Replacing HID Headlight Assemblies with Halogen? Has anyone successfully done this

I can't believe that no one has responded. I'm not sure if there is a way to convert HID to halogen. Have you thought about converting the stock HID equipment to aftermarket ballasts and bulbs?

 

RockAuto Parts Catalog

Yeah, all the ones on Rockauto.com are all Halogen headlight assemblies.

 

The reason people don't do it is because it is like asking how to make your 55in 1080 LED TV look more like your tube tv from the 70's. It is just a silly idea.

If you really want to, then buy some housings on eBay. When I did my test retrofit setup, I got almost new headlights for $30 a side shipped. If you shop around, you will find good deals.

You will have 3 wires on your headlights. Usually a constant power source and 2 switched grounds. 1 for low beam, 1 for high beam. My recommendation since you are doing a back-asswards retrofit is to buy the plugs and recepticles online and make a nice connector for both sides. You won't be able to use your D2R connector (or D4R if you have a 2006-2009) on your new crappy halogens.

 

^^agreed. I understand your trying to save $...but seems to be a waste. I'll see if I can find a wiring diagram for the Discharge/Halogen headlights - but honestly I'd just wire in the low beam and call it good for saving $.

 

Ok people. This isn't a back-asswards request or a waste. This is a legitimate safety concern because Toyota refuses to do a recall even though the wonderful little HID lights have a very dangerous tendency of going out while you're driving down the road at night. Sometimes you're lucky and it's just 1 light, usually the driver side, but other times it's both lights. Usually, you can flip the lights off, then immediately back on, and they come on, but that second of driving in the dark on twisty roads kind of sucks and makes one long for "retro" headlights that actually worked when you turn them on. One time both HID headlights and the fog lights went off at the same time on my wife coming home from work in the middle of the night. These stupid HID bulbs, at least in the 2008 Prius, last a fraction of the time of those wonderfully cheap halogen bulbs, and at several times the cost. So no, it's not a silly idea, it's one I'd do in a heartbeat if I could, before my wife crashes coming home from her shift at midnight. I have to say getting stopped by cops when it's only 1 light out and it's not dark enough to notice kinda sucks too. But I'm sure you never thought that there might be a legitimate reason for wanting to change out these worthless lights before spouting off, but we've been fighting with these horrible headlights for 3 years now, and would LOVE to replace the crappy HID with halogen.

 

Ok I see your problem. You don't understand HID technology!

Please read the first section of this thread: Not all HID Bulbs are created equal | PriusChat

The short summary is that when a bulb goes "out", even while driving, the bulb is dead. This is equivalent to a burnt out halogen. It is at this point the bulb (preferably both, replace in pairs) should be replaced. Yes they will come back on if you turn on/off and all of that is explained if you read the above linked thread's first post.

As for safety, here is a comparison of halogen vs. HID on 2 of our vehicles. Taken within minutes of eachother so the ambient lighting was the same and taken with the same camera with the same ISO/shutter and all other options. So the picture while not exactly what happened in the real world, are very close, and ratiometrically prove the point.

 

I have a 2008 Prius and the oem HID ballasts and bulbs were problematic. But to a point where I wouldn't go to older technology but rather replace with a better working brand.

Now with aftermarket ballasts and bulbs (55W HID Mini H1 Projector retrofit) I haven't had any issues and the lighting is still FAR superior to any factory halogen setup...and not more reliable than the factory HID setup. I don't think it was the bulbs that were the issue because there isn't a "left or right" bulb and its almost always the passenger side bulb that goes out. This is probably more related to some power inconstantance with the wiring to the ballasts on that side of the car.

I've been pretty happy with the quality and price of the DDM kit. Replacement bulbs are only $15 per pair...

 

Another point of view

HID are great for visibility from inside the vehicle.

BUTT, I drive many two lane roads and am often blinded by the brightness of oncoming cars. Totally unable to see what is in front of me. God pity anyone on the side of the road.

 

Those are most likely ill-fitted HID in Halogen assembly's or most definitely non-projector HID lights. My Mini-H1 retrofit had an amazing cut-off, way better than the OEM HID setup.

