Aftermarket HID?

The difference are night and day, literally. The halogen bulbs still use a 55W tungsten filament to generate the light from a 12VDC source. The 35W HID bulbs are a different beast. The light producing capsule is does not have a fragile filament to heat up. Instead it has too electrodes on opposite ends of a xenon gas capsule. To fire off, a balast/ignitor system ramps up the voltage from 12VDC to 22500VAC at 285Hz. This energy increase creates a spark between the gap, exciting the gas and causing it to emit photons at a greater efficency that a halogen.

Is it worth the cost? In my personal experience, yes. I have been running HID on my motorcycles for three years now without a single problem. Before I got my prius, I was putting over 50,000 miles a year on my bikes, riding them in all kinds of environments, and lighting conditions. Prior to replacing the halogen with HIDs, I would routinely go throught at least one bulb every three months because of use and abuse. The vibrations on a motorcycle are much more severe than they will ever be in a car, with the except being SCORE off-road racing. The HIDs have more than made up for their cost in use, and safety.

You will want to get the HID from the factory. You will not be able to retrofit one of the HID conversion kits you find on ebay for under $400 that will work correctly. The Prius uses an electric motor to physically move the bulb in the housing to give you the high beam pattern. HID are single element per bulb only.

Hope this may shed some light on the subject.

 

Please keep in mind that although it is possible to purchase a "kit" to convert a standard halogen setup to HID not only is it illegal but potentially dangerouns to oncoming traffic.

Automotive headlight designs that use HID have full cutoff optics that properly aim this intense light so it does not blind oncoming traffic.

Most retrofit kits simply include all of the inner workings such as the power supplies, harnesses and xenon bulbs however they expect you to use the stock housings. Usually this results in light that is scattered everywhere and even though you can aim the headlights there usually is still enough light spill that is harmful to drivers coming in the opposite direction.

This is the reason that the DOT has made it illegal to sell these HID kits in the USA and for good reason.


Thanks!!

Brian
BT Tech
305-652-3115

 

My 2cents on this matter. I installed an aftermarket HID on my '04 not to long, the kit cost me with shipping ( and I took my time...) under $290.00 on Ebay, and I'M very HAPPY with these HID's and work GREAT!! , this kit is a dual lamp, mening hid and an halogen piggi back, so I have low beam(hid's) and high beam w/ halogen. Also similar kit you can find in our sponsors webpages like..Sigma
Good luck

 

Anytime you replace a halogen bulb with an HID, where the original bulb uses a small metal cup to shield a portion of the light from the reflector in the lamp, you will have problems. The best conversions are for H1, H3, and H7 bulbs. H4/9003 and 9006 bulbs are not really the best bulbs to convert. Due to how the bulbs are manufactured, it is very hard to accurately replicate the built-in shields for the bulbs.

If the lighting system you are looking to upgrade has projection style lamps, go for it. They have the neccessary beam cutoff pattern to take full advantage of the additional light produced by HID.

 

This guy does sell a halogen bulb that is a little brighter than stock in the proper color range and wattage. He also agrees with above posts on not converting to HID's.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bu...onversions.html

 

I have a package 3 so i "upgraded" to McCulloch 5000k Dual Beam HID.

Low beam = HID
High beam = halogen

Therefore, it's two bulbs in one capsule. Not the best combination because the high beam feature is completely useless. High beam doesn't illuminate the road very well; i'm thinking that its only purpose is to alert other drivers.

It is true that this is illegal and you should not do it; however if the need is great...it's up to you. Make sure that you have someone else drive your car after it and you stand away from it... do a lot of testing to make sure that it causes the LEAST amount of glare to other drivers. I spent a few hours adjusting my kit to make sure that other drivers are not blinded with my lights so my car doesn't stand out too much.

Standard halogen housing + aftermarket HID = glare, distorted projection, not the best combo.

You can "retrofit" which means that you will be installing a PROJECTOR housing from another car (i.e. TSX projectors) into a Prius housing. This requires significant amount of time and a lot of precision cutting. I also believe that this is illegal, so either way it's not allowed.

