M-LED 2.0 retrofit into a ’01 Tacoma

I have purchased the Morimoto M-LED 2.0 retrofit kit to install into my 1st Gen Tacoma. I also have the Motocontrol Bi-Xenon H4/9003 relay harness.


The issue I am having is when I plug everything up. With the truck on Low beams, the Projectors are in High beam. If I remove the high beam wire connection, then it reverts to Low beam.

With parts left over, I can us a 9006 pig tails directly to the Factory H4 socket… I can’t get both beams to work at the same time.


Anyone have any thoughts on this?

@TRSAndrew, any input?

 

You probably need to swap the wires in the headlight harness. 1st gen tacomas use a ground switched system. So you have 1 12v+ and 2 grounds (one for low and one for high).

That is if your truck doesn't have DRLs. If you have DRLs, then the wiring is different.

 

I don't have DRLs.

Is there a harness that I can use? or how do I adopt the Morimoto MotoControl wire harness?

 

You’ll have to test this if it’s the case, but there should be instructions in the motocontrol install manual. You need to physically switch 2 of the wires in your driver side headlight harness on your truck, not the motocontrol harness. The pins can be removed and swapped around.

 

Here is the install manual, look at the very last part. Again, you need to check with a multimeter to see if this is the case on your truck. http://www.morimotohid.com/media/custom/upload/Harness-MotoControl.pdf

Their diagram shows 2 12v+ wires, but tacomas have 2 negative wires and 1 12v+.

 

There isn't a change if I flip the Blue & White, high beam stays on. If I remove either one of the 9006 inputs, the light turns off.
(I have 2 MotoControls and both do the same thing).

So I probably need to build a custom harness that takes the Toyota double negative H4 and converts it to "Standard" High/Low 9006.

 

So I just looked up how the Bi-LEDs work, and it appears that they actually have dual intensity. So they act like the stock dual filament bulbs in tacomas (correct me if I'm wrong).
So you have a low beam + and -. And a separate high beam + and -.

The motocontrol harness converts the 3 wire stock ground switched setup to a 4 wire setup, but it is designed to be used with a solenoid projector. At this point I would get someone from TRS on the phone and tell them that you have ground switched h4 stock setup, bi-led 2.0 projectors, and a motocontrol h4 harness.

When I installed my HID bi-xenon projectors, I tried tapping into the 12V wire on the output of the motocontrol high beam to trigger some aux lights. This didn't work based on the the way the motocontrol harness was outputting power. I believe it was sending pulses instead of a constant signal.

So yes, you are correct that you need to convert the ground switched system to a positive switched system. Think about it like having a separate high beam and low beam lamp.
The MotoControl harness is supposed to do this though. Are you sure you have the high beam wires (out of the moto control harness) correct? It sounds like the motocontrol harness is outputting power to the high beam circuit when in low beam. What happens when you switch on the high beams?

Posting pictures of your wire connections will help.

 

I have the factory H4 plug, into the MotoControl H4 that goes into the relay control and then does it thing and splits out into 2 leads ("Ballast" & High beam). I plug the Ballast into Low and and High into High. If I flip to high beams, nothing happens.

These are set-up like a HID Projector and the high beam is a shield. I don't think the LED power output changes between low & high modes.

I tagged Andrew, who is with The Retrofit Source in hoping he can shed some light. I also posted on HID Planet and haven't gotten any responses.

 

Ok got it. Do you have a voltmeter? Measure the voltage coming out of the motocontrol high beam connector.
Here is the wiring for the Driver side headlight (I have also attached the full diagram):
Pin 1 = Red-Green Low beam ground
Pin 2 = Red-Yellow High beam ground
Pin 3 = 12V+ from the headlight fuse

What I originally suggested is that you may need to switch this R-Y and R-G connection. You should do this on the moto control harness, not the truck. I apologize if you already tried this, I just wanted to make sure you are switching the correct wires.


Almost all image diagrams that you come up with on google are not correct for Toyota H4 wiring. Most of them imply that the low and high beam wires are 12v+, but they are actually grounds.
Take this one for instance, on your truck, the spot labeled negative, is actually positive.

 

Well I went out and played with them some more, this time I grabbed my old EK Civic retrofit (Mini-H1) headlights and plugged them into the MotoControl that I was planning on using in the Tacoma. They fired up in Low Beam, then I could flip the high beams and highs worked.

If I flipped the blue & white wires, it would blow the fuse as soon as I hit Highs.

Conclusion: Did I get a bad batch of MLED2.0s?

 

This really makes me think the solenoid on the projector is wired backwards. Can you confirm by jumping it with 12v to the battery?

 

I tried that and the Projector is working fine. I connected Low+ to battery and L/H- to battery (no Highs on). Then I took the High+ and tapped the positive terminal and the highs functioned.

Which led me to the next thing. Meter the MotoControl outputs. I think I have found the issue; MotoControl has a .5v 'leak' on the high beam (full 12v when the Highs are on).

So if I take a "HD Relay - 9006" and add it into to the MotoControl high beam path, I'll get Low with functional highs.

 

I do know that the motocontrol has some “smart” circuitry to sense what the input polarity is (ground switched vs position switched)

 

I'm going to give TRS a call on Monday to see what they say.

I'm wondering if they 'secretly' redesigned the MotoControl after they released the MLED2.0s (mine are from 2016 & early 2018).
1.0 MLED uses a plunger/soleniod
2.0 MLED uses a small electric motor

 

if it does have a voltage leak, it could just be that the electric motor is too sensitive.

 

PROBLEM RESOLVED!

I spoke to TRS and after a few phone calls and emails, they suggested that I purchase the “LumaWerx H4/9003 Switching Ground Polarity Module” from HID Kit Pro.

Link: https://hidkitpros.com/shop/h49003-switching-ground-polarity-plug-play-module/

Now, time to build the LED Retrofit.

 

Outcome, I am VERY happy!!!

The projectors are level and that road does go up to the left.

 

Get some DD SAE fogs and aim them a bit wide and it will fill the sides easily.

 

ooo, I like those. I wonder how 4 across the front look on a Trail Gear bumper; I'd run a pair of SAE Fogs (always on) and pair of Spot or SAE Drivings (wired to high beams).

 

Bringing up older thread here, but did you end up using the h4 motocontrol harness or just use the LumaWerx H4/9003 Switching Ground Polarity Module? If you did use the motocontrol, how did you end up routing the cables?