Meso V5 turn signals are out!!!!

Thank you for this. I do not have puddle pods and am not looking to go in that direction.

So when do the "parking" lights tun on? Is it only set to parking light on the stalk? Or are they also on when low beams are on? I have the AUTO feature on my truck, which honestly is kind of a pain given that they automatically turn on even when its slightly overcast.

 

Parking lights on with low beams. Look at your taillights or sidemarker to see.

 

Few questions of you don’t mind answering.

What would you consider the more desirable behavior?

So in theory, tapping at the window switch works fine as the brights will shine with ignition and dim when parking lights are on?

 

Mirror DRL bright w headlight DRL. The only time they differ is when parking lights are on and low beams are off when both signals are active (DRL and Parking Lights). On the headlights, bright has priority over dim. On the v5’s, dim has priority over bright. I assume the reason for this logic on the v5’s is to support ignition (always on w key) for bright, otherwise they would never go dim.

 

Yes, but extensively answered already, why ask this again? Perhaps you can illuminate the source of your uncertainty? This isn’t quantum mechanics, it’s an LED controller with two inputs.

 

Thanks for the info. The desirable behavior is definitely something that I would prefer also.

As for the other question, my bad, I was not understanding your other explanation very well prior to asking this question. I reread your explanation and now comprehend it much better. My apologies if I offended you with my questions. It just takes me asking a bunch of questions to comprehend. I was definitely not purposely trying to ask something that’s been extensively answered before.

 

It’s not offensive just not sure I understand why people seem to ask the same question multiple times, seems to not serve any purpose.

Perhaps it’s a matter of people not knowing how to search a thread? That’s a great way to find posts of interest and confirm understanding with posts from a variety of members? Similar to reading product reviews to better understand the pros and cons of a given option?

Searching this thread on “window” lands on some great prior discussion and would be exactly what I would do myself if I were tasked with the job.

Such as this:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/meso-v5-turn-signals-are-out.737823/page-10#post-26307035

 

Believe it or not, I actually looked at that thread and this one for about 7 days straight. For multiple hours a day. I’m still super confused. There’s a lot of great information but for me the wealth of information ends up being overwhelming. I know how to navigate the search option pretty well but unless the information is super direct and specific to how I ask it, usually it’s hard for me to comprehend. Either way thanks you have been nothing but helpful for me and I believe I understand how to tap the V5s now. Also fyi since I know you don’t really like the V5s, I was able to get them for 50 bucks on Black Friday and he’s local to me so that was worth the risk to me.

 

That's a good price and neuters one of my dislikes.

Maybe you can think of it as a black box which does one of three things:
1. Flash amber
2. Constant bright (white or amber based on product designation, ignore that for now as they are functionally equivalent)
3. Constant dim

Then 4 wires as inputs, one is ground so that is a reference point for the other two.
The most obvious input is via the included connection to the turn circuit which provides turn and ground. Turn flashes with the turn circuit build and the board figures out what to do about that. This should always override functions 2 and 3 just like turns override brake on a trailer light or your 4th gen Tacoma / 3rd gen Tundra taillights.

So we're left with 2 other inputs, bright and dim. You have to decide which one is the alpha and which is the beta, who rides captain and who rides stoker. It's a binary choice, either dim is the priority and bright is considered when dim is off or vice versa and bright take priority.

The headlights pick bright as priority and the C goes full bright whenever DRL is on. This is maybe the most interesting bit of trivia, that the ECU keeps DRL active with parking lights but turns it off when low beams are activated. Subtle nugget so let that sink in.

Present in the door is parking lights, to feed the window switch so you can see the up/down and lock/unlock in the dark. The ktjo bowl light kit takes advantage of this to illuminate the door pull handles. Parking light is the obvious choice for feeding the dim input. T tap or T harness works to feed that, T taps on the ktjo bowl kit make a ton of sense so you hack aftermarket instead of oem harness wire.

The only real decision to make is where to grab the feed for bright input. You can pick ignition or DRL or an aux switch even if you wanted to, DRL is the "obvious" choice but requires access to the headlight, wire through the firewall and through both door boots which is a substantial amout of work. Ignition is effectively the same outside of the stalk set to off "I call this stealth mode" for non-canadian models (canada requires DRL always on with ignition). So very little functional difference but still, sometimes nice to go full dark with the ignition on, say when idling in a safe location where you don't want to draw attention to yourself.

 

Teeny tiny bit of addition to the trivia, this is the case unless fogs are on. If fogs are on, then it turns off the DRL upon selecting parking lamps and results in the dimmer mode + fogs.

