MESO Total Tail Light Kit

VLEDS is better quality and blinks in sync with the front and side indicators. The Meso has a slight delay. Besides that, availability and warranty are good with VLEDS, and a lot less good with Meso. In my eyes, there is absolutely 0 reason to get the Meso kit with VLEDS available.

 

The only thing I dislike at all about VLED bulbs is the set screw design. I get how it’s universal. But I think a snap in molded vehicle specific adapter would be better. Maybe threaded. I dunno. Just don’t like the two screws is good enough and makes it way trickier to extract and doesn’t hit a stop when secured.

 

Anyone know the Vled part number for the switchback bulb in the old version of the total stage 1? Or is it a custom bulb?

 

Call VLEDS. They have their own kit and while they don’t sell the switchbacks on the website, they did sell me some to use for parts when I asked. No guarantee they’ll do that for you though. But there is no part number you can use.

 

Swap to the VLED kit.

 

I can sell you mine. Took it off/upgraded to v6 triton extreme switchbacks within six months.

 

Isn’t that the newer version of the stage one? I don’t think you can upgrade the older version. Idk, i might be wrong.

 

VLEDS has two kits, one that is similar to Meso stage 1 and one that is similar to stage 2, except the stage 2 switchback is not impressive at all in my opinion. It is not the same Triton switchback that VLEDS used to supply to Meso for Meso’s Stage 2 that requires drilling out the tail lamp and using the 3d printed adapter.

I have used both of VLEDS kits. I find the stage 1 version to be perfect in price and performance of the switchback. It beats out Meso because of the delay in the Meso switchbacks. The red bulbs are better in every way too, dimmer on low mode and brighter on bright mode, and better quality and long lasting.

That said, I actually use incandescent bulbs in my brake lights. I find that when I look at them, they are more noticeable than any LED red bulb.

Either way, I recommend the normal stage 1 kit if you’re buying a kit. It has the more desirable switchback. The brake lights are brighter in stage 2 but they are honestly overly bright and really hard to look at at night. The low mode is also too bright. Not a fan of that. I returned that kit.

 

Hah, I bought stage 2. Oops. Guess I gotta swap to 1.

 

You might like it fine. I over-analyze. It was certainly nice parts. I just felt when I stood behind my truck at night, the V6 Extremes were hard to look at on dim mode, and very harsh to look at when brake lights were on. The brakes could be a good thing, but the parking lamp felt too bright. I was going to use a resistor or PWM but eventually decided I didn’t really have a problem to solve, so I just shipped it back to get my money back. 4 simple incandescents and the 2 switchbacks is solid enough for me.

 

I’ve thought of simplifying and just doing both reds off the stop + turn from the 7 pin. Then reverse bulb can be normal.

 

Check your local laws (DOT), this may be illegal. Typically signal/auxiliary lights have their own rules. After a long conversation with a DPS officer recently, I came to appreciate some of the gray and black/white areas concerning headlamps, fog lamps, light bars, tail lights, etc. there are a few national standards, but great differences between states. Colors, covers, placement, functionality, etc. it may be that a tail light that flashes on/off may be insufficient as stop/turn as a modification of factory original.

 

Page 8 for me specifically
https://www.oregon.gov/odot/dmv/docs/vcb816.pdf

I can see how an officer could interpret two flashing turns while braking as not meeting the brake light requirement for constant on.

Anyway, I’m running switchbacks for now as I prefer amber turns. So my reds are purely parking and brake duty. I’m of the opinion that most cops aren’t going to invest significant time paying attention to vehicle lighting while said vehicle is in reverse, provided white light is visible. It does seem possible to get a ticket for switchbacks while in reverse, given what I read above implies both sides should be constant white but that seems a pretty low probability.

I definitely feel like stock taillights have less than ideal brake and turn visibility for other drivers.

 

Most local officers won’t. It’s those highway and dot/dps (typically trucker hunters). They’re more about the requirements than general traffic flow. One of them I was talking to explained how he LOVED Carolina lean trucks… always violating the forward lights xx to xx inches from level ground requirement. Since they’re unable to comply roadside, he has to tow them. He also loves active light bars during roadway travel. He forces them to physically disconnect them, since they obviously can’t be trusted to turn them off on their own.

 

Those two scenarios are pretty different from OEM taillights matching trailer taillight behavior. Especially given the chmsl requirement being met. Forward lighting is a legitimate concern these days and busted taillight / bulb outage as well. But this specific subtlety of brake + turn behavior is far less noticeable, takes a keen eye.

 

I would be shocked if Dave received trouble from converting the tail lights to a fully illuminated combined stop/turn setup. So many vehicles come that way stock and still do, and of course all trailers are this way as well.

I personally don’t like the turn signal simply being one of the brake lights blinking, so I would never do that myself but I highly doubt that would ever cause trouble with any enforcement because it’s stock behavior on so many others. I think the amber switchback from these conversion kits are the best we can do with what we’ve got.

 

It wasn’t a likelihood statement, but rather cautionary consideration. I get brilliant ideas all the time. Sometimes another will point out the faults I so willingly trampled. Doesn’t make the idea bad, but perhaps requires more planning. Did you know some states require auxiliary lights be DOT approved? It gets weird. Those silly bullet lug covers are another state by state variance, along with triple tandem trailers.

 

@Puppypunter and I are noodling on a small harness to do combined but give priority to turn up high and brake down low. Then slightly better visibility for turn or brake but same when both are active.

 

A lot of trucks function with the turn/brake combined (as well as cars). I am pretty sure the newer Tundras do as well, and am willing to bet the 4th gen Tacomas will follow that trend. Plus I believe the Meso/Morimoto lights do this too? They just use a different colored LED for the turn signal to produce amber? I could be wrong on that though.

Still noodling, but I think it can be made so that the end user would have an option. The top portion of the "C" would be turn and brake, turn taking priority. The bottom half of the "C" could be configured to be turn and brake, OR just brake. So with option 1, you still get the same turn signal you have now, but gain top and bottom lighting up with the brakes. The second option gets you the more normal behavior of turn and brake combined, like a lot of trucks and cars have. The bonus to this harness would be that there is no dely. If you tap off the trailer plug, the combined signals have a very slight delay for the brake. Small, but noticeable. I think a 2nd Gen version would be doable as well if those have double red lights? I know some are amber? I don't really know 2nd gen tail light options too well besides "pink" being one of the options apparently

 

That'd be neat. I prefer the turn signals up top like the second gens.