Footwell Lights That Don’t Suck

Yep- just select the color you want.

 

Rainbow. Where is the RGB one... lol. I'm jk. I got 5500k.

 

Hello everyone!

I'm not sure how well this will reach the intended people, but I'm pleased to announce that pre-orders for the 2nd Gen Tacoma and 5th Gen 4Runner kits are now open! They are expected to ship in the very early part of April. Everything is plug-and-play just like the 3rd Gen, install times are very similar, price is the same, and the function should be identical. The T4R will have all of the colors that the 3rd Gen Tacoma has with the addition of a (very) limited edition Coral Pink . This color will be exclusive to T4R for now. If there are any questions just let me know! I'll be adding links to vendors for these kits to the front page of this thread and the 2nd Gen Tacoma thread.

 

@kmorgan3 If we order a blue kit is there an option down the line to just change out the lights for a different color?

 

There is a spare parts tab on the VLEDS website. You can purchase different colors separately if you want to try a different color. Vendors can order them on your behalf as well, assuming they’re cool taking the time to do that.

 

After having mine one not quite a week, I'm liking the lights. But I'm not overly impressed with the included adhesive tape. My driver side one has already fallen off (along with the dimmer control). I've put some 3M double sided tape on it. Guess I'll see how well that'll keep up.

 

Looks good. Wish there was a red one out there.

 

New off-label application, posting tonight at 9pm EST. You know, because that's when it's dark.

 

So, when my rear footwell order went a little sideways, I realized that I would have an additional set of lights on a temporary basis. I decided to see if these could be used in a new way, and this is the result.


What you will need: REVISED 3/15/22

• three additional side exit lights of your color choice from your choice of vendor
• two (2) two foot extensions
• one four foot extension or longer
• one eight foot extension (if you followed my first set of instructions, you will already have this)
• one 2-way splitter from VLEDS (https://www.vleds.com/catalog/product/view/id/4042/s/2-wp-y-adapter-2-output/category/2100/)
• duck tape and/or hot glue
• 10mm socket/wrench
• thirty minutes or so

Remove your rear seat cubby with the six total bolts, three in each section. You can then pull straight forward on the cubby sections to remove. They may stick together temporarily.


Prep the underside lip of the LATCH indention with IPA, and attach your sticky backs to the lights. When the IPA has flashed off, you can install them.


You'll need to secure the cords so they don't rub against the plastic and make noise, I hit the hard plastic connectors with black hot glue, and then the wire with duck tape.


I put my cubbies in separately, so the extension between the middle and driver's side light isn't completely secured, but it should be okay. The reason I did this was because it was much less unwieldy, and it allowed me to easily route my 4' extension out from under the smaller cubby. It basically comes straight down, and there's a little protrusion it can tuck into to come forward. I didn't get a pic, but it's obvious what I'm referring to. This extension was routed under the carpet, and comes out under the under-seat storage box that I referenced in my previous instruction post. Pull the slack, and re-install the smaller side cubby. at the storage cubby. Route the end down to the driver side sills in the same manner that you did for the footwell lights.

Attach your splitter to the high end of the PWM, and route the 8 foot extension down the driver side similarly to the passenger side, and attach to the four foot extension for the cargo lights.

This mounting location does not interfere with the LATCH hooks in any way, shape, or form. They don't contact the seat backs, and fit perfectly in this little indention. I lined the tops up with the "crest".


Now, why would I do this? Because as good as MESO's dome lights are, they don't throw a ton of light back here. I thought some additional illumination would come in handy.

The good news is that this is all easily reversible, and changeable. I'm big on the least amount of permanent scarring as I can be, just because. I don't want to have regrets for doing something hasty in ten years. I do get a bit more illumination back there, and the circuit easily supports seven lights.

The bad news is that it does noticeably dim the footwell lights when the door is open. That being said, I'm pretty sure this can be overcome by slightly cranking up the PWM. I have been at the minimum output, so it should not be an issue to recover the lumen drop. Now rectified by not going through PWM. I include it here because I do not yet have puddle pods, so I can't speak for a total draw with those. The other bit of bad news is that I was hoping for a bit more illumination, however I am willing to compromise a bit on that for the clean look. The two pictures I will post below I don't think are truly representative of the difference, as the camera adjusted the ISO to try and get a clean shot. I'll see if I can lock the ISO, or use my DSLR if someone is truly interested. If you use only the two outside mounting locations, you'll probably need a single 4' instead of two 2'.

Finally, there's zero way to tell these are back here with the seat in the normal position, and only a hint when the seat bottom is tilted forward. Because this isn't in contact with anything, the fact that they will be on in a semi-closed environment and their low heat output should not pose an issue.

Sorry this is late, was in a poor reception area and couldn't get the pics uploaded.

 

Just to clarify: Cranking up the PWM won’t do anything when the door is open. It’s only intended to dim on the ambient setting. Opening the door gives you full brightness no matter what. You’re seeing dimming because of a voltage drop across all of the lights. There are limits if you wanna keep everything super bright

 

Great work!!!

 

Well, shit. Maybe I should look at an in-line switch for the final three lights in the series.

 

Maybe a pin switch so it’s not always drawing?

 

I have no idea. I know just enough to be dangerous.

I'll also say that the cargo lights don't need to be connected to the other lights at all since I don't need the dimmed mode. Perhaps just a separate power source, however the neatest way to do it would be to vampire off the footwell lights and just interrupt the power when the seats are in use. Right now I have it manually disconnected at the fourth footwell light and will connect it when needed until I figure out something acceptable.

 

You could add a splitter for your added lights that only need high mode before the PWM and you will mitigate a lot of that dimming. Then just add the footwell lights to the output of the PWM. Give that a shot and see.

 

That's an idea, it would require another wiring run, but it could be done directly down the driver's side. So the issue is the throughput of the PWM, and not the overall draw from the factory wiring?

What are these style connectors called, because I can only seem to find things on VLEDS site. Which, if I have to, I did find the 2-way splitter I would need I guess. I know I'm probably not going to find anything at the local store.

 

That’s right. Those lights actually draw a tiny amount (.1A), so overall draw isn’t too big of a concern. But mod at your own risk.

WP2 connectors — you should be able to find the splitters on there.

 

OK, thanks. Doesn't appear to be readily available anywhere else, so back to VLEDS I go. A splitter and another 2' extension will hopefully get the expected results.

 

Ah I didn’t realize you were trying to search elsewhere for them. You prob won’t find them I could’ve saved you some time. Gotta get them through VLEDS.

 

Yeah, at least VLEDS ships stuff out almost instantaneously, and I always opt to get FedEx for $5 more. I guess I'll have a new write-up on Monday.