Guess what turned up in the post today...

Oh wait this is that forum with the glare issue haha

 

Basically you have the concept correct except the shield stays still and the bulb moves backwards and forwards, at leased in the conversion kit system. The OEM may be different.

If you look at a standard H4 bulb it has two filaments in line along the length of the bulb. The furthest filament from the base has a shield on the underside, this stops light going to the bottom of the reflector and shining upwards "low beam".

The other filament has no shield allowing light to the reflector in all directions giving high beam. With the HID bulb there is a long shield with a hole in it. the bulb sits above the shield in it's forward position and the light is blocked from the reflector in the same way as the H4 bulb. When the bulb moves backwards it takes up the position of the second filament in a H4 bulb where the shield has a hole in it allowing light through the shield to give high beam.

The new supply wire also feeds the ballasts through a relay, because the H4 bulb has two switched supplies one for high and one for low beam. This would cause the HID bulb to be turned off and on each time the dip switch was operated causing the HID bulb to burn out prematurely and give a short period of no light, (a tungsten filament cools slowly giving time for the second filament to heat up) a HID bulb goes dark instantly as the illuminating arc stops instantly.

John (Britprius)

 

The 6000k bulb gives out a slightly blue light very close in color to a lot of the LED bulbs. The HID's with the most light to the human eye are the 4300k bulbs, and this is the standard color for OEM bulbs.

The vehicle lighting regulations in the UK are quite strict both for beam pattern and aim. I have had no problems with our yearly MOT (vehicle safety check) with the beams correctly aligned.

There is a requirement under EU regulations that all HID headlamps must have a leveling system to allow for vehicle load affecting aim and the headlamps should be fitted with a washing system to keep the lenses clean, probably dirty lenses being the biggest cause of glare.

John (Britprius)

 

I recently learned the fact that the Halogen bulb assembly has different reflectors than the ones that come stock with HIDs

 

Mine just arrived in the post (aka mail) today!!! That was super fast for international shipping!
I ordered the 4300 Kelvin, since it is considered to be "pure white" I do a lot of early morning driving so I need as much light output as possible. The bluer you go into the light spectrum the less actual visible light is produced. which is why I stayed at 4300 kelvin. 6000k should have a light blue tint,

Bronze84 you went with the 6000 Kelvins right? how do you like them?
John what kelvin temp did you install? How do you like that color temp?

I've heard that there *can* be glare, but If you're headlights are aimed correctly I think we should be okay. Once I get mine installed I'll re-aim my headlights so I don't totally bind oncoming drivers.

 

My coworker has a 2006 prius with factory HID, and her headlights don't look any different than mine which is factory Halogen. I've heard others talk about this too, stating that some have the projector lens as part of the OEM factory design. I haven't seen any Prius that has that special lens on it for HID. I don't doubt you Justdid it, I just wonder why or if some have it and some dont? euro or JDM?

 

Has anyone seen any non hid bulbs that produce white light? I guess that's what I'm most interested in. I really don't want to blind people and it seems when I drive by people with hid its a little intense.

 

Unfortunately this would be illegal in the UK/EU. It is against regulations to alter the structure of lights other than changing bulbs as they are (C marked) tested. There is also a maximum light output allowed for individual head lamps, I suspect this is why we have 35watt HID's instead of 55/60watt halogen.

I am using 6000k bulbs all I could get at the time I bought them.

John Britprius)

 

At a glance they look very much the same...I used to think the same. But look at the actual bowl that reflects the light. You can see the Left HID has more reflectors to aim the beam..on the Right you see less. Ignore the projector, of course that Mini H1 isn't oem.


I'm not referring to any different lens...or projector nor shield. More rather the actual bowl housing for the lights.

ALSO, the Halogen shield isn't designed as well as the HID shield.
Halogen Shield...couldn't get a good pix of the HID shield.

 

Found this post:

So you CAN put HID in Halogen headlights...but you will get the dreaded glare. Period. Best way around that is the projector retrofit.

 

In the UK/EU it is against the law to modify any OEM light fitting, and that means no tints and no dismantling to fit projectors. Doing so will fail our MOT test. The wattage of the bulbs are limited (both maximum and minimum wattage) as is the maximum light output of any one light, and a maximum for the sum of lights fitted that can be operated together.

John (Britprius)

 

Not sure what the limits are in the UK...light meter or not HID will be brighter than Halogen. Especially since John has HID headlights and HID fog lights...that sum should be pretty bright... I know.. I have the same.

So install HID in Halogens assemblies at your own risk... prob depends on your MOT tester whether you'll pass or fail as John passed his.

 

Just a small addition. I had the car serviced at the dealers yesterday (90,000 mile service) this includes a full safety check including lights.

No comments on the headlamps "aim and beam pattern checked", there was however a comment on the fog lamps:-

The fog lamps are set to high at an angle of 2 degrees down, this should be between 3 and 4 degrees down. They offered to alter them charging for half an hour labour. This I declined having raised them myself so they at leased lit a section of road that I could see.

Again it is illegal to use fog lamps unless it is foggy or in falling snow in the UK this includes the red rear guard lamps.

John (Britprius)

 

Slightly off topic. Is there any sort of yearly vehicle safety test in the US and does it apply to all states.

In the UK we did not have the choice of HID headlamps on the gen2 Prius and the US headlamps dipp to the right as do the lamps in the rest Europe so it would be difficult to find and get dipp left HID headlamp assemblies that are marked for use within the UK.

John (Britprius)

 

They call a 'similar' test - SMOG checking required by the DMV - strictly for environmental reasons. This however has nothing to do with the lights that I know of....AND at least in California...the Prius is exempt from such tests.

 

But you do get rear disc brakes that we don't have here on our USDM version!!

 

In Pennsylvania we have yearly inspections for safety, but they mainly check to see if the there any bulbs burnt out or if the brakes / tires need replacing. They don't *inspect* for proper aiming of the lights, or if HID's are fitted into non-HID housings etc. There are also no smog/emissions testing in my county, but required in big cities like Philadelphia. It's weird how different counties in the same state can have different vehicle laws. It's a $35 yearly charge to get a sticker that goes on the window. But get stopped at a police checkpoint or pulled over for speeding and don't have a valid sticker, your car gets towed...

Maryland the only inspection is at the time of vehicle registration. (in Maryland when you get the vehicle tags you must provide proof of inspection.) Smog /emissions are required every two years, but all they do is connect a scanner and check for any engine codes. It's mainly just a state tax for $15.00.

 

- This halogen bulb is super bright, and it's what I normally use.

Philips X-treme Vision:
Philips - X-tremeVision Automotive Headlight 9003 12 V 67/60 W - 9003XVS2 - Headlights - Car lights - Lighting

Philips 9003 XPS2 X-treme Power Headlight Bulb, Pack of 2 : Amazon.com : Automotive

 

Those bulbs do give reasonable results. The downside of them is there life is relatively short as it is with all the halogen bright white bulbs. Worth a try as an alternative.

It can also be worthwhile checking the voltage at the headlamps with them turned on. Often there is a significant voltage drop leading to poor light output. This can be cured by fitting a relay at each light with a direct 12 volt supply from the jump point.

John (Britprius)

 

Great thanks, I also did a little research after posting this and people have been talking about hir bulbs? Has anyone had any experience with them? I heard a downside is the light output is not that great, hence their better life span.