3rd gen tacoma anytime fog mod!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what I have as well on my 2019 Sport but also has Auto on the outer ring

 

Without the mod, the fog lights do not turn on unless your parking lights or headlights are on, even though the fog light switch is on. With the mod, you can turn on the fog lights without having any other lights on.

With your fog light switch on and your headlights and parking lights off, see what happens.

 

Yea, my Sport didn't come with the auto-headlights, no light sensor on the dash either, just a cutout for it.

 

Man, am I reading this right. So the truck doesn't let you just turn on the fog lights whenever yuo want?

 

Without any mods, yes, that should be the csse.

 

Dang, that kinda sucks. Why would they do that? So I guess at a minimum, you must have the headlights on first to get the fog lights on.

 

Something else I noticed at the dealer the other day. I haven't bought the truck yet, so haven't had much chance to figure things out. But when you put the headlights on, it makes the instrument panel lights dim halfway. I want it to keep the same brightness as with out the headlights on. I know you can turn it up while the headlights are on, but it still doesn't seem to let you make it as bright as when the headlights are off. Any way to correct this?

I believe other Toyotas have a similar thing where the instrument lights get dim when you put the headlights on and I hate that.

 

Not sure why they do it, and it's not just Toyota, my wife's Renegade is the same way. Yea, parking lights or headlights have to on before the fog lights will come on, unless you do this mod.

 

There's some U.S. motor vehicle law that requires the low-beam headlights to be on, for the fog lights to work. AND, that the fog lights cannot be on, when the high-beams are on.

 

Have you tried to turn up the brightness?

 

Of course. But when the headlights were on, the max brightness was dimmer than the max brightness when they're off.

 

Yes. Because the headlights being on is a signal to the dash lights that they should dim. The reasoning is that if the headlights are on, the outside conditions must be dark--dimming the dash lights is meant to reduce blinding the driver.

But then we've also seen people driving in pitch-black conditions, and no lights whatsoever.

 

Thank you for the response. I guess it probably is a good idea to put a switch in place so i dont blind anyone. I dont spend much time on public roads its mostly offroad for work but that does not mean i am never on public roads so dimming would be rather nice of me. I want to leave the factory harness intact as well so i guess if i buy that little change over adapter then i can cut off the side that fits the factory harness and it is only a 10 dollar part instead. Well time to get to work thanks again.

 

So I was thinking of how I could use a switch for this application and came up with the idea of using an OEM style fog light button. Still the fogs will turn on with the normal switch on the steering column but connected to the yellow wire will be the OEM style switch like everyone uses for light bars ect. It will illuminate just like a regular switch but when you push it in "on" will be bright and out "off" will be dim setting. I wont have the middle setting but at leaste i can dim them on public roads...

 

I guess i dont see the need to have my fogs turn on without the DRL.

Weird i can turn mine on with only the DRL LED on, headlights off. Not sure why i need them to come on without the DRL.

 

So I started this today thanks to you @cdubray and @Reegsy for the pictures and the information. I have the wiring chip ready and waiting for the new fogs to come on Friday from @CaliRaisedLed and I am super excited to wire them up and the bumper light bar and ditch lights. Here is what I have done so far. I even made a little box for the IQ-275 and MOSFET chips.

 

Not to step on toes here...
But there is a plug and play on the market. For under $100.. just a thought, here.

 

It is illegal here in WA, AFAIK. Sadly, cops don't enforce it nor driving 24/7 with high beams one.

The only reason that I want to use the mod is for no oncoming traffic, esp on dark backroads.

 

Ultimately it's up to the driver to make the right decision on when and what lights to turn on. There's a right/wrong time for just high-beams too, but people here where I live run their high-beams all the time at night and don't give a crap about blinding oncoming drivers.

 

Yeah I looked into that one and decided to go the route that I went for two reasons.

The first reason is it's not illegal in Colorado to drive around with your fogs on.
The second reason is I spent a lot of time on backroads for work sometimes on the night shift and its dark as F**K at night. This Chip gives me the ability to change how bright the fogs are and you can program the high medium and low setting to your liking of brightness. So for me when I am offroad I will have the high set to 100% brightness and when I get to public roads then I can switch it to a low setting and not blind any oncoming drivers. This chip gives me the added ability to still have them on when my high beams are on for added offroad visibility.