Headlight H11 Bulbs

Most H11 bulbs are too cheap these days. My first set lasted seven years then it was another set every year.

The challenge with LED retrofits is the driver hardware. Some have a separate module which can be reliable. Some have it built in with a high speed fan to dissipate heat. The fans can make a whining noise.

Another issue is rf interference coming from the switching power supply in the drivers. This can cause communication bus errors elsewhere. I had a set messing up the tpms rf signal.

Blinding incoming drivers on low can be an issue as well.

So it’s best not to buy low cost units. I bought the Lasfit $55 units.

 

They are about the same. The cable on the passenger side is short and even the H11s are tough. I take the air intake and reservoir hose off and then remove the old with the cable. Install the new without the cable and then click the cable on.

 

Reminder that LED's are polarity sensitive, as opposed to halogens. If one or both don't turn-on, rotate the plug 180 degrees and try again.

Hope this helps.

PS my old ones tended to shimmer a bit in DRL, worked fine when dark. I'm guessing it was the lower voltage in DRL mode that caused that.

 

I switched mine to LED's six years ago. One went out 3 years ago and was replaced. They work just fine.

Just don't buy the ones with too highland output. They generate too much heat and destroy themselves.

 

Caveat that ‘aviation aluminum’ and titanium aren’t what they used to be…

I too use LASFIT lamps and find the optics to be very precise, used in reflector and projector housings.

 

Hello new owner of a 2014 prius v three. Will these work in my 2014 prius v. It comes standard with the halogens

 

Yes

 

Just noticed it says fog lights. My car doesn’t have fog lights are there led replacements for the headlights.

 

The h11s are used for low beams on these cars and fog lights on other cars.

On the other subject, Toyota does not add wiring or controls for options it does not install on a given trim. So heated seats won’t work without significant wire harness and control additions. Same goes for the factory LED headlights which are also integrated into the headlight assembly.

 

That's because Toyota uses PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to dim the high beam bulbs in DRL function.

In this graph, you can see where the pulsing effect comes from at 50% duty cycle (half intensity, eg DRLs) when LEDs are used instead of incandescent bulbs.

Incandescent bulbs will just give off less light and the variation in the current stream is not noticeable as flickering.

LEDs, on the other hand, will actually flicker on and off at the frequency the PWM circuit is regulated at.

I used a capacitor type CANBUS error cancellor to "smooth" the voltage to LED bulbs used as DRLs back when I used my highbeams as DRLs in my 2011 Prius.




SM-G781V ?

 

Here's an example of the type of capacitor based anti flicker modules I used to get rid of the flickering when using LED bulbs in high beam DRLs.

SM-G781V ?

 

Thank you. Are the high beams and low beams separate bulbs.

 

Yes, H11 lowbeam and 9005 highbeam.

SM-G781V ?

 

Yes. Go to Toyota.com and download the owners manual if you don’t have the hard copy.

 

Thanks again

 

I actually liked the shimmering in DRL mode; other drivers certainly couldn't say they didn't see me coming with those fast flickering lamps on. Though, I think it was pretty hard on the LED power supply, but well within specs. and I didn't get a failure in the 5-years I was running them. I worked swing shift at the time, so either my DRL or headlamps was always ON whenever I was in the car.