How to: Complete HID/LED Swap Thread

[Tech_God]

Hey Guys, I recently did a full LED swap for my sky, after searching around a bunch it was pretty hard to piece together the right bulbs (with even sylvania being wrong on one occasion) so here's a comprehensive list of all the bulbs you'll need for a full LED swap!

FRONT

Auxiliary Light above the low beam:
Bulb 194
This one's a basic 194 bulb, aim for a front single LED instead of the tower bulbs considering all of the light goes out the front anyway. I used these:
6K WHITE 4 LED 2W HIGH POWER BULBS 194 168 158 | 1 PAIR

Low Beam:
Bulb H11
Use 35W HIDs for these, they're MUCH nicer than the stock halogen. I grabbed them from DDM tuning here, they work GREAT, got the mounting brackets and that's all ya need:
DDM Tuning 35W and 55W HID Kits

High Beam:
Bulb H9
DON'T get these as HIDs, they take a bit to warm up which defeats the purpose of a high beam. Head to your local autozone and grab whatever Xenon bulbs they have to match your color scheme.

Fog Lights:
Bulb H11
HIDs work wonders for here too, same exact kit from DDM tuning I used, but you DON'T need the mounting brackets to install them:
DDM Tuning 35W and 55W HID Kits

Front Turn Signals:
Bulb 3157
LOAD RESISTORS ARE REQUIRED, MORE ON THAT AT THE END
Standard 3157 Bulb, DO NOT GET THE CK STYLE BULBS, those are meant for specific cars. I went with switchbacks to keep a white light until the turn signal is applied, but and standard 3157 tower would work too. I used these:
http://www.vleds.com/bulb/3157-3156-...57-1-pair.html

ONE THING WITH THESE: The bulb socket in our car is 3757, which they DONT make LEDs for. The only difference between 3157 and 3757 is little guide tabs on the sides of the bulbs. Just CUT THESE OFF! Watch this for instructions and proof. Worked for my car.

Using 3157 bulbs in 3757 sockets - YouTube

Using 3157 bulbs in 3757 sockets - YouTube

Side Marker Light:
Bulb 194
Because of the placement of the bulb, a mini tower (light in all directions) bulb is best to light up the entire strip. I used these:
AMBER 3 CHIP 5 LED LIGHT BULBS 194 168 158 2821 | 1 PAIR


Interior

Mirror Lights:
Bulb 194
On this, I hate sylvania. These are NOT the 212-2 light as described in their fit guide, learned that the hard way Front facing light is best because of how sunk in the bulbs are. I used these:
6K WHITE 4 LED 2W HIGH POWER BULBS 194 168 158 | 1 PAIR

Trunk Light:
Bulb 921
Because 912 is not made as an LED, 921 is compatible with no issues, and since you only need one the best place to grab em is autolumination because they sell them by the bulb. DON'T get a forward facing bulb since the bulb is mounted vertically. I used these, the 18 LED version:
906 921 Interior Lights


Rear

Tail Lights/Turn Signals:
Bulb 3157
LOAD RESISTORS ARE REQUIRED, MORE ON THAT AT THE END
And again, DO NOT GET CK STYLE BULBS. Make sure to order two pairs. Any red tower should work, but I got these and they're nice and bright:
http://www.vleds.com/bulb/3157-3156-.../3157-red.html

Tail Light Sidemarkers:
Bulb 194
This little guy almost went unnoticed, but I managed to find the bulb number for it. Any small bulb will work, I went with these because they look good behind the housing:
RED 1.5W LED BULBS W/ DIFFUSING LENS 194 168 158 | 1 PAIR

License Plate Light:
Bulb 194
For this light, make sure to get the mini towers since the bulb is mounted at an angle to illuminate the entire plate. I got this one:
6K WHITE 3 CHIP 5 LED LIGHT BULBS 194 168 158 2821 | 1 PAIR B/O

Reverse Light:
Bulb 3157
A single high powered front facing bulb is best for this, since the light only goes one way. I went with this one, hit ctrl+f and search "Round Globe":
3157 Tail Light Brake Light Turn Signal LED Bulbs

Opel GT Lights

Reverse Light:
Bulb 921
Use a high powered LED that has the most front facing LEDs as possible, this one should work best:
6K WHITE 19 LED 8W HIGH POWER BULBS 917 918 920 921 922 923 579 | 1 PAIR B/O - White LED - 921 LED - Bulb #

Fog Light:
Bulb 921
Same as above, luckily there's a higher powered front facing one in red!
http://www.vleds.com/bulb/921-led/re...21-1-each.html


Load Resistors

Basically if you don't get these, your turn signals will flash really fast to say you have a bulb out.
You need one pair of 6 ohm resistors for the front turn signals, and two pairs of 6 ohm resistors for the rear. I grabbed these:
http://www.vleds.com/load-resistors/...ix-1-pair.html
Grab 3 pairs of 6 ohm resistors, and the scotchlock taps too.