 

This explanation is amazing! I was somewhat confused earlier regarding parking lights. I was under the impression that on the OEM LED headlights, the side marker doubled as the parking lights. I did not realize that the parking lights are the dim 'Cs' and the brights ones are the DRL's. Makes complete sense now. Thank you for taking the time to explain that. Yea I don't know that I want to have the V5s on at all times with no option to go into 'Stealth" mode but going into the headlight sounds like a chore. Decisions, decisions.

 

This is correct, but the stuff you wrote about the C is also correct. Also worth noting that the front bezel lights on the OEM LED (where the PRO/TRD is on the pro versions) also is off the parking light input and matches the sidemarker.

 

Okay this little nugget is interesting, and could explain the issue I have had since installing these 2 years ago.
"The headlights pick bright as priority and the C goes full bright whenever DRL is on. This is maybe the most interesting bit of trivia, that the ECU keeps DRL active with parking lights but turns it off when low beams are activated. Subtle nugget so let that sink in."

I have the V5s and use Dave's DRL headlight tap for the 2020+ led headlights. However the only time I can get the "bright" mode to activate while driving is when the stalk position is in "auto" and direct sunlight is hitting the sensor on the dash (the sensor that dims interior lights at night). When the stalk is in DRL, the mirror lights are dim. When the stalk is in "auto" and it is cloudy the turn signals are dim, but shinning a flash light on the sensor deactivates low beams and makes the mirror lights bright. This makes sense to me, but I haven't been able to figure out why DRL on the stalk (low beams off) isn't able to make the turn signals bright.

@daveeasa - does your post mean that DRL on the stalk keeps the parking signal active, causing the v5s to prioritize dim? If not, any ideas why "DRL" on the stalk can't trigger bright mode for my setup?

 

DRL OFF means everything off (no DRL signal)
Auto means DRL (if ambient light is detected) or low beams + parking lights (if insufficient ambient light is detected).
Your observations match my expectations.

Your description of "stalk on DRL" doesn't match your photo.

You might be able to defeat the photodiode, short circuiting it to trick it to be "always detecting light" but I haven't researched that and it seems undesirable.

 

I just realized my stalk doesn't have DRL. I've always thought the position selected in my photo is DRL, but it is actually side marker/parking light. Should have read my manual.

Is it possible to switch to a stalk with DRL? If not, I may re-wire my inputs as opposed to switching stalks. I'd prefer to have the mirror lights bright as much as possible, but my issue with "auto" is that it turns off running lights in the tail lights, and I also prefer to have those active during the day

 

There are several stalks and you definitely _can_ change them out, but I don't know that the behavior will change if you do, I suspect the pinout/connections are the same for auto vs drl. I think I actually have an auto stalk somewhere, my truck has "drl", and I have no photodiode on the passenger side of the dash nor any wiring for it.

Shorting a pair of wires (if connected == light detected) _might_ solve for bypassing the photodiode, thus giving you "manual" control at the stalk. Also worth trying is disconnecting the photodiode and observing if it thinks it's dark or light, that would be even easier.

 

I’m a little late to the party but I just installed the V5 switchbacks and ran the DRL extension cord through the door panel and through the firewall into the engine bay. Right now I have the extension cords just tied up in my engine bay as I am trying to figure the best way to wire them. I have this wiring diagram from Meso

However, where it says “see guide” what guide is it referring to? The install guide on Meso’s website seems to be for the old switchbacks without DRL.

From some research I’ve done, it looks like I need to tap into the headlight connectors, not the fuse box, is that correct? I know there are some premade plug-and-play harnesses that are being sold, does anyone have a guide for wiring without using the plug-and-play harnesses? My dad is a mechanic so he said he can help me out with wiring but I’m at a stand still until I figure out where to hook up the extension cords for both bright and low functionality.

 

DRL is green, parking lights on driver side are pink.

MESO has a dirt cheap T harness if your truck came with halogen headlights.

most of us don’t like cutting or splicing OEM wire, doubly so in the engine bay.

Red MESO == DRL == bright input
White MESO == parking lights == low input

alternate option for the low input if using DRL for bright is the low beams (red) wire so behavior is a match to the headlights (DRL dims with low beams on)

 

I forgot to write that I have a 2020 with the OEM LEDs not halogens, which harness do you recommend for that if I don’t have raptor lights/puddle pods?

 

From me:

https://fbchs.square.site/product/tacoma-2020-2023-led-t-harness-with-grille-lights/8

and

https://fbchs.square.site/product/meso-v5-switchback-mirror-turn-signal-t-harness/7