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Projector Headlight Assembly for 2007 Prius with Factory HIDs

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by ҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄, Mar 26, 2023.

  1. ҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄

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    I need to replace the headlights on my 2007 Prius that's equipped with factory HIDs and thought I would try posting my question here to see if anyone has an idea of where I can pick up a pair of headlight assembly's with projectors rather than reflector style housing. I have seen posts in the past about people replacing their headlights with projector style ones (someone seems to have found a set here but the eBay listing is long gone: Headlight Question 2007 With Stock HID | PriusChat).

    I've been able to find some pairs of projector style headlights for Gen II Prius' but they all seem to only fit vehicles with factory halogen headlights, not HIDs. So I thought I'd see if anyone knows of where one could get a pair.

    I've seen people post about retrofitting projectors into the headlight housing but I'm a little hesitant to attempt something like that when headlights are so expensive and I have no experience doing it, so I thought I would see if they're available anywhere before I start down that path. Thanks!
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Wait a minute you have found an online source for generation 2 that's 2004 to 2008 and lots of places. Headlights that have projectors in them? I've been looking for years even the cheap stuff made by all the manufacturers that I have on my Corollas and other things I've never seen a set of manufactured generation 2 projector headlights I have seen people heat and remove the lens from the factory halogen headlight assembly and fit some of the shortest projector assemblies you can buy into that clean the mess up get the plastic and the sealer correct and put the lens back on there are external adjustments on the halogen unit for aiming up and down inside to side if you've mounted your projector very carefully You may not even need to make an adjustment but purchasing these all together with their real projector in them never seen a real projector does not have high and low beam It has a shutter like a camera kind of it moves up and down or flops up and down when you go from low to high beam The generation 3 doesn't even have real projectors It just has a lens and a plastic housing in front of the lamp bulb that's installed in the assembly It looks like a projector but it's not a real projector. So I'm not sure what you've seen people here on this list a very few have fitted a very nice projector into their factory headlight as stated above the projectors are about 58 to $80 each and then your time to bake pry apart install the projector carefully reassemble etc Good luck It is doable I'd love to see a link of what you're talking about.
     
  3. ҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄

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    These are a couple of websites where I've seen some listed:

    [I tried linking an ebay listing but I'm unable to post links as my account is too new, but the ebay listing number is 132690886070]

    I also found a pair on Japanese websites. Google "トヨタ プリウス 20 系 プロジェクターCCFLイカリング クロームメッキ ヘッドライト 特注 日本光軸仕様 ライト ヘッドラン" and a few listings come up.

    These examples are replacements for factory halogens however, not factory HIDs

    I've found lots of websites that have them listed, but they're out of stock and I would assume not being made anymore since I haven't found a store in NA that has them in stock.

    Like I said in my original post, I may consider doing a retrofit if I can't find any other option down the road, but seeing if anyone knows of any headlights available anywhere.
     
    #3 ҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄, Mar 27, 2023
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2023
  4. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    The factory halogens in the factory HIDs are essentially externally the exact same housings they'll slide into the metal brackets and they'll screws will line up and all that nonsense The only difference is there's no HID ballasts on the bottom of the light assemblies You flip them over you see that square That's where your HID ballast would go and then there would be a bulb I think a different reflector and the aiming is motorized on the halogen assembly there are two turn wheels that you can reach with the fender liner down on the bottom of the unit so you can aim the headlights after you blast those heavy duty LEDs in there You can dip them down a little and still light up the whole road I will definitely take a look at those projectors because that's exactly what I'm in the market for they don't put too much Chrome around the nonsense I'll probably go for it that will clean up the generation twos lighting issues pretty quickly even fake projectors like the Gen 3 comes with will be adequate on the Gen 2 they're adequate on the Gen 3 also.
     
  5. ҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄

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    I'm almost tempted to buy a set of the projector headlights that are designed for factory halogen headlights and see if I can modify them for HIDs. I saw an auction to some headlights someone modded from halogen to HIDs, I attached some photos of them.

