Halo's

[Alex37211]

I'm interested in getting a pair of these halo headlights for my 95 civic. I've only seen them in pictures and i'm curious about the little light-up rings in there. Are those flourecent bulbs? And do they come on when the corner lights are on? Do they actually produce useable light? Or are they just to look fancy?
Also, are they plug and play? Or will i have to run additional wires to them?

[zagrot]

there are two types. some are gas tubes like neon lights, but the ones that are oem on bmws are glass rods formed into a ring with notches cut in the back side of the ring to disperse the light forward. the light is introduced into the end of the glass rod with fiberoptics leading to a remotely mounted bulb.

the gas tube type require a ballast to light the tube. the ballast is connected to the parking light circuit so it comes on when the parking lamps (corner markers) are selected and will remain on when the headlamps are turned on.

there is a diy type of halo that uses leds and acrylic rods as the materials. the cost should be around $20, and they don't apear to be difficult to make. heat the rod and form it into the desired size ring, cut some equally spaced notches into the backside, and insert the leds into recesses drilled into the end of the rod. there is a guy that has a website detailing how he did this for his civic and the results look really good considering the cost of a premade kit is over $100 and his solution cost next to nothing.

http://www.geocities.com/jvxdriver/eagle_eyes.htm


instalation requires disasembly of the headlight assembly. the most strange part is putting the headlamp in the oven at around 200* untill the glue softens. it will help to have another set of hands to help pull the lens off of the backing before the glue cools and rehardens. tack the halos in place with epoxy, reheat the assembly and push the lense back into place -- done, except for the electrical.

i helped a friend's friend install a set on a scion something or another and the whole thing took about four hours, to include removing the bellypan, front fiasca, headlamp assemblies, drinking a few beers (between the three of us, not me by myself) while waiting on the oven, installing the gas tubes, wiring, and putting the frontend back togather. the result looked pretty cool.

the light output is of no use for driving, it is just a style type thing.