[rockinpirate]

When I rains, it pours. After all this discussion about LED's and reverse lights and aftermarket sound systems, I finally installed a Sylvania Silver Star bulb and it was at least 25% brighter than OEM bulb....

After installing it, and checking to make sure everything worked correctly, I didn't drive it for about 10 days. Went to drive it today and the battery was totally dead I mean DEAD. I put my automatic charger on it, and after a few minutes, it said, "Battery Failure". So, it's shot. I don't think it had anything to do with the halogen reverse bulb, or the LED map, trunk and license plate lights. I did leave the car in reverse, but obviously with the key out, the reverse light was not on at any time.

To make matters worse a tab or two is broken off the inner fender, and it's zip-tied on towards the bottom. I'm in the middle of a kitchen reno, so I don't know when I'll get to this battery deal. Really aggravated, to put it mildly. I guess I didn't close a door tightly, or something. Car has started like a brand new one before this. Thanks for the whine.

 

[JohnWR]

When I rains, it pours. After all this discussion about LED's and reverse lights and aftermarket sound systems, I finally installed a Sylvania Silver Star bulb and it was at least 25% brighter than OEM bulb....

After installing it, and checking to make sure everything worked correctly, I didn't drive it for about 10 days. Went to drive it today and the battery was totally dead I mean DEAD. I put my automatic charger on it, and after a few minutes, it said, "Battery Failure". So, it's shot. I don't think it had anything to do with the halogen reverse bulb, or the LED map, trunk and license plate lights. I did leave the car in reverse, but obviously with the key out, the reverse light was not on at any time.

To make matters worse a tab or two is broken off the inner fender, and it's zip-tied on towards the bottom. I'm in the middle of a kitchen reno, so I don't know when I'll get to this battery deal. Really aggravated, to put it mildly. I guess I didn't close a door tightly, or something. Car has started like a brand new one before this. Thanks for the whine.

Most modern chargers will not charge a completely dead battery because they need some voltage to verify the polarity of the connection.

 

[rjgramps]

Most modern chargers will not charge a completely dead battery because they need some voltage to verify the polarity of the connection.

That happened to me with my Sky about two years ago. To get the charging process going, I started out with an ancient dumb charger to get some voltage in the battery, then switched to my good charger to restore it. Three years later and the battery is still doing well (as of last November).

There are basically two types of fender liners being sold, OEM and aftermarkets. The aftermarkets fit good but cosmetically look real bad, so I advise to try your best to find a new or good used OEM.

Remember that the Redline has a hole in it for the air duct. The roadster does not. I recently read on this forum that only new OEM roadster fenders without the air duct hole, are available. Buy one, then cut out the hole. Use your old liner as a template.

I advise to inspect the other front fender liner. You may find you need both. You might save on expensive shipping when buying both together.

 

[rockinpirate]

I just hope there's no weird reason it went completely dead. My LEDs do not stay on. This is the longest I've gone without driving it, but it's only been 11-12 days. I mean it won't even click . It has always started immediately.... I can't imagine leaving it reverse had any effect. No key in ignition and obviously no light was on. The bright halogen bulb didn't feel as tight as the OEM one. Can't see that as a problem. If a door was not shut tightly, only two LEDs would have been on,

That happened to me with my Sky about two years ago. To get the charging process going, I started out with an ancient dumb charger to get some voltage in the battery, then switched to my good charger to restore it. Three years later and the battery is still doing well (as of last November).

There are basically two types of fender liners being sold, OEM and aftermarkets. The aftermarkets fit good but cosmetically look real bad, so I advise to try your best to find a new or good used OEM.

Remember that the Redline has a hole in it for the air duct. The roadster does not. I recently read on this forum that only new OEM roadster fenders without the air duct hole, are available. Buy one, then cut out the hole. Use your old liner as a template.

I advise to inspect the other front fender liner. You may find you need both. You might save on expensive shipping when buying both together.

so that's not a big drain. I'm going to jump it, and take it to AutoZone for them to check it, after letting it run a while. Until then, I won't know if it's just a bad battery or there's a drain on it somewhere. Thanks

That happened to me with my Sky about two years ago. To get the charging process going, I started out with an ancient dumb charger to get some voltage in the battery, then switched to my good charger to restore it. Three years later and the battery is still doing well (as of last November).

