff which won't last long
there's also a site which rates and ranks LED headlight bulbs, including putting them into reflector and projector housings and getting pics of their beam patterns which is an impressive level of detail https://www.bulbfacts.com/led-kits/chart/
I've played around with NeoPixels, from Adafruit. They are surprisingly bright, and would make great taillights if you are wiling to modify the housing a bit. You could have red brake lights, amber turn signals, and white reverse lights, all in one housing. They need an Arduino to control them, and 5 VDC input. The large ring is in 4 sections, and works out to 6.2" OD, so just a bit big for a headlight halo, but how cool would it be to have selectable colors, and programmable motion.
It doesn’t look like the correct sizes of 126mm and 85mm are available from any of the above posted links, unless I missed it when I looked.
If these were available when I was first thinking about making these headlights, I probably would have just bought them instead. These look like very high quality units compared to all the eBay and similar junk being sold; they are pricey but as with most things in life, you get what you pay for:
it seems like, for the tail lights, 90mm would be too big as it'd impact the mounting holes but going a little smaller shouldn't negatively impact it?
same with the headlights, a little smaller shouldn't hurt
also, the dapper lighting set is all around great, but to get nice halos with good LED lights in a kit, the full set of four lights is over eight hundred bucks
if i do a little frankensteining i can do something very similar for less than half of that https://www.pandamotorworks.com/prod...0884&_ss=r
126mm & 85mm are the largest you can go with the headlights I used and the 68-73 factory tail lights. Of course you could always go smaller with the halo rings.
I personally wanted the halo rings to be as big as possible:
so, those octane bulbs are fake projectors, good thing i only got one
aside from those i cannot for the life of me find someone selling a projector housing in a 5.75 bulb aside from dapper's $359 option
so it's back to reflectors...
the octane reflectors seem to have no beam pattern, so that would be glare city
but it looks like Hella headlights have a very nice beam cutoff pattern. That combined with good LED bulbs which can be rotated to find just the right beam pattern, might get what i want
so, those octane bulbs are fake projectors, good thing i only got one
open question is, can those hella lamps be baked open? or do they use a "hard" adhesive that would have to be cut open?
of course the dark side option is get ebay special retrofit projector lenses, get some cheap clear lens 5.75s and throw the projector lens in there.
Wow, fake projectors!!!!!
I have no idea if the Hella units will be assembled with the same type of adhesive as the units I used. The Hella units will be high-quality 5.75" reflectors with correct beam patterns. To be honest, I've never even checked the beam pattern on the headlights I used for this conversion!
The problem with most projectors will be the overall depth, but I suppose if you don't mind cutting the headlight housings anything is possible.
A few years ago I bought a full set of Hella 90mm classic projector modules, but they are still sitting on a shelf! I was going to completely abandon the 5.75" units in favour of the 90mm units. Still might, don't know. If you do a google search you will see these modules being retro fitted into many cars.
These are the modules:
Hella has many different types of these universal 90mm units including bi-xenon and led units. Check their web site.
03-27-2018, 02:56 PM
