So I wired my AE rings today, and 3 rings are beautifully white--unfortunately one is just not lighting as it should. I hear that it's a cold weather issue (it's 45 degrees today). Thing is, 45 degrees isn't that cold in my book.

I hear elsewhere that it is a fuse issue and the fuse must be upgraded from 5 to 10 amp. My P39s didn't come with any fuse on the AE wires. Can it be found in the actual housing of the light assembly?

At the end of the day why do 3 rings light up and one not light up? If it's a cold weather issue should't they ALL not light up?

Ideas?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!:help

I wired mine to the parking lights, and on cold morning they take about 15-30 seconds for all of them to cut on, with some being dim at first.

I have one ring that's completely out, and its been 12 degrees before here. Though the other 3 rings are lit up just as bright.. wtf?

Umnitza is supposed to be working on a better cold weather ballast to solve this problem. I haven't heard anything in a while. I'm holding off until they fix it because I live in Michigan.:(

Umnitza is still the best option. I suggest you unplug all the little connectors to the ballast and plug them back in, this may solve your problem.

w/o knowing the AE headlights weren't from Hella, i thought WTF in my head 'til i finished readling the whole threads.

my Hella AE headlights never experienced a such problem.

good luck!

Weird...yesterday the driver side high beam ring was dim. Got to work this morning and the high beam ring was bright and low beam ring was dim. Got home just now and again the high beam ring is dim. Passenger side was fine yesterday, this morning low beam ring was dim, and right now they're fine again......AAAAAAAAARGh WHYYYYYYYYYYYY?
:(

Its not a ballast issue. Its the nature of CCFL. They really need to come up with a better idea/technology since CCFL is very temp sensitive. It depends on how the AE glass is made to hold the CCFL. If the glass was not molded properly (thin areas) it will be sensitive in the vulnerable spots.

any ideas on where i can find a "fuse" for the Umnitza p39 angel eyes? Don't have anything except 1 thin red and 1 thin brown wire from the AEs....i might try upping the amps if i can find the fuse.

It's not a fuse issue. When I first got my AE's they wouldn't even come on in cold weather (40 degrees or less). Upgrading the fuse from 5 to 10 amps solved that problem. Now one of my AE's are dim, sort of purple and even if I remove the fuse and just connect both wires it doesn't help. That ring is just shot. I've just removed the fuse altogether for now because it looks horrible. I want it fixed. I've heard that Umnitza has sent a few people new rings but you'll have to disassemble your lights and replace the ring yourself. I mean who wants to do that? In the cold? I guess you get what you pay for in terms of longevity. They look great, I guess they just don't last as long as hella's.

I only have a problem when it is under 30 degrees, even then they all are on after about 30 seconds.

It's not a fuse issue. When I first got my AE's they wouldn't even come on in cold weather (40 degrees or less). Upgrading the fuse from 5 to 10 amps solved that problem. Now one of my AE's are dim, sort of purple and even if I remove the fuse and just connect both wires it doesn't help. That ring is just shot. I've just removed the fuse altogether for now because it looks horrible. I want it fixed. I've heard that Umnitza has sent a few people new rings but you'll have to disassemble your lights and replace the ring yourself. I mean who wants to do that? In the cold? I guess you get what you pay for in terms of longevity. They look great, I guess they just don't last as long as hella's.

agreed .. i have new ring from them .. but to lazy to undo the headlight unit to replace the CCFL .. i just took out the fuse .. maybe will put it back in when the weather warms up again .. or replace teh CCFL ring ..

got the umnitza p39s for the e39 and same purple ring on one out of the 4. dont think its related to weather.

got rings for the e46 m3 and same issues...

caveat emptor

It is winter and you are in Illinois! Most likely the temperature is your issue!

but the question remains, why just that ONE ring? why is only one ring affected by the cold?

try switching the plugs on the ballast and see what happens.

that's the thing...i don't think I have ay ballasts coming from the AE. what do they look like?

They are inside your headlight and are little black boxes usually.