 

Does this help?

John (Britprius)

 

Cut-off height is only one aspect of correctly designed headlamps. Even with a low cut-off there will be many times you are blinding oncoming traffic - when you are driving up-hill, over dips on back roads, etc. The optics of the projector are still specific to the type of light source, and even when cut-off, you will still be exposing other drivers to poorly controlled lighting of extreme intensity below that cut-off.

 

I got sick and tired of the left or the right or BOTH lights going out and having to turn them back on more frequently than ever on my 2004. And not being an extremely wealthy person, I wasn't about spending money on these expensive bulbs once or twice or ever.

Meanwhile my wife's 2007 with Halogen bulbs (which lit up the road just fine) was working perfectly with no such safety issues, so I thought, hey, why not pop these chipped faded faulty headlights out and put in a pair of new clear Halogen style units in mine? Happy I did. No more troubles. But it's not a direct plug and play solution, so here's what I can share.

First, I bought those female crimp plugs, the large ones that fit the 9003 H4 type bulb prongs. I took the GREEN wire that feeds the fog lights and hooked that up as the running light (looking at the bulb from rear, it's the LEFT prong, the TOP prong is GROUND).

Beautiful, nice and bright, just have to make sure to leave the fog light ring on the headlight switch turned to the on position from now on, then the headlight control works as expected. Low Beam handled.

Next, if I ever wanted bright lights again, I'll need to use the BLUE wire which I hooked up to the Hi Beam filament which is the prong on the RIGHT rear of the H4 bulb.

Here's the PROBLEM. The BLUE wire sends a LOW VOLTAGE feed so my High-Beams are underpowered. This is because it's designed to send a "signal" only, to the HID brain works, when you select the Brights from the inside of the car. It does light up the High Beam filament, and since the Low Beam's are now powered by the Fog lead which goes OFF when in High Beam mode (blue light on dash), it functions as it should... I drove around like this using the High Beam as day-time running lights and switched to Low Beam when it got dark.

LASTLY, I'm going to buy a couple relays. I'll tap into the Side Maker light (orange, side of headlight) positive wire, and make THAT the 12v FULL voltage feed for the brights. Then the BLUE wire will trigger the relay and pass the full 12 volts to the High Beam filament. Now we're done.

This post was designed to share a solution that cost me next to nothing, confirm that hey, you're NOT the only one who wanted to to do this, and confirm YES it can indeed be done - even with no wiring diagram or degree in electronic wiring schematic reading (that post above gave me a head ache).

Cost for a pair of halogen headlights assemblies about $130.00 shipped, plus wire connectors and relays about $40.00 plus $20.00 for a pair of bulbs, and you'll need to spend about $30 bucks at the Toyota dealership for the twist-n-lock rubber round "lids" that keep dust out. The top of a 2 litre coke bottle with 3 holes drilled to allow wires through and a little silicone caulk fits those OEM "lids" perfectly.

The car looks fantastic, lights the road like when my wife's 2007 was brand new, and it took about 2 hours to do (yes you have to remove the bumper cover, see YouTube).

As for Fog Lights, you have two options: You can keep yours, if you don't mind them coming on every time you turn on your Low Beams, just install a splice-connect in-line... or install a fog light button on your dash and run a new power feed to them.

My fog lights were chipped and cracked and I don't need/use them here in SoCal so I chucked those and I put an aftermarket aluminum grille for $50 in down there.

I'm

 

Isn't this why cars are now equipped with self leveling headlights?

 

I am considering the same changes however i have an 2003 acura tl.

Recently took the car to the shop to replace $100 hid bulb. To my dismay the mechanic informed me that i need a new ballast and inverter total cost w/o buld replace $800.

The alternate option that he offered me was to swap the hid system for a halogen sytem which would cost $300 for both lights.

This vehicle is my source of transportation. Since you have done the conversion do you see it as a reasonable option rather than paying the 800+ bucks?

 

Just wondering, the only think I can figure out is how to fit the bulb inplace of the dr4, but could you just swap ballast to run hid 9003 instead?