Athena

Electrical: Diode Dynamics Hitchmount C1R + Brake Reverse Light
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I am always concerned about visibility. The nights in Colorado, especially in the winter, are a dangerous time to drive due to inattentive or impaired drivers and poor road conditions. As such, when I received a marketing e-mail from Diode Dynamics about their C1R + Brake Hitchmount Reverse Light, I jumped at the opportunity. What sold me on this was the ease-of-install and the optional three-strobe brake flash. This is a five minute install and, in my opinion, the added functionality is well worth the price.

What makes the install so is easy is the breakout harness that is supplied with the light. You disconnect the 7-pin trailer harness from the port on the rear bumper and plug in the breakout harness. Zip-tie the harnesses out of the way, run the Deutsch DT connector through the factory 2" trailer hitch receiver, plug the connector in the light and slide the light into place with the spring tab facing up. After that, you can test the light by turning on the running lights. The light should "glow" red for a running light. When in reverse, the light activates a 6000k flood optic* that shines at 1030 lumens. It's bright enough to illuminate about 50 ft. behind you and due to how low the light is, it effectively highlights low-lying obstacles such as rocks, curbs, small animals, and the like. Another benefit of the mounting location is that the light doesn't blind your rear-view camera.

Finally, the fourth-brake-light strobe function flashes three times in quick succession upon brake activation before steady burning bright red; this is a technology that is used by Formula 1 teams in low light conditions for increased awareness with respect to other racers. Do note that there is an eight second delay incorporated in the strobe controller. After speaking with Diode Dynamics, they informed me that this logic was built-in for situations like stop-and-go traffic. So, if the brake pedal is pressed twice, or more, in an eight second period, the strobe will only activate the first time. After eight seconds of no braking, the strobe light will activate on the next brake press.

* Actual testing data of this light was not available from Diode Dynamics at the time of this post. In lieu of testing data, Diode Dynamics directs you to the technical data sheet of their SSC1 light upon which this part is based on. The Description tab of the Hitchmount light indicates that there is a 50x50 flood pattern used.

And with that, here are some pics. First, the strobe. Note that this is a slow-motion video. The actual strobe effect lasts for about 600-700 milliseconds.

And here is how the truck is profiled out

Here is a terrible pic showing the intensity of the reverse light

And here is how the background is illuminated with the running light

And with the reverse light

And finally, the product installed

 

Electrical: Toyota OEM LED Headlight Conversion​

Introduction:
As mentioned above, one my primary concerns is visibility as my trek to work often times takes me through snow-covered backroads in the dead of the night. I initially attempted to minimize the risks by adding the Diode Dynamic SS3 Max fog lights in selective yellow and this worked well for a few seasons. As time grew on, however, I noticed that the OEM halogen headlamps weren't as bright as they once were. Every 6 months I would replace the bulbs with modified H9 Philips bulbs, but I could never seem to get the output I wanted. As I mentioned in another thread, the wife was driving the truck and she asked if the headlights were on even though the stalk was in auto mode. So, it was time for an upgrade.

Cost:
I bought my headlights from Sparks Parts--[Driver Side] [Passenger Side]--and I used Chloe's code for 5% off. The lights took about a week to ship and showed up well packaged in two large boxes. The total came out to just under $1500 USD which is $200 USD than the Morimoto XB headlights that seem to be the closest competitor to the OEM headlights. You also need a conversion harness from FBC Harness Solutions which can run from $80 USD to $150 USD depending on the variant you want. So, that puts the total mod cost at approximately $1600 USD inclusive of taxes on the low end and $1700 USD on the high end. A cheap mod this is not, but the benefits are worth it in my opinion.

