yingjai

sorry for the long read.

so i have these sonar halo projectors for a while now. when i first installed them, the halo was verryyy bright and sweet. i remember pulling up to a club once to pick someone up and ppl were looking.

after a while, i noticed it got dimmer and not all of the leds light up. i thought it was my bad wiring job, so i took everything off and redid the connections.

i never soldered them together because i didn't want it to be permanent. all i did was twist them together and then tape them with electrical tape. so i FIXED it for the first time and it seemed okay. i twisted even tighter. then it crapped out on me again.

since i was installing my avic, i learned about wire tap-in connectors, so i redid the connections with these things. there is no way for the wires to become loose this time. every single connection i did for my avic headunit was with these tap-in connectors from radioshack including vss and my avic works 100%. there, however, is no change with my halo. it is exactly the same as before; one side dim and the other side dead. led bulbs should last practically a lifetime, what's the problem?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

um, did you wire the leds yourself? did you use a total voltage of at least 14.5v which is what the alternator normally puts out? if they are only wired for 12v, they will burn out in a few months. in the winter, the car can put out as much as 15.5v when warming up. so maybe a voltage regulator would be your best bet to keep the power at 12v, then you can wire then for that voltage and be safe. btw, those lights only come wired for 12v, so when you just hook them up, they will die from being overpowered.

yingjai

really? the instructions just said to hook em up to the park light. i didn't know there was extra work needed. i guess they're burnt out.

oh yeah. does this voltage problem affect led tail lights?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

some it might idk. mine have been okay for a while now. hopefully they realize that a car has an alternator that puts out 14v. and the car is running all the time when you use the taillights obviously. designing something in the car for only 12v is pure stupidity. but you can fix it, just get some new leds, wire them to 14.5v, and youre good to go. but you couldve avoided all this from the start if you just connected a 12v voltage regulator to the stock halo leds. but its too late now.

yingjai

maybe sometime in the future i'll take apart the headlights and replace the leds with brighter ones. i didnt know a regulator was required. thought it was plug and play.

it is possible to replace the leds right? they're not glued to the ring or anything?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

leds can be replaced, just get two 5mm white leds or other color and put them in the bottom where the old ones were.