Technostalgia tail lights hyperflashing

[rjdapilmoto]

[MR.Sarge]

Originally Posted by Camaro Dude

Luv my Technostalgia tail lamps! They get the most attention and compliments on Sledge.





Now,


MR.Sarge thank you for the info that you brought to the table!

Thanks to you, there might be closure in this debacle after all.

No problem Camaro Dude. Glad I was able to help and clear things up for some. Let's hope that there is closure in this whole debacle.

And yeah, I love my technostalgia tail lights too, unless I get issues with them, then I hate them till I fix it lol but some are easy fixes so no big deal. But I do agree, these definitely get peoples attention and compliments. I had a woman come out of her car, in stop/go traffic, just to tell me she loved my car and especially the lights a few months ago

[MR.Sarge]

UPDATE:

Just a quick update, after receiving the resistors they now work flawlessly. So if you had the issue I had above/in video, then you can read the reason it's doing that so you get a better understanding and make sure to buy some resistors (6 Ohm 50W)

[Camaro Dude]

^^^^Info saved, thanks brotha!

[joeyofblades]

I hate to revive a dead thread, but I bought the car with these on it and am having issues with this as well plus the outer light doesn't want to come on when you unlock the car. I measured both resistors to 7 ohms but it might be having that problem where as soon as you apply voltage the resistance isn't good enough anymore. Here's a link to my YouTube video describing and displaying my problems. Any help would really be appreciated. I've also sent this video to Cool LEDs and am currently waiting on a reply. Thanks guys...

[camguynj]

Yea seems like it's a resistor issue. No biggie, you can get new ones from CoolLeds. Good news is all the LEDs seem to work. BTW why do the reverse lights come on? I thought they only come on when the trans is in reverse?

[joeyofblades]

Originally Posted by camguynj

Yea seems like it's a resistor issue. No biggie, you can get new ones from CoolLeds. Good news is all the LEDs seem to work. BTW why do the reverse lights come on? I thought they only come on when the trans is in reverse?

Thanks man, I appreciate the speedy reply. I'll get in touch with them whenever they reply and ask for new resistors. Hopefully that fixes it... I'm not sure why the reverse lights come on when I hit the button on the fob to unlock the car. Maybe it's just a diagnostic thing to make sure all of the lights work? 2010 2SS without RS package, nothing fancy other than these tail lights and I don't think they changed any of the wiring to the reverse lights.

[camguynj]

Originally Posted by joeyofblades

Thanks man, I appreciate the speedy reply. I'll get in touch with them whenever they reply and ask for new resistors. Hopefully that fixes it... I'm not sure why the reverse lights come on when I hit the button on the fob to unlock the car. Maybe it's just a diagnostic thing to make sure all of the lights work? 2010 2SS without RS package, nothing fancy other than these tail lights and I don't think they changed any of the wiring to the reverse lights.

Yea hitting the fob unlock button will light everything up. Didn't realize you were doing that. Post back once you hear from CoolLeds

[joeyofblades]

I just noticed this morning that the outer left tail light doesn't come on when I brake, either. It will flash, but only with half of its LEDs, and it flashes like a couple seconds after the rest are done flashing. Can you guys compare my symptoms in that YouTube video and what I just described to issues you've had and see if it makes sense that one of the resistors on the left side is out? I don't want to pay this guy $16 + shipping and have it not fix the problem. If the wiring wasn't such a pain in the ass to remove, I'd be looking to trade someone for stock tail lights, because this is really becoming a headache for me and I'm not happy with his customer service so far... I really wish the car hadn't come with these tail lights. The previous owner gave me a stock set with the car but of course my dumb ass sold them already.

UPDATE: 3 days and no reply from Technostalgia. What great customer service. In addition, I switched the resistors from the right to left and vice versa and it's having the same problem. So a resistor can't possible by my issue. Something is wrong with that specific housing. I'm about to trade these for a set of stock tail lights because they are a headache and I am done dealing with them.

[davepnw]

I'm glad I never bought that POS system.

[joeyofblades]

Originally Posted by davepnw

I'm glad I never bought that POS system.

This is a nice transition into what I'm about to post.

