rb2010

• Comes with lifetime warranty
• Matches the color of the DRL LEDs (has to be 5000k color temp?)
• Does not have any additional external relays / modules, just the ballast with two wires out of it
• Prefferably has size / wire lengths that's good for installing the modules on the two frame "rails"

Thabks everyone!

GES

Here is my experience with the conversion from Halogen to HID for the low beam headlight on the ES 300h

- If you want perfect color match with the DRL you need the 4300 color temp. 5000 is close enough, but the 4300 is better.
- For the low beam headlight you do not need relay to the battery, Just the HID kit with the ballast. I did the HID conversion and I didn't use relay and had no issues at all. On the other hand If you try to do the same conversion for the Fog lights, meaning conversion from halogen to HID then you need a relay. That is why I went with the LED for the Fog lights.
- I didn't have any issue with the length of the wiring, it is usually long enough. I used cable ties to hold the ballast in place. tie it to the frame or other close by structures.
- So here is the specification of the HID conversion kit you need H11, 35W, 4300K.
- I am not aware of lifetime warranty on the kits. You may get 2 year warranty. But to me that is not an issue. 2 years is long enough.
- I did my conversion few years back. If I have to do it again, I would consider conversion to LEDs. The technology and engineering of the LED have evolved a lot and they could be a good choice. Few years back this was not the case.

rb2010

Thanks a lot for such a complete response!

Couple more questions:

• Do you know if getting 55w over 35w would be better or worse? I am looking for more light output, not sure if 55w is the answer to that but halogens are not giving me enough light.
• Do you remember the kits or the company you bought your kits from?

RE: LEDs, I have tried them and removed after about a week. I noice that they are much brighter and output considerably more light but in close distance. They seemed much weaker than halogens to me once you get further away from the car. The light was not just saturated enough. Maybe I didn't get the right LEDs but decided to go with HIDs are they are proved and safe choice at least from my experience. Thanks again!

lesz

That is the same conclusion that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety came up with when they tested the factory LED high beams for the ES and compared them to the factory halogen high beam lights. If you click on "headlights" on the left side of this page, you can see the details of their test results.

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/veh...0-4-door-sedan

If, on that site, you look at the results for other vehicles, you will find that similar test results for other vehicles, and they all seem to be consistent in that the LEDs don't provide as much illumination at further distances or, for that matter, to the sides. When I first got my 2017 with the bi-LED headlights, it seemed to me that adequate illumination at further distances wasn't as good as it had been with the halogen lights on my 2013 ES, but, when I saw those test results, I concluded that the difference was not just my imagination. Considering the extra cost of the bi-LEDs, I found those results to be very disappointing.

TechNut

It is disappointing to hear the factory lighting has gone downhill. Although not scientific at all, I can say our LED upgrade resulted in an improvement in night viewing. I will say the improvement is more pronounced up close, and especially on the sides. As I commented previously, my wife thought they had repainted the lines on the road as a result of the brighter lights.

So I could very possibly be biased, but my wife and I are very happy with our LED mod and we both feel like we can see better in the dark. I don't think we can necessarily see any farther in terms of distance, but what we can see is illuminated much better, especially on the sides of the road, where this study indicates a weakness with LEDs.

lesz

I suspect that one's judgment about the functional usefulness of HID headlights might well be influenced by what kinds of roads one primarily drives on. If I were doing most of my driving on well-lit urban roads, I think I might have come to a different conclusion about the LED lights, but I do most of my driving on unlit rural roads without even lines painted on sides of the road or in the center of the road. In those conditions, what is most important is how far out there is good lighting and how much the sides of the road are illuminated. After having had my 2013 ES for 3 1/2 years and the 2017 ES for several months, I'm confident in saying that the halogen high beams on the 2013 did better than do the HID high beams on the 2013, and the HID low beams on the 2013 did better than the LED low beams on the 2017 with regard to illuminating at further distances and along the sides of the road. Further, the halogen fog lights on the 2013 were more functionally useful than the LED fog lights on the 2017.

GES

I think 35W or 55W will work. The 35W are much more powerful and brighter than the halogen, so nothing to worry about.
I didn't mention the company because I didn't want to advertised for any particular one. I used The Kensun, but other brands are good too. whatever you end up getting read the reviews and you should be OK.
I can't speak for the LEDs because I don't have experience with them. My assumption is that you need higher lumens to get good result.
what concerns me with the LED is the mismatch with respect to color. If you can't get 4300-5000 color temp with the LED then the color will not match with the DRL. I am assuming here that the DRLs in the 2013 300h is the same color temp as the later model years, but I could be wrong,

TechNut

I agree with your assessment, the LED kit I installed does not match the color temperature of the DRLs. It is definitely closer than the factory halogens, but they are slightly more towards blue color. I was looking for 5000K lights as I speculated that would be very close to matching the DRL lights. The aftermarket LED kits I reviewed seem to start at 6000K and go up from there.

rb2010

Thanks a lot guys, that helps!

Re: LEDs, I noticed that I actually lost long distance lighting on them but gained very close up and side lighting. I personally found the former much more useful in my situation and as soon as I drive my wife's 2007 RX, I think "man, this is the lighting I want". I wonder if it also depends on how many chips you have on each bulb and how "360" it is.

Re: HID upgrade, I think I got the answers that I needed and ready to go but not sure if I should get 4300K or 5000K. Does anyone know the color temp of the DRL LEDs?

GES

The DRLs are 4300. So if you want perfect match get the 4300.
I personally prefers the whiter colors like the 5000, or the 6000 but again you are limited by the DRLs color temp. Actually I did get initially the 6000 and I liked the color very much but then the DRLs looked yellowish in comparison.

rb2010

Thanks! Yes, that's what I noticed too, the DRLs look yellow compared to 6000K. First I thought it's just my imagination.

rb2010

Just ordered these in 4300K and H11:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/251611016844

I'll report back once I get them and install!

Brent1944

My 2016 has, Self leveling BI LEDs. are you all saying that HIDs are brighter, shine farther and to the sides better than what I have? AND just to be clear... not change the HB to HID correct? mine auto dims .. HB on till car comes then dims itself,.I wonder what diff is between HIDs installed in a Halogen Housing vs HIDs installed in LED housing.. Both housings are NOT made for HID bulbs..

lesz

Yes, that is pretty much the conclusion of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the link that I posted above. And that conclusion is consistent with my experience. The HID low beams on my 2013 ES performed better at distance and to the sides than the LED low beams on my 2017 ES, and the halogen high beams on my 2013 ES did better than the LED high beams on the 2017 ES.

Brent1944

Having said that, whats the answer given U have BI LEDs? Given the housing is made for LEDs in both HB & LB?