Here are some pictures and Video Links of the Switchback LED's and Hids installed on my Volt. Also note the Carbon Fiber Chevy Logo ;)


http://youtu.be/Rsa7BTk2ELQ

http://youtu.be/UEL16Uc8GSs


Clean and White (no Amber)
3952

Carbon Fibre Logo
3953

Nice White with a Bluish hint LED
3954

HID kit is the 35W 6000K 9006 DDM $40 takes like 2 weeks to get it (Chinese shipped in the interests of disclosure) but its a quality kit for the $$
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-HID-Kit-Slim-Ballast-35W-or-55W

Switchback parts are:
2 X Switchback ITEM # SMT Tower 48Led Color: Amber-White(AW) Type: 7443 Wedge $27.99 EACH (55.98)
http://autolumination.com/7443_7440.htm
2 X Load Equalizer Item # 50 Watt Color:50 Watt Leans: 6 ohm $6.99 EACH (13.98)
http://autolumination.com/equalizers.htm

Not Cheap, but they fit in the 3/4 inch slot easily, they look real good and they ship pretty quick from the US YMMV

Where did you get the carbon fiber bowtie?
Was it difficult to put on straight? Did you need to remove anything, or just overlay on the gold?

Thanks

Where did you get the carbon fiber bowtie?
Was it difficult to put on straight? Did you need to remove anything, or just overlay on the gold?

Thanks

Just an overlay of 3m Film (thick) and then use a blade to cut carefully, there is a small trench/ridge around the gold (between the gold and the polished piece, you can cut in there and then push the film into the trench/ridge for a factory look.

Outstanding work, Britt! I will be duplicating your efforts with the switchbacks. I already have the same HID's installed and the yellowish glow of the turn lights looks terrible.

Looks really good but the definition between the white running and yellow turns are concerning. I would think oncoming traffic would have to look directly at them to see that you are turning. Could lead to some trouble IMO but hopefully not.

One question,
Did you have to put in a resistor to keep the turn signal timing correct?

Pat

Looks really good but the definition between the white running and yellow turns are concerning. I would think oncoming traffic would have to look directly at them to see that you are turning. Could lead to some trouble IMO but hopefully not.

In real life there is no issue, my iphone video doesn't capture the light very well. At night there certainly isn't any concern.

One question,
Did you have to put in a resistor to keep the turn signal timing correct?

Pat

Yep Resistors were needed and the Lower lights LED job is a Major PITA to be honest. Its doable but its a PITA for access etc.

Yep Resistors were needed and the Lower lights LED job is a Major PITA to be honest. Its doable but its a PITA for access etc.

It's better just to remove the bumper. Cars these days are snap together, so it's not that hard to take off the bumper. I have about 4 jobs that I have accumulted for the front bumper so that I will just do them all at the same time.

@Britt; Got ya, yeah videos sometimes are misleading, glad it's defined flashes cuz the look is cool. You should get rid of the baby blue HID's for maybe soem god 5K's and they would matchup to those running lights perfectly!

PITA especially the passenger side... better have small gynecological hands!

@Britt; Got ya, yeah videos sometimes are misleading, glad it's defined flashes cuz the look is cool. You should get rid of the baby blue HID's for maybe soem god 5K's and they would matchup to those running lights perfectly!

PITA especially the passenger side... better have small gynecological hands!


My arm is still sore and swollen from the third time I have been in on the passenger side, trick is to not go in with your hand/arm rotated (thumb up), go in with your palm up (and right Hand in), use your left hand to pull the fender plastic out. It sounds weird but once you do this a few times you know what hurts and what hurts less.:(

BTW the bluish hint is also on those LED's, not quite as much as the HID's but I like the look similar to the DRL's.. The HID install is a breeze, if anyone in NoVA needs help bring it over and i can help...for the LED's, you're on your own :p

If you like the look (color) of the DRL's and you want that in your HID's, get rid of those low Xenon gas charged Chinese HID's. "Real" (hi-% Xenon filled) capsules will not be baby blue period! They will look more fluorescent blue/violet for the real 6K's and more like the DRL's LEDS with a hi-concentration 5K capsule.

It's a quick tipoff once you see the baby blue tint PLUS there lumin output is midscale at best.

Brittt, you're my hero. :)

Weren't you the one that said the lenses in the Volt were tinted blue? If you didn't, someone did.

Personally I like having the light tinted blue anyway with my cheap HID's. It's how the concept Volt looks in the pic at the top left of every web page on here.



