Arc-Light - The final evolution of LED lighting solutions is here

[Arc-Light]

Arc-Light LEDs

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This is a day I've been looking forward to for the last several months.

Now I know LEDs on a NSX has been done before. Each offering was extremely beautiful and promoted a modern look that complemented the NSX's timeless design. What is even more impressive and inspiring is they were made by enthusiasts. Everyday owners who sacrificed time out of their own personal lives and offered impressively built and remarkably well engineered pieces. As a fellow enthusiast, innovator, perfectionist, and no stranger to the world of electronics I not only wanted to pick up where they had left off but extend to you what I believe is the next and final evolutionary step in LEDs for our cars. After a grueling seven months of sparing no expense and focusing on quality, functionality, and design I am happy to share with you this. A kit that uses the absolute best parts available and at Arc-Light that's just the start.

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Each board, literally the foundation the parts rests on, was 100% computer designed in CAD. To combat high environmental stress found in the NSX, the actual materials in the circuit boards down to the components installed was carefully selected from specifications commonly upheld for military and aerospace products.

For each kit manufactured, CREE LEDs are used. They are the market leaders and were recently voted the 2015 Most Innovative Company and are known for revolutionizing the lighting industry by offering high quality, energy efficient, and superior color output in their LEDs. They are simply unmatched in the industry. I am excited to be able to offer what I consider the pinnacle of LED technology for our NSX.

Brake Light

Reverse Light

2002+ Style Turn signal​

To ensure consistency and quality, over 90% of the assembly is handled via a automated Axial Insertion Machine. The rest of the assembly is done by hand and comprises of simple wiring, connectors, and controller assembly.

The controller. It's arguably the best looking piece of the kit with it's elegant design. It features thumb screws for easy access, knobs that allow the user to adjust the LEDs panel brightness, and a switches that allow you to select and choose different brake panel lighting configurations.

All board to wire connectors [except for the reverse panels due to space issues] use wire to board terminal blocks to reliability - and let's face it. It looks amazing too.

Connections from LED panels to (12v) power and controller come in the form of automotive bulb connectors and terminal plugs manufactured by TE Connectivity - offering a true plug and play solution.

JGTC to Full Bar Switchable kit - 2 designs in one!

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Simply perfection. To be honest I wouldn't be here today if I didn't feel comfortable to offer you a product that I didn't feel meet the highest possible standards but I can say without hesitation this is a true no-compromise product. With kits starting as low as $750 you can feel confident in your purchase and investment. Kits are in stock and ready to ship. For any questions please feel free to reach my via PM.

 

[ektyperhatch]

pmd!

 

[bzyrice]

Do you have to open the taillights for this?

Also do you have pics of the other brake light configurations?

So cool!

 

[Arc-Light]

Do you have to open the taillights for this?

Also do you have pics of the other brake light configurations?

So cool!

Thank you!

The tail lights will have to be opened for the install. Each kit comes with a printed install guide that outlines the procedure to open the tail lights as well as the installation process.

Right now I only have pics of the JGTC and Bar style brake lamps. Other designs are available including custom designs. If interested let me know and we can go over the options.

 

[Nero Tenebre]

Cree is known to be the best you're right. What is the warranty (details) and do you do installs if we send in the lights? Most of the labor is in taking those apart, and it is a painful task to remove them too because getting to the screws is difficult. Can you give us more info on your experience and background related to this endeavor? I believe all of the other vendors stopped selling here because of warranty claims, it became just not worth it to them to support their products.

 

[Oyagi]

Cree is known to be the best you're right. What is the warranty (details) and do you do installs if we send in the lights? Most of the labor is in taking those apart, and it is a painful task to remove them too because getting to the screws is difficult. Can you give us more info on your experience and background related to this endeavor? I believe all of the other vendors stopped selling here because of warranty claims, it became just not worth it to them to support their products.

^^^What he said.

Otherwise, I'm 100% excited for this offering and consider myself in!

