I notice the HID light from the Prius picture is different from my other car. They look like standard reflectors with xenon bulbs or something. Are the HID on the Prius running off a ballast and are they different from the ones pictured? *Actually, I know they run off a controller/ballast. I'm just curious why they don't look like the usual HID lights.
there are two types of HID lights. Each one is "enclosure"... the first is the one you have pictured. it's in a reflector casing that has a lens on the front. the prius uses and open cup that pulls in and out of the housing.. this allows for control of the high beam reflector area. the prius HIDs do have high voltage feeds so they can "start"... i don't know if this is a ballast or special inverter... if you really want to learn the prius.. go to the Toyota technical page and pay 10 dollars so you can download every bit of information about the car. Or... someone will post something... usually pretty shortly.
I think what you are seeing is the color temperature. The Pri HID are a warm to neutral color. The light in your picture is a cool bluish color. The blue color is popular, the warm color works better for actual driving.
I'm referring to the assembly, not the color of the light. It's different from what I normal think of as HID.
so.. you're curious why they don't have a focal lens in front of them?... probably because halogens won't work in that type of unit.. (not very well?) while this unit is utilized for HID's and Halogens. ...to save money?
That's the thing... most people assume that projectors = HIDs. uh uh. It's just a type of lens and as nothing to do with the source of light. Both halogens and HIDs can be housed a multi-reflector (e.g. Prius) or projector (e.g. Audi A4). However, do be aware that there are slight differences in both units depending on the source. In other words, a projector HID setup is slightly different from a projector halogen. Ditto the multi-reflector lens. This is why you might have glare if you try to retrofit. A projector lens will have less glare than a multi-reflector because it has a semi-circle piece of glass that focusses (projects) the light. This differents from the multi-reflector which has multiple reflective surfaces that bend the light and focus it onto the road. That said, projector lens with halogen setup may have a "squirrel flap" (no idea why it's called that) to allow light to shine up to illuminate street signs. With an HID, the light that goes through the gap is much brighter and therefore may be blinding to oncoming drivers if they were just at the right angle.
None of the Prius have projector headlights. You're just seeing the shield that reflects the light back from the tip of the bulb to the back of the headlight housing.
