It will help you to go online to the Toyota Owners website and download the owners manual & maintenance manual. You can also input your VIn number and download/printout a list of what features and options your HL originally came with.

This site (Toyotanation) is an excellent resource with helpful members, but manuals are invaluable to learn the basics of your HL.

 

Thanks! I saw there are only Low and High and it appears Daylight is same bulb as High.

 

If the bulb is not dimmable, it likely won't come on as daytime running lights as the voltage will likely be too low. It will work as high beams. Not sure how long the bulb will last with low voltage applied all the time.

 

I have an idea...just upgrade the low beam bulbs to LED and leave the Highs/Days as is, or replace with them new halogens?

 

my daylight running light will now run same brightness as high beam? This is ok?

NO IT'S NOT OK!!!!! The idiots out there that do this need to be strung up. And it's illegal (at lest if a cop bothers to pull you over). Even in daytime running around with full high beam on is blinding to oncoming drivers. Makes me wish my car was equipped with a gatling gun to blow those vehicles off the road.
Another issue is people who buy low quality LED bulbs with tons of light scatter and fry the eyeballs of oncoming drivers at night. LED as a technology is fine. I put them in my own car and my RAV4 Hybrid came with them. However I made sure first, my HL has projector headlights and they're aimed correctly. I kept regular bulbs in the high beams because LED is not compatible to the Toyota PWM voltage in the DRL system they use.
Honestly with properly aimed high quality LED bulbs I rarely ever have a need to turn my highs on. The LEDs do an excellent job and I don't blind anyone and people don't have to flash me.
Trouble with LEDs is people don't use them responsibly

 

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. Now that I think of it, I have been the victim of what you described. So the dimmer I have would actually power LEDs for daylight (asking only out of curiosity, I won't run them)? LetteringGuy and a mechanic friend said that the lower power won't even light them for daylight use (?).

 

Toyota does not actually "reduce" the voltage to the high beams for DRL. Instead they reduce the "effective" voltage by using PWM or Pulse Width Modulation. An effect of normal bulbs is they will continue to "glow" after removing power then "ramp up" when power is reapplied. So what Toyota (and many others I might add) does, is use pulsed full power. You don't see it pulsing but it is. This allows not having to use a large resistor which gets hot, burns out, and draws a lot of power. But, it will not work with LED or HID type bulbs. Some LEDs are so "fast" they wil actually flash if you install one. So what some people do is use a relay system to bypass the DRL circuit and run the LED high beams at full power. These people are subhuman IMO. So all kidding aside it's not a good way to go.
It's why modern vehicles with factory full LED lighting will use secondary light strips or such to make DRL and some simply switch on the Low Beam lights which is not blinding and perfectly acceptable.

 

i came here to say that but Underthehood beat me to it.

you can "dim" LEDS but its not just reducing power. its essentially turning them off and on reallllly quickly. its why some cars in the rear view look like there headlights are moving all around. (bouncing, floating, flickering). its from cheap LED lights. the other option is to use another set of LEDs on the same board that are smaller or fewer than the high bean chipset.

its similar to an electric stove. on high, the burner comes on full and stays on. on medium, the burner comes on full for 2 seconds and then off for 2 seconds...etc. on low, the burner comes on full for 2 seconds and then off for 8 seconds...etc. (the time is only for ease of reference and may cycle differently in real life).

you can often see when the car behind you has LEDs in a Halogen housing by flipping the rear view mirror to the night setting. (the little tab on the bottom of the mirror in older cars). the lights will have a vertical shadow up the middle and two bright sections, one on each side.

 

fongster,
I need to chime in here too. No offense and I realize you are simply trying to improve the lighting on your rig. But the sad fact is LEDs are no better than Halogens. Save your time and money and stick with what Toyota originally put in your car.

I went down the same path and ended up removing some pricey LED bulbs I tried and went back to Halogen. Yep.
I didn't like the LEDs. The color. The edginess. The bounce-back glare. Needless to say, opposing traffic did not appreciate the LEDs either.

