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ANYONE actually install LED headlights in Gen1?

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by uhClem, Aug 3, 2021.

  1. uhClem

    uhClem New Member

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    I've raised my beloved 2003 Prius from a pup, and still only have 68k miles on it. (Toyota replaced the battery years ago under warranty.)

    The only thing that's ever been less than a pleasure is the headlights, which are the worst I've ever used. (It feels like I'd be better off strapping two flashlights to the hood.)

    I've resurfaced/polished the headlights four times over the years, but even when they're perfectly clear, it's still dim on the road ahead. I tried Philips XtremeVison 9300 bulbs years ago, with barely any improvement.

    I'd really like to try LEDs and have been googling on and off for years, but I have yet to find an actual success story. Would love to hear from someone who's done it and is happy.

    There seem to be so many potential gotchas about them: picking the rights bulb, aiming correctly, blinding oncoming drivers, overheating, and just being tricky to install.

    Plus there's the fact that installing ANY bulb on the passenger side in my 2003 is apparently no day at the beach, and can sometimes require open heart surgery (removing the bottom of the fender panel, and going in from below).

    I have a mechanic who would be wiling to try, but I'd like to learn anything I can before a) choosing from the many bulbs out there, and b) getting any tips they can use about installation.

    I did read something that sounded very promising about the MicroEvolution H4 9300 bulb from the vleds site, but I can't find the post again.

    Anyone? Buehler?

    Thanks!
     
  2. uhClem

    uhClem New Member

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    UPDATING....

    Since I can't stop googling, I came across the most promising product I've seen: H4-HLV7 from superbrightleds. (I don't have enough posts yet to include a URL.)

    It has over 200 legit-sounding reviews, almost all very positive. Most are from motorcycles, but there's at least one Gen2 Prius in there. Sounds much more plug-and-play than the others, with good pattern and brightness. If I don't hear from anyone about another option, I may just try it (after calling their support line). Only $50 a pair; probably worth a try.
     
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  3. Jakob

    Jakob Junior Member

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    Hey uhClem, any luck with this? I'm just realizing how dim the headlights are on my Gen 1 but I don't have any experience with custom lighting.
     
  4. uhClem

    uhClem New Member

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    Yes, I bought the ones I mentioned (H4-HLV7 from superbrightleds) and had my garage install them. (Unfortunately, installing lights in our particular Prius is a little tricky. It is possible to do yourself following instructions in YouTube videos but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.)

    The result is pretty good. I'd say they're about twice as bright as the original headlights, although that still leaves them very far short of what you'd find in a new car. Overall, I'm really glad I did it because driving at night is much more reasonable now.

    The only thing to look out for is that it's possible to install the headlights upside down. As I recall, the trick is that the printed labeling on both headlights (on the transformer that sticks out from the back) should be facing toward the driver's side. I had to switch one of them around after they were done, and I managed to do it myself.

    I tested them several times, and they're not shining in the eyes of oncoming drivers.

    If you have more questions please feel free to post them here and I'll be happy to try to get back to you.
     
  5. Stock808

    Stock808 Junior Member

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    If you’re retaining the factory headlight housing. Opt in for a higher end halogen bulb. Like one from Sylvania

    Basically stock housing with a higher end halogen bulb will have higher brightness output and throw. If you want LED or the HID look I’d recommend new housing
     
  6. uhClem

    uhClem New Member

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    I'm not too sure about that. I tried halogen bulbs a year ago , and the results were really disappointing: very little improvement. The LEDs have made them almost twice as good as the originals.

    And the cheapest replacement housings I've seen ran about $250 each, and those were just the same as the originals. Since they never offered LED or HID for the Gen 1 (mine's a 2003), I have to wonder if the housings from Gen2 or later would even fit. And mostly, it's just not worth putting a lot of money into a 18 year old Prius (as much as I love mine).
     
  7. Stock808

    Stock808 Junior Member

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    I’ve got sylvania zxe gold bulbs put in and the color temperature is almost LED/HID like. I went previously for a pretty expensive LED set on Amazon, it was a lot brighter but the distance or throw was a lot shorter due to the lens. So I decided to get the high end halogen and I retained the distance or throw and got the LED look with higher brightness than standard halogen
     
  8. uhClem

    uhClem New Member

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    Thanks. When I tried them a few years ago, Sylvania only had the Silverstar Ultra, not the gold, and the results were much less than satisfying. I just ordered a pair (SYLVANIA 9003 SilverStar zXe Gold Halogen) and I'll give them a shot. Anything for better lighting.
     
  9. uhClem

    uhClem New Member

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    BTW, for anybody who finds this thread because you're considering putting LED bulbs in, you might want to watch "The Truth about LED bulbs"


    Its starts with a really good explanation of why LED bulbs often don't produce a good light pattern when used in an old housing. (The ones I tried actually did that pretty well in my Prius.)
     
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  10. Jakob

    Jakob Junior Member

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    Oh, I posted here and forgot about it! Thanks to both of you for the info. I'm working on polishing the headlight surfaces now to get rid of the yellow haze, but sounds like that's not going to do much for visibility. If I decide to do a bulb upgrade I'll post here to report how it went.
     
