Hello everyone, trying to figure out the difference between Sharp Light Innovations Bi-LED ACA headlights, and the VetteLights Bi-LED Projector ACA Headlights. Are these the same product essentially? Did Sharp Light Innovations come first & Vette Lights copy the design? Or the other way around? I see there are some NOVA projectors available for the Sharp Light Innovations one now.

https://sharplightinnovations.com/sh...aca-headlights
https://www.vette-lights.com/collect...t-dot-approved

@TheRadioFlyer I think you might be the guy to chime in on this

Appreciate any insight into this/breakdown.

 

sharplight is the one and only.

i doubt vettelights copied anything, they may be a 3rd party vendor but George is the real manufacturer of them

 

While I am certain Vette Lights has earned a valid reputation, George at Sharp Light is an ace for product support as well as product quality. If you're seeking to buy, I'd reach out to him ASAP as he may have already begun his final year of law school. I know he was gearing up for it and trying to bump out extra kits quickly.

 

Vette lights is a Morimoto/theretrofitsource reseller. He probably offers other products too. TRS has a reseller program where they use specialized resellers to penetrate into different car communities. Nothing wrong with that, just what they do.

Sharp Light makes several of his own products. I think he also distributes some products that are commonly available elsewhere, but they also have some products that they're the only ones making.

 

George is my go to. His products are exactly as described, high quality. His response to emails, etc., is first rate.

Now all that said, I have bought some from Vettelights. Zero complaints, just prefer Sharplight generally.

 

George here (Owner of Sharp Light Innovations)

The story behind the ACA headlights is complicated but interesting:

Around 2002, the company ACA (I believe based in Canada) created the initial design of the headlights. They were originally designed with a D1S HID projector (low beam only) and used a halogen high beam. The headlights were manufactured in Taiwan. The problem was that in the initial design, someone forgot to check if the low and high beam were correctly aligned for each housing....they were not. IIRC, the spot-pattern high beams were pointed way too low and because it was a solid housing, there was no way to change this. The ACA company gave up selling them and the factory in Taiwan decided it could sell the remaining stock by converting the expensive D1S HID projector to a cheap H9 Halogen version.

Circa 2011, I figured out a way to modify these lights to use a Bi-Xenon H1 HID projector and re-aim it slightly to correctly align it with the halogen high beam. This was followed shortly by replacing the halogen bulb with an LED bulb which changed the spot pattern to a flood pattern. With this design, the misalignment of low/high beams was no longer an issue.I purchased remaining inventory of the old Halogen versions and converted them to Bi-Xenon projector systems. The product was so successful that the factory in Taiwan began producing the lights again to meet demand.

By 2020 (amid covid) LED projectors in this size class finally (and reliably) overtook HID projectors in overall performance and we phased out the HID variant for the LED version. The gen 2 projector appeared in 2021 providing improved output and an internal LED driver. By 2022, The factory in Taiwan began installing their own LED projectors with a silicone boot type of weather seal. These projectors are a further improvement from the Gen 2 version. This 3rd Generation version is sold by various vendors, but (as far as I know) I am the only vendor who supplies a Hi-4 harness (that keeps the low beams on with the high beams and is contained completely within the under hood fuse box), and a unique harness that allows correct headlight door raise/lower function without the need for a dangerous headlight resistor.

I introduced the Nova-Edition projector (as an upgrade option) in December 2024. This version out-classes everything before. Nova edition is by far the most powerful headlight system for the C5 AND does this without causing unwanted glare to oncoming traffic (in low beam mode). There is not likely to be much change of any further improvement in low or high beam performance.

I did not "invent" the ACA headlights, Over the past 15 years, I've been tinkering with them in various forms to make them much better.

 

I have Georges lights, they are awesome. The only thing better is the fact the owner himself answers questions. That and the superior product IMO is why I recommend Sharp Light to anyone I can.

 

Original owner of my 2004 convertible and one of the early adapters to install the original ACA kit back when the key decision was whether you wanted the black housing or chrome housing. I had to snake the drivers side HID low beam headlight harness through the front bumper aluminum frame support in order to connect it to the battery and fuse box on the passenger side. I remember it also took a few seconds for the HID low beams to brighten up after turning on or popping up the lights.

I then upgraded to George’s Bi-Xenon ACA HID kit with 4-on harness a few years ago and they have been working great with less wiring. Now I’m considering having him upgrade my current set to his Bi-xenon LED kit as I would like to remove the four HID ballasts I currently have mounted for both my HID lows and HID fogs as I need the real estate for mounting oil and trans cooler plumbing and other auxiliary components associated with my supercharger build.

As to each vendor, I think both are very good, however George and Sharp Light Innovations really led the way with his custom modifications and customer support.

 

You can upgrade to Bi-LED projectors for your ACA system (with LED high beam bulbs) here
https://sharplightinnovations.com/sh...t-modification

Upgrade the fog lights too and you won't have any ballasts taking up space:
https://sharplightinnovations.com/sh...-light-upgrade
https://sharplightinnovations.com/sh...t-modification