Help me understand: high beam wiring with TRS retrofit

Hey guys,

I need help understanding how my wiring is functioning.

I am trying to tap into my high beams to control a set of separate offroad lights. I have done this in several of my past vehicles but this truck has me stumped and I feel it must have something to do with my BI-XENON MORIMOTO MINI STAGE III Hid kit that I am running from TRS.

On my past trucks I simply tapped into the wire under the steering column that got 12v when the high beam switch on the control stalk was engaged, simple. However now with this truck when I test with a meter for that wire what I find is a wire that constantly has 12v until the switch is engaged, then the 12v goes away and the brights come on. No wires seem to get 12v when the switch is turned on.

Is there a reason this would be happening to control the HIDS? Has anyone tapped into the brights circuit with a HID retrofit?

Here is my headlight wiring schematic. I believe it is the #7 R-Y wire that I should be tapping into.

The truck is a 99 Tacoma with out DRLs.

Thanks,

 

I thought I remembered reading something that could relate to this in a thread about the indicator light in the dash not working after a HID swap also, anyone remember that conversation?

 

Not positive but maybe your truck is ground switched so that is why you have a constant 12 v under the steering column. Are you using both of the original headlight plugs for the HIDs? If not you can tap into that for your Aux setup but would still recommend a fused relay setup.

 

Why not add-a-fuse to the hi beam fuse in the fusebox? Much cleaner install - and reversible too..

 

I am using a fused relay triggered setup. No The HID harness im using only uses the drivers side headlight plug. But the high beam wire in the passenger plug responds the same as up at the steering column, no voltage when brights are engaged.

And lastly the 1st gen Tacoma doesn't have a separate fuse for the high beams.

 

99 Tacoma headlights are ground switched. That's what you are seeing. 12v is present because it always is - when you turn on your highbeams it gets grounded and lights come on. you just need to adjust your aux light circuits to work that way too.

I would go right to the OEM headlight connector harness before it goes into the HID kit there should be three going in;

Tap your circuit into the highbeam+ then through your switch, then to 85, then from 86 back to the GND on the harness.
When the switch is on AND the highbeam is on your circuit is complete and lights come on.

 

Correct. My hi-beam indicator light would not work on my 2000 with the HID's installed. Worked fine with halogen though.

 

Are you running a relay harness for your HID's?

If it's Bi-Xenon, you should be able to just tap into the connector/wire going into the solenoid (for the high beams) and into your off road light relay.

I've done this in the past to keep fog lights left on. Also makes it easier to tap, because no cab panels have to be taken out, and everything is under the hood.

Edit: Apparently vicali beat me to it.

 

@mtnkid85

can you tell me what harness is being used for the the other set of lights? I have a solution for your problem but I need the answer first.

 

Wow, thanks Vicali and other guys, its so simple. Just ground switch my off-road lights, duh!
Well I already wired it differently though...
Using a error code canceller plugged into the unused passenger side headlight plug I got the dash indicator light to illuminate, so I used the #17 wire that goes to the dash light to trigger my off road lights relay.

However this makes my off-road lights dependent on a couple of cheap Chinese resistors, which Im not a super fan of. I may dig in and redo them to ground switch them.

 

Im not using a premade harness. I am running everything through the factory fuse box utilizing the unused circuits and factory Toyota relays. Power wire going down to the lights, lights are grounded to the truck body. Trigger wire from the relay in the stock fuse box going into the cab to the dash indicator wire.