Depo lights short circuit

[Andre Carvalho]

Hi there,

I hope you can help me on this one: I was trying to level the Depo headlights. As I was twisting the leveler to adjust it, the red and black wires from the angel eyes harness got disconnected from the Depo headlight and touched each other. As soon as they touched I heard a small short circuit noise and the AE ring on the passenger side I was working turned off. I connected them again to the Depo headlight and as soon as I pushed the fob button the AE rings worked fine. However, as soon as I turn the ignition key, the angel eyes (both sides) shut down.

For those who don't know, the Depo headlights come with a harness that's has one end connected to the car's interior lights (so they turn on as soon as you press the fob button) and another end connected to the ignition wire (so they remain on when the car is on). I assume the problem happened around the ignition wire. Do you have any idea if it may be just a fuse that has blown? The car ignition system still works great. Just the AE rings don't turn on anymore when the car is running. As soon as I turn the car off and the interior lights come again, the AE lights turn on again too.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[TerminatorX5]

switch the wires and have them working with engine running, and forget about interior lights...

[Ricky Bobby]

yeah I would toss that trigger wire that is in the footwell light, and just tap into a wire that has 12v with ignition running

OP if you have problems with the interior lights, you could try removing and reinstalling fuse 14 (I think) its the LCM fuse and will reset it

[Zulu95]

Check the wiring loom supplied with the Depo's near the relay for an inline fuse. Most likely you blew it with your short.

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by Zulu95

Check the wiring loom supplied with the Depo's near the relay for an inline fuse. Most likely you blew it with your short.

Or you could just drive around with the interior lights on and the AE will also be on.

[Andre Carvalho]

Originally Posted by Zulu95

Check the wiring loom supplied with the Depo's near the relay for an inline fuse. Most likely you blew it with your short.

Thanks Zulu. That was it! There's a fuse as part of the Depo lights harness. The short blew it. Just replaced and its all working again.

By the way, you guys with Depo lights with the 60 small LEDs per ring are having issues with some LEDs burning (not lit)? One month ago I noticed one small LED had not lit. Then a few weeks later I noticed another one. Now they are 4: 3 back to back and one somewhere around 7 o clock. Maybe I should start a new thread about this.

Thanks again.

[Zulu95]

I read a thread some time ago reporting this problem. While the seller replaced the light units and/or offered self fit replacement rings the trouble involved with either route you choose to remedy the problem negates their great looks for me.
With LED's this should NEVER be a problem in the first place. So either the LED's are cheap factory rejects or the build quality is below par for lights in this price bracket.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by Andre Carvalho

Thanks Zulu. That was it! There's a fuse as part of the Depo lights harness. The short blew it. Just replaced and its all working again.

By the way, you guys with Depo lights with the 60 small LEDs per ring are having issues with some LEDs burning (not lit)? One month ago I noticed one small LED had not lit. Then a few weeks later I noticed another one. Now they are 4: 3 back to back and one somewhere around 7 o clock. Maybe I should start a new thread about this.

Thanks again.

I have read about this too, the LED rings used in the Depo's look great, but they are not a fully engineered solution like Umnitza or other companies offer (I think Umnitza offer a lifetime warranty?)

I would be pissed if I spent 600 bucks on aftermarket headlights and the LED's started burning out within a year or two (heat in headlight housings = no good for LED's but that is another story), fishcake321 who is the seller on ebay who has provided many of the owners on this forum with their Depo lights does have a listing from time to time selling replacement LED rings for the Depo lights in case you wanted to have a spare set.

The price tag is hard to swallow, $180. In addition to the $600 you already spent.

[HPIA4v2]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

I have read about this too, the LED rings used in the Depo's look great, but they are not a fully engineered solution like Umnitza or other companies offer (I think Umnitza offer a lifetime warranty?)

I would be pissed if I spent 600 bucks on aftermarket headlights and the LED's started burning out within a year or two (heat in headlight housings = no good for LED's but that is another story), fishcake321 who is the seller on ebay who has provided many of the owners on this forum with their Depo lights does have a listing from time to time selling replacement LED rings for the Depo lights in case you wanted to have a spare set.

The price tag is hard to swallow, $180. In addition to the $600 you already spent.

That's not good if LED starts dying one by one.

does that mean you need to bake the headlight in order to replace the LED rings?
BTW, $180 kinda steep, cause I've seen so many LED rings on eBay. Some seller even show tapping the rings lit on table hard to show how sturdy theirs are.

[Ricky Bobby]

yes you need to bake them open to replace the LED rings.


And I'd say $180 is about the going rate for "premium rings", Umnitza charges about 200 bucks for theirs, Weisslicht the same, etc.


The $50 rings you see from China are indeed good quality no name brand rings, but the Depo rings come in different sizes from stock, so you need to actually open the headlights up and measure them before you try a different brand.