Retrofit + HID = better, but some projectors still cause distorted projection

ONLY cars that came with factory HID's qualify to "upgrade" to other kits because their headlamp housing (or projectors) are built specifically for it.

Existing HID upgrade = legal and best combination

As far as HID intensity...

4300k - OEM factory setup / BRIGHTEST (3200 lumens) / Pure white color
5000k - Slightly less brighter (3000 lumens) / Pure white (very very small blue tint)
6000k - 2800 lumens / Aqua blue

Anything above that is useless because it doesn't illuminate the road very well. After 100 hours of usage, the HID bulbs will increase about 300k, so your 4300k will turn to ~4600k.

I recommend that you buy PHILIPS or OSRAM brand 4300k or 5000k. I personally love 5000k because 4300k is just a very very bright pure white light. I should have purchased a package6!

edit: I forgot to add a quick review. Well, the different is HUGE. The road is soooooo much brighter and i'm very happy with this mod. No one has "high beamed" me yet, but if they do i will probably remove this kit.

 

Another thing that is required for HID is leveling. If you add weight in the back, say carrying a few cases of books, the back of the car goes down, which causes the headlights to point up. HID units are supposed to adjust for that an make the beam point down more so that you don't blind people. I doubt a retrofit kit would have such a leveler.

Sounds weird to have the regular beam be HID and the high-beam be halogen. Usually you want the brighter beam for high-beam, as well as it being aimed higher.

 

Good point Dan. We do NOT have a self leveling mechanism on the non-HID Prius so you have to manually level down the headlights if you plan on carrying heavy things on the rear.

Very few companies offer high beam HIDs because of its inefficiency (at high beam mode).

 

I got hte factory HID's on my Prius. I deceide to get them after getting HID's with our Volvo XC90. The difference was astounding. Since I got the HID headlights, plan on converting the fog lights to HID to match the headlights. I got them on eBay for only $185, which is a great deal. Depending on how the conversion goes, I may do the same to my XC90.

I decided on the 4300k bulbs as that is the closest match to the factory beams.

The kit arrives today, so I'll take some photos and do a write up on the quality of the parts and the install process.

 

Sorry, but that's a bit misleading

The numbers you are quoteing are something called color temperature. They have nothing to do with intensity. It's a common error. Lots of people think for some reason if the light is bluer it's brighter. Absolutely not. The numbers come from the color that iron glows at a specific temperature kelvin. 3200K is the color of standard quartz halogen lamps. Outdoor light tends to be bluer because of all the blue filtering from the sky. Direct sunlight is around 5600K, and a clouldy day can be around 6500K. They are all white, neither is whiter than the other. Just different color temperatures
Since the human eye's sensitivity and ability to focus gets worse as the color moves towards blue you would think that people would prefer lights with lower color temperatures, and in fact for indoor lighting that's true. For some reason the fad now is for really blue headlights. Probably because if they are really blue they have that expensive HID look to them.

Using extra bright lamps without the special lenses and reflectors to prevent blinding drivers is a really bad idea. It's as bad as driving around with a really loud subwoofer cranked so that everyone for blocks around you has to listen too it. Oh wait , people do that too, don't they.

 

I emailed Sigma Auto and they put it like this... For a 2008 Prius is what it refers to.

Hi Kevin,

I believe 08 Prius still uses H4 (H/L) as high low beam. Please verify this w/ your manual.

If yes then you can use an H4 Halogen-2-HID kit to convert them into HID. You can even choose between 35w (standard xenon wattage) or the higher 50w (maybe too bright). Never go higher than 6000K cos' that's a cop magnet plus you harm yours & others' vision.

Prius that comes w/ HID has an auto-leveler built-in. If it climbs up slope or if you have heavy stuff in the trunk, its headlight beams lower automatically, & vive versa. But yours doesn't have this auto-leveler feature so it may be blindingly for others when the road is not completely leveled. This is something to think about......

ET

 

Hey all,

I've been researching this for months now... HID Headlamps are NOT an option here in Canada. I have the most fully loaded Prius available from Toyota Canada (C-Package) and sadly, no HID. I've asked the dealership and they can't even order entire new HID headlamps, so... I here I search.

One question: Has anyone really noticed the difference between a factory HID headlight housing/cavity and a normal Halogen headlight? Is there any difference in the light diffraction patterns? I am in complete agreement thinking that aftermarket HID conversions can prove the be annoying (at best) but if Toyota engineered these lenses to support HID, then wouldn't the after market HID lamps have the same beam pattern as the factor OEM HID Headlights?

(btw, I sold my TSX to purchase this Prius--I still have very mixed feelings about this new machine, but really miss my TSX--which did NOT have an auto leveling system HID projection lens and it p*ssed a lot of people off, especially with any weight or going up hills) *poor truckers*

 

Purely my opinion but:

Retrofit= Installing quality optic projectors with quality ballasts, ignitors, and a heavier than OEM duty wire harness with fuses.

Kit= Trouble from the law, blinding oncoming traffic, frying your oem wiring.

What BT said is spot on. It really depends on the quality of your retro to whether or not your going to endanger oncoming drivers. It is still illegal no matter how good of a job you do though . You can retrofit some projectors into your present halogen headlight assemblies.

I will say that I dislike kits that you install into your halogen assembly. It is dangerous...the glare is aweful. Your halogen assemblies are simply not made for HID light. Either is your OEM wire harness for the extreme starting voltages HID require.

The higher quality Stanley, Bosch projectors have such a sharp cutoff they can be retrofitted, properly aimed, and not be dangerous to oncoming drivers. It does take a little getting used too with the cutoff. Even a weighted down rear loaded Pri would be fine due to the crisp cutoff when aimed properly. The reason the Pri's HID system has the leveling feature is because it's reflector based (aka glare above cutoff line)....not projector. No reflector can match the cutoff of a high end projector. Hills will always present issues whether HID, halogen, LED or whatever.

I did a retrofit on an 06 Tacoma. Stock halogen dual filament assembly. I bought 2 Acura TSX projectors (made by Stanley), 2 ballasts w/ ignitors made by Matsushita/Panasonic (OEM Nissan part), and a wire harness. It was a bugger of a job and ~$400, but well worth it in the end. I was able to aim mine a little higher than the stock halogen assembly and it still provided less glare to oncoming traffic. They were also much much brighter and put the light on the road 6 lanes wide. In the year and a half I had the retro I got brighted once. In the 6 months prior with my stock halogens I got brighted too many times to count. Make a long story short (heh well kinda short) do your research @ HIDPlanet. If your really interested in doing a high quality retro that's the place to start.

Also...I live in Atlanta GA. The police here simply do not just go out and look for people who have retrofitted lights into there car. I'm sure it's different in other states though. If it's a kit with a high kelvin aka 6000k+ in a halogen assembly, ya better watch out....It's a dead give-away. Just remember it's illegal either way ya cut it.

 

Mine work great. I bought mine @ ebay... for less than $100 shipped. There is a range of color options on ebay. What usually throws it off as illegal is the color. Choose somewhere between 6000K or 8000K. I have 8000k.
6000k are more in the legal side

 

The housing is exactly the same, so putting in HID lights would be no different then Toyota doing it. They both have a shield so it helps with glare. Now projectors are optimum for HID, but because we have a shield it cuts back glare.

 

Will look into this further tomorrow at my local Toyo body shop because the difference I'm talking about refers to the internal reflector inside the assembly. The HID and Halogen assemblies are different part numbers (HID=81185-47170 vs Halogen=81170-47160) and are much differently priced. $352.70 for HID driver side assembly vs $175.11 for the halogen driver side assembly. Obviously a big difference in price is attributed to the leveling motor which IS included with the HID assembly.

Also another key difference would be with the wiring harness from the stalk to the headlights and battery of an HID equipped Pri vs a halogen equipped Pri. HID's require upwards of ~20,000 volts to ignite then the ballasts take over from there. I would not think the halogen equipped Pri would have this kind of heavier guage wiring with inline fuse protection, but I might be mistaken.

I would think that if you ever had a wiring/electrical issue after installing a kit into your halogen equipped Pri then Toyota could easily use that as leverage to have voided your warranty if it's not out of warranty already.

I'll chime back in after finding out if the internal reflectors are the same for both types of assemblies.