Here is a post I made on another site with my stance on the subject & some details on LED, HID vs Halogen.

Good luck, and all the best,
Hayabusafalcon.... 😎

Headlight information here.... - AudiWorld Forums

 

Save your time and money and stick with what Toyota originally put in your car.

This if you have reflector housings.
As does IIRC pre-2010 Highlander. Reflectors housings and LED are a bad mix. If you have projector than Haya's advice is not correct. Her to tell ya in my 2011, it made it so much better. Beyond belief how much easier it is to drive that car at night. Especially on our dark back roads and the like.
But (and this is a HUGE BUT), use QUALITY bulbs, AIM YOUR LIGHTS PROPERLY! You will be rewarded with a pleasant driving experience. But, DO NOT USE them in a reflector housing. They're FAR too over powering for proper beam control and way too much light scatter.
Honestly I love mine and will not go back to halogen. They've already saved my bacon a couple times due to wildlife I would have never seen with halogen bulbs. I will be looking for a mod to be able to use them in my high beams though, I will need to find a way to disable using the high beams as DRL so stay tuned. I know it will mean adding some type of a strip lighting or such but I am sure I will be able to find a way to do this tastefully and without hurting other drivers

 

Save your time and money and stick with what Toyota originally put in your car.

This if you have reflector housings.
As does IIRC pre-2010 Highlander. Reflectors housings and LED are a bad mix. If you have projector than Haya's advice is not correct. Her to tell ya in my 2011, it made it so much better. Beyond belief how much easier it is to drive that car at night. Especially on our dark back roads and the like.
But (and this is a HUGE BUT), use QUALITY bulbs, AIM YOUR LIGHTS PROPERLY! You will be rewarded with a pleasant driving experience. But, DO NOT USE them in a reflector housing. They're FAR too over powering for proper beam control and way too much light scatter.
Honestly I love mine and will not go back to halogen. They've already saved my bacon a couple times due to wildlife I would have never seen with halogen bulbs. I will be looking for a mod to be able to use them in my high beams though, I will need to find a way to disable using the high beams as DRL so stay tuned. I know it will mean adding some type of a strip lighting or such but I am sure I will be able to find a way to do this tastefully and without hurting other drivers

under:
Yes, I was referring to standard headlights with reflector base. I did not know early 2nd Gen HLs's could be had with projector lens headlights. Hmm.
So, LED's work well with projector lenses? I did not know that...Thx for the education, Haya....

 

https://jalopnik.com/why-most-led-headlight-upgrades-dont-really-work-an-ex-1843070472

Why LEDs should not be run in Halogen reflectors

This forum is awash with mis-information on lighting. Rather than trying to reiterate the same points repetitively to no end, I thought it would be...

www.tacomaworld.com

3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

3rd Gen Tacoma HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights This thread covers upgrading the 3rd gen Tacoma H11 headlights and looking at the...

www.tacomaworld.com

 

A stock halogen bulb in the 3rd gen H11 projector maintains intensity 59% (1.59x) more effectively than the these LEDs over a distance of
42'.
Aka proof that LEDs in halogen projectors do not project correctly and "lack throw", even when normalizing for output level differences.

Automotive manufactures will utilize specialized light assemblies precision designed from the beginning for a LED to get excellent projection performance with their LED light source. Since the H11 housing is not an LED light assembly and is designed to collect and projection an omni-directional halogen light source from the center of the assembly, the LED must try to conform to mimic a halogen. While LEDs are excellent performing light sources with many advantages, the one thing they do not do well is mimic an omni-directional halogen headlight bulb. LEDs are a directional light source and the halogen assembly is designed for a uniform omni-directional light source. You can point an LED, but you cannot point a light bulb.

