Hooking my 4 led auxilary lights to my high beams

Has anybody hooked some auxiliary lights to they're high beams? I already have them to a switch an was going to just add in a relay harness from the headlight plug to the lights, but when I was trying to find out what the hot wire is for the high beams, it's almost like the high beam terminal is always hot, and when u flip the switch the circuit grounds and goes to a second(highs on) circuit. Help?

 

Nobody lol?

 

I have 2 sets of aux lights hooked to my high beams. I have them on a 3 position switch where they are on with high beams, off, or manually on. I just hooked a wire to my high beams that is fused and runs to my switch. If the switch is up, it passes power from the high beams to a relay and activates it. The relay passes power from the battery to the lights.

 

When I checked my high beam wire it grounds out and that's how my high beams come on. I have an hid kit and was going to use the stock plug that doesn't do anything to just stick a wire in and get my 12volts to flip the relay. But the wire is always hot and then goes to ground when I flip my high beams on

 

I figured it out. There is a wire that is hot (low beams) an then ground(high beams). I just need a 12v source an then stick the ground on the harness into that connector and that will trip the relay when I hit my high beam switch

 

Never mind! Didn't work! Still need help!

 

Are you using a relay for the LEDs?

 

I believe the 3 wires are 1 ground and 2 hots. Cause I am getting a positive 12 volts from my high beams that I am running through a switch and hitting the relay.

 

If you have a first gen Taco without DRL, you have a ground switched system.

When you rotate the main headlight switch to the on position you are supplying positive power to one wire at each headlight. This is the common wire, again it is positive power, not ground. You can verify this by disconnecting both headlight connectors and probing with a meter or test light.

The remaining two wires are low beam and high beam grounds. Ground is supplied through the "dimmer switch" on the column mounted stalk that includes the main switch and turn signal switch.

Here is what confused me when I had my old Toyota truck (1986, but same setup, I have researched this): when you are running your high beam headlights, the low beam wire will show positive power, and vice versa for the low beams. Power is flowing from the common terminal through both filaments (high and low), and then seeking ground through the dimmer switch. Whichever filament is not grounded at the moment will show positive power (I think it's actually 9 or 10 volts after the resistance of the headlight filament, but it's been a long time since I got my education on this).

You can hook one wire from a relay's coil to the low beam wire, and ground the remaining coil wire to the fender and the relay will activate with the high beams. I know it works because I have done it. If I were to do it again I would hook one coil wire to the common (positive) headlight wire and the remaining one to the low beam wire to have a full 12 volts to my relay. By the time I realized I had a ground switched system I had been running it the "wrong" way for years and never had a problem, but always wondered about the effect the lower voltage might have on the relay.

Also worth noting is the factory high beam indicator on the dash works by passing positive power through the low beam filament and then through the indicator bulb to ground. I mention this because although it is not enough of a ground to cause the low beams to glow, it is enough of a ground to activate a relay. Knowing this will save you a weeks worth of pulling your hair out if you ever get into custom wiring in this area of your vehicle. (ask me how I know)

 

Maybe I am running it wrong. I turned my headlights on stuck a meter on the wires to the headlight while the high beams were active and found a wire with 12 volts and tapped into it. Been working for 2 and a half years with no issues.

 

I'm sure it's fine. Mine worked for years with no trouble, I just didn't completely understand what I had done. The auxillary lights were never any trouble, it was the high output headlights and custom harness that I built. I learned the hard way and hoping OP doesn't go through that, it was very frustrating.

 

Thanks for the info. If I have any trouble maybe I will have a starting point.

 

Ok so basically just hook the relay to the constant hot, then ground it out through the frame somewhere, and that will trip the relay when I hit the high beam switch?

 

basically. I have a 2000 Tacoma maybe that is our difference? Not sure.

 

Shouldn't be a difference. Unless your in canada haha. 98-00 were the same. I think 96.5ish-04 is all the same except for body style. I will try your method. Flip the highs on, find the hot, use that as my 12v source

 

Same body style but somewhere the wiring changed. Not sure which year. I remember somewhere taillights are wired differently and that why even though all would appear to work on the 1st gens some will not.

 

I know you can take 01-04 taillights and drop them right into mine. I trying to find a pair cause they look better and are brighter

 

For my fogs I ran the relay tap to my running light. Does no switch with high beams but I didn't hsve to worry about too much draw.

 

That's easier because it's just 12v in an ground out. What I'm trying to would be easy if the low beams were 12v an ground an same for highs. But they use a ground to switch the highs and it's very confusing.