Can you use non-HID lights on a HID-equipped Prius?

Nope, at least not in my experience. The HIDs use a different amount of power and have far more wiring involved than your standard Halogen lamp.

Also, I highly doubt the bulbs are the same size, so they probably wouldn't fit in the ballast.

 

Not to mention the halogens would explode the moment you powered them on if you did manage to plug them into the ballast. More likely, you'd receive a headlamp warning light from the headlight control system on your display.

HID lamps work in a different method than halogen/incandescents.

Incandescents heats a tungsten fillament within a vacum (or at least a space void of oxygen) so that it becomes white hot and produces light as a byproduct of intense heat. Not very efficent, as most of the energy used is converted to heat, not light energy. These function just fine on 12-14v and connect directly to the electrical system.

HID lamps, by contrast, use a 17-20,000 volt burst of electricity at startup to start a gas reaction within two electrodes within a pressurized bulb of mercury or other gas. Once a reaction has started, the voltage is reduced to somewhere around 80 volts, and a very miniscule amount of current (compared to incandescent bulbs) is required to keep the reaction going. Because of the intelligence and voltage requirements, a ballast is required to step up the voltage and control the reaction so that the bulb lights, but doesn't burst shortly after startup.

The Prius HID system uses a different bulb/reflector assembly and wiring harness as well. The HID bulb operates at a single brightness. A movable reflector affects the upper cutoff of the beam in that it is able to move out of the way for high beam functionality, and move back in place for low-beam. We also have an auto-leveling servo which controls the height of the beam relative to the height of the rear of the car. The HID system reads a signal from the rear VSC height sensor in order to prevent blindage of oncoming drivers when a heavy load is present. Of course, this is provided that the "default" height is adjusted correctly as a "baseline".

hope this helps,
-Rick

 

Rick, that is the best explanation of the HID components I've ever seen.

Thank you so much for your expertise.

 

:lol:
:wink: