HID BULBS

Prius doesnt come with HIDs. Not from factory at least.

 

Yeah, the 3rd gen on comes with Halogen or LED headlights so youll need the bulbs & ballasts.

 

The higher Gen II packages came with HID. Perhaps that's causing confusion.

None of the Gen III Prius come with HID. You will need the entire package. While I'm sure you don't care, converting to HID will be illegal in most jurisdictions. If you want to reduce the risk of being ticketed, go with a warmer color.

Tom

 

Either they didn't give u the correct information or must of thought u wanted a slight change in bulb color only. You would need minimum a ballast & bulb to convert to HIDs .

 

If u really want to go with HIDs........get urself a good set of used OEM ballasts. They will out perform any 35w aftermarket ballast. Then just get a set of 5000k H11 rebased HID bulbs.

That's just my 2cents worth.

 

Hi everyones,

Regarding this post, Toyota seems to allow install 35w or 55w HID kit. Into a Prius, 35W is good for the battery usage, but what about the Low beam and the Hi Beam? The Low Beam (H11) are in a projector socket but the Hi Beam are in a alu deflector (9005) so what is the best practices?

And if your opinion are "NO HID", I respect it but respect mine. Welcome to Quebec, Canada and HID kit are't a luxury lamp when you made somes no hiway driven.

Sorry for my english, french is better for me

Martin

 

HIDs take up to 15 secs to warm up, so it wouldn't make any sense to have HIDs for your high beams. Just keep the oem halogens until they need replacing.

 

Men.... I feel like a dummy ..... You're right. Did anybody have the method to remove the front of the car or the way to remove the light sockets?

 

1) As mentioned the GenIII does not come with HID. So you will need ballasts, wiring relays, and bulbs at a minimum to work. At a minimum to be compliant, you will need new projectors or new headlight housings. When you go in for your inspection you will be flagged and denied.

2) Why 6000K? 4300K is the standard and only legal colour. They colour shift to 5000K after ~100 hours. The higher kelvin bulbs are not only cheaper quality, but do not have the same luminous intensity. They are dimmer than lower kelvin temperature bulbs. That's why fog lights are 3000K (very very yellow) because they make it easier to see. The human eye picks up blue tints better than any other colour, that's why it glares so much in the dark compared to other colours. So the best perceived colour is white with a blue tint. It maintains the colour, but also looks more intense because of the blue. What do you know, this is 5000K and the standard.

3) For high beams do not use a separate projector. You will need either a separate halogen bulb or a single bi-xenon projector. The bi-xenons just use an electromagnet to flip the shield back and blast light everywhere, like a high beam. Same light source, difference cut-off pattern.

4) You will only find 35W OEM ballasts. If you have to go to 55W, the only reputable source is from theretrofitsource.com. They sell the stock Denso 35W ballasts but with an upgrade to 55W by beefing up the internal discharge caps and diodes, changing the regulator feedback resistors and putting the potting back in. This gives you the same great quality of the Denso ballast but with higher output. But really, it is not needed with a good projector and bulb.

 

New projector?? I've check with my Toyota Part reseller and the Prius 2012 are ready for it. Of course the balast, Xenon bulbs and wiring are sold separately, and I'm ready to buy it

Hummmmm, mabe you're not in Quebec, Canada. 6000K is acceptable but this is the Limit and to be honnest, It's the first time I read that color shift lower after an amout of hours of usage. I will document my mind on that, thanks . I already installed 6000K it on my last Mazda 3, cross many Cops and I got no problem. Indeed, I have downtilt the socket a little bit to not blind the others drivers but is, asI know, totaly legal.

But yours points are good. Mabe I will try the 5000K.

Regarding the Fog, who sell the Fog sockets and bulbs, it's 1500$ from Toyota Canada

I completely agree and I will keep my halogen bulbs. It's enough...

I will buy 35W HID Kit. 55W is not a requirement AND I dont think it will make a big difference on the glow of the bulb for 5000/6000K and it will dischard my battery faster.

Tell me, have you the desing to correctly remove the lights sockets? I dont want to break anything

Thanks for your comments, it's really help me.

 

quote="Martin Leduc, post: 1646635, member: 93338"]

Hummmmm, mabe you're not in Quebec, Canada. 6000K is acceptable but this is the Limit and to be honnest, It's the first time I read that color shift lower after an amout of hours of usage. I will document my mind on that, thanks . I already installed 6000K it on my last Mazda 3, cross many Cops and I got no problem. Indeed, I have downtilt the socket a little bit to not blind the others drivers but is, asI know, totaly legal.
[/quote]

He said that you could use a 4300K bulb and that it may shift to 5000K after about 100 hours or so. HID bulbs tend to color shift to a higher Kelvin rating, not lower. There are a few exceptions but those are expensive OEM bulbs that will not fit in the OE Prius projector.

 

Men, I never think to remove the collant tank.. Very good idea. Thanks for the Vid

 

Ohhh men I make a read mistake. Sorry for that. So the bulb glowing will shift Higher? ok... Strange...

 

No problem.

Here is more information on HID bulbs.

Everything you ever wanted to know about HID bulbs.

 

Thanks very much

 

What trim is your Prius? You either have halogen projectors, or LED projectors. Neither of these is suitable for HID projecting. The halogens are worse than the LEDs, the LED's at least have the proper cutoff, but their size makes heat a problem when pulsing a few hundred volts of plasma through them on startup and tens of watts of heat built up in a relatively sealed enclosure.

Toyota will not sell you new projectors, they do not make them. You need to make them or buy aftermarket. Making them involves baking the headlight open in your oven, removing the stock projector, affixing the new projector with adhesive and machining, rebaking to reseal, and then installing. This is a labour intensive process. Aftermarket you can generally find housings for a few hundred dollars that are DOT approved, but luckily Transport Canada does not require this!

Bulb temperature:

[SOR/96-366, s. 6] 108.1 (1) As an alternative to the headlamps required by section 108 of this Schedule, passenger cars, multi-purpose passenger vehicles, buses and trucks may be equipped with headlamps that emit white light and that​

• (f) are fitted with bulbs that conform to
  • (i) a document referred to in paragraph 108(5)(a) or the information provided pursuant to paragraph 108(5)(b), and
  • (ii) paragraphs S7.7 of TSD 108, except that the “DOT” symbol referred to in paragraphs S7.7(a) and (e)(7) is not required; and...

(3) As an alternative to the requirements of the ECE Regulations referred to in this section, headlamps fitted on a vehicle may emit white light as specified in SAE Standard J578, Color Specification (May 1988).​

Transport Canada only requires "white" light according to SAE Standard J578. According to J578 found here: https://law.resource.org/pub/us/cfr/ibr/005/sae.j578.1995.pdf

And that defines white very clearly:



Therefore the only legal bulbs in any province of Canada fall in the range of 2854K to 5000K. Conveniently, OE bulbs are 4300K that colour shift up to around 5000K.

6000K are illegal everywhere in the US and Canada. They only major markets they are legal is parts of East Asia, and that is why reputable bulb companies only sell them over there and to import a genuine illegal bulb into the US or Canada can run $300 or more per bulb.

eBay actually has some pretty decent fogs. But they are not that easy to install and make look good. You do have to measure and drill out the holes yourself.

If doing a retrofit, totally worth it to get bi-xenon. Otherwise, I agree halogens will work.

If you have halogen now, you already have 55W. But more is wasted as heat. 55W of HID is much more luminous than 35W of HID but with more temperature. You 100% require proper projectors or you will melt the chrome in the bowl.

I have done numerous retrofits. I have installed a pair of Lexus RX330AFS projectors with custom shielding and Acura TSX Clear Lenses with custom spacing into my Prius. It lights up the road brilliantly and does not blind anyone. My setup is technically illegal in the USA because it is not DOT certified. However I have used all certified parts and in Canada my setup would be legal and pass inspection.

I have not lived in Quebec, but in Ontario we have to do yearly inspections on the vehicle to ensure it remains in compliance. Do you not?

 

No, only if the polices decides to send you and your car pass it...

Last question, I took too much time for this subject, what is the best HID installation?

- With connexion thru the battery
- Connected only in the H11 Socket?