It is winter and you are in Illinois! Most likely the temperature is your issue!

but the question remains, why just that ONE ring? why is only one ring affected by the cold?Because it's not a weather issue! The weather related issue will cause the rings (all) to not light up at all when it's really cold out. Upgrading the fuse from 5 to 10 amps usually solves that problem. If just one ring is dim/purplish, then that ring is on it's way out. Now you can either disconnect the rings so your car doesn't look like a cheap toy or get a new ring and install it yourself. Those are really your choices. I disconnected mine for now and I'll get a new one and try and install it when the weather warms up a little.

i had a similar issue originally: one ring didnt come on, and one ring was very dim/purplish - and this was in the late summer, so it didnt have anything to do with the weather.

after troubleshooting at length with Matt, i ended up opening up the whole housing and ELIMINATING the black plastic connectors alltogether out of sheer impatience instead of waiting for new rings to be mailed. i didnt have a fuse either, just the ballast. taking off the connectors and re-wiring it myself did the job for the ring that was totally out - worked perfectly after that.

for the dim one, i tried plugging it in to the other ballast and a few other things, but nothing worked. even after re-wiring the whole thing, making a harness and all, it was still dim and not getting any better. after a while i got the new ring in the mail, opened it back up again, took it apart, took off the old ring, replaced it, and good as new! (we are just discussing the rings here through)

it may be a little daunting, but its not too hard to take them back out of the car and to take apart the whole housing, then to take off the CCFL and put a new one on - for those that have to do it, here is my advice:

its actually not hard - the tricky thing is to take it all apart without breaking anything! its a tad fragile, and the plastic tabs are quite tempermental.

also, when you get the clear ceramics glue from wal-mart or wherever(i think thats what it was, i cant recall) make ABSOLUTELY sure that it is far past dry before you put them back in and fire them up. wait like 4 or 5 hours, just to be sure, so you dont have to do anything over again.

and on another side note, in 30-degree weather, mine are a tad purple but get better in a few minutes as they warm up. no big deal to me. still look good.

Um no! I have had one or two of my rings light up dim/purple plenty of times before. Being that I have owned MULTIPLE headlights with AE for both E36 and E39, I think I have an idea what I am talking about.

Because it's not a weather issue! The weather related issue will cause the rings (all) to not light up at all when it's really cold out. Upgrading the fuse from 5 to 10 amps usually solves that problem. If just one ring is dim/purplish, then that ring is on it's way out. Now you can either disconnect the rings so your car doesn't look like a cheap toy or get a new ring and install it yourself. Those are really your choices. I disconnected mine for now and I'll get a new one and try and install it when the weather warms up a little.

TO sum up this thread.....CCFL FTL!

Because it's not a weather issue! The weather related issue will cause the rings (all) to not light up at all when it's really cold out. Upgrading the fuse from 5 to 10 amps usually solves that problem. If just one ring is dim/purplish, then that ring is on it's way out. Now you can either disconnect the rings so your car doesn't look like a cheap toy or get a new ring and install it yourself. Those are really your choices. I disconnected mine for now and I'll get a new one and try and install it when the weather warms up a little.

I don't think the ring is on the way out...it's only 2 days old! Also last night they were all working. Today, again the one ring is dim (on the way to work)I'll try looking for the fuse and see if I can find it.

I don't think the ring is on the way out...it's only 2 days old! Also last night they were all working. Today, again the one ring is dim (on the way to work)I'll try looking for the fuse and see if I can find it.

doesnt matter! it could have been bad from the start. mine was an hour old (as far as how long I had it out of the mail) and it was bad. they can come that way. CCFL's are a coin toss either way.

Can someone do a writeup on replacing these rings, seems like there will be a lot of us replacing rings come spring.

Most of you do not have problems with the rings. Either it is to cold, or the connections are bad.

I purchased the umnitza p39's a couple of months ago and i have to say i am pretty satisfied. One problem that i am having recently is my farthest right angel eye is red. At start-up i turn my angel eyes on and notice the redness. The entire ring is completely red. After about 5 minutes of driving, only about 1/4th of the ring is red, but this will remain for the rest of my drive, how ever long it is. I have to say that i am guilty when it come to driving around with just the AE rings on without the main bulbs, but i dont think this should be a problem considering that my headlights should be a quality product. any ideas?

Umnitza, if you are reading this, is there some kind of warranty or anything on your products?

has it been playing with dirty 550s? maybe caught pink eye from one of those 335's, you know how toddlers can be carriers of many viruses. Call Umnitza and explain your situation. you'll have to replace the effed up ring.

bump

bump

You guys really should contact umnitza, rather than post here and expect him to see it.

Well I spoke to umnitza yesterday and they said for me to give the ring a few days to "brighten up". But since my ring has been purple for weeks that won't help. They said they can send me a new ring for $15 which isn't bad at all. But the only problem for me is that I now have to install this ring which isn't a true "plug and play" swap. I'd have to disassemble the headlight and swap rings. I've never done this or saw a write up on this so I don't know how easy or hard it is. Umnitza says it's a "simple fix". But I'm sure they've done it a few thousand times. I think I'm gonna get two rings, just in case I break it or if another rings dies on me I'll already have a replacement. As soon as I get the ring I'll attempt the install bacause I have no other choice.

would there be interest in a non CCFL based ring kit for the early e39s? Why not eliminate the point of failure?

we are working to eliminate this point of failure but for now.
here's what we'll do for you:

1) If you have purchased within 30 days, a new ring will be sent to you free.
2) If you have purchased after 30 days, send us your paypal for shipping only, the ring is free. $10 shipping.

However, we have something we are working on.

That said, Hoss has provided you with very good tips, let me attempt to summarize:
1) If a ring is dim or purple, it helps to cut the connect (black) going to the ring from the ballast.
http://www.unitedbimmer.com/forums/lighting-diys/6875-angel-eyes-cold-start-fix-rooz.html

2) Also, many of our high output ballasts have a little "black plug" in the red power wire, removing this "plug" will increase the total output to the rings and eliminate this issue in almost 99% of the cases.

3) The ballasts AND the rings are the most densely packed available. Let me explain a little on how this works. There are CCFL rings out there and then there are the rings we make. They fall into the same category of good quality and bad quality, though they have the same overall name - CCFL.

We specify that our rings are very densely packed with extra material to prevent this and to glow brighter. That's why if you put our rings side by side with any other, they are brighter. However, there is a downside to this as we have discovered, the downside if the rings are not activated or if the material "clumps" it doesn't light up the ring properly, and a good JOLT will help it, but that's not always possible (though better if you do what is stated above to remedy it).

We are working on a different solution but that will not be ready for another month.

Thank you for the support of our products.

and then the question arises--why doesn't umnitza just remove those black plugs before selling the lights?

did anyone try this yet ..

we are working to eliminate this point of failure but for now.
here's what we'll do for you:

1) If you have purchased within 30 days, a new ring will be sent to you free.
2) If you have purchased after 30 days, send us your paypal for shipping only, the ring is free. $10 shipping.

However, we have something we are working on.

That said, Hoss has provided you with very good tips, let me attempt to summarize:
1) If a ring is dim or purple, it helps to cut the connect (black) going to the ring from the ballast.
http://www.unitedbimmer.com/forums/lighting-diys/6875-angel-eyes-cold-start-fix-rooz.html

2) Also, many of our high output ballasts have a little "black plug" in the red power wire, removing this "plug" will increase the total output to the rings and eliminate this issue in almost 99% of the cases.

3) The ballasts AND the rings are the most densely packed available. Let me explain a little on how this works. There are CCFL rings out there and then there are the rings we make. They fall into the same category of good quality and bad quality, though they have the same overall name - CCFL.

We specify that our rings are very densely packed with extra material to prevent this and to glow brighter. That's why if you put our rings side by side with any other, they are brighter. However, there is a downside to this as we have discovered, the downside if the rings are not activated or if the material "clumps" it doesn't light up the ring properly, and a good JOLT will help it, but that's not always possible (though better if you do what is stated above to remedy it).

We are working on a different solution but that will not be ready for another month.

Thank you for the support of our products.

did anyone try this yet ..I may try this before I send for a new ring, but here are the instructions for replacing the ring: (provided by umnitza)

Remove the cover – 7 clips – just be gentle and do it inside the house where it’s warm.
Gently separate the cover.
Fold the cover onto a soft cloth but do not pull the wires out.
Snip off the wires of the “offending” ring and unclip the rear clips holding the lenses down.
Snap clip off the cover for the ring surround.
Replace ring, snap cover back on, apply small dab of quick drying glue, silicon, or epoxy – no more than a teardrop. Do not use krazyglue or the like.
Reassemble.

I ordered my CCFL's from Depo. They were about double the money compared to the others but the rings are very thick glass. They light up bright even on a cold 10 degree mornings. Granted at those temps they do not reach "full" brightness for about a minute or two. They are about 80% at very very cold startup.

Im very happy with them. I think they also have a heating element in the rings to help with cold ignition.

I ordered my CCFL's from Depo. They were about double the money compared to the others but the rings are very thick glass. They light up bright even on a cold 10 degree mornings. Granted at those temps they do not reach "full" brightness for about a minute or two. They are about 80% at very very cold startup.

Im very happy with them. I think they also have a heating element in the rings to help with cold ignition.Pictures? And could you detail how you did the swap/install?