H11 to H9 Headlight Conversion

What wattage hid did the OP use? 35w or 50w hids? That will make a big differrence also..
I'm using 35w now and may upgrade to 50w for more light..

 

I've switched back and forth between the 35w and the so-called 50w ballasts and there was not much of a difference with my OEM Hids nor the new projectors. You also have to be careful with the 50-55w kits because with the wrong bulb they can burn your projector bowls and ruin them.

 

What brand HIDs did you get?

 

I got my HIDs from ledstation.com.. they are awesome!! tell them RJ with the blue prius sent you.. they work great..

 

Just finished the conversion tonight. With an exacto knife and metal snippers, it still took me at least 30 minutes per bulb to get the tabs cut and ground. There has to be a faster way to do this...

Anyway, the bulbs are definitely brighter than the H11s. Like you said, they are brighter but they are not a day and night difference. I am not sure if they are worth twice the cost or the hassle of the conversion, but we will see. I'll have to park my car next to an identical 3g Prius to compare the headlights at some point.

I did see some Sylvania XtraVisions H11 in the 2-pack at Walmart for about $12. They promise to be 30% brighter than your conventional headlight. If they live up to their promise, dollar for dollar, these might be a better idea than the H9 conversion?

I am interested in the HID idea but as usual, I am concerned about the scattering of the light which may blind oncoming traffic. Is this an issue with the conversion?

 

It's not the perfect scenario but you should be fine. They won't produce as much glare as a halogen reflector housing. I say go for it. At least you have a cutoff.

 

Since the 2010 and 2011 prius have projector lenses u will not be blinding on coming traffic with hids.. I will only put hids in cars that have projectors in them.. Every car that comes with factory hids have projectors in the headlights and produce a nice cut off line.. Just make sure that ur headlights are not adjusted higher then normal and you will be fine!! Hids can be had for the same price(or cheaper) as the brighter halogens.. They also produce less heat and take less power.. But will produce more lumens.. Get hids that are 4300k to 6000k so that you will get more visible light.. These people who just want hids for there headlights to look cool always choose the higher temp hids, like 8000k+ temps.. These give those blue, purple, pink colored hids.. However the light output suffers and they actually get worse lumens then even halogens..

 

byzrice is correct but one small correction is that the projectors designed for halogens will not work quite as effectively with HIDs as ones designed for HIDs due to the difference in bulb physical dimensions. The focal points are different on HIDs vs halogens. So you may have hot spots in weird areas and you could potentially produce glare in the area we call "squirrel finders" but most of the time this is not much of an issue. At least not that I have seen with the Prius projectors.

 

I'm used to my Vette's 4300k factory HID's and so the factory H11 halogens just don't do it for me in the Prius.

I installed 35w HID's but I'm not thrilled with them, I think the company sent me 6000k as well as they look purple compared to my Vette's factory 4300's.

I ordered 55W 4300k to try as an upgrade and ran across your post...

What specifically should I be careful with? Do they run so hot that they melt the housing (that was a problem with my 99 TransAm factory fog lamps).

p.s. I like your website ...I'm a tinkerer myself, coming from the Vette world and new to the Prius world.

 

Don't worry about it. It turns out the projector is so large that heat shouldn't be an issue for the bowls.

Unfortunately I doubt a 55w kit is going to make much of a difference except for immediately in front of the car. You may want to consider doing a retrofit with the Morimoto Mini H1 projectors. TRS has the kit now.

 

What mod to the wiring harness is needed? I'm interested in this change also.

 

IIRC, you need to cut out the tab in the socket, where the bulb plugs into the wiring harness. The H9 bulb sockets have 2 tabs in them, whereas the H11 bulbs have only 1 central tab.

 

Here's a page that shows you the difference between H9 and H11 bulbs:
H9

 

Great website and lots of good info on the lamps...but that's too much work for me to convert the lights to a new projector.

I'll see how the 55w's do, hopefully fine as that'll be as far as I'll go on that mod.

Just installed Led courtesy lights today, thinking of a rear sway bar...I need to stop trying to turn my Prius into the Vette. lol

 

will the higher wattage risk melting the OEM wires?

 

That's the $20k question. It's just 10 more watts and about 0.7 more amps through your OEM wiring harness, are you willing to roll the dice and take that chance?

 

A relay harness would be a good idea

 

The increase in heating in the wire from 0.7A is minuscule. Maybe if you drive in Death Valley at mid day that might soften up the wire insulation. (But I kind of doubt you would have the headlights on then...) Many many car owners have done the H9 to H11 conversion, and I have never seen a report of any problems). H9s may have a shorter life, so keep a spare (or pair) on hand. See also the socket-extenders/adapters, which use ceramic and larger gauge wire, to better deal with the higher the right at the end of the bulb socket. Amazon and EBay have them.

IMO at a cost of maybe $6 per H9 bulb, this is the most cost-effective improvement you can make. The lights are not so bright that any gendarme who's been used to seeing HIDs will ever notice.