  11. uhClem

    uhClem New Member

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    I think you'll find that you get some improvement by polishing. (I've done it three times over the years on my Prius, and it always seems to help, though not dramatically.) Just be sure that you put some coating on afterwards to fight off the UV light, which can yellow them again pretty quickly. In the past, I've used Blue Magic 730-6 Headlight Lens Sealer - 8 oz. which works reasonably well, but I just bought something called Meguiar's G17804 Keep Clear Headlight Coating and am going to try it, because I read that it's much more effective. Both are less than $10 for what is probably a lifetime (of the car) supply. With any of the coatings, just be aware that you have to reapply it (maybe twice a year) to get reliable protection.
     
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  12. Jakob

    Jakob Junior Member

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    Oh yeah, I'm actually planning to get PPF/clear bra installed as a more permanent solution for protecting the polished surfaces. Considerably more expensive than a spray sealer, but should allow the lenses to stay clear for years without any attention, so I don't mind shelling out.
     
  13. uhClem

    uhClem New Member

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    That's a new one on me. (Just googled it.) Sounds like it will do the trick, though.
     
  14. peripatetic pri

    peripatetic pri Junior Member

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    HI; I have same ?. '01 Prius. Do they have to be LED? I'm not going to do it myself. I've read through this thread, but can't find anything definitive. Can someone who has installed better bulbs they're happy w/tell me exactly what bulbs they were and how much they cost to install? And where they got the bulbs?
    Thanks!
     
  15. uhClem

    uhClem New Member

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    As mentioned above, I bought LEDs (H4-HLV7: Cool White) from superbrightleds.com for $49.95 a pair. Pretty happy with them; certainly an improvement.

    Based on someone else's recommendation (above), I bought bright halogen bulbs (SYLVANIA 9003 SilverStar zXe Gold Halogen) for $74.99 a pair from http://www.sylvania-automotive.com. Haven't tried them yet.
     
  16. Jakob

    Jakob Junior Member

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    I'm also interested in hearing how those Sylvania bulbs work out for you uhClem. I'm worried by the rated lifetime of only 90 hours mentioned in the product Q&A. Stock808, have you been using those bulbs long enough to tell whether that lifetime is accurate? It seems really low to me.
     
  17. Stock808

    Stock808 Junior Member

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    I’ve only used them for 5 months now. I like them a lot has the White LED/HID look but works well in the stock housings.
     
  18. Jakob

    Jakob Junior Member

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    Well I went with the LEDs from superbrightleds.com as uhClem suggested, and they look pretty slick. They do seem to be noticeably brighter than the halogen bulbs that were installed when I bought the car, which was my main goal. I did the replacement myself and I didn't think it was too much of a pain. The owner's manual describes (among other things) which pieces to remove on each side to free up some space to maneuver.

    As uhClem mentioned it is possible to install the bulbs upside-down. There's a plate with three tabs that detaches from the assembly and clips into the socket, and the rest of the bulb can then slot into that piece in two different orientations. Since the two parts are attached correctly out of the box, you can keep track of that orientation, or just make sure the side with "superbrightleds.com" printed on it faces toward the driver's side edge of the vehicle (again, just as uhClem mentioned earlier).

    The other tricky aspect is dealing with the black rubber grommets that sit around the bulbs. With a normal H4 bulb you put the grommet on after the bulb is fully installed and the inner opening seats around the base of the bulb. That doesn't work with these LEDs because the heat sink at the base won't fit through the grommet. What I did is install the 3-tab plate and then the grommet, and then pushed the bulb assembly through both to attach. This only works if you trim a bit off the length of the inside tube of the grommet (see image), otherwise the rubber prevents the bulb assembly from slotting into the 3-tab plate. It would definitely be easier to just leave the grommets off, but this way the bulbs are probably sealed a bit better from moisture.

    There is one odd thing I noticed while testing the bulbs. My car has the daytime running lights option, so the headlights turn on under certain conditions even with the light control switch off. Whenever the lamps were on as DRLs I noticed a faint flickering. Apparently the gen 2 uses PWM to dim the headlights for DRL, so maybe the gen 1 does too and that's confusing the control circuitry in the lamps. I might look into disabling DRL.
     

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  19. uhClem

    uhClem New Member

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    Glad it worked out for you, Jakob. I've got about 4 months on them now, and still doing fine.

    I ended up putting the grommet in place on one of them, but haven't gotten around to the other yet.

    Your comment about the flickering reminds me of the one peculiarity I've noticed with my 2003 (is that Gen 1, or Gen 0? I can never seem to remember) is that regardless of what setting the headlight switch is on, they stay on. In other words, I can't turn them off by rotating the control to OFF. Hasn't bothered me enough to check into it, and they obviously go off when I turn the key and leave the car.

    I haven't gotten around to trying the Sylvania halogens discussed above (they're sitting on my desk), and now that the cold weather is here in New England, it'll probably be another few months before I do. But I'll definitely come back and post once I know something.
     
  20. Jakob

    Jakob Junior Member

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    That would be a Gen 1. Gen 0 probably refers to the 1997-2000 NHW10, which was only sold in Japan. Wikipedia has all the details.

    Yeah, sounds like what you're describing is daytime running lights. IIRC with that feature the headlights turn on (maybe at a low intensity) when you start the car (or if the parking brake was set on startup, when you first release it), and they don't turn off until you turn the car off. DRLs are required by law in Canada and some other places, but not the US, so I think it was an option here, at least for the Gen 1. Looks like it's possible to disable, but not easy.