1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

How to convert from hid to halogen

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by repnatl, Aug 11, 2017.

  1. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2004
    4,365
    3,209
    1
    Location:
    Madison, Wisconsin
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Matt, still looking forward to some pics.
     
  2. zanadu

    zanadu Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2020
    1
    0
    0
    Location:
    Gilroy, CA
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    I
    Wanted to thank Texas Hybrid Batteries, that diagram is spot on. Used the power from the HID high beam mirror motor for the 5 pin relays I wired in. Everything turned out great. Bought the housings on ebay, the covers for the H4 bulbs from the dealer using part # previously mentioned. The relays, relay plugs, and H4 pigtails on amazon. Everything works awesome!

    I recommend using a DMM to correctly identify your 12V inputs and labeling them so you don't wire the relay incorrectly and blow fuses.
     

    Attached Files:

  3. joeslawn

    joeslawn Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2017
    21
    10
    0
    Location:
    IA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Thank you to Texas Hybrid Batteries for the diagram. I used a power probe to verify my feeds, and I would like to note that the diagram is incorrect as far as the H4 wiring. Black out of a H4 is ground. Yellow and red are the high and low beams- check your own to verify. It is fairly easy to switch yellow and red feeds if you mess it up though.
     
    A.J. Tarnas and NORMAL POPS like this.
  4. KSN

    KSN Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 10, 2008
    3
    0
    0
    Location:
    IN
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    I too have struggled and hated the HIDs since 08 when I bought this car new. After my wife experienced the “total blackout edition” one night coming home, I tried 3 different bulbs and once replaced the ballasts. Still after a short time the HIDs let me down.
    I researched and settled on putting some cheap EBAY leds in there and they were acceptable for a couple years.
    My wife recently complained they were too dim, and since the lenses had been polished out twice before I decided on trying this “downgrade” since I needed to pop for some new housings anyway.
    Well the light dispersion is awful, are you guys having this issue also? Maybe I bought the wrong reflectors, but I actually bought every part linked in this thread.

    very disappointed:(

    Also the wiring seems undersized, my low beam is pretty dim, high beams on in this picture.
     

    Attached Files:

    #24 KSN, Jan 1, 2021
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2021
  5. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2012
    7,448
    3,751
    0
    Location:
    Wellington, New Zealand
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Yup, I have to agree that is pretty awful and points to something being amiss. Wrong housing, or just a poor quality housing???
     
  6. Steves gf drives a 2004

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2020
    1
    0
    0
    Location:
    Upstate NY
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Hey Matt,
    I followed the directions to a "T" and it worked great... sortof. The lights work fine now, but when I switch to brights they get super dim. I believe I may have just made a mistake in how I wired it up. I am not too good with electrical schematics, so I was hoping you or someone else could tell me, based on the description of what is wrong, what I did wrong when I was doing the wiring. What do you think?
    -Steve
     
  7. Austin Mueller

    Austin Mueller New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2021
    1
    0
    0
    Location:
    California
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    About to take the venture into converting to halogens. Some mixed outcomes from following Texas Hybrid Batteries way of doing it? Almost want to go with the original DIY's way of just having both highs and lows on at the same time. Yo Texas HB where you at with advice to save us
     
  8. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2012
    7,448
    3,751
    0
    Location:
    Wellington, New Zealand
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    This is a bad idea.

    Wire it as per THB's post #20
     
  9. Priusjames

    Priusjames Member

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2004
    92
    67
    0
    Location:
    Irvine, CA
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    OMG this is exactly what I was looking for! Well, after I finally just gave up on finding aftermarket HID headlight housings for my ‘06, that is. Also I’ve just repainted it and am blacking it out, and there are darker/blackout halogen housings available now. I May/may not do this, but now I have the schematic! Thanks.

    I should mention I’ve never had (or maybe just never noticed) any HID issues with either my ‘04 or ‘06 HID lights and have been very happy w them...but am starting to worry that they might not age well? Are they “going bad” now, or are there just duds vs good ones from the start?

    My actual problem is/was yellowed housings...er...the burn marks I added to the drivers side one anyhow...and the fact *all* headlights get all yellow again pretty soon after refinishing.
     
    #29 Priusjames, May 17, 2021
    Last edited: May 17, 2021
  10. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    7,797
    1,349
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    I just did on 05 with a set of 148 dollar housings and my trusty Aux Beam Led h4 And my factory Hid are 4 Sale they Work housings tabs broken. make offer .......uhh the wiring is very straight forward i could put pics i guess.
     