If you like the look (color) of the DRL's and you want that in your HID's, get rid of those low Xenon gas charged Chinese HID's. "Real" (hi-% Xenon filled) capsules will not be baby blue period! They will look more fluorescent blue/violet for the real 6K's and more like the DRL's LEDS with a hi-concentration 5K capsule.

It's a quick tipoff once you see the baby blue tint PLUS there lumin output is midscale at best.

Nice job Britt! Looks good! I like the bow ties like that on a black car and the lower white lamps looks great on the black too.

Personally I like having the light tinted blue anyway with my cheap HID's. It's how the concept Volt looks in the pic at the top left of every web page on here.

+1 for this thought, I agree.

I'm ordering these parts. Amazing job, these look a million times better!

The HIDs went in perfectly. Flicker a little bit until they fully warm up, but for the price I don't mind. I think they were "Xentec" or whatever. The ballasts were so small they fit in the headlight assembly, so I could seal it up. They locked in easily, I simply put the larger tab in before the others then got it twisted in with no modification. I suggest making sure the metal side of the ballast goes in facing upward. It gets quite hot, and that's the best hope of it cooling well, and not touching anything else. :) I am about to go on my test drive.

Britt, I'm on a roll with bad luck for modding my Volt. I'm a pretty mechanically inclined person as well... Here's my issue - I CANNOT get the LED bulbs you suggested to stay in the socket, it just pops back out. I also had the same issue with the V-LEDs brand... I've even attempted grinding down some of the bulb stem to get it to sit better. It helped, but road vibration would cause it to pop back out. I'm trying to figure out what is going on... Top_Speed said he noticed the V-LEDs brand changed their bulb stem and I am not sure if the switchbacks did the same? Why is this such a PITA. I just want to plug in a bulb and go. At this point I would much rather be pulling an engine out to rebuild then changing what should be a simple light bulb :p

Did you have to do any mods to the LEDs to get them to sit in the socket?

I'd just like to get something to work with this car since I am the guy with the weird bounce issue with my DDM Passenger side HID on top of this. At least my LED license plate conversion worked OK :)

Thanks,
Dan

Britt, I'm on a roll with bad luck for modding my Volt. I'm a pretty mechanically inclined person as well... Here's my issue - I CANNOT get the LED bulbs you suggested to stay in the socket, it just pops back out. I also had the same issue with the V-LEDs brand... I've even attempted grinding down some of the bulb stem to get it to sit better. It helped, but road vibration would cause it to pop back out. I'm trying to figure out what is going on... Top_Speed said he noticed the V-LEDs brand changed their bulb stem and I am not sure if the switchbacks did the same? Why is this such a PITA. I just want to plug in a bulb and go. At this point I would much rather be pulling an engine out to rebuild then changing what should be a simple light bulb :p

Did you have to do any mods to the LEDs to get them to sit in the socket?

I'd just like to get something to work with this car since I am the guy with the weird bounce issue with my DDM Passenger side HID on top of this. At least my LED license plate conversion worked OK :)

Thanks,
Dan

Didn't have the issue. I was able to Push thd bulb in and it stayed. I did notice it didn't feel exactly tight but it hasn't popped out yet on either side. I'm on a long trip now that has seen me travel on bumpy freeways etc. if either pop out I'll let you know.

Had this problem on my F350. Sounds tacky (pardon the pun) but I wrapped electric tape around the base overlapping just the bottom of the bulb base. Two winds seem to hold it.

Didn't have the issue. I was able to Push thd bulb in and it stayed. I did notice it didn't feel exactly tight but it hasn't popped out yet on either side. I'm on a long trip now that has seen me travel on bumpy freeways etc. if either pop out I'll let you know.

Thanks Britt, thatd be much appreciated! Safe travels.

-Dan

Thanks Britt, thatd be much appreciated! Safe travels.

-Dan

Well I just got back...it was a 342 Mile round trip, I charged before I left and charged before I left on the way back.. I was able to do 73 Miles on Electricity (TOTAL) and my overall MPG was 54.3 (not bad considering I was rolling along at about 70-75). btw Sport mode at 75 has some good pickup.

No problem with the Hid's or Switchbacks, they are still in and functioning as they should.

So, I embarked on this adventure today. I decided I did not want to mess with the panels, and the car was going in for work today.

I asked them to install the lights for me. Unbeknownst to me the lights were wrong. I clicked the link on here and I KNOW they were the switchback lights because they specifically asked me what two colors I wanted. I remember clicking white, (or perhaps that was default) and then amber. I received lights that had two intensities of Amber. Worse yet, they show up on my receipt as the part I received which means the error happened in the cart, or during checkout. I didn't see switchback on the receipt when checking out but figured it was just the bulb type and model # I didn't think anything of it.

Beauty is that in some way shape or form I can get the other light. It looks like I will have to temporarily buy new ones because the dealer didn't keep my bulbs. -_- I am thinking this time my dad and I will just do it, because I got hosed with $84 in extra labor. (The two LEDS, Resistors of which they installed in series before I pointed out they needed to be parallel and a reverse light.) Worse yet the reverse light doesn't even work.

There doesn't seem to be anything I can do with the dealer and the truth is I hate to call them up. Even if it was there fault, and I'm not sure any of it is, it probably isn't worth getting on their bad side. For the most part they've been nice and helpful. I do think I'm going to go to a different dealership now. There were just lots of little things they did I don't think you should do if your trying to impress a customer.

Anyway other than getting the resisters wired it all seemed to be for null. The oil change added up to almost $60, so even though I only needed 1 this year, I would easily get 3 oil changes at 6k intervals in the Prius for that. A tire rotation was $40. The engine air filter was $24. They even charged me for the electrical ends that they shouldn't have used. (The resistors had the T taps included, they had everything they needed in the baggie I gave them.)

I'm overall very disappointed.

So, I embarked on this adventure today. I decided I did not want to mess with the panels, and the car was going in for work today.

I asked them to install the lights for me. Unbeknownst to me the lights were wrong. I clicked the link on here and I KNOW they were the switchback lights because they specifically asked me what two colors I wanted. I remember clicking white, (or perhaps that was default) and then amber. I received lights that had two intensities of Amber. Worse yet, they show up on my receipt as the part I received which means the error happened in the cart, or during checkout. I didn't see switchback on the receipt when checking out but figured it was just the bulb type and model # I didn't think anything of it.

Beauty is that in some way shape or form I can get the other light. It looks like I will have to temporarily buy new ones because the dealer didn't keep my bulbs. -_- I am thinking this time my dad and I will just do it, because I got hosed with $84 in extra labor. (The two LEDS, Resistors of which they installed in series before I pointed out they needed to be parallel and a reverse light.) Worse yet the reverse light doesn't even work.

There doesn't seem to be anything I can do with the dealer and the truth is I hate to call them up. Even if it was there fault, and I'm not sure any of it is, it probably isn't worth getting on their bad side. For the most part they've been nice and helpful. I do think I'm going to go to a different dealership now. There were just lots of little things they did I don't think you should do if your trying to impress a customer.

Anyway other than getting the resisters wired it all seemed to be for null. The oil change added up to almost $60, so even though I only needed 1 this year, I would easily get 3 oil changes at 6k intervals in the Prius for that. A tire rotation was $40. The engine air filter was $24. They even charged me for the electrical ends that they shouldn't have used. (The resistors had the T taps included, they had everything they needed in the baggie I gave them.)

I'm overall very disappointed.

Wow, totally seems you go hosed by the dealer. I would change them yourself, it isn't too difficult just a pain. As for the oil change and tire rotation, that's a joke as you can go to a Lincoln dealer and get their 'Works' package (oil change and tire rotation) for $29.99 as that's where i take my Navigator.

So, I embarked on this adventure today. I decided I did not want to mess with the panels, and the car was going in for work today.

I asked them to install the lights for me. Unbeknownst to me the lights were wrong. I clicked the link on here and I KNOW they were the switchback lights because they specifically asked me what two colors I wanted. I remember clicking white, (or perhaps that was default) and then amber. I received lights that had two intensities of Amber. Worse yet, they show up on my receipt as the part I received which means the error happened in the cart, or during checkout. I didn't see switchback on the receipt when checking out but figured it was just the bulb type and model # I didn't think anything of it.

Beauty is that in some way shape or form I can get the other light. It looks like I will have to temporarily buy new ones because the dealer didn't keep my bulbs. -_- I am thinking this time my dad and I will just do it, because I got hosed with $84 in extra labor. (The two LEDS, Resistors of which they installed in series before I pointed out they needed to be parallel and a reverse light.) Worse yet the reverse light doesn't even work.

There doesn't seem to be anything I can do with the dealer and the truth is I hate to call them up. Even if it was there fault, and I'm not sure any of it is, it probably isn't worth getting on their bad side. For the most part they've been nice and helpful. I do think I'm going to go to a different dealership now. There were just lots of little things they did I don't think you should do if your trying to impress a customer.

Anyway other than getting the resisters wired it all seemed to be for null. The oil change added up to almost $60, so even though I only needed 1 this year, I would easily get 3 oil changes at 6k intervals in the Prius for that. A tire rotation was $40. The engine air filter was $24. They even charged me for the electrical ends that they shouldn't have used. (The resistors had the T taps included, they had everything they needed in the baggie I gave them.)