It's been 5 business days since I emailed info@cool-leds.com. I've gotten a few responses from them before, but they were flaky and spaced out at random intervals. They also were not very helpful and the conversation ended when they stopped replying to my most recent message with two questions in it. Responses were short and the demeanor of their support was not very helpful. I have not received a response to the email I sent including that YouTube video and asking for assistance. So customer service is obviously just not there with this custom-built taillight system that seems to have so many problems and maintenance issues (see other posts in this thread about periodic problems plagueing these things).

I posted the tail lights for trade in a local Facebook group and made a new friend in someone who agreed to meet me same day after work at his house to swap them out for his stock RS tail lights after trying to fix them with me or at least figure out what the problem was. We met up and everything was pretty easy to take out as I had been used to removing and re-installing these awful things constantly during my own troubleshooting. The harness, must admit, is very well made and easy to get off and on. I praise them for this harness and this harness alone. I also praise them for the appearance of these tail lights of course. But this next part is where I'm going to gripe, even though it may sound a bit stupid on my part.

My tail lights were working fine until I removed and replaced one of them for laughs and giggles. The tail light I removed was the driver's side inner light. As you can see in the video, the driver's side outer light was the one that was messed up. My friends and the previous owner of the car were insistent I had broken something, but the light that wasn't working is not the one I had actually tampered with. It was a light I hadn't touched at all. Thinking it was a resistor issue as stated in the original post of this thread, I switched the resistors around and tested them with a multimeter. The problem persisted and all resistors seemed to be working fine.

Back to the guy's house where we are swapping tail lights. We install them into his car, problem persists. So he takes out the tail light and pushes the pin connectors on the motherboard inside of the housing down with a flathead screwdriver, and everything starts working again 100%.

So, in summary, a connector on the motherboard inside of the housing had come loose. I hadn't touched this housing at all, so either from road vibration or the movement of the wires in the tail light compartment, the connector came loose enough to cause problems in the tail light that had me chasing down circuit issues as seen in this thread.

I'll end my post, and any discussion of these tail lights ever again, by saying that I do not want to own a pair of tail lights that can A) have problems caused by road vibration or otherwise indirect movements because a connection inside of the housing was not properly secured and B) have problems that have so many possible causes that I have to make YouTube videos and multiple support emails and posts on Camaro5 about them. I men seriously... why would those connections not be secured? Why would anyone ever want to remove them? There's no reason at all.

In the end, I'm happy with my stock RS tail lights and the simple bulbs and operation they provide. No more wiring mess in a small compartment. No more circuitry 101 that leaves me without working brake lights and turn signals. The new owner of these is pretty darn happy he got a $320 set of lights basically in exchange for 2 hours of his time helping me do the swap and troubleshoot them. If you like these tail lights, good for you. I, however, reserve my opinions of them in this post. I only hope I can help people with their own issues with these lights, or dissuade them from making a mistake by purchasing them. Whichever works out in the end.

Thanks for all of your help guys, and I hope no one ever has issues like I have.

[Camaro Dude]

^^^^^ Having owned these, and even complimented them in the past, the truth is, that these guys are "experts" at screening calls, and their "Don't Worry, Be Happy" hold song over the phone, makes for great writing material, for a future comedy film .

I mean, you_can't_make_this_stuff_up.

These lights are hit and miss. The later models were better than the earlier ones.

The Hyperflashing problem, as this thread is titled, was never THE problem of these lights.

Premature burned out LED bulbs on the one-piece afterburner was and still IS a problem, and Customer Support once you have been on their radar screen and screened , is a HUGE problem, unless you visit them in person of course.

[rtcat600man]

Got to LOVE the search button on this forum. My lights just did the same thing today as the OP described. Figured it was the resistors. Looks like it has been confirmed from what I have read. Time to get a new set of those and replace them. Thank - you all for the posts and posting it all up for others to learn.

[camguynj]

Originally Posted by rtcat600man

Got to LOVE the search button on this forum. My lights just did the same thing today as the OP described. Figured it was the resistors. Looks like it has been confirmed from what I have read. Time to get a new set of those and replace them. Thank - you all for the posts and posting it all up for others to learn.

How long have you had them on?