DIY License Plate Light Disable-In-Reverse Harness (DIR)

Yup, please add me to your list.

 

I'm interested in this as well. Thanks!

 

I'm thinking once we get things stabilized I will start a legitimate BST thread with information on how to order. I'll set a target of President's Day weekend for having that figured out?

In the meantime, I'll think about whether or not it's fair to honor order of interest from this thread. On the one hand it seems fair to give priority to early interest, on the other hand a bunch of posts reserving a spot don't add much value to this specific thread which is more about the design and how best to accomplish the task and a DIY for anyone wishing to go on their own than a purchase interest thread. I'm leaning to the BST being a reset on priority b/c this isn't some must have option and it seems less likely people are going to be super bummed about "losing their place in line".

I plan to build them in small batches and offer for sale only once I have the next batch completed and tested. I'd like to wait until some sort of final iteration + any refinements @Puppypunter ends up with from initial prototypes.

I will post a link to the BST thread in here once it is ready.

If some of you feel strongly about reserving interest, perhaps someone else can take the lead on a new thread only for DIR interest/priority? If someone takes the lead on that I will then honor it by tagging the next X in line once a batch of X is ready within the BST thread.

Hopefully that's agreeable to everyone.

 

Yeah, sorry, didn’t mean to hijack anything. I have 12 more coming up, so I’ll comb through those interested and should be able to knock those out. So, in the mean time, watch this space for a link to a new space?

 

Nice job ..kinda of a overkill . Easiest solution would of been just put the stock bulbs back in . Having brighter license plate bulbs has no real purpose except for cops when they pull you over lol .

 

Very true. And, honestly, the total tails (brighter reverse) decreased the impact of the LED plate lights. I fully agree with your assessment. Part of this mod is just because it's fun to do and doesn't really hurt anything. It's also a pretty easy install and super easy to bypass.

It's interesting that other vehicles offer the ability to disable license plate lighting when in reverse.

Personally I think this was a small design miss by Toyota, the plate light plastic covers should have a shroud to keep glare from reaching the camera and direct light only onto the license plate. Since I don't own a 3d printer nor do I have heaps of time to tinker with that, a quick harness to disable seemed amenable to me.

It is, undoubtedly, unabashedly, without question, complete and total overkill That's kind of the point I think.

 

They make a big difference with the stock bulbs as well. I will post some pictures this weekend if I get a chance. The problem is definitely made worse with LEDs though. As to making the lights brighter, that isn’t why I did it. I did it for the color temperature. I also installed a dimmer (side note to @daveeasa that might be an option to offer. I will leave this thread the 101 course though) to correct the brightness. Even with the brightness turned down though, there is still visible glare. That has to do with the placement and angle of the lights more than anything. And to the point of overkill, I am a guy that has 3 relays, 4 diodes, and 2 fuses hooked up just so the little lights on my switch do what I want them to do, so overkill is kind of my thing

 

Oh man! Something just occurred to me. What about anytime reverse cameras? I often back up in neutral using the camera. Of course, most times that I care about glare, I am in reverse.

 

I have a sloped driveway where I park nose-in. A few times I've been lazy and rolled in neutral. Not having the reverse lights _and_ having to press a button to get the camera up make it more convenient to simply push in the clutch pedal and pop into R and then you have things the way you want.

But, yes, for creeping out of the house without others knowing, full stealth mode, no lights on even, to get that beer/cigs/ice cream, the DIR doesn't help

 

LoL!

It just occurred to me how much I do it. It took me a long while to finally wire in the switch and now I kick myself for not doing it sooner. I believe that most times that I will appreciate the harness will be when I am in gear.

 

I assume best to keep it on the reverse circuit. I use an anytime rear camera 100% when towing trailers. Wouldn't want the plate lights off in that case I think.

 

Agreed. Also, with the anytime reverse on, I can just click in to gear to shut them off.

Tons of possibilities.


I have used the anytime reverse to check when towing before. Very handy there.

 

If you have the anytime backup camera, you could wire it to this as well to turn the license plate light off anytime the camera is selected. You’d have to get a wire from the head unit/or switch to it (switch is probably preferable). It’s doable, and I’m happy to help on that if anyone wanted to do it. But I would consider it more of a custom build (one you can definitely DIY if you wanted). Feel free to PM me if that’s something you are looking to do.

 

The you wouldn't have a need for this Mod. Glare from lights to verify the tow...

 

this made me laugh...that's one sick halo!


Sorry...back on topic!

 

Thanks, Johnny!

I have been resisting running anything out of the cab. Not long after I got the Taco, I did add the front camera. I've been thinking about the TG lock, anytime fogs, rear aux lights, and finishing up my rear winch project. If I ever fully commit to those and find a real need to have it work in neutral, we can put our heads together.

 

We're getting to the time of year where it's light for 99% of my driving, I don't want to be playing when there's snow on the ground and freezing my delicate fingernails anyway. I wouldn't be putting mine on until spring/summer anyway, so, you can bump me down the priority list

While that may be true - I actually have these now after a slight run-in on the trails where I somehow tore out a plate light housing:

$19 runmade compatible with Toyota Tacoma 2016-2019, Tundra 2014-2019 Pickup Truck Full 18 SMD LED License Plate Light Lamp 6500K Diamond White Housing Replacement

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0823NQXHH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So, these threw that away....Woopsies.
PS If anyone is curious, I would recommend these lights if you're looking for new ones. Otherwise I would just put the LED lights in. I had the LED bulbs in there, but like I said, one got donated to the trails.

This was my cousins driveway growing up (thanks to google street view)


So, to sneak home they'd have to gun it down the road leading up to the driveway, kill the lights, kill the engine, and then coast up the driveway and stop at the top. Every so often they wouldn't make it and they'd roll back down and try again.

 

Dammit! I couldn't find the GIF that I wanted from either The World According to Garp or World's Greatest Dad?

 

If you are interested in one of these preassembled, head to this thread. Delete in Reverse harness | Page 2 | Tacoma World
Lets leave this one for the DIY guys Sorry for the confusion, but I'm trying to do right by everyone.

 

If you decide to do it, I'll modify yours for free for being an early adopter