I'm overall very disappointed.

Please let us know if the new ones work out - I couldnt complete my install because the bulb would not stay in the socket... Sorry you had such a poor experience....

Thanks,
Dan

I will. My dad has a brand new garage with heat and bright lights, and not a lot of junk like mine. He said he would help me out. I looked today for the backup lamp fuse to see if I could just replace that should it be the problem. I couldn't find it in the manual's fuse listings! I saw where it said the type of fuse for it, but it wasn't listed on the diagram. ugh. Well I will figure it out. :) I received the 3m film I got from a fellow member on here, and I will have a little paint repair done. This car will be better than new soon!

I have also decided I'm going to buy a TPS sensor reset tool and keep an oil filter and some of the oil on hand. I am going to do the maintenance myself from now on. -_-

I looked today for the backup lamp fuse to see if I could just replace that should it be the problem. I couldn't find it in the manual's fuse listings!

Instrument panel fuse block, right side:

F7: Body Control Module 6/ Map Lights/Courtesy Lights/Back – up Lamp

So I'm thinking that's it (and several other things you may miss, like the BCM6!).

Please let us know if the new ones work out - I couldnt complete my install because the bulb would not stay in the socket... Sorry you had such a poor experience....

Thanks,
Dan

Mine also wouldn't stay in, we epoxied them into the sockets I'll have to remember to upload the pictures

Thanks Rusty! :)

I had seen all of that, and read it wrong. Now I know that the map lights work.. so it's not the fuse. Oh well I will go with the LED bulb that I have seen people purchase on here. No harm done I guess. It was an expensive lesson to just do it myself.

The LEDs (not switchbacks, just ambers) came in the mail today along with 50 watt 6 ohm resistors. Which wire to you splice into with the resistors to keep the turn signals from 'hyperblinking'?

Thanks

I am considering this mod also. Seems like the Chev Cruze is a cousin in someways to the Volt. Good info here on wiring in the resistors with photos...

http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/57-how-forum/8461-install-led-switchback.html

Following the cruze install thread above, I wired the resistor into the black and the center wire on each light. The bulb flashes like its a turn signal. Has anyone else experienced this? My hats off to you who try this, getting to these bulbs is a pain.

Decided to give this a shot, just ordered bulbs and resistors off ebay..... everything for under $30 shipped. Will report back on the quality and fitment

50W 6-Ohm Load Resistors LED Bulbs Turn Signal Lights
Item Id:190711677269 - Price: US $6.39
Quantity:1

Item Title:Compatible CHEVY 7443 SWITCHBACK DUAL COLOR WHITE/AMBER LED SIGNAL LIGHT BULB
Item Id:190759301826 - Price: US $22.93
Quantity:1

Sounds promising. I wonder if they are Note: There are two styles of switchback bulbs: AO - Amber - Off
or AW - Amber - White?

See the bottom of this page: http://autolumination.com/switchback_wiring.html



Decided to give this a shot, just ordered bulbs and resistors off ebay..... everything for under $30 shipped. Will report back on the quality and fitment

50W 6-Ohm Load Resistors LED Bulbs Turn Signal Lights
Item Id:190711677269 - Price: US $6.39
Quantity:1

Item Title:Compatible CHEVY 7443 SWITCHBACK DUAL COLOR WHITE/AMBER LED SIGNAL LIGHT BULB
Item Id:190759301826 - Price: US $22.93
Quantity:1

Driving Mode: 6000K White(30 pieces of white SMD chipsets)

Turn Light Mode:3000K Amber(30 pieces of amber SMD chipsets)


Sounds promising. I wonder if they are Note: There are two styles of switchback bulbs: AO - Amber - Off
or AW - Amber - White?

See the bottom of this page: http://autolumination.com/switchback_wiring.html

I think they are Amber OFF, but I will report back :)

Just an update on my original post.

Switchbacks have operated flawlessly for a year now.
HID kit from DDM was shiite.. I replaced with a substantial Morimoto kit which has been nothing short of superb for 11 months.

AAA+++ on the Morimoto HID kit! Mine have been going flawlessly now for about 6 months. It is a really quality kit and the bulbs fit in the seats nice and tight. I read on this that some people couldn't keep their bulbs in because they were loose and falling out. I did not have this issue with the Morimotos. I was so impressed with them that I bought a complete HID projector conversion kit complete with Halos and LED strips for my son-in-laws 1997 Ford Thunderbird. It was a little bit of work, but well worth the effort. It works and looks great.