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Keep replacing H11 Bulbs

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by kevdog67, Mar 6, 2023.

  1. kevdog67

    kevdog67 New Member

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    I have a 2010 Prius with 113k miles and have had to replace the low beam H11 bulbs on both sides a few times this past six months. Anyone deal with this and know the solution so I do not have to keep replacing bulbs? Is it replacing the wiring harness and if so how difficult is that?

    If it is the wiring harness I see Autozone has one in stock that may be it,
    TechSmart Headlight Wire Harness F90006.
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    I've got aux beam S1 LED headlights in that size designation in my wife's 2010 it's the only set we've put on they've been in over 2 years I'm not sure about the wiring harness business but I do know that the LEDs don't have such a drain on the electrical system as the LEDs do so even if there was a wiring harness problem the LEDs would probably work flawlessly and wouldn't burn out not until the wiring harness completely went crazy and didn't have any power or something I'm not sure what happens to the headlight wiring harnesses in this series but I've heard of this once before. I also have a persona 2013 and both of the low and high beams are of the LED of the same brand they've been in about 2 years also Not a problem at all In the fake projectors to LEDs have no issues No one's ever flashed us or anything
     
  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I googled for that and it talked about being made of 14 gauge wire "for better conductivity".

    If that's what it is, it's exactly what you don't want. Some 2010s and 2011s came with the eats_low_beams feature, and it's because their wiring is already too heavy, and delivers something like 13.5 volts when the headlight bulbs are rated 12.8.

    The official fix from Toyota is also a wire harness (more details in this post), but it is spliced onto the existing harness to increase the length, so it drops about an extra half a volt and supplies the headlights with a voltage closer to what they expect. (Applied voltage has a 2nd or 3rd power effect on light output, but more like a 13th power effect on bulb life; dropping the half volt reduces light output slightly but extends lifetime by a lot.)
     
  4. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Active Member

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    You might want to consider replacing the H11 low beam halogen bulbs with LED's. I did this 3 months ago because the halogen H11 were not very bright. I purchase these H11 LED's on Amazon and I like them very much. I payed $36 for the pair, but they are now listed for $32. The LED's should last much longer than the halogen's.