I am trying to find out if I can replace the high beam bulb in my V. The owner's manual says it is an HD3. I can find H3's, but not HD3. Are they the same? Anyone do this yet? What is the correct lamp?
They are HB3. I replaced them, and a bunch of other bulbs--see this post: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-parking-lights-rear-license-plate-bulbs.html
Does anyone know if it is advisable to replace the High Beams on a 2010 type V (9005/HB3) with HID? I am concerned that the frequent on and off typical of high beam usage would 1) shorten their life or 2) take too long to warm up. Any advice would be appreciated.
I wouldn't. Instead I'd upgrade them with higher quality halogens, like I did--see this thread: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-parking-lights-rear-license-plate-bulbs.html I've owned many cars with bi-xenon headlights, which use a single xenon lamp on each side, with a shield that moves to go from low to high beams. They all also had an additional halogen bulb that illuminated when your high beams were on, which serves 2 purposes: for use when headlights are off and you flash-to-pass (since HIDs take too long to warm up to be effective in this application), and to provide supplemental light when the HID headlights are on.
HIDs are a bad choice for hi beams for the two reasons you mentioned, and also they would be incredibly blinding to oncoming drivers.
"Yes" to both, skipper. I modified my Phaeton with the dual-xenon headlight assemblies available on ROW-spec vehicles. While I didn't have the car long enough to speak towards the longevity of the bulbs, I do know that frequent on-off cycles are very hard on xenon bulbs & ballasts (which is why the bi-xenon with the shutter was developed). Additionally, there was a 3-4 second delay between the bulbs firing and full brightness. This rendered them near useless for flash-to-pass and when travelling on two lane country roads where oncoming traffic is sporadic.