    NORMAL POPS likes this.
  11. JAMES ZMUDA

    JAMES ZMUDA Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2021
    1
    1
    0
    Location:
    California
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I am thinking of doing the same thing. I have a couple of new Halogen-ready headlight assemblies and was thinking I would rather put in LEDs. So how does the wiring for that look? I presume you get rid of the ballast, since you just need low voltage for the LEDs…
     
    NORMAL POPS likes this.
  12. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    7,797
    1,349
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Hold on ill put a pic up of installed w wire colors i used from car just two a side
     
  13. Chad Douglas

    Chad Douglas Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2017
    5
    2
    0
    Location:
    El Paso, TX
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I just did this mod yesterday, and I wanted to add my input to those above regarding the diagram that Matt provided.

    The diagram is almost perfect... except:

    • On the diagram of the H4 bulb, the Low beam and ground as labelled are reversed.
    • The NO and NC contact labels on the relay diagram are reversed.

    Also, the diagram really should have the Bosch pin numbers included so that people can be sure they are wiring correctly and not relying on the wire colors from relay harnesses to be consistent across harness manufacturers.

    SO:

    Pins 85 and 86 are connected to the high beam trigger wires. Since these contacts actuate a solenoid, it doesn't matter the polarity, but for my ease of mind, I put the positive (colored wire) to 85 and the negative (white/black) to 86.

    Pin 30 will be the power input from the headlight harness (colored wire), pin 87 (NO contact) is the HIGH BEAM output and pin 87A (NC Contact) is the LOW BEAM.

    The diagram Matt provided shows the rear view of the bulb/H4 harness , so I will continue using that reference. On the back of the bulb with the horizontal contact oriented to the top, the horizontal connection is the LOW BEAM (from relay pin 87A), the right contact is the HIGH BEAM (from relay pin 87) and the leftmost is the headlight ground, which goes back to the white/black wire that came from the headlight power harness.

    NOTES: The wires supplying the headlight power may SEEM to be undersized. However, at 12V nominal, a 35W bulb will draw just about 3 amps and a 55W bulb will draw just short of 5. These wire sizes are perfectly capable of carrying that many amps, so despite their diminutive size (I was surprised too until I thought about the ampacity of that wire), you're not going to melt anything.
     
    A.J. Tarnas and NORMAL POPS like this.
  14. Another

    Another Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2021
    1,802
    508
    0
    Location:
    Naples, Florida
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    I wonder why more independent shops don’t do the HID to Halogen or better yet the LED conversion. I’ve asked a couple locally and no one want to.
    Once they do a couple it seems like it should be easy money. I’d rather not spend hours learning how to do something I’ll never do again, so I’d gladly pay someone qualified to do it.
     
  15. MattyD.

    MattyD. Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2021
    43
    8
    0
    Location:
    Oregon coast
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    N/A

    Agreed! I'm fighting the hids and I'm getting desperate haha. I'm also terrified of digging into electronics and wiring so I'd be happy to pay someone to do it right
     
    NORMAL POPS and Another like this.
  16. Another

    Another Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2021
    1,802
    508
    0
    Location:
    Naples, Florida
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    NORMAL POPS likes this.
  17. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    7,797
    1,349
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    It is that stoopid easy but you need different aftermarket housings then that requires front nose rubber removal or a slicker move.. so that’s about hour n half to do but it all plugs up and a splice on each side idi this to my 04 tourer. Took me 45 min lights bright as Hale.. projecting the 09 shortly if battery makes er good again.
     
    A.J. Tarnas likes this.
  18. alftoy

    alftoy Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2009
    1,130
    505
    0
    Location:
    Saskatchewan, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    I'm more inclined to convert the HID bulb to LED, using the existing HID housings instead of buying new halogen housings. Cost is less than $50-75. As in this thread from Lloyd-ss

    HID to LED conversion | PriusChat
     
    NORMAL POPS likes this.
  19. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    7,797
    1,349
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Certainly one's choice these Lloyd's things are whatever shown below look like they are fan type beware using those they'll go to howling and whining very short order I've been down that road I use fanless now generally a brand called aux beam I have an array of lamps motorcycle scooters cars all high mileage and driven extensively daily.

    SM-A715F ?
     
    A.J. Tarnas likes this.
  20. alftoy

    alftoy Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2009
    1,130
    505
    0
    Location:
    Saskatchewan, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Look like? Where do you see a fan? Lloyd-ss first set and a second set from Marcilla fanless. One poster showed a set fan cooled but no commentary. Yes Lloyd-ss second set has fan, but doable with fanless.

    Strawbrads also fanless
     

    Attached Files:

    #40 alftoy, Nov 1, 2021
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2021
    SFO likes this.