My Prius C HID and LED installation adventure thread!! (lots of Pics!)

Folks like this are why PriusChat is such a great forum to hang around in. Even complete strangers sharing a common passion are more than willing to help each other out. Kudos to you man.

 

Does anyone have any experience with Lumen LEDs and PlaZma lights? http://www.carid.com/2013-toyota-prius-headlights/lumen-led-lights-10257281.html

 

thank you sir.

i have never heard nor used them. but if you are going to end up spending a good amount on leds then get them from VLEDs. great site and great products.

 

I have a Prius C 1 and I just replaced the Dome/Map interior lights and my License Plate lights with the LED's you suggested from Amazon here:

I love the way they look, very bright, lights up the whole interior of the car very well, and the license plate lights are so bright that they actually help alittle bit with backing up at night time.

Now one issue I immediately noticed was that now my DRL lights don't work at all. After installing the new LED's, it seems to have screwed with the electrical system and has disabled my DRL lights. I'm due for my 1 year checkup from the dealership, so should I just take it in and have them deal with it? Will this in some way void my warranty? I'm kinda regretting changing out the lights now.

 

You didn't replace the DRL's with LED's correct? Just the interior lights with LED's? Why they would cause a short in the DRL's is a weird issue indeed. The LED's shouldn't void warranty. If you have the original bulbs still, put them back in and see if the DRL's function again. If not, have the service guys look in to when you go in for the one year service.

 

Correct, the only lights I replaced where both Dome/Map bulbs, and the two License Plate bulbs. I didn't do anything else, now my DRL's don't turn on. I'll have to try and replace the LED's back to the original bulbs later and see if my DRL's come back on. If not, I may have shorted the system out.

 

High beam still functioning? Forgot to ask. Also just double check the plug for the DRL/Highbeams is seated firmly as well.

 

Did you turn the stalk all the way back? The first click on the headlight stalk is DRLs.

 

yeah you might want to check the stalk position. there is a position for drl off.

 

It's seriously faulty now since I changed the LED lights, not only does the DRL stalk position not work, now the parking lights also don't work. Normal headlights/high-beams still work.

I'll try and replace the bulbs with the originals once I'm off work to see if I get my DRL/parking lights back. Let this be a warning to those looking to replace your interior/license plate lights.

 

Those are different fuses, they should in no way be causing this... with that said... I've seen weirder gremlins. Check your fuses to make sure you haven't blown something with a faulty ground.

 

Did the issue start immediately after install of new bulbs or was it after a period of time?

 

oh, man. That is some craziness. sorry to hear man. Could be a stalk issue instead of a fuse issue. Since high beams still activate, so the bulbs and wiring are okay, well by my thinking that is.

 

It's strange, I took out the LED's, and put the old bulbs back in, DRL's and Parking lights both work again.

So I tried again with the new LED's and same result, no DRL's or Parking Lights working. However I found a strange workaround (if you wanna call it that), if I turn my dome/map light on manually via the on/off switch, suddenly my DRL's and Parking lights become "activated" or something and they then work?!? I can then turn off the dome/map light and now the DRL's/Parking lights work once again. But it appears to be temporary, because if I turn the car off and then start it up again, I have to do the dome-light trick to get the DRL's/Parking lights to work once more...

I think I'll leave the LED's in, and when I take it for the 12 month check up, I'll explain to the mechanics what the issue is and see if they can't figure it out, otherwise I'll just revert back to the dull stock bulbs

 

I would suggest putting the dome light back to stock and leaving in the license plate lights and trying it.

Perhaps it's something to do with the aftermarket ones you have. They could be faulty or somehow messing with your electrical system.

Trial by error would be a good start to eliminating what is wrong.

 

True, I hadn't tried that. It's possible one or perhaps both of my Dome/Map Led's are faulty and that's why I have to flick em on-off to get things working.

Luckily it came with a 10 pack of LED's, so I'll try what you said and try to narrow down where the issue is coming from. I imagine the license plate led's have nothing to do with it.

I'll update as I figure out whats going on. I'm taking my car in for the 1 year checkup on Monday, so if I don't figure it out by then, hopefully Toyota can.

 

I originally bought the same 10 pack of lights you have and they are so cheaply made and have such thin contact wires that that would work intermittently and needed to be reseated to work again, I ended up replacing them with better quality LEDs and have had no problems since. The old adage you get what you pay for is true in my case.

 

sorry guys but I have not searched all six pages of this topic, but can anyone tell me the advantages/disadvantages of changing over to LED's ?

 

Longer life, better colors, better output (varies), and just looks better overall.

 

Yup, that was pretty much it, I think one of the led's was faulty so I replaced it with a good one and now it works as intended. I agree that 10 pack lacks solid connecting wires, would be best to spring for better LED's that have contacts on both sides of the bulb.