Certain headlight and projector headlights are styled with LED technology. Typically, the LED strip is left unwired, allowing the end user to decide which light to splice the wiring to, whether it be having the LED’s function as parking, signal, daytime running lights or even low or high beam. Most LED headlights have LED’s that light up amber, with a few applications lighting up super white.
Some headlights and projectors have rings of light around the headlight bulb area, similar to the styling of newer European luxury cars. These ‘Halo’ headlights and projectors, as they are called, are more than just an esthetic upgrade, as they increase the amount of light put out by your headlights. Additionally, when spliced into the parking lights, they can provide a low enough level of light to be discreet while still illuminating the path in outdoor situations such as hunting and shing.
There are two types of Halos. The ‘standard’ or ‘older’ style Halos utilize super white which use a couple of LED’s at points around the halo to give the illusion of a full illuminated circle.
The newer styles Halos, or CCFL’s as they are properly called, utilize Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp technology to deliver a light that fully illuminates the entire Halo. In addition to being greatly brighter, they also more durable than their LED counterparts being able to easily withstand the harshest climates.
Many customers opt to replace the bulbs that come with their projector headlights with after market bulbs. Many customers mistakenly think that they can replace the bulb with the stock application. In reality, since most projectors convert the stock bulb to a small bulb if they want to replace the bulbs they need to know what bulb the projector uses. Though most projectors use an H3 for the low beam and an H1 for the high beam, there are some exceptions. In order to determine what type of bulbs a projector (and most headlights for that matter) uses, you can check the front of the lens below the approriate bulb housing.
Please be aware that some bulbs have multiple names as follows:
9004 = HB 1
9005 = HB 3
9006 = HB 4
9007 = HB 5
H1 = no other common name
H3 = no other common name
H4 = HB2 = 9003
H7 = no other common name
Most Halo headlights and taillights do not come pre-wired. This allows the user to decide which light to have the Halo function as. The most common light to connect to is the parking light, though some customers connect the light to their signal lights or stop lamps. Installing them on a separate switch is also a possibility, as is not connecting them at all. The Halos are connected via two wires which are left bare from the Halo, one for negative (ground) and one for positive (power). The negative can be grounded or connected to the negative wire on the stock harness. The positive needs to connect to the exact function on the lamp you desire. For instance, on a turn signal/parking light there are 2 wires; one for parking light function and one to signal. Depending which function you want, you would have to determine which wire powers which function and splice the Halo power light into it. Incidentally, though we recommend using a tester, on parking/signal bulbs the parking light wire tends to have a stripe, and the signal is sometimes thicker. Unfortunately, as there are so many types that use Halo technologies, there are different color configurations for positive and negative.
Possible color configurations are as follows:
Red (+/-)* and Red (+/-)*
Red (+) and Black (-)
Red (+) and White (-)
Blue (+) and White (-)
Blue (+) and Black (-)
* Interchangeable, just choose one for positive & one for negative
The same configurations are applicable to LED strips headlights, and headlights that include a signal bulb that must be wired to your lower parking lights (such as Chevy Full Size).