Install

Guides are already up with pics for the HIDs and where to hook up the resistors, so here ya go:
HID installation (hidden ballast)
Saturn Sky LED Tail lights

And there you are! Feel free to ask any questions you have, this works 100% with no problems, looks great, and is using less power on the alternator (lower wattage) So i'd like to think it's helping my MPG by a solid .1 MPG
Enjoy and happy modding!

HID/LED Swap for the Saturn Sky - YouTube

HID/LED Swap for the Saturn Sky - YouTube

[marlboromike]

Which LED bulb did u use for your reverse light...I have the rear Opel FOG. I am not happy with the illumination in the red area...would love to have a brighter light...GREAT WRITE UP!

It is identical wattage (18 watts) to the clear reverse bulb.

[Monadzback]

Holy ****. Great write up

[Tech_God]

Again, follow the link, hit ctrl+f, and search for "round globe". I got the 3157 super white version. It uses 10 watts, but with the efficiency of LEDs it's a lot brighter.

And thanks man, figured I'd start helping out a bit

[TomatoSoup]

Originally Posted by Tech_God

Again, follow the link, hit ctrl+f, and search for "round globe". I got the 3157 super white version. It uses 10 watts, but with the efficiency of LEDs it's a lot brighter.

And thanks man, figured I'd start helping out a bit

Thanks for the links, some bulbs there that I'd never seen before.

I'm a bit worried about that 10w round globe bulb though. If it's truely 10 watts, that heatsink is woefully undersized. It must get plastic-meltingly hot. Maybe it's a 10w bulb, but running at lower power?

I have some 5watt bulbs (5 x Cree 1w LEDs) in an elongated MR50 bulb-sized heatsink that I'm playing with now. Even with that, the heatsink gets pretty hot to the touch after a while.

[Tech_God]

Originally Posted by TomatoSoup

Thanks for the links, some bulbs there that I'd never seen before.

I'm a bit worried about that 10w round globe bulb though. If it's truely 10 watts, that heatsink is woefully undersized. It must get plastic-meltingly hot. Maybe it's a 10w bulb, but running at lower power?

I have some 5watt bulbs (5 x Cree 1w LEDs) in an elongated MR50 bulb-sized heatsink that I'm playing with now. Even with that, the heatsink gets pretty hot to the touch after a while.

That may be the case, because after reading that I went ahead and kept the reverse light on for a solid minute (didn't crank the car, put it in accessory and put it in reverse) and went underneath and touched the bulb. Was warm, but I could hold it without it hurting. So it works great

[A14]

Great write up! This will be fantastic info to add to the database!!


Edit: I can't believe we don't have pictures of how good this looks!

[Tech_God]

Don't worry, I'll get pics up soon

[dipolley]

Great wite up. Ordered the HIDS as discribed. Thanks!

[|V3nom|]

i would like the see the reverse light at night. im running a ebay special hid in mine and it works great! way better than stock and any led ive seen yet.

[A14]

Originally Posted by |V3nom|

i would like the see the reverse light at night. im running a ebay special hid in mine and it works great! way better than stock and any led ive seen yet.

Yeah, I want to see some side by side comparisons of the HID, LED, and Cree Q5. The tactical flashlight I have in my just in case drawer by my bed, has a 600 Lumen Protac with the CREE light. That ****er is brighter than the sun, and in strobe mode will literally make someone stumble to the ground.

[Tech_God]

I'm away from home at the moment but i'll be back monday, so I'll get pics of everything monday night!

[Tech_God]

Just realized something about the front turn signals, made an edit. take a look!

[RedRocket]

This is Great! Thanks for taking the time to put it all together. I have been trying to figure out how to get started on LED conversion.

[Tech_God]

Glad to help! I just put up the video of the complete swap, take a look!