I actually have the morimoto ballsts as well (their 55 watt white ballasts) from TRS.
Driver side:

Its mounted to the bolt that holds the fuse box to the chassis. I just bent the metal bracket on the ballast to make it fit.

passenger side:

I attached it to a bolt that holds the relay box to the chassis.

Wiring:
If you look at the driver side pic, there is a bar that goes across the battery. On the right side of that bar (just out of sight on the right of the pic) I attached the TRS wire-harness to that.

It had easy access to both battery terminals, and the driver side headlight input socket, though the wires were just barely long enough to reach the ballasts. I ran the wires from the harness to the passenger side ballast over the radiator, along the edge of the engine bay. Ziptie'ing it to things to keep the wire from directly contacting the radiator itself (or any hot components). Tucked all the wiring on the driver side below the battery.

Also this is an 08, not sure if it has the same bolts in the engine bay as a 2011+, but the ones I used to mount should be the same.

Edit: this is now the wiring setup for the lights (and yes all 6 relays are used for the lights)

 

Adding to the DIY sticky, thanks, sweeney! :thumbsup:

 

Sweeneyp thanks for the detailed write up. I just finished my install and all the attachment points were the same on the 2011 as well. Everything fired up OK the first time. I can't wait to see how it looks tonight on my way to work.:thumbsup:

 

I was wondering if you guys suggest me getting the 55Watt kit or 35W? i know all my Acura's i owned come standard with 35W so would the 55W be too bright? i'm planning on using 4300K for my bulbs as well for my 2011 HL. Also any recommendations for specific brands to use?

 

Stick with 35watts. OEM HID is 35 watts. If your foreground lighting is too bright (by using 55 watts) it will kill your distance vision. Also you are using this in a halogen projector, which concentrates the light output. Halogen projectors have a narrow beam patterns (more light is dead center, halogens don't put out enough lumens to made a wide beam pattern like HID's) than HID projectors. Now I personally use 55 watts, but I'm using it in a HID projector that makes a real wide beam, spreading the light output so its not to bright directly in front of me. If you put 55 watts in the H11 projector, its just going to dump it all right in front of you and kill your distance vision.

As for brands, I like The Retrofit Source. Their customer service is outstanding if you should run into a problem, and their ballasts/bulbs are better than the other cheap HID companies out there (DDMTuning for example). But they are a little more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

If your worried about blinding people, the wattage isn't necessarily as important as the aiming because its within a projector. Just make sure the drop of the headlight is correct at 25 ft (2" drop per 25 feet) and you should be fine.

 

Stick with 35w, IMO 55w would be way too bright for driving at night.

 

thank you very much for your assistance on this. I figured that would be the problem and do not want to blind oncoming traffic as well.

 

Sweeneyp - did you mount the projector housing into your stock oem headlights housings?

 

If you look in the DIY section there is a link to his retrofit and how he did it. Good stuff in there! I'm about to take on the same retro here soon.

 

Thanks DarksideHL.

Yes S281, I retrofitted my headlights with HID Projectors (specifically (from The Retrofit Source) Morimoto Mini D2S 2.0 Projectors, though I plan to upgrade to high end OEM ones soon for better performance).

Here is that thread DarksideHL was talking about
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...8-morimoto-mini-ds2-projector-headlight-retrofit-how-pic-heavy.html#post3614655

crix868, you should like that kit. 4300k is the brightest temperature (in terms of lumen output) for HIDs (plus its the OEM color). I recently switched from 5000k back down to 4300k because I found it was too white/faint blue for my taste, and noticed a slight increase in output. Though that may be because of old bulbs vs new 4300k ones.

 

hey guys just wanted to throw in a great place to buy HID kits. DDMtuning.com has a 35w kit that ive used without issue on all of my cars and motorcycle. They have the nice, sealed, slim balast and there is also a 55w option.

If you are looking to wash out a certain color bulb... say the 6000k is a little too blue you can whiten it out by using the 55w balast. I dont recommend using the 55w for fog housings though, it would prob be too hot.

 

Did you guys need to make any modifications while fitting the hid bulbs in the stock housing? Ie bending the wire clips that hold the bulb in, or anything else?

 

nope

 

Which brand are you using cutie? Where did you get them?

 

Morimoto there is another thread about this subject with more details,let me know if you can't find it and I'll put the link here

 

Just read about 20 different threads about the whole pnp hid, projectors, light cutoff, k rating etc. I'm now ready for a nap! I think I'll give the morimoto a shot with the stock projector housing (2012 HL) and see what the wife and I think.

 

:lol:

 

Two questions

Rootsman,
Two quick questions:

1). How do you like the HIDs with the stock projector housings?
2). Did you need the order the CAN-BUS wiring harness, or the standard heavy-duty harness?

Thanks in advance.

 

Rootsman,
Two quick questions:

1). How do you like the HIDs with the stock projector housings?
2). Did you need the order the CAN-BUS wiring harness, or the standard heavy-duty harness?

Thanks in advance.

1. The difference between stock halogens and the HID's is a welcome upgrade. I found that after a few months with the HID's the illumination actually improved. From what I understand the bulbs need some breaking in time so I guess that explains that.

2. No need for the CAN-BUS. Stick with the standard harness that comes with the kit.

 

Vbpiper,
I have a pretty good spread of illumination side to side though keep in mind that this was just a simple 10 min. plug and play job whereas sweenyp did a complete retrofit which will always beat pnp hands down. Even though the 2011+ Highlanders have projectors instead of reflectors that what we have are halogen and not HID projectors.
Regarding the bulbs I took the advice gleaned from these forums and stuck with the 4300k bulbs which is what OEM HID vehicles come with and which give the most lumens of all HID bulbs.

 

Just got these Morimoto for my 2012. I didnt get the Anti Flicker Module chip adapter is it needed.? (H11) (5500K) Good No Good.?

 

Don't need it for low beam.