Lifetime LED Install and Review In Progress

Didn't realize the tacoma has a separate bulb for daytime running lights and regular headlights

 

BTW, off topic but here's a quick article on DTRL and safety. Don't disable your DTRL unless you are okay with turning off safety features. Some people are. In dalylight DTRL are good but at twilight when most people forget to turn on their lights they are a life saver.

http://www.usroads.com/journals/rmej/9912/rm991203.htm

On the Tacoma your daytime running lights are connected to the flashers. They use the same bulbs to the inside of the headlight. Hence they are on the same circuit. The headlights are not.

What you are saying is that the daytime running lights significantly effects the voltage between two unconnected circuits. That simply is not true. If it was then anytime my DTRL were on my lights would dim and my ECU would throw codes.

 

I'm not taking about amber marker lights, I'm taking about the headlights running dim automatically during the daytime(daytime running lights). Nothing to do with flashers or marker lights.

 

The led headlight replaces the headlight bulb, part 9 on the diagram below. During the daytime it is illuminated, just not as bright as if using your headlights at night(...daytime running lights). While in this mode of operation a lower voltage is applied to the headlight than if they were operating while"on"at night as regular or high beams. The led headlights don't like this reduced voltage condition apparently which causes a lot of the failures according to the thread.

 

A daytime running lamp (DRL, also daytime running light) is an automotive lighting and bicycle lighting device on the front of a roadgoing motor vehicle or bicycle,[1] automatically switched on when the vehicle is moving forward, emitting white, yellow, or amber light to increase the conspicuity of the vehicle during daylight conditions.

On the Tacoma the DTRL are the amber marker lights on the inside edge of the headlight. In Canada DTRL must be on anytime the vehicle is on, it is the law, and the inside marker lights are always on automatically when I'm in my Tacoma therefor those are the DTRL.

 

On my Tacoma the headlights are either on or off. At no point on my 2013 was the light run in a dimmed mode as the DTRL. You are worrying about a problem that does not apply to the Tacoma.

 

In my wifes '11 t4r on the stalk that controls headlight operation one of the positions is "DRL". If the selector is at that position the headlights come on, but are dim. When the selector is rotated to the "on" position the headlights are at their normal operational state. When I'm saying drl/dtrl I'm referring to the condition of the headlights where they are on, but dim as most late model vehicles now do during the daytime. Hence daytime running lights.

The amber lights you are taking about are the signal/ marker lights and are not related to what I'm taking about. Not trying to argue here, just trying to share some info for people who have or are thinking of getting these.

 

T4R is not a Tacoma.

On the Tacoma, or at least on my 2013 Tacoma, DTRL's which are always on up here use the amber light on the inside edge of the headlight. At no point is partial current or low voltage fed to the headlights to achieve a DTRL on my Tacoma.

I'm trying to share information relevant to the Tacoma, considering we are on Tacomaworld. Not trying to be a dick either.

 

I don't realize that, I just assumed they were similar. My 1st gen had none of that nonsense. My current fj has the headlights come on dim during the daytime automatically, my wife's truck had the option to have them on or not during the daytime.

 

Hey guys,
To drag this back on topic... I contacted Lifetime LEDs for a replacement for my failing lights and they are replacing them with a Gen2 version... I'm not sure if anyone knows about these yet... or has them?
The don't seem to have the separate driver (which I'm pretty sure is what is failing on mine).

https://www.lifetimeledlights.com/led_lights/h4_led_bulb_h4_led_headlight_bulbs

Anyway, when I get these I'll update with how they are working out.

 

I think someone tried those about 20 pages back. They were a bit brighter but had the same issues.

 

20 pages back... this damn thread is too long.

 

Yeah. These lights are very debatable if nothing else. Great technology, but the reliability just isn't there yet. I doubt they are failing because of the fans. Even on my dead light the fan still works. I think the headlight output is so high in such a small space that a high failure rate with current LED technology is just the way things go.

 

It's only long because of the incredible amount of failed LEDs. If everybody had functioning items, it'd be a lot shorter.

 

The LED bulbs themselves did not fail, nor did the fans... the external drivers did, well one of them did. The driver's side light flickers badly, if I switch drivers the other side flickers. The driver is what regulates the current to the LEDs. They are cheaply made little things and overheat badly. This is also what causes the reported radio interference, poor design and no shielding. Its the weak link in the system.

I'm not defending Lifetime, but hey at least they are replacing them and using the failures to improve the design. I'll reserve passing judgement on the new design until I run them for a while. But honestly, if I get over a year out of a set and they replace them for free... that's a lot cheaper than replacing Silverstars every year at $60 a pop.

I look at headlights like tires... its a part that gets replaced at regular intervals. I've never owned a car that I didn't have to replace bulbs on, some far more often than others. The Tacoma isn't bad electrically in the grand scheme of things.

 

I'm on my second set of them, if that tells you anything.

 

I'm just upset, and unreasonably so, that Lifetime used to just send out replacements and now they don't. I understand that they have to do this because people were cheating the system but for me it sucks. I gave away my headlight bulbs to a friend with an FJ who is pretty poor to help him out since one of his was dead. Now if I want to send mine back I'll have to go buy $60 worth of cheap headlights, plus the shipping on the broken lights, to tide me over until the new LED's arrive. I'll likely do it at some point, but it is a bit of a runaround.

On my lights the LED went out. Both fogs still have one light/diode working and the other out. I'm sure the driver is a likely failure as well.

 

It's not the light themselves but feather just cheap components. For the price if rigid made headlights I'd but them right now without any questions.

 

I just can't wait to start fresh with projectors in the 2016. I'm not even pulling the Lifetime's out of my '13 when I unload it.

 

Sadly they would probably be hideous!