I've been reading how the pip advance and V LED headlights are sort of disappointing/step sideways compared to the halogen rather than a step up and was curious if there's an aftermarket HID/LED option available for the PIP base mode? If not how difficult would it be to mod this myself? Thanks
Where in the world did you read that? My Prius upgrade from 2010 halogen to 2012 LED was dramatic. I'm delighted how great the illumination is, and I've been be fan of projector-beams (lens lights) for over 20 years. I've also recently seen HID with project-beams. Those are nice too, but not as good as LED.
i see yeah searching based on the gen3 prius suggest i should look into the following: Morimoto Xenon Does anyone have any input in regards to the PIP install? Is it difficult/easy? How would it affect my car warranty (toyota standard)?
Its super easy to install, basically plug and play. The hardest part will be finding a mounting spot for the HID ballasts. There's lots to read, DIYs, pictures, etc in the Accessories and Mods subforum. Xenon Depot and Morimoto kits are highly rated on PC. I personally have DDM ballasts and Morimoto 5000K bulbs. Its a good combo for me.. great price.. and DDM has a lifetime warranty on their ballasts (and they are relatively close to me). If you're anal about the light cutoff, then you may want to look into an projector retrofit. The cut off on the Prius headlights isnt perfect. But its not the worst cut off in the world either.
fineshed the mod today after work. took much longer than expected, though this was my first time ever really working under the hood.. ended up getting the morimoto's... unfortunately i do get the weird lower coil shade problem, but it doesn't really bother me. installed the heavy duty relay too it was kind of confusing at first as the kit came with a few wires that i'm currently not using... not sure if i installed them correctly if anyone knows of pictures of a morimoto relay+h11 install please post as im curious about the additional wires that are plugged no where... the lights seem to work though if anyone wants details/photos let me know it was a bitch to mount the ballast, and honestly i dont think where i mounted them will be permanent as the metal bars that came with the morimoto's look fairly flimsy. s
I have a 2011 Prius Five and I love good lighting. I am thinking of getting a 2012 Plugin entry level car without the LED. Can I buy the LED headlights from Toyota parts department and install plug and play or will be difficult. Did anyone do it? Thanks.
Not really. The LED lights, apart from the headlight unit itself, also have a Computer assembly to control the LEDs and a leveling motor and associated components. Also, the parts alone will run you about $1800.
The LED lights pull a LOT less power. I haven't seen the actual wattage numbers vs. the standard halogen lamps.
some HID info.... XENON H.I.D. lamps are 35 watts while traditional halogen bulbs are 55 watts. Even though XENON H.I.D. lamps draw less current, they produce 3 times the light output as the higher wattage halogen bulbs. Increasing the wattage will make the bulb a little brighter but still much dimmer that the XENON HID lamps. Also, AMPS = (BULB WATTS X 2) / BATTERY VOLTAGE OUTPUT (12). So as you increase the wattage on your bulb you increase the current draw on your entire electrical system. This is critical in motorcycle applications and produces a lot of heat, which can also be a problem in anything.
I did this mod recently. Pretty much straight swap. The only thing you'll be missing out on is the auto leveling feature (which you never had with halogens anyways). The hardest part is to find the parts at an affordable price.
so, rounding, if my halogens are 100w, my 30 minute commute is 50 watts? or 50wh? and if so, about 2% of my battery capacity?
Here's the relevant thread in the gen 3 forum: LED Headlight Conversion | PriusChat Note that gene was able to get the parts for roughly $600 by monitoring eBay over the span of 5 months. Also, looks like things changed a bit in the 2012 refresh and some minor sanding down was required to get the lights to fit.