 

[Arc-Light]

Cree is known to be the best you're right. What is the warranty (details) and do you do installs if we send in the lights? Most of the labor is in taking those apart, and it is a painful task to remove them too because getting to the screws is difficult. Can you give us more info on your experience and background related to this endeavor? I believe all of the other vendors stopped selling here because of warranty claims, it became just not worth it to them to support their products.

Warranty is always difficult to quantify because it depends on how much the customer uses it. To be very honest this kit is simply over engineered. Not because LEDs are prone to failure - they are in fact extremely reliable. But it's as you said. The tail lights are difficult to get to and take apart. As a result careful consideration was taken given the harsh environmental conditions that exist in the NSX. A specially designed board was necessary to eliminate common issues found in LED kits such as warped PCB panels, broken solder joints, loose connections, and corrosion due to moisture. The controller itself has built in thermal, reverse polarity, and short protection. To be very honest I feel very comfortable offering a lifetime warranty to anyone who purchases my kit.


But, as you mentioned [and I slightly disagree with you] there may be a time when I close up shop as well. I believe the previous vendors closed up shop because they couldn't meet the demand being single manned shops. Since the kits here are automatically manufactured the only risk I see here is not warranty claims but being force to close due to shrinking demand for the product and services I offer as time progresses. I will be honest and say my business is dependent on the laws of mass production - the price for producing a single kit vs 20 kits can differ by over 50%. Considering that this may happen in the future I've included part numbers and links to individual components used in the kits in my installation guide. Since each component is through-hole mounted - replacements can be done by anyone who has decent soldering skills.


Installations. I will be doing this on a case by case basis. To be honest installs take me over 24 hours to complete as I'm very meticulous and I understand that this can cause some concerns for customers who wish for a quick turn around. With that said please be sure to check back weekly as I do plan to install my most popular offerings in brand new tail lights once a month and offer them as a package deal and save some money on the installation costs.

 

[Nero Tenebre]

I want a set of brand new 02 tails with the JGTC/Bar brake lights at a minimum. Might add reverse panel though it's hardly used so might not be able to justify the cost.

 

[FF Drifter]

These look amazing and I am happy to see another vendor step into our market. My question is: what happens if one of the LEDs fails? In previous kits, a failed LED (besides looking awful) requires a complete removal/resolder of the entire light, or worse... causes the entire section of light to fail. How do these fare in comparison?

 

[davidf]

Cost for just the tail/stop. I already have fantastic LED turns/backup.

 

[Red3ullZz]

Very nice. Subscribed

 

[RYU]

First of all thanks for providing a LED solution for the community.

As [MENTION=16745]Nero Tenebre[/MENTION] said, all of the LED vendors have sold LED tailights that have had a relatively short operational/useful life (less than 3yrs, most less than 1yr). This could be due to various reasons which some are simply unavoidable, to quality issues, to probably premature technology - I won't get into it.

Do you have some kind of track record (more than 1yr) on LED lights for other vehicles? The problem with LEDs in the NSX, which many of us are familiar with, is that they look great when new. After a few months/years they either stop working, or have dead LEDs, or some other issue with the circuit board causes failure.

 

[ChrisK]

I'm excited, but cautious just as other members here. I just hate to have to open up my tail lights for a second or third time in a year or two because of failed LED's. If it can last a minimum of 3 -5 years or longer before any potential LED failure I think I can live with that. Opening the lights up for repair 3-5 years sounds a lot better than every year or two.

 

[jagtiger]

Id be interested in a set for 02 tail lights. ��

 

[Arc-Light]

First of all thanks for providing a LED solution for the community.

As @Nero Tenebre said, all of the LED vendors have sold LED tailights that have had a relatively short operational/useful life (less than 3yrs, most less than 1yr). This could be due to various reasons which some are simply unavoidable, to quality issues, to probably premature technology - I won't get into it.

Do you have some kind of track record (more than 1yr) on LED lights for other vehicles? The problem with LEDs in the NSX, which many of us are familiar with, is that they look great when new. After a few months/years they either stop working, or have dead LEDs, or some other issue with the circuit board causes failure.

