Possible LED Conversion

LED would definitely be a good choice. i switched my old car over to LED light and was very happy. i was also looking at eventually changing the HID lights over to LED using that same company you found. they were the only ones i found that do an HID to LED conversion.

do you have Halogen bulbs now? on my old car ( an 04 Volvo S40) i just swapped the halogen bulbs out to the LED bulbs i bought on amazon. i went with a company called Beamtech. those bulbs were like $40 for the pair. i didn't have to do any wiring change or anything. i understand the company has the kit for the HID to LED conversion b/c there is more involved.

 

Welcome to the forum.
I assume you mean to change out only the bulbs right? Not the whole headlight assembly.
If so then I would strongly urge not to go the HID route - they light output is great but so is the amount of glare for other drivers (since the Halogen reflector was not designed to work with HID). As a result these are very unsafe for oncoming traffic. Please don't buy HID.
As for LED - there are some good options that try to mimic the halogen filament and therefore use the most of the reflector. So in choosing a bulb the first thing to look for is that the leds are oriented in a thin rectangular fashion
example:Led rectangle by Roman G, on Flickr

Your bulb type - H4 (9003) - is a dual filament bulb (one bulb does low beam and high beam) - which means the LED bulb you buy also needs two light sources -this can be tricky.

My recommendations would be 2 companies Katana and Hikari
Katana 9003 Amazon link

Hikari 9003 Amazon link

Hope this helps

 

Looking into these Beamtechs

The reviews are good, they are only $40, and the LEDs look to be in a good orientation.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide and how they look.

 

Hi Everyone - I just installed LED lights in my 2005 Prius to replace the old halogen bulbs. The change was straightforward and the light works well. My only concern is that the fan on the back of the LED bulbs is too large for me to be able to fit the dust cover back on. Is it an issue to leave the dust covers off permanently?

 

Not having a dust cover is going to be a problem because the dust/dirt/water will eventually make it to the headlight components and the front plastic. I suggest you get a different bulb or you try to expand the dust cover.

which bulbs did you get?

 

Hi All,

If I may, I would like to participate in this conversation. I'm also looking for a decent conversion from halogens to LED. my initiative idea was to go for HID because of the huge amount of light. Since there are no OEM projector units for the gen 2, I thought about making them myself. I know there is a topic where someone did a really great job, but finding good projectors in NL is not that easy, so shipping from abroad is a better option but is quite expensive.

Option 2 was to find a stock HID set bit it appears that almost none of the NL registered cars have HID by factory, all halogens!!! So, also better to look for it abroad, also quite expensive to ship... And next to that, I read a lot about failing units and parts need to be replaced.

So I thought about LED. I also own a 2004 Ford Focus C-Max (where I did manage to find an OEM Hella projector set HIDs!!), and also aligned on a forum for Ford Focus in particular. I read about an OSRAM led kit that was road legal approved by law. I'm not familiar with all the local regulations but I do know that it can be an MOT failure (or you can get a fine when stopped by the police) when you use the incorrect bulbs. They have H4 sets available bit only mention it can be used for certain brands (like WV group and other Germans).

So I was looking on Amazon for some stuff and ran into this set:
OSRAM LEDriving HL: Amazon.nl
View attachment 207504
View attachment 207503
View attachment 207502

It looks kinda straight forward to mount it, have to check if the covers will fit after mounting the bulbs. If not I think I can create something custom to make it fit...

Does anyone has experience with these lights/brand? Please share it, would be highly appreciated. It may look expensive €80 for 2 bulbs but it's way cheaper than finding other units and trying to have them work as supposed...

Thanks!!!!

Best regards, Nick

Black 2007 Prius

 

I also had the same question. I was trying to change my headlight to led, but my headlight doesn’t have the ballast (white) cable. I looked at the bulb and I’m sure it’s a halogen. Is it normal for the ballast to be missing?

 

Try a direct drop-in LED designed to replace halogen globes.

These work: TECHMAX H4 LED Bulb, Windless Direct Insertion 50W 6500K Xenon White CREE Chips 9003 and are as easy to install as regular halogen bulbs.

 

For these kinds of replacements, do you just not replace the grommet/gasket? It looks like the heatsink and cabling would get in the way.

I'm thinking about getting one of these "SEALIGHT" replacements similar to the one posted above:

 

after two brands that weren't great (I have a third gen) I am happy with these.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07RTSR691?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
and
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B084QCN5R7?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

the difference between halogens vs led is amazing ... and I didn't have to adjust the height at all. great cutoff, great light

 

Neither of those would be suitable for a Gen 2 Halogen setup.

 

Nope. They are the same profile as a std H4 Halogen. That is why I went for them.

I'm not keen on the ones with huge heatsinks and/or fans stuck on the back end.

Here is another one that I might have considered if I came across them when I was looking. They are 50% brighter @ 12,000 lumen vs the TechMax @ 8,000 lumen. Can never be too bright, right?

AUXITO H4 9003 LED Headlight Bulbs, 12000LM Per Set 6500K Xenon White for High and Low Beam Hi/Lo Plug and Play, Pack of 2

 

there are different socket types listed for each, I believe. it is it a different issue ?

 

The first is H11/H8. Not sure how they can be H8 and H11 unless they have managed to merge both standards into one.

The second set is 9005/HB3/H10. These three descriptions are three different standards for the same fitting.

On both these LED sets the placement of the LED is all wrong.

What you want for a Gen 2 (halogen) are H4/9003 fittings.

 

Well, I postponed my plans to whenever... In The Netherlands you are only allowed to use the correct bulbs for the specific type of unit. If the unit was originally designed for halogens, you are not allowed to use any other type of bulbs at all. So no HID as well, even if the lamps are on the market. For my other car (Ford Focus C-Max) I found original HID Hella units, that's legal to use on a car without the need of headlight washers or any other adjustments.

If you are involved in an accident and someone mentions they were blinded by the lights or the insurance finds out you have incorrect lightning on the car (most likely that would not have passed MOT), you are screwed... So that worries me a bit too much that I have decided to go for a higher quality set of halogens. To bad no HID units have been an option on gen 2s here in NL, so it's very hard to find here. Importing from US is also quite expensive.

Best regards, Nick

Black 2007 Prius

 

when I was checking out they allowed for different socket types.

 

in the USA we crash good enough no one can tell it was a car

 

Haha, well I would better avoid crashing and try to find a replacement for my Prius... I had Xenons in almost all of my cars and actually don't understand why they still use the common halogens with poor lumens...

Best regards, Nick

Black 2007 Prius