    Those are the same headlight assemblies that are designed for the halogen lights, but you can see from the photos that someone Jerry-rigged it to work with HIDs. I wonder how much of a pain in the nice person that would be.

    Does anyone know what the differences would be between the halogen and HID assemblies, and what kind of modifications you would need to do to make it work? Here's some photo's to help show the differences between the two assemblies.


    [​IMG] Halogen.jpg
    This is a factory Halogen headlight assembly

    HID Xenon.jpg
    This is an HID/Xenon factory assembly


    PRojection HID.jpg
    Projection headlights designed for halogen that have been converted to HID


    HID COnversion.jpg


    HID Conversion 2.jpg
     
  6. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Okay those look like factory headlights that somebody fitted a projector assembly into the factory headlight then put it back together The back of that projector assembly could be ordered to hold any number of bulbs H4 HID what have you so when you pick the projector assembly I guess you tell the people you're buying the projector from or the projector comes ready for a certain set of tabs or maybe there's a fitting that allows multiple different types of tabs to be inserted into the base of this or these type projectors You're not just saying their HIDs because there's a projector mounted right? So even on the halogen lamp assemblies that have nothing to do with HID if you were to fit a projector into them similar to this you could run HID bulbs in that projector if that's a real projector that wires up to the switch you'll be able to put a very bright high lumen bulb in there with a direct cut off and when you hit the high beams the shutter drops and that whole lamp amount of lumens is going right past the shutter that just fell and it's pretty bright. I I don't think you'll want to use the Toyota projectors in bulbs you'd buy aftermarket the ballasts are smaller they could still go in the same place on the bottom of the halogen housings there's a square for the ballast to mount if they were HID the outer casing is the same of the two headlight housings so you could mount your smaller ballast down there The wires wouldn't have to run through it like they do the HID housing for the factory Prius they would just come around to the back bulb would screw in wire up and everything fine. But I don't think this lamp assembly is available to buy maybe one or the pair but I don't think no anyone makes these these are done by individuals one at a time or whatever I have tried to purchase these all over the internet even straight out of Asia through Toyota mods groups in Japan even can't find them
     
  7. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Ill take em
     
  8. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Can you show me the backs of the projectors whatever they're installed and doesn't matter The projector could be installed in a halogen or an HID assembly if you have the skill and that's what you want to do The lens comes off both units the same mounting the projector would be similar I'm not sure why this particular install is showing the HID bulb going into the projector kind of sideways It's kind of strange that's not factory HID that's HID added to the projector that they installed in some form of factory housing You could post that link or send it to me direct because I'll buy those I don't care what kind of bulb that's the least of my worries I'm interested in just the housings with the projectors already in them I don't need any ballasts or any of that I would buy them today
     
  9. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    They are not jerry-rigged That's just the methodology he used some kind of way he's got the HID bulb assembly looks like it's going insideways not straight into the back of the projector assembly That's why the h i d aftermarket bulbs come with a grommet so you can drill a hole put it in the put the grommet in the hole and your bulb is mounted essentially I wouldn't be doing this I would be trying to get an HID bulb assembly to go straight in the back like an H4 would go. But I'm not going to be using either of those I'm going to be using aux beam S1 or their newest design high low LEDs which rival the better HIDs easily they just need to be in a projector a real projector with a shutter not a generation 3 type projector so the person that did this work the first question I would ask them are these electric shuttered assemblies. They have a wire that goes to the high beam That's the way you know it's correct projectors that are worth a durn cost at least $69 a piece and obviously there's two on a car any of the cheaper stuff and it may be just a low beam setup with a damn built across the light path which is your cut off and it's not adjustable like the Gen 3 one would be the low beam and the high beam would be wide open no projector I don't want that In reality is in the Gen 2 would have to be an electric shuttered projector or you wouldn't have a high beam or you'd be wide open all the time or something silly like that.
     
  10. ҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄

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    Now that you say that, I think you're right that they are factory headlights and not the projector ones that I have found available elsewhere. It probably is a retrofit job that someone did.