Install:
Chloe's video on YouTube does an exceptional job at covering how to swap the lamps, so I'm not going to in-depth here. However, I will cover a few things that I found helpful and I'll list out the tools needed:

Tools:

• 10mm deep well socket and 3" extension
• Plastic trim panel pry removal tool
• Plastic spudger
• Flathead screwdriver
• Needle nose pliers
• Zip ties (for cleaning up wiring)
• Flush cut trimmers or diagonal pliers (for trimming excess zip ties)

Hints:

• The conversion harness now comes color-coded for ease of install, but double check the wire color prior to test firing the lights.
• Test fire each light before you mount it to the vehicle.
• If this is your first time removal the front plastics, they're going to fight you; just be persistent and patient. If something absolutely doesn't want to come out, look around and see if it's getting caught on something.
• The conversion harness includes two blue clips and two orange clips. These are for the fenders as those clips have a tendency to break when separating the fender from the body. The orange clips are P/N 75395-35070 and the blue ones are P/N 75396-35020
• The harness also includes a "blank" plug that is used to seal off an unused connection on the halogen headlights.
• The bumper is latched into an "insert" and a bolt runs through this insert that holds the headlight in place. The insert is also held in place with a push-lock connector and a 10 mm Philips screw in the wheel well. My advice is to use the spudger to try to separate the bumper from the clips. If you can't get that to work, just pull straight back and pray that it doesn't break. If they do, the left side is P/N 52116-04070 and the right side is P/N 52115-04070

Overall the install took about 2.5 to 3 hours and most of that time was getting the plastics off and on.

Aiming:
Don't assume that the headlights come "pre-aimed." Instead, you should aim the headlights in accordance with SAE J599 Table 1 (note: there is a 2015 revision to this document, but I have yet to find a copy that doesn't cost $100 USD. If I do, I'll update this post.) The TL;DR of the document is that for vehicles whose center point of the headlight has a height between 36 in. and 48 in. relative to the ground, aim the cutoff 2 in. from the headlight height. If the headlight height is between 48 in. and 58 in., aim the cutoff 4 in. down from headlight height. You'll want to set the truck up with the weight you normally have and you'll want to find a flat, level surface to perform the aiming procedure. In order to determine if a surface is level enough for aiming, park 25 ft. away from the wall and put the truck in neutral. If the truck doesn't move, the surface is level front-to-back. Next, get out and visually eyeball the left-to-right level. Remember that the "taco lean" exists, thus the drivers side will be slightly lower than the passenger side. If the truck doesn't look obviously out-of-level, the surface should be good.

Next you'll want to measure the height of the center point of the headlight. The center point of the headlight is denoted by a little circle on the lens as seen in the Lightwerkz video here (note: this video is a really good watch prior to aiming. Also notice that the headlight has a "VOL" marking on it. Keep this in mind as we'll come back to it.)

Once you have the measurement, walk to your aiming surface and measure the appropriate amount down from the headlight height. Next, place the top edge of a piece of tape at the desired height. Then you can use a Philips head screwdriver to aim the headlight up or down. You'll do this by looking at the left side of the cutoff for a VOL headlight or the right side for a VOR headlight. Once the drivers side is aimed properly, move to the passenger side. Doing this ensures that the most amount of light is illuminating in front of you while not blinding oncoming traffic. If you change anything significant about the truck's height, you should re-aim your lights. It's a 20 minute procedure and the worst part is finding a suitable aiming spot.

Aiming Resources:

• Society of American Engineers (SAE) J599 Lighting Inspection Code (1997)
• Federal Highway Administration Visibility Research Program Paper (see Chapter 3)
• Daniel Stern Lighting Aiming Procedures
• Lightwerkz How to Aim Headlights YouTube Video

End Results:
Overall, I am pleasantly pleased with the increased output from the OEM LED headlights. As mentioned in crashnburn80's headlight thread, the 3rd gen OEM projector headlights "...were a significant downgrade in performance..." relative to the 2nd gen headlights. He also notes that the "...most efficient form of lighting projection technology is a well-designed reflector" which is what the OEM LED Headlights use. Simply put, even with upgraded H9 bulbs, the OEM projector headlights pale in comparison to the LED headlights. I was hesitant to perform this swap as I was concerned with the headlights freezing over during the winter, but I think the increased output will be worth it for the days that it doesn't snow. And for the days that it does snow, I have the fog lights and a pair of SS5 Pro auxiliary high beams to provide ample light at night. And with that, the photos:


OEM LED low beam

OEM LED low beam with SS3 fog lights

OEM LED high beam