I'm excited, but cautious just as other members here. I just hate to have to open up my tail lights for a second or third time in a year or two because of failed LED's. If it can last a minimum of 3 -5 years or longer before any potential LED failure I think I can live with that. Opening the lights up for repair 3-5 years sounds a lot better than every year or two.

These are all very valid concerns. While I will admit there is no guarantee that an LED will never burn out we can all agree that they are meant to last about 50x longer. So what's going on?

A quick google search reveals that the average american driver spends 15 hours a week driving. Multiply that by 52 weeks that's 780 hours. Now I'm sure you'll agree with me that the actual time your brake lights are on is easily less than 1/3 of the time - so 260 hours or 10.833 days. That means most of these kits failed in less than 10.833 days of driving time!

It's not the LED.

Let's take a quick look at some of the previous offerings.

2002+ Style Turn Signal with voltage regulator mounted to heat sink and a rather large load resistor

LED brake panel for NSX. Exposed jumper wires. Solder bridges. Solder jumpers? Soldered lead wires

LED controller for NSX



By seeing these pictures I can point straight away several problems that will eventually cause the LEDs to fail and I'm sure you can too. But for the sake of other vendors and their customers I will not go into them but let's compare it to a Arc-Light kit.

LED brake panel for NSX. Cooper traces embedded in PCB. Red silk screen overlay to protect against corrosion. Terminal block for lead wires.

Close up of LED brake panel. Note that also the front side of the PCB is also soldered. Probably overkill but necessary to ensure the LED is anchored and secured to the PCB


If it wasn't before I hope now it's quite obvious what my goal was in designing of this kit. I wanted to eliminate every possible point of failure that could possibly exist and I am happy to say I achieved it 100%. I know I'm new here. And to be honest it is my personal goal to offer you a product that will change your opinion on LEDs. If you are local and would like a demonstration or a viewing please let me know. Sadly pictures don't really reflect it but honestly, this kit is truly one of a kind.

Thank you all for your questions. Please do not hesitate to ask me additional questions or reach out to me via PM.

 

[EuroBoutique]

These look amazing and I am happy to see another vendor step into our market. My question is: what happens if one of the LEDs fails? In previous kits, a failed LED (besides looking awful) requires a complete removal/resolder of the entire light, or worse... causes the entire section of light to fail. How do these fare in comparison?

This is the KEY ISSUE with these "LED tails" that every vendor creates a product and then disappears eventually. You hit the nail on the head as the problem may/may not be the LED itself that is the problem in the design however there is NO WAY around the problematic open/re-sealing of the OEM tails. The tail light plastics were never meant to be opened in the first place. Doing it once is manageable but by the 2nd or 3rd time they are trashed and at $800+ a set they are not cheap.

First I want to applaud this vendor for stepping up to try and cover as many bases as possible in terms of a well thought out design. It's always good to see people try to improve on a design!

I have been fiddling with LED's for over 15 years now starting with the e46 m3 DDE Angle eyes using crude CCFL and fiberoptic light boxes to the current LED designs. The e46 m3 had the biggest advantage because the headlights are held together by DURABLE plastic clips that can be opened infinitely as needed to replace broken parts so it wasn't a big deal if a halo ring went bad. Just pop it out and replace in 5 minutes.

LED's in general no matter how makes them (CREE, etc) the quality is only as good as the design of the case it is installed within. The OEM automotive world spends $$$$$$ in developing durable LED systems that simply cannot be attained with a low volume focused market like the NSX. Many have asked us why we do not create LED tails and the simple answer is there is no way to make them reliable enough ~ main reason is not the electronics but the OEM plastic taillights. Unless someone creates a new mold for the NSX tails there is no solution that we can see.

With all that's said above, if the vendor can warranty the "Labor" for the work then that would be awesome as I think you will have more customers than you want. I know a few NSX owners who wants these LED tails and even I won't mind trying a set if the design is perfected. My worry is water leaking into the tails over time....

 

[M. Rackham]

This looks like a fantastic kit.