    No, I understand that there are projectors available for halogen lights as well, since all of the projector style headlight assemblies I've seen have been for halogens. These ones are for HID bulbs, it says it in the auction listing and you can see the ballasts zip tied to the back of them. Unfortunately this auction listing has ended, I need one more post before I can post links so I'll post this and then link the auction listing so you can look at it.
     
  11. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    If you look at projector assemblies not installed into the housings yet like on eBay the back of the projector where the bulb goes can be had in different configurations so that you could screw a 9006 bulb in You could screw an H4 bulb or twist an H4 bulb in a 9008 a lot of the aftermarket HIDs use the 9006 tabs can probably be had an h42 for all I know I'd have to go back to looking at the HID makers lamp assemblies I have some here that screw in that twist into 9006 sockets and have a threaded twist deal on the back that I can dial the filament in and out almost 12 mm so I can put the filament of the HID as exactly the same point it was with the halogens I have 13 mm or so I can move the filament forward and backwards in the reflector housing if you understand that you can see all this on Amazon or eBay or I can take pictures of it possibly and send them directly to me HID is pretty sort of played out everything's moved on to LED so I want projectors or I'll rig up to projectors so that I can twist my H4 S1 LEDs into the projector A lot of times on the back of the projector the female plastic portion that accepts the tabs is screwed in to the projector housing you remove three little screws in your holding the cut out that's the female portion of your H4 9006 9005 whatever bulb it is that was made to go there sometimes the projector manufacturer will sell you the little round plastic plate in the three screws to screw on the back of their projector that will hold the bulb you want.
     
  12. ҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄

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    I need one more post apparently to post links, I thought I could already so here's the last one.
     
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  13. ҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄҆҅҄

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    Here's the link to the auction for those headlights: ヤフオク! - EAGLE EYES イーグルアイズ NHW20 プリウス HID ...
    I also found another auction for similar ones here: ヤフオク! - EAGLE EYES イーグルアイズ NHW20 プリウス HID ...

    I'm pretty sure those aren't stock headlight assemblies because they're both the same model number (Eagles Eyes EE-TY798) which I believe are the same model number for the assemblies available on Japanese auction websites like here: トヨタ プリウス 20系 プロジェクターCCFLイカリング クロームメッキ ヘッドライト 特注 日本光軸仕様 ライト ヘッドランプ 左右 送料無料 :L19-5:オートパーツジャパン - 通販 - Yahoo!ショッピング (though they do look slightly different so maybe not exactly the same).

    I also found this website which seems to *possibly* sell HID projector headlight assemblies but they're quite expensive and I'm not 100% sure if they are proper HID assemblies or not. I would contact them but they're a little too pricey for me either way: https://www.office-kk.jp/vehicles/149-6.html

    Either way, both of the auctions have ended so it might be worth watching auctions on those sites to see if some pop up again. I think for the time being since it seems like something that will require modding I'll probably just get a normal reflector set for now (like these: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/134508927874) and if I feel so inclined at a later time I'll retrofit them either myself or find someone who knows what they're doing.
     
  14. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I've had some eagle eye projectors on a '93 AE crap 102 101 I'm not sure chassis designation they're not too bad headlights and they have the eagle eyes and all that around the headlights You cannot hook them up if you so desire
     
  15. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    When you state proper HID assemblies what do you mean by that term The lenses and projectors you know you mean an electronic shutter operated projector that literally moves the shutter from your line of cut off to open up the full beam available with no cut off through the projector that's your high beam essentially? Or do you mean a real electronic shutter plus auto leveling which most proper HID assemblies are going to have some form of auto leveling on them usually because of their design? Me personally I'm not too worried about the auto leveling once I get them level and I have proper electric shutters and cut off I'm good set it and forget it I don't really need it going up and down because I'm going up a hill or put something in the trunk That's just added expense it I can do without where I live
     
  16. Prius Rising

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    So for whatever it's worth I remedied this problem by getting 2 brand new halogen style headlights off EBay then buying LED bulbs from amazon. It is all the brightness anyone would ever need the only down side is I had to manually adjust the headlights so as not to blind oncoming traffic but they have been working great for 2 years now. Food for thought. (y)