There are basically two types of fender liners being sold, OEM and aftermarkets. The aftermarkets fit good but cosmetically look real bad, so I advise to try your best to find a new or good used OEM.

Remember that the Redline has a hole in it for the air duct. The roadster does not. I recently read on this forum that only new OEM roadster fenders without the air duct hole, are available. Buy one, then cut out the hole. Use your old liner as a template.

I advise to inspect the other front fender liner. You may find you need both. You might save on expensive shipping when buying both together.

Drivers side is fine. Only the bottom 8-10 inches are zip tied. So, I suspect it will remain zip tied for the time being. (I'm in the middle of a kitchen reno project. Why it's not been driven)

Going to jump start it first chance I get and take it to AutoZone or see if it's charged enough after running a while for my automatic charger to work. Thanks!

 

[JohnWR]

How old is the battery?

 

[rockinpirate]

How old is the battery?

No way to know for sure ... Motor was replaced in 2021-22, after the car had been sitting up for a good while. I suspect the battery was purchased then. It doesn't look old to the eye. Didn't see where the date had been marked for warranty purposes. It's not ancient by any means. Thanks

 

[load97]

So you drilled a hole in the center for the power mirror switch & for the door lock switches? Nothing in the plastics to wreck? Looks like the bulb wires go straight through & then get bent over 90* to a solder joint.

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[rjgramps]

Here are pictures of my work that I hope are self explanitory. Please review them and I will answer your questions after your review.

NOT SHOWN is a dab of black permanent marker on the top of the LEDs to reduce the intensity of light.

REMEMBER that LEDs are polarized, one orientation works, the other does NOT, so first electrically test for the proper orientation BEFORE soldering each one in.



Passenger Side Power Window Switch with original bulb still installed and rubber color-cover placed on the side. The bulb is located on the bottom center.

Passenger Side Power Window Switch with LED soldered in.

Driver Side Power Window Switch(s) with LED installed, an easy task.

Power Mirror Control. Note the hole I drilled in the middle of the black connector on the blue circuit board. I don't remember how I wired and soldered the LED into it. The hole was required to avoid messing with the connector's many solder joints. I recall drilling the hole from the side of the circuit board, using that hole as a drill guide.

Here is the LED in the blue circuit board.

I cut off the green dome as shown.

Here is the LED through the switchpad with missing dome.

Power Door Lock Switches. I don't have pictures, and I don't recall how I handled them. I only have a picture of the finished product. Sorry about that.

 

[load97]

Did the black plastic circled in red remain & you soldered on to the old bulbs wire legs? Did you just kinda pull and break out the old bulb? Assuming the hole drilled was to access the hidden bulb leg (solder joint)? The window switches went easy, this and the door lock switches take a little more ingenuity. Thanks for the help.

 

[rjgramps]

Regarding the PM switch, Honestly I don't remember if I removed the black base to the incandescent bulb, or if I left it in place and just drilled through it after breaking the bulb and cleaning out what metal I could. I favor the thought that I removed the bulb's black plastic base as part of the conversion.

Sorry for the uncertainty.

 

[load97]

Power mirror switch is done now too. A little thick on the joint, but it’s a very tiny hole to get the solder gun in to. Good for a heat sink now lol. Do the arrows for picking which mirror to move light up, or just the round directional pad? I feel like it’s just the d-pad that does. On to the power door lock switches later in the week.

 

[rjgramps]

The left/right rocker switch does not light up, but you have me wondering now if it should. Maybe someone with a low mileage Sky will state if his does or not.

As I stated before, I found the LEDs to be too bright for the application, so I dabbed black permanent marker on the top of every LED dome, except the floor and glove box lighting. Here is my Sky with all LED domes dabbed inside all switches and also the 3-pod climate control. The main instrumentation, steering wheel, and the radio were also changed, but those are other stories.