Directionallized light causes a non-uniform light pattern, giving unintended dark and hot spots in the pattern. While many bidirectional LEDs now put their chips in the correct X and Y position to attempt mimicking a filament, they are far wider than a halogen filament making the light source offset from center. As minuet changes in shrinking a halogen filament have significant positive performance effects, considerably growing the light source and offsetting it from center has the opposite effect. Focus and hot spot is greatly reduced or lost all together. This loss of focus causes significant glare and scatter in other assemblies, but due to the projectors internal light shield, glare is controlled. Focus and hot spot is now lost meaning the result is loss of distance projection or what people often refer to as lack of throw. Distance projection is the primary purpose of the headlight. This loss of ability to project distance shifts the light pattern toward the vehicle and causes a large output increase immediately in front of the vehicle.

This makes for great looking photos and even initial impression in the vehicle, before realizing the distance projection has been lost. To further compound the problem, high immediate foreground light causes pupils to constrict and limit the ability to see distance in the dark. This is a fundamental geometry and physics problem with using an LED in a halogen assembly. Some may suggest that LEDs need to be adjusted up to fix the distance projection, but that in no way addresses the focus projection issue, instead just adds dangerous glare to oncoming drivers. LEDs and halogens could not be more fundamentally different. Even though the LED light source is brighter, the combination of non-uniform light pattern with loss of focus and distance projection running in an incompatible housing results in poor lighting performance. But this is not the fault of the LED, it is the result of using an LED in headlight assembly designed for a halogen light source.

3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

3rd Gen Tacoma HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights This thread covers upgrading the 3rd gen Tacoma H11 headlights and looking at the...

www.tacomaworld.com

 

zaza, based on your comments, it is all making sense now. Essentially, one does not necessarily improve lighting performance by simply throwing LEDs into a standard reflector can. The reflector needs to be designed for LEDs. Aha!
Thanks!

Hayabusafalcon....

 

zaza, based on your comments, it is all making sense now. Essentially, one does not necessarily improve lighting performance by simply throwing LEDs into a standard reflector can. The reflector needs to be designed for LEDs. Aha!
Thanks!

Hayabusafalcon....

Exactly, the problem is one of geometry and the design of the headlight housing's optics. Because filaments and LEDs have different size and directionality, putting LEDs in a halogen housing just won't produce the intended beam pattern, which has stringent requirements.

It's the same story whether the halogen housing is a reflector or projector. The projector has a cutoff screen that helps avoid some of the glare, but the geometry problems remain. The result is too little light down the road, and too much light in the foreground, which further restricts the human eye's long distance vision. The latter is ironic since at first glance, the undesirable foreground light actually makes many think the LED is doing a better job.

I would love to upgrade to LEDs, but unless the housing is designed for LEDs as in new vehicles equipped from the factory with LEDs, or LEDs bulb manufacturers somehow change their thickness or directional properties, retrofitting LEDs is just not a great idea unfortunately.

 

Thing is, I don't think I have ever seen a vehicle with OEM LED headlights (on the low beams) and equipped with reflector housings. They MIGHT exist but to date I've neve seen one. I don't think the output characteristic of LED is conducive to LED tech.

 

Don't put ledin low beams

Just don't be that guy

Fogs or high beams

Diode dynamics

 

Don't put ledin low beams

Just don't be that guy

Fogs or high beams

Diode dynamics

Apparently you are "that guy". In LOW beams, (PROJECTOR TYPE ONLY) they work just fine. No blinding or anything. THERE IS NO SAFE WAY TO GET THEM TO WORK IN HIGH BEAMS. Due to the DRL being the high beam. Fogs work fine as well.

 

Ok can someone recommend a replacement halogen bulb for a 2012 Highlander SE? I do know it has projector headlights.

 

Halogens......HID's......LED's......

I just put on sunglasses, attach a white cane w/ a red tip to the front bumper & DRIVE VERY RIGIDLY !! [old George Carlin joke....mighta been from his 'Toledo Windowbox' album]