So I got HIDS from DDM and was told that when I start the car, the headlights should be turned off. So what I do is when I turn off the car at night, I switch it to parking lights so when I start the car, the HIDS don't come on. Is this true?

 

....or you could just turn the lights off completely when the car is off...

 

I have my light on at all times, I run them in the day and night. When I start the car they turn on. 6 months, 12k miles No issues. Cheapo Ebay Kit too.

 

^^ Same here.. I run my hids all day and night and never turn them off. I've run pretty much every color and never had any issues or flickering from my cheap ebay kit.

 

Oh ok, so most of you have them turned on.

Cuz I heard that it has something to do with HIDs take a lot of power so you might run your batteries.

 

You only have one battery. They won't drain your battery any quicker then a stereo. I always turn my lights off to parking lights when I turn the car off.

 

HIDs draw a lot of current when they start up, but the extra draw won't ruin your battery. If you have a weak battery you may have trouble starting your car and igniting the HIDs at the same time though.

 

it really has nothing to do with your batteries, most HID companies will tell you to do this because they say it shortens the life of the bulbs. I turn mine on to parking lights when i out of my car for an extended period of time. that extra 2 secs to turn them on and off doesnt kill me and because i run just parking lights most of time, unless its dark.

 

wow I didn't know so many people left their parking lights on all the time lol or I'm just crazy..

I've had the same HID bulbs for almost 3 years now with no issues *knock on wood* and have always turned my lights completely off during the day and when the car is not running.

 

i leave my parking lights on because i like to have my fogs on!

 

on my xb2, i had to keep the lights off when i started the car. if not they would shut off. weird, maybe someone could explain this.

 

I want to get a 4300K HID kit for my 08 tC and I have a pretty good idea with what brand I'm going with. Firstly I don't want to do any projector retrofitting as the low beams are already projector types. Anyone with a difference of opinion, care to explain why? But the main question I have is, for you all that have installed HIDs in your tC's, where did you mount the ballasts? I don't want to tape them or twist tie them to anything. I want to sturdily mount them somewhere in the engine compartment so that they will absolutely never move. Firewall possibly?

 

Wow dude, there is an ENTIRE sticked thread that will answer all your questions. Seriously....

On a slightly serious note, most people put their ballasts near the light itself. I wouldn't want to extend the wires clear to the firewall just for a "sturdy" mount. You simply won't get one on the firewall to mount well. I've got mine "taped" with a double sided adhesive to the front frame rails (loose term) under the headlights. They have been stuck there with no problem for 3 years.

As for your question about projectors, can you rephrase it. It looks like you're questioning why the 08+ headlights have projectors?

 

Sorry I'm a noob when it comes to this sort of thing so please excuse me.

But no what I was saying was that I didn't want to retrofit different projectors into my headlights because my low beams are already projectors from the factory. However these projectors, according to Scion, were made for halogen bulbs and they "would not recommend" me installing HIDs, probably because of the simple fact that they are illegal. That much I'm not worried about. What I am worried about is the cut off and beam pattern if I did install 4300K HIDs in my stock projectors. I want it to look as OEM as possible. That much of the entire HID thing is what I lack info in.

This guy (http://home.comcast.net/~matoolie/) installed 4300Ks in his stock 4Runner projectors and they seem to have turned out great. This is what I want for my 08 tC. I came to this forum for advice because I'm new to this sort of thing. Please save the criticism.

 

You won't have problems with HID's in the stock projectors. Most people on here run it that way without modifications. I've run HID's in mine since I got the car. Cut off isn't as great as a high end car with true HID's, but its not horrible. You can always adjust your headlights aiming to slightly compensate.

 

I turn off off my HIDs when I park, and let the auto off turn off the parking lights for me. When I get back to my car the parking lights come on when I put the key it but I wait until after starting the engine to ignite my HIDs. If i turn on the HIDs before I start my engine, they die during cranking :-/

not sure if this is normal, I even have an expensive kit lol