Technostalgia Rapid Fire LED Tail Lights

[Demon]

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT VERY SIGNIFICANT QUALITY CONTROL ISSUES SEEM TO BE CONTINUING FOR TECHNOSTALGIA. THESE ISSUES ARE REPORTED TO INCLUDE BOTH ELECTRONICS AND THE UNITS ALSO TAKING ON WATER.

I RECEIVED MINE AFTER OVER A TWO MONTH WAITLIST AND HERE IS THE RESULT. (The "forum" referenced here is Camaro5, not this one)

<email sent to Technostalgia and reseller APEX Motorsports>

Technostalgia -

I waited over TWO MONTHS to receive this product then spent one of the best driving days of the summer installing them. As most of the people on my Camaro forum warned, there are consistent quality problems with this product.

Tomorrow will be Sunday July 29th. I now have NON-WORKING tail lights in my brand new ZL1 Camaro. If techical support at your 866 number is not available or cannot get this completly resolved tomorrow, I will be expecting a full refund (including all shipping costs) as I WILL NOT incur any cost whatsoever for your knowingly selling poorly quality controlled products. In addition, I will expect you to bear the cost of replacing the gromets your instructions had me cut with new, uncut grommets. In short, Make your product work as advertised or return my vehicle to original condition at no cost to me.

Your reputation is suffering terribly in the forums, and it is an impossibility that you are unaware of the quality issues with your products. Clearly you have chosen to ignore the problems and ride the wave of interest in the rare properly working unit. Our forum has advised members not to purchase your product, but I had been waitlisted months ago, so I decided to trust that your product would actually work properly. I should have taken the warnings seriously. After dismantling my car and spending hours installing your product the disappointment of your ongoing failed quality control is infuriating.

When I make the connection to the battery, the resistors get very hot very fast. When I lock and unlock the car with the remote all four lights perform show mode style flashes then perform a top row only turn sequence (inside to outside), then DONE. No brake lights, no turn signals, no normal night lights, no emergency flashers. I have disconnected the battery due to the extremely hot resistors concerning me. I can replicate the lighting sequence by locking and unlocking the doors with the remote. However no other activity that should activate the lights has any affect whatsoever.

Please ensure someone from your company is available to make your product perform properly tomorrow, Sunday, July 29th. If not, I will expect to be compensated to the point that I have not suffered any direct or indirect cost as a result of your failure to deliver a product in reasonable working condition due to a known and recurring failed quality control process.

Sincerely,

Bruce "Demon"

cc to APEX Motorsports

[priz23]

Sucks to get a crappy product, but being a lucky sob to own a zl1 why are you messing with LEDS?

[Toasty]

Sucks to get a crappy product, but being a lucky sob to own a zl1 why are you messing with LEDS?

I'd suspect that he likes how they are supposed to look. LED tails aren't really out of the ordinary anymore

[The SS]

I'm sorry & good luck. Keep us posted

[Demon]

Well after waiting through the weekend until tech support was available, I removed the LED Technostagia lights and put the originals back in to prove everything in the car in fact worked right. It did.


Talked to a tech, tried what he suggested, no luck. Called back. Got a little bit different story. We ran some checks together (with power on, harnesses connected) following their step-by-step instructions. Of course during testing to find the problem they had me do something that blew a fuse.


Very Oddly, they could not tell me what fuse were the tail lights, or even which of the three fuse boxes to check. I hung up quite disgusted.


There is nothing in the Camaro owners manual about tail light or brake light fuse location. So I called my dealer service and they helped me find the fuse. I replaced it, followed the 2nd techs advice, and they FINALLY WORKED!!!!


So this weekend I also Plasti-Dipped my tail light bezels black. I really like it, but super disgusted with the Technostalgia customer support.

Here are the rear view results. (no they are not voice activated, don't laugh!)

http://youtu.be/AD6Pm6RE1Kk

Love to hear your thoughts-
Bruce

[Bo Tie 1]

Very cool glad to see you got them working.

[The SS]

Well finally!!!! I have to agree with priz, especially after all the headache of the install. God help u if they break.

[steveo9043]

I definitely like how they look working!

[Skyfox]

What was the problem with the lights after all of that?

[Dark Knight]

I saw these on a black RS a few weeks ago. He thought i was trying to see him something when i pulled up. He took off after i told him his lights looked awesome. Hes like "theres nothing wrong with them" and sped off lol

They looked awesome though!

[Demon]

What was the problem with the lights after all of that?

Well a combination of things.

1. The instructions say the white marked side of the LED electronics plug should plug into the "ramp" side of the Bulb socket. There is a "ramp" right next to the socket (one of three that lock the socket into the light casing), but there is also a "ramp" that acts as the click-lock when you plug the wiring harness into the bulb socket. Of course they are 180 degrees of each other so (being awesome at 50/50 choices) they were all four plugged backwards.

2. When they had me trouble shoot step-by-step with them by phone, they did it powered up and at some point fried a fuse without knowing it. So tests that should have passed, failed due to now bad fuse.

3. Once I determined it was a fuse issue now (they did not consider that), not config, they had no clue which fuse in a Camaro is for Stop Lights. They did not enen know if it was Hood, trunk, or dash fusebox. Of course it is not marked and not in the manual.

4. My dealer lead me by phone to the fuses (side dash) one replaced and configured to the "ramp" they really meant, all worked ok.

But it was a pain. Lost 3 great driving days (because the have no weekend support, and quit at 3:30 every day), and REALLY pissed me off. That said, I do love the way they look now.

If any of you choose to install these, it is a breeze after you have made every mistake once already (LOL). Give me a shout and I am glad to help with the unclear portions of the instructions (ramp, cutting slot in grommets, tricky tail light nuts, etc).

Please be careful removing the tail light bezels, it really is easy to do right, but many people break clips. The trick is to know that they do not clip in, but are held only by friction. So push the top visible clips out until you can pry a bit, then work around opposite sides of the bezel from the lens side. Protect whatever you use to pry with masking tape or microfiber etc to avoid any scratches.

Bruce