HID to LED conversion

Hi everyone, new guy here, but I've been lurking on and off for a few years. I have a 2007 Touring with 89k miles that we've owned since new. Frustration with the HID headlights has hit the limit and I think I've acquired what is needed to convert to LED. I'd like to post about it, for better or for worse, and am wondering which is the appropriate forum?
Thanks, Lloyd-ss

 

Well, I did the conversion on one side today and it actually went much better than expected.
The Prius HID bulb is a D4R style and it seemed that there was a lot of ambiguous information from LED vendors about whether there bulbs could indeed be used as a replacement for the D4R HID.
I found this one kit from a vendor with a good rating on eBay. $30 with free shipping (they were shipped from NY) for a pair of LED bulbs, power supplies, and connectors. The description and pictures looked like they might work so it was worth a risk. They came well packaged in a nice box in less than a week.
I decided to test them first before doing the actual installation. I unplugged the main headlight connector from the big round plastic plug in the back of the headlight assy. Its a white connector with only 2 wires, a red, and black/white. Hooked a volt meter up to verify voltage and polarity. All OK. Then I hooked up one of the new LED lights with its little power supply and connectors and cables. Son of a gun if it didn't work! Yea!
I was committed at this point. I removed the headlight assy from the car (not the first time) and to make a long story short, was able to fit all of the new stuff inside the headlight assy, and only had to remove the HID bulb, which was shot anyway. The input leads on the new lights had 1/4" male blades and I switched those to 3/16" female. After removing the HID input connector on the INSIDE of the big round plastic plug, the new 3/16 spades plugged right in. So everything is still inside the headlight assy, and I didn't have to destroy any of the old HID stuff.








I drove it about 2 miles tonight (20 degrees outside) and all is well, no flickering, turning off, or error codes. I am going to wait about a week before installing the other side. Don't know how they'll hold up in hot weather. I've got better full size pics and details of the whole process, plus the source for the lights, if anybody is interested.

 

The connectorization is what made the HID to LED a "clean" conversion. The two connector pairs in the LED wiring are nice o-ting sealed connectors. But the 2-wire pigtail that connects to the cars wiring was just a pair of 1/4" push-on blades. I thought I would have to wrap them in tape or use some shrink sleeve to make them water resistant. But that was not the case. Instead, the 2-wire connector that is in the big round plastic plug in the back of the headlight assy holds the key. The two wires going from that connector to the HID ballast inside the headlight assy can be unplugged from the inside of that big round piece. That leaves the two 3/16" input blades exposed. All I had to do was cut off the push-ons that came with the pigtail, and crimp on new 3/16" female push-ons. That made all the connections stay inside the headlight assy. Nothing is outside exposed to the elements.
In this pic, the connector has been unplugged from the inside, and you can see (kinda) the pair of 3/16" push-on blades that the new lights connect to.



The wire appears to be 18 gauge, so use the pink or red push-ons, not the blue or yellow that are made for heavier wire.


While I was at it, I polished the outside of the plastic lens with this Soft Scrub from the kitchen. Took about 5 minutes and made a world of difference. Not bad for eleven year old lights.

 

Thanks for the comments, guys! Seems like there is a wealth of good info being freely offered on this forum.
I'll get some more detail pics of how I fit everything inside the headlight assy when I install the LED in the passenger side.

But for the time being here is a side by side of the new LED and old HID shining on a brown garage door.

Hi beam NEW LED DRIVER SIDE OLD HID PASSENGER SIDE




Low Beam NEW LED DRIVER SIDE OLD HID PASSENGER SIDE (one fog light is out, too)



Although it is hard to tell, there is a definite difference between the hi and low beam of the LED, and the shade mechanism is working as it should. The new LED is a little whiter than the HID, but it is not at all blue. The LED isn't super bright, but the old HID was cutting out every 2 minutes and wasn't safe to drive.

Here's a pic of the eBay vendor screen where I bought the LEDs. I hope it's ok to post that.

 

Yes I did, but honestly, I am unfamiliar with that feature and how it functions. It has the big funny looking star wheel and the 3-pin triangular connector, right? I could see what looked like a little motor and a shaft inside when I temporarily had the HID ballast removed. I know its different from the big solenoid for the hi-low shade. I was careful to make sure none of the new or disconnected items could interfere with the moving parts. How do you tell if the auto-level is working? The one on the headlight had some mild corrosion on the star wheel, but I have no idea if it is functioning. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

LED orientation.
I have a question for you folks who know how the reflectors work in the HID headlight assys. If you look at the picture of the LED, you can see 8 chips, and there are 8 more on the opposite side, for a total of 16 on the "bulb". They came with the LEDs oriented to the square index notch in the flange as shown. I think that puts the LED chips on the top and bottom of the bulb (12 and 6 o'clock). But the indexing flange has a set screw in it (and they supplied an allen wrench) so the chips could be clocked to, say, 3 and 9 o'clock for example. Any opinions on what might be the preferred orientation? Thanks.

 

I'll try indexing the bulb on the second installation so that the LED chips are at 3 and 9 o'clock on the passenger side. It only takes about 10 minutes to get the headlight assembly out of the car now, thanks to lots of practice, LOL. A small flat screwdriver, a Phillips, and a 10mm swivel socket on a 1/4" drive ratchet will do the trick.
We live out in the country, so not a lot of other cars, but as far as I can tell, no one has seemed to be upset about the aiming of the lights, but I will try and get a better handle on that.
Thanks for the input everyone!

 

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Ha, ha. Yup, gotta do "that" again.
Seriously, though, this 2007 has been a great car. When we got this, my wife and I were looking to buy a new car, probably an SUV. Almost as an afterthought, my wife insisted we just take a look at the Prius, more as a curiosity than anything else. After a test drive and learning a little about it, we were almost convinced. The car is so much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. I think sitting in the back seat tipped the balance in favor of the Prius.
Here's the really funny part. We really wanted Bluetooth and GPS, but to get that you had to get the Touring package (several $$$$ more) with the HID lights and leather seats. Now, we never use the Bluetooth, really dislike the GPS interface, didn't need leather seats, and the HIDs have been nothing but trouble. So, $$$$ wasted on the touring package, but overall, we really love the car. I had to replace the finger grip assy for the rear hatch several years ago, but other than that, smooth sailing!

 

Thanks for the comment, Dave. For anyone with some electrical and mechanical experience and problem solving, this kit ought to do the trick. My HIDs were cutting out so regularly that I had to do something, even if it was wrong, LOL.