 

[Arc-Light]

UPDATE. The DIY guide is complete and available here. Be sure to check it out! http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/191400-Arc-Light-LED-Installation-DIY

- - - Updated - - -

This is the KEY ISSUE with these "LED tails" that every vendor creates a product and then disappears eventually. You hit the nail on the head as the problem may/may not be the LED itself that is the problem in the design however there is NO WAY around the problematic open/re-sealing of the OEM tails. The tail light plastics were never meant to be opened in the first place. Doing it once is manageable but by the 2nd or 3rd time they are trashed and at $800+ a set they are not cheap.

First I want to applaud this vendor for stepping up to try and cover as many bases as possible in terms of a well thought out design. It's always good to see people try to improve on a design!

I have been fiddling with LED's for over 15 years now starting with the e46 m3 DDE Angle eyes using crude CCFL and fiberoptic light boxes to the current LED designs. The e46 m3 had the biggest advantage because the headlights are held together by DURABLE plastic clips that can be opened infinitely as needed to replace broken parts so it wasn't a big deal if a halo ring went bad. Just pop it out and replace in 5 minutes.

LED's in general no matter how makes them (CREE, etc) the quality is only as good as the design of the case it is installed within. The OEM automotive world spends $$$$$$ in developing durable LED systems that simply cannot be attained with a low volume focused market like the NSX. Many have asked us why we do not create LED tails and the simple answer is there is no way to make them reliable enough ~ main reason is not the electronics but the OEM plastic taillights. Unless someone creates a new mold for the NSX tails there is no solution that we can see.

With all that's said above, if the vendor can warranty the "Labor" for the work then that would be awesome as I think you will have more customers than you want. I know a few NSX owners who wants these LED tails and even I won't mind trying a set if the design is perfected. My worry is water leaking into the tails over time....

All very good points. I fell into that trap too thinking that there is no possible way to design a good kit - but in the end nothing is impossible. Nevertheless, I will side on you that ultimately a perfect solution would be to offer a complete replacement tail light built from the ground up. Yet, I'm 100% certain neither you, me, or anyone who shares the same values of pursuing perfection would ever invest in such a project because of the cost as well as the existing market simply does not exist for such an endeavor. For example...

Anyways. It's probably best to agree to disagree.

As for warrantying labor. As much as I can try to I simply can't. The other variable - the possibility of failure - is if the kit is installed in a compromised housing just as you said. But if and when that occurs I will honor repairs free of charge as long as it's within reason (if your tail light is full of water and can support aquatic life then I'll probably have to say no)

Now, for those who decide to leverage my install services then I will and already have offered a extended warranty on the labor of 5 years. Simply send me the tail light back and it will be repaired. After 5 years who knows. I'll probably still be a pretty cool guy and fix it too.

I hope this settles some debates

 

[03 raw nsx]

Great looking kit!
Do you need load resistors for the turn (hyperflashing)?
Do you need to ground a wire to fix the brake light out warning?

And do you have any pictures of a completed light with and without the diffusers? I would like to see more LED definition.

Thanks
Rich

 

[M. Rackham]

Anyways. It's probably best to agree to disagree.

As for warrantying labor. As much as I can try to I simply can't. The other variable - the possibility of failure - is if the kit is installed in a compromised housing just as you said. But if and when that occurs I will honor repairs free of charge as long as it's within reason (if your tail light is full of water and can support aquatic life then I'll probably have to say no)

Now, for those who decide to leverage my install services then I will and already have offered a extended warranty on the labor of 5 years. Simply send me the tail light back and it will be repaired. After 5 years who knows. I'll probably still be a pretty cool guy and fix it too.

Hope this settles some debates

Well said. Especially for being underhandedly insulted like you were. A five year warrant n lights installed by you, correct?

 

[car2slo]

Kudos to Arc-Light for bringing a much missing conversion back to the market. I would be lining up to buy a set if I didn't just pickup a used LED conversion last month. And the used set was not much less than what this one is new.

