LED Dome Light Issue

Yes 95.5-2000 are different from the 01-04.
This is why without any type of resistance the 01-04 will not work correctly

 

The first dome light bulb I got from @csjumper2003 worked fine for quite a while, then began to flicker. He went so far as to send me a replacement bulb, which also worked fine for a while, then began to flicker. I timed the flicker, and it begins about 30 seconds after initial lightup. If I don't leave the door open, it's no problem. It's when I might drop something on the floor, and am trying to find it that the bulb usually begins to flicker. I took off the dome lens to see what's going on, and half the LED lenses go out, then the other half begin to flicker. If I wait long enough, the light goes out. If I shut the door, then open it, the process starts all over again.

I'll see if the bulb from superbrightled does the same. The JDM ASTAR ones from Amazon never even went on at all.

 

Because it fades on and fades off, I guess.

 

I think by "courtesy light feature" you mean graduate dimming the interior lights after the door is closed. Before it was just on or off. At the same time Toyota renamed the unit controlling interior lights from "Integration Relay" to "Body ECU". I think it is not just a name, but changing guts from "electronic relays" (on/off functionality) to "inteligent" (microprocessor) control board. The side effect of this that the board is more sensitive to the load applied to the output (bulb resistance), and goes nuts if the load is not pure resistance, like incandescent bulb is. LED bulb has voltage threshold to even conduct the electricity and the current used is much lower. Some "CAN-BUS resistors" can fool the ECU, some not.

By the way I that was one more "computer" introduced into 1st gen Tacoma on the top of SRS, ABS, ECM, 4WD, A/T and CC. And that was almost 25 years ago. Now in modern cars probably there iare not enough 3-letter acronyms to name all their "computers"

 

2002 here. I love the fact that the bulb I have in the dome light and the map lights just work as is, straight out of the packaging without a resistor of any kind soldered on. Why? I have no idea but I still love it. I wish I could explain it but I can't. I always figured it was because of the relay swap to cure the good ol' hyperflash but that isn't it. Oh well.

 

So if I went back to an incandescent bulb for the dome light, however dimmer it may be, do you think the flicker issue will be solved?

 

this has been my exact experience with jumper's LED in my 2001 SR5 xtracab. I didn't ask for a replacement, I put the incandescent back in. If I have the light on for more than 30 sec it prob means I'm digging around looking for something and the flicker from the LED was driving me crazy. I kept jumper's LED map lights in, no issues there and super bright.

I'm assuming the superbrightleds have the same issue in 01-04, but I haven't tried.

 

Yeah, the flicker drives me nuts also. I didn't actually ask for a replacement, I just let him know what was happening, and one day one showed up in the mail.

The superbrightled should be here tomorrow to try out. If no luck, I too will put an incandescent back in, and just enjoy the led map lights.

 

Another dead end. The superbrightled bulb doesn't even go on at all. So its still the csjumper bulb with the flicker. I will get an oem style incandescent today to try.

 

Incandescent does not flicker.

 

I finally soldered on another smaller resistor (lower wattage rating but will also have a lot less current going through it) in parallel with the primary resistor bring the overall resistance down to about 43 ohms. Will see if there is any flicker this time.

If it cures it / trick the body ECU into being nice, I'll probably dig around for some kind of heat sunk compact resistor setup or some kind of hackery to shed the heat better as I also got bit but a very hot LED bulb last time I played with it.

 

I ordered these the other day and finally got around to trying them out. They have indeed changed the design a bit from my original post but they did work for me. It must be a 2002 thing. Really sorry they didn't work for you and I wish I knew exactly why. No issues in either the dome light or the map lights.

EDIT: one final add, yes they definitely are a PITA to install. I ended up tweaking/bending the contacts inside of the dome light housing just slightly to make it easier to fit into place.

 

I appreciate the recommendation either way. It was worth a shot. The JDM just didn't even light up at all, and have been returned and credit received. For now, I'm still using the ones received from @csjumper2003, I just don't leave the door open too long. I'm still waiting on the refund from superbrightled for that return.

I've either got a one-off Tacoma as far as LED lights go, or 2003-2004 just don't play well with them. Although, the map lights work perfectly.

 

I wasn't even going to try them but I figured cheap enough and at some point I'm going to have to replace my existing so might as well. I think 03-04 definitely have some issue when it comes to any interior LED. Regardless of LED brand/supplier.

The only thing I have changed as it relates to the electrical is swapping in the EP35 relay to correct an issue with turn signals/hyperflash. Have no idea what else it could be.

 

Do the pre-2003 models have the courtesy dome light feature that fades out after a while or when you shut the door?

 

Yes. 2002 fades out when the door is shut.

 

Still blinks/spazzes

So will probably end up buying these for science.