2023 Tacoma can’t find key power

Hey guys I’ve got a new 2023 Tacoma and I’m trying to put a light bar on but I can’t find key power on any of my fuses. They seem to all be powered up all the time. Has anyone else found key power? I just can’t find it. I can’t find anything about the fuse box in the manual either.
I’m at a stand still, I want to buy a bumper with winch or more lights but I can’t install anything electric really unless there’s a way to set it on key power. I figured this would be easy but it’s turning out to be very difficult for me, I don’t wanna pay a mechanic or electrician to wire it up. But I also don’t want to install anything that’s going to kill my battery and leave me stranded in the mountains.

anyways any help would be appreciated, thx.

 

Try these

Relay tap
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/switched-power-underhood.659727/

Wire tap
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/switched-power-under-hood.565606/#post-27167802

 

Ohh nice I had it working. Installed it and now it’s not, I’m pretty sure I’m not getting power to the switch now just going to be a connection issue somewhere. If I have time I will play with it again tomorrow and see if I can find where I’ve got a bad connection.

thanks for sharing that with me.

 

Now my check engine light is on saying brake overide malfunction lol guess I fucked something up.

 

Whatever fuse you tapped you probably blew.

 

Did you disconnect the negative battery terminal while you were doing the electrical work?

 

Yea, I think so, hard to remember as I had it together and apart like 40x testing every single fuse I could find. Good thing I don’t know what the brake overide function does lol hopefully it won’t affect me. Just annoying popping up all the time on a brand new truck. Guess we’ll see if it goes away with a hard reset of the battery again

 

Well my job was postponed by 20 minutes so I went and reset the computer (disconnect battery for a min and put it back on) and the lights are all gone. Will see if she comes back on the way home. I think it’ll be good just gotta find my short now

 

I always like to start with a basic question and work my way up until we reach the shared knowledge base.

Are you using a relay in your circuit, and are you experienced in wiring relays?

 

Yea I have a wire harness with a relay, fuse panel for main power. Not experienced with wiring them but I have a diagram and it was pre wired but it wasn’t battery power for the switch, that’s all I’m trying to change with it.

 

Gotcha. So for the circuits that I only want to come on with ignition, I usually tap into the interior panel, "P.Outlet No.2". Couple reasons. Its easy to tap a trigger (switch) wire either with an add-a-fuse or you can tap the line under the center console, whichever is closest to your switch location. It is also a *relatively unimportant circuit, if such a thing were possible on the Tacoma, so fewer things get harmed if your trigger happens to short. And also-also, even though the tap should be drawing milliwatts of nothing, P.Outlet No.2 is going to be the least used circuit on the Tacoma. Because who really uses the power outlet buried at the bottom of their center console? Almost no-one.


So, that's my recommendation. Clip the return trigger that is wrapped up in the harness, and wire it inside the cab. Keep away from the "more important" fuses that are in the engine bay.

 

You could always install an accessory fuse panel and run it off of a switch inside so it's only on when you want it

 

I like this better then what I was going to do, I’ll give this a whirl when I get home, thank you for the advice

 

So turns out I don’t have a p.outlet no.2, but I do have a p.outlet no.1, I will test it to see if it’s going to work.

 

Yes. That one is also switched. No.1 is your dashboard cigarette lighter port.

 

damn I think my switch is fried or the relay. I can’t get the lights to turn on at all anymore lol. Guess I’ll have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what’s not working then come at this again.

 

Haha we’re styling now!! I tested my relay and my switch both were fine, back to the truck and I found a bad ground on my eyelet to my main power. Cut it off put a new one on and everything working on key power! Whoop thank you guys soo much I couldn’t have done it without yous.

next up, 20” light bar, 2 more pods. When my coastal bumper is finished then the winch and my canopy when it shows up in august.