 

[hkz286]

finally a led kit that looks correctly done, as someone from this type of background i can thoroughly appriciate what you have done here. The shear amount of hours invested in this must be monumental!

just a quick question, as im from the other side of the world, would you be able to provide a parts list so i could replace anything that went wrong (if anything ever did go wrong that is) from a local supplier? whilst building a kit like this is beyond my capabilities (by quite a margin) basic repairs i feel i can carry out

 

[Lamini]

Great to see someone else stepping up!

I was in PMs with BrightLightTech right before he disappeared, which was after I bought a spare set of taillights for his LED kit.

Do you have a web site by any chance? I was interested in seeing more installed pics of the product.

If I understand, I be able to ship you a spare tail light kit, and you do the install, and perhaps to a slight savings on the total cost parts+labor. I dont think I saw a price mentioned for installation.

 

[Arc-Light]

Wow. Lots of questions. Keep them coming!

Great looking kit!
Do you need load resistors for the turn (hyperflashing)?
Do you need to ground a wire to fix the brake light out warning?

And do you have any pictures of a completed light with and without the diffusers? I would like to see more LED definition.

Thanks
Rich

• No load resistors are needed. The solution to address this has been documented in the following link. I will provide the necessary pieces for you to disable the warning and hyperflash. http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...th-Hyperflash-and-Brake-Lamp-Failure-Solution

Well said. Especially for being underhandedly insulted like you were. A five year warrant n lights installed by you, correct?

• That is correct. And I want to just clarify that the tail lights must be in good condition. Since the NSX introduction in 1990 some of these lights can be up to 25 years old!

Kudos to Arc-Light for bringing a much missing conversion back to the market. I would be lining up to buy a set if I didn't just pickup a used LED conversion last month. And the used set was not much less than what this one is new.

• I'm sure you can sell it. The last few ones I saw sold for 90%-100% what they originally sold for! Anyways. PM me. I think I know the kit you bought and perhaps we can work something out.

finally a led kit that looks correctly done, as someone from this type of background i can thoroughly appriciate what you have done here. The shear amount of hours invested in this must be monumental!

just a quick question, as im from the other side of the world, would you be able to provide a parts list so i could replace anything that went wrong (if anything ever did go wrong that is) from a local supplier? whilst building a kit like this is beyond my capabilities (by quite a margin) basic repairs i feel i can carry out

• I did ship a kit out to Thailand just yesterday and let me tell you I COMPLETELY understand why you are asking this. UPS charged over $200 just to ship the package out! Absolutly insane! Honestly I'd fly out to deliver it personally since that's like 1/8 of my airfare. Anyways, I'd be more than happy to supply you part numbers (they are already included with each kit's instruction guide) and I'll even throw in the datasheets for each part I use. Also, for 'at cost' I can provide you with any number of parts to be shipped along with your kit. I believe for less than $20 you can have a nice 'spare parts pin' for self service. If anyone else is interested I can also include this in the kit as well.

Great to see someone else stepping up!

I was in PMs with BrightLightTech right before he disappeared, which was after I bought a spare set of taillights for his LED kit.

Do you have a web site by any chance? I was interested in seeing more installed pics of the product.

If I understand, I be able to ship you a spare tail light kit, and you do the install, and perhaps to a slight savings on the total cost parts+labor. I dont think I saw a price mentioned for installation.

• A website is available but I am not ready to share it. There are two more products that I'm working on that will guarantee to blow everyone's minds away here - actually only for the 1990-2001 crowd. So to keep it safe and since I do have competitors here that provide similar services I need to keep it secret just for now.
• Yes, if you ship me your lights I will be doing the install. I am still working out options for install rates but for now the price will be similar to BrightLightTech's offerings.

 

[Arc-Light]

Just a few updates. But first. I was able to take a pic of the JGTC and Reverse tail light kit I installed into a 2002+ style tail light today before shipping it out.

I'm also working on a new switchable kit! Here's a teaser. If you're interested please let me know. I need to gauge the popularity of the kit before putting it into production and finalizing a price. Also, this kit below will likely be a group buy ONLY and as a result will be a limited run.