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My HID bulb replacement on my 06 prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by windstrings, May 26, 2008.

  1. cgates30

    cgates30 Junior Member

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    I know the factory lights were 4300K, but does anyone have any experience with 5000K or 6000K? I know they'd be a bit bluer and maybe not quite as bright but they might look good.
     
  2. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    Technically, they don't produce as many lumens per/watt.
    If you like the blue go for it.
     
  3. cgates30

    cgates30 Junior Member

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    I ordered the lamps on eBay ($30/pr including shipping). I'll post an update when I get them.
     
  4. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    Wow!.. not bad Cgates.... Thats approaching the price of Halogen bulbs a few years back "before they got even cheaper!"... thats awesome!.... hard to go wrong if they last any time at all.

    Mine are still doing great.. but I paid about double that.
     
  5. cgates30

    cgates30 Junior Member

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    Well, the seller contacted me and told me he couldn't get the D4R bulbs. So, I just purchased the bulbs from [FONT=Arial, Verdana]stillenmaxima98[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Verdana] on ebay. Shortly after paying I got a message from UPS saying they had received the shipping info, so hopefully the bulbs will be here next week.[/FONT]
     
  6. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    Looks like he bounced his price back down to 69.00 too

    NEW 4300K HID Xenon Kit Bulbs 2 Bulbs OEM D4R or D4S
     
  7. cgates30

    cgates30 Junior Member

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    I got my bulbs today, $69 including shipping. So far everything is great. It took me about 30 minutes to install the bulbs. I got the 6000K bulbs. They don't look stock, but I like them.

    Thanks for the instructions that started the post!
     
  8. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    Good job!... I took quite I bit longer when I did mine!.... 6000K will make you stand out more in the crowd as they will look bluer. They should be fine and many people like them better.
     
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  9. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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  10. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    I dont think its what you want... they say its for all prius's and that they are D4S... mine are D4R.

    The also say:
    ::: Hyper White, 12V, 5900K, 100 / 90 Watt, H4 (9003)
    ::: HID-Like

    HID Like is not HID..even though they use the term HID above that.

    Here is a good article:



    Another clue may be as they state they are for low and high beam... HID bulbs are one bulb... the low and high beam happens when the reflector parts move.

    Looking carefully at the bulb through the blue lens looks like it could be an HID.. but for that price, I can't say.... its cheap enough to try I guess if you don't mind losing an extra 25.00 for bulbs and shipping?

    5900K is quite blue too.. less lumens...

    Final straw.... if you look at the Lower right bottom of the box, it says Halogen bulb!!!.. even though just above that it says H.I.D..... they can't be both.. they are using HID as a different term.
     
  11. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Thank you Windstrings, I think you are right.
     
  12. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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  13. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Does a '04 Prius take the same bulb ?
     
  14. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    I don't think so... It may be the D4S... not sure though check.... whatever it is, he has those too... just look for them.

    I think the difference has to do with how the reflector is made inside the housing.
     
  15. uclabruins

    uclabruins Member

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    Re: HID Replacement


    Lytthans: Did both of your bulbs go out? What was your issue?
     
  16. uclabruins

    uclabruins Member

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    Can you post a picture so we can see what 6000k they look like?
     
  17. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    that may be a challenge to accurately depict the color temp with a camera unless you have it side by side with a 4300K or maybe even something else everyone is totally acclimated too like a Halogen.
     
  18. dharma

    dharma New Member

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    I've been reading these threads ever since I noticed my passenger headlight was out about a week and a half ago. I have a 2008 Package #4 which I bought in Jan. 2008. It has 16600 miles on it. I just returned from the dealer who replaced the bulb for free, under warrenty. I asked how much if I had to pay and he said $185 for the bulb + 1 hour labor. That's lower than alot of prices stated in this thread, but still, holy #%@*! I'll be sure to bookmark this thread so I know what to do after the warrenty runs out.
     
  19. jaycat9

    jaycat9 New Member

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    I purchased this pair of bulbs from stillenmaxima98 off eBay. Got them installed today without a hitch thanks to windstrings instructions. Unfortunately, one of the bulbs is noticeably dimmer/yellow than the other one and even flickered out the first couple times I turned on the lights. It got a little brighter when I drove it for about 30 minutes but it is still clearly not the same color as the other one (which looks exactly the color/brightness as I remember the factory bulbs looking).

    I have emailed the ebay seller asking for a replacement for the yellowish bulb. I'm rather annoyed at the whole thing but as long as they send me what I need at no additional cost to me (other than the time to change one bulb - again), then I'll be satisfied. Sure beats paying the ridiculous prices the dealers charge.
     
  20. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    Jaycat, go ahead and run it a few hours and see if that still persist.
    It takes a little time for HID bulbs to mature as they need a few hours on them.
    The 'flickering" makes me think that.... the material inside has to go into a plasma state during the initial fireup, but normally within 20 - 30 seconds, they should look the same.

    I guess what I mean is that I wouldn't worry about flickering on a brand new bulb unless it continued doing it after you used it a few times and it had a chance to mature. Technically they say it takes many hours to full mature, but thats more for full brightness abilities... your bulb should be looking pretty normal within a few minutes.

    I own 3 handheld HID lamps and sometimes I will still get a yellow color but it will be isolated to the top or bottom of the field and be very spotty, or should I say "splotchy" dependent upon where the material lies inside that has not vaporized to a plasma state.

    If your whole beam looks yellow, it almost sounds like you got one thats a lower Kelvin.... like maybe 3000k or so.... He sells all types and yours could have gotten mixed up.
    But if that were the case, it should be quite obvious.

    The Asian bulbs will not have the same consistency in quality from lot to lot... out of 4 bulbs, I had one go bad, but the other 3 have been totally perfect!
    If you still see that after a few hours, I would say return it.... I contacted him about mine that went bad and he was willing to exchange it but I didn't bother since I still had one of my originals.

    Remind him of the exposure his name gets here on PC if needed!
    His name is Stan and seems like a nice guy... let me know if you have any trouble.. I don't want to promote anyone who is not playing fair.