Installed 55w 4300k HID bulbs...finally happy with my Prius headlights

I have been driving a 05 Vette with D2S HID 4300k lights for years, and they are awesome. So are the D2S HID's in my wife's '12 Odyssey Touring. I also have 55w 5000k HID's in my Vette's fog lights, and when I'm on a deserted road the car lights the way like none I've ever had.

So I was very disappointed with the Prius H11 halogen projectors.

I tried a set of 35W H11 HID's from Ebay and they were terrible. I'd specified 4300k but I must have received 8000k, they were so purple. I returned them (even got free return shipping) and got such good customer service from the company, that I asked if they had 55w 4300k bulbs like I have in my Vette. They did, for only $44, so I took a chance.

The 55w 4300k HID's look very similar to the Vette and my wife's Odyssey. Super bright, with no hotspots and good cutoff like my factory HID's.

I took some pictures:

32w passenger side, 55w driver side (picture doesn't show the dramatic difference so well):

UPDATE - THE $44 EBAY SYSTEM DID NOT HOLD UP, THE BALLASTS WENT BAD. I HAVE SINCE GONE WITH A HIGHER QUALITY 35W 4300K KIT FROM KENSUN FROM AMAZON. SO FAR SO GOOD, ESSENTIALLY THE SAME LIGHT OUTPUT AS IN THE PICTURES. MUCH MUCH BETTER THAN STOCK.



Same setup, on the garage door:



both 55W bulbs on right, Odyssey factory D2S HID's on left, pretty comparable for $44!





View looking down the road with the 55w bulbs:



I'd also installed HID Yaris foglights (details in another thread) to fill the blanks in the bumper, here's how it looks now from up front:



And a view of all 4 lights on the door:



In summary, if you are going to install HID's, I highly recommend upgrading to the 55w, 4300k variety.

Edit: one of the ballasts went bad already. I would recommend that you invest in some higher quality equipment.

 

Entire kit. The kit is plug and play and I just realized this company has a how-to video on their website:

Toyota Prius HID Xenon Headlight Package Deal

 

In case my point is not clear, don't waste your money on the 35w kit. Go for the 55w kit. Substantial difference - really lights the road.

 

35w is cheaper. But wow are they worse...perhaps mine were 8o00k, but they were unusable IMHO. Worse than the factory halogens..

The HID's have a lower current draw than the halogens. I've been running 55w HiD's in my Vette for 7 years which has H10 fog light bulbs factory with no problem at all.

I also have had no heat problems.

I DID have had heat problems and melted the fog light housing in my 1999 Trans Am when I used the double wattage 880 bulbs - they were halogen bulbs but twice the watts as factory and I guess twice the heat.

I grabbed the HID when it was on, by the base, it wasn't that hot. Certainly no hotter than the Halogen, they get very hot themselves.

 

No, I bought mine from ebay, search xenonmarket on Ebay. Their customer service was surprisingly good.

 

I should have been more clear! My fault.

Drove home from work in the dark, the new lights were wonderful. Great mod.

 

I didn't use a power relay.

Recall the Hid's have a reportedly much lower current draw than incandescent. There is a spike as they flare up when you first turn them on but I've never had a problem with my Vette after the conversion, and I can see that the wiring gauge is the same for my Vette's HID factory low beams and its halogen high beams.

Based on my observations and experience I am comfortable going with factory wiring.

I actually have a clamp on ammeter which is supposed to work on DC as well. I'll try to remember to see if it can read the amps drawn by the HID's at startup and when running and post that information.

 

4300 is much brighter. That's why all factory hid lights are 4300. Anything higher is dimmer than halogen lights IMHO.