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Low beams keep burning out??

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by rcglfr, May 1, 2016.

  1. rcglfr

    rcglfr Junior Member

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    I have a 2010 Prius IV that constantly burns out the low beam bulbs. I have replaced these at least 8 times in the past few years. Sometimes they will both fail at the same time, sometimes individually. These bulbs should last for a year or more, not months! And I do not use cheap aftermarket bulbs, they have all been OEM quality bulbs. I do not see many discussions on this site about this issue buy on several other sites many Prius owners have reported the same problem. I am curious if Prius owners on this site are having this issue?
     
  2. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    do a search, there is a TSB fix for that.
     
  3. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Here's a link to a thread with a link to the TSB in the first post: Gen3 2010 2011 Headlight bulb longevity - upgrade to HID? | PriusChat

    Your car is probably way past the 36K miles the TSB free repair will be performed under, so purchase one of these relay harnesses and bypass the factory wiring in the headlight circuit for your lowbeams. After installation, your lowbeams will be running off power from the fuse box, and will only be getting a low voltage turn on signal from the original factory headlight circuit. In other words, problem solved:

    DDM HID Xenon Conversion Kit Premium Dual Relay Wiring Harness Dual in Dual Out | eBay

    Here is a picture of the engine bay fuse box. Use one of the two open 1/4 inch terminals at the back of the fuse box, seen here with two red wires with push on connectors, as your power source for the relay harness.

    [​IMG]

    Additionally, you will probably need adaptors like these to connect the relay harness to your H11 factory headlight connectors:

    9005 HB3 Male Plug to H8 H11 Female Socket Adapter Connector Headlight Fog Lamps | eBay
     
    #3 xliderider, May 1, 2016
    Last edited: May 1, 2016
    mrbigh likes this.
  4. Silver Pine Mica

    Silver Pine Mica Junior Member

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    has anyone replaced with LED?

    They are not as expensive as they used to be and never having to change them sounds nice.
     
  5. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    xliderider,
    I guess I'm dense. I'm not clear about what you are suggesting.
    Converting to HID with a male to female socket and a relay?

    Is this a conversion/bypass you've already done?
    Or is there a link to somewhere here on PriusChat that illustrates the steps you are suggesting rcglfr take?
     
  6. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Normally, the harness I referenced is used to power HID ballasts. However, with the referenced H11 to 9005 adaptors, the OP can bypass the factory wiring and connect the harness outputs to the lowbeam bulbs instead of HID ballasts.

    Before I converted our Prius to HID, I ran H9 bulbs (link in my signature below) using a similar dual relay harness to bypass the factory lowbeam circuit.
     
  7. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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  8. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Yes, but you would need to replace the output connector shells that would normally plug into the HID ballasts with these H11 female connectors. Just take out the wire terminals from the wiring harness connectors and put them into the H11 female connectors.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/394032655477?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=b3pmr4g9q0i&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=lgL0ua8ZQBW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

    Then they will connect to the H11 bulbs. This setup would bypass the factory lowbeam wiring to illuminate the lowbeam bulbs, the factory wiring is only used to activate the relays in the added harness, in this configuration.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #9 xliderider, Aug 31, 2023
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2023
  9. Mochosla

    Mochosla Junior Member

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    So, I'm already using these lights in my car and they work great. However, they burned out after about a year. Is that what this harness and connectors will resolve?

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/284557145287?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11051.m43.l1123&mkcid=26&ch=osgood&euid=52a25fdf11654897bc878352bd838902&bu=43208065027&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20230831234512&segname=11051

    Thank you for your help.
     
  10. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Sorry, I don't know if they would help with your situation.

    I've been using HID, which have a wide input voltage tolerance. I'm not sure if the LEDs have circuitry that is sensitive to the higher voltages that might be causing the early failures you have been experiencing.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.