 

[JohnnyG]

You guys are killing me! My interior is all apart right now and I don't intend to take it all apart again. So tempting... but at the rate I'm going, I fear that if I start this, I'll miss the entire summer with the car still in pieces in the shop

 

[rockinpirate]

No way to know for sure ... Motor was replaced in 2021-22, after the car had been sitting up for a good while. I suspect the battery was purchased then. It doesn't look old to the eye. Didn't see where the date had been marked for warranty purposes. It's not ancient by any means. Thanks

Finally getting back to the car.. Looks like I took a stoopid-pill and left headlights on after testing the reverse light. In my feeble defense, it was in the bright sunlight when I was doing that.. I have jumped the car from my truck, and it fired right up. I let it run while connected to jumper cables for about 15 minutes. Then it started right up after disconnecting them. The battery came up enough for my automatic charger to work, and it did a recondition/repair overnight. I've left it on auto-charge since then, and plan to drive it today. Hopefully, I can get a few more years out of the battery. Thanks.

 

[load97]

The left/right rocker switch does not light up, but you have me wondering now if it should. Maybe someone with a low mileage Sky will state if his does or not.

As I stated before, I found the LEDs to be too bright for the application, so I dabbed black permanent marker on the top of every LED dome, except the floor and glove box lighting. Here is my Sky with all LED domes dabbed inside all switches and also the 3-pod climate control. The main instrumentation, steering wheel, and the radio were also changed, but those are other stories.

You keep your dimmer turned up though because the stock radio lights are so dim correct? I did a just a little experimenting in the garage with garage lights off. With the dimmer switch turned down, I didn’t think the lights were too bright. But that could just be me, and maybe I’ll regret how bright they are once driving the car more this spring.

 

[rjgramps]

You keep your dimmer turned up though because the stock radio lights are so dim correct?

Right now my Sky is outside under a canopy with the battery disconnected, so I can only go by memory. I believe I keep all lighting at max brightness or very close to it. I know for certain that when I had set the dimmer to what I like at night, all the buttons and the 3-pod illumination was originally too bright.

Regarding my original Sky radio......
Keep in-mind that my orange radio lighting (both the display and the buttons) were also converted. The display from orange to aqua was done by changing the lens. I changed the radio button illumination to a bright lime green that is a close match in color and brightness to the LED conversion. This was done by swapping radio face circuit boards. I also changed steering wheel button assemblies to the same bright lime green. All bright lime green swapping effort used parts from a 2008 Chevy Cobalt.

I found changing the display lens of the radio was most challenging. If you want to go the easy route, don't change lenses and circuit boards, instead swap radio faces. But then the radio looks like this.

Instead of this.

I had the radio silver for a while, then got bold, restoring it back to gloss black.

 

[load97]

Yep, I know. I’ve read through the whole post a few times to be sure. Thanks!

 

[load97]

I am on a roll lol. Ended up having some time tonight to knock out the door lock switches. I think they were easier than doing the power mirror switch. Actually been kind of fun to do so far.

 

[rockinpirate]

I

Finally getting back to the car.. Looks like I took a stoopid-pill and left headlights on after testing the reverse light. In my feeble defense, it was in the bright sunlight when I was doing that.. I have jumped the car from my truck, and it fired right up. I let it run while connected to jumper cables for about 15 minutes. Then it started right up after disconnecting them. The battery came up enough for my automatic charger to work, and it did a recondition/repair overnight. I've left it on auto-charge since then, and plan to drive it today. Hopefully, I can get a few more years out of the battery. Thanks.

Drove car tonight, hooked battery back on charger and it showed 100%> Whew! Bullet dodged.

One last thing, that halogen reverse bulb is plenty bright for me, but if it is not in really tight, radio acts like it did with LED.

 

[load97]

I took the dimmer all apart before I realized there isn’t a bulb in there. Interesting on the HHR forum people have made use of the dimmer to operate some lights.

Dash Lights Dimmer Switch - Chevy HHR Network

Problems/Service/Repairs - Dash Lights Dimmer Switch - So I have this dimmer switch/knob/wheel on the center dash. When I spin it left or right the dash lights dim and go bright as normal. If I go full bright and beyond to the indent nothing happens. Normally this would operate the dome light...

www.chevyhhr.net