2020 Tacoma OEM LED Headlight Megathread

OEM LED headlight assemblies covered in post #3626 here
Morimoto v2.0 assemblies covered in post #4548 here

TLDR: The Morimotos are higher output intensity, but have build quality issues. The Morimotos lack uplight, which is designed in all OEM headlights, so they actually limit your vision on low beam as it is not a proper headlight pattern. OEM LED headlights are the superior option.

 

To real high performance SAE fogs like the SS3 Max. Those appear to be just off road lights, they don't look like Baja's SAEs (which you'd definitely want to avoid).

 

“TRD” and “PRO” badging and black vs chrome on the internals.

Leaving all of us with the impossible decision between poser pro truck or ‘80’s chrome truck or spending even more to have @no vtec 4me bake and eject the badging to your brand new already expensive headlights.

I think we are close to 50/50 on the split for this decision but at least aligned in terms of making the decision based on avoiding the part that bothers us the most.

 

The best of both worlds! I also will paint the little divider between the high/low beams gloss black, just makes them look that much better

 

Apologies in advance if this question was answered previously but what headlight bulbs is everyone running after the swap?

 

It's a sealed headlight. No 'bulb' swap

 

Thanks Spike! Despite being embarrassed, I appreciate the response.

 

Don't be embarrassed.

 

Is there a way to disable the sequential signal as with the Morimoto XB's?

 

I don’t think so.

 

Just got the non-Pro version from sparks
Has anyone done it to a base SR? I couldn't find any youtube video, but I'm guessing the process should be similar?
From what I can see the SR doesn't have fender flares, so maybe slightly easier?

 

The harness is different. The physical assembly install would be the same.

SR and SR5 do a combined DRL and Turn signal off one wire which must then be de-multiplexed to explicit DRL and Turn signal wires. The current solution to that involves a timer and relay per side. I've gone over the design with Johnny a bunch and at this point have no better options though I'll keep brainstorming. I do ponder a purpose built sealed solid state relay with built in delay but I am not certain we could get the price low enough or the labor low enough to justify it vs off the shelf products. Unfortunately this all means that SR/SR5 harnesses are double the price of the TRD version.

 

What happened to the relay tied to 1F_30? (DRL) and the rear turns to front intercept harness? Easy Peasy...

 

We did talk about that and it's not as nuts as it sounds. Rear to front T taps of turn signal is a super long run but it gets a clean turn which is all that's needed since turn overrides DRL. Then the front turn/drl can just be a direct wire to wire connection as it's 2nd priority, only honored when turn is off so it'll either be +12v or nothing based on stalk position.

It's just the long run x 2 which is sub-optimal from an installation difficulty point of view.

If it were my truck I might go that route. It would keep costs down a bit. And I suppose a 2 conductor run to one corner and a cross jumper to the other side.

If there were a junction inside the engine bay post flasher, that's where it'd get more appealing.

 

EB1 (rear turn) is in the engine relay box, that's not that far. DRL relay fits anywhere in engine bay...one wire into cab. (SR don't have the choice DRL on the stalk, that I know of).

 

I'm waiting for Johnny's new batch of harness.
Thanks for all of your effort. My goal is to run the factory LED on a 2.7L, I'm sure the cost of harness is cheaper than buying a TRD model and transplant the I-4 engine

 

Since you're an end user with an SR who presumably doesn't have time or interest in building your own harness, think you'd like to weigh in on the possibilities?

The current agreed-upon "best" conversion harness has a timer and a relay, at a rough cost of say $30-ish of parts and labor, maybe closer to $40, not huge but not zero and that's per side, same story with the other side, plus it means extra parts to mount somewhere in the engine bay.

The alternative we are mulling over would involve one long run from the headlight to taillight, either two such parallel runs along the frame rails or one long run from driver headlight to driver taillight and another across the rear to the passenger taillight, providing a clean signal for turns to the front (without DRL mixed in).

The question boils down to, would you pay more and mount more stuff in the engine bay or pay less and route at least one harness along the frame rail to the taillight and then another across the truck to the other taillight?

At least the zip ties are pretty cheap.

 

What about SR5? Stalk to enable/disable DRL or no stalk?

BE1 is post flasher? But now you're talking relay tap? And one per side? So not trivial. You'd stuff in a male spade? I dunno how I feel about that, I guess I should do one before I pass judgement.

One thing kind of worth mentioning as I've fielded a dozen or more "problem" calls on the TRD harness, if there is a way to make a mistake, people are going to make it. It definitely sucks that the h9 connector can be done either orientation and high and low can be mixed up, that has caused plenty of confusion. The best solution is often the one with the least chance of a mistake. Tapping the relay box just seems beyond the skill level of most average "I don't know much about wires but I want it to work" people. I think there's a bit of fear (however rational or irrational it might be) if doing much more than unplug, connect, replug, zip tie/bolt to fender.

 

I'm ready to pull the trigger on this upgrade. Debating on whether to get the TRD PRO ones or the Non-TRD PRO.

Ed

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Then the tap to 1F-30 would be like a "higher" model.

One relay for the DRL with a dual wire, one for each headlight.