Hideaway advice

Frooom

Member
Dec 6, 2012
843
NH
Hey all,

Looking to do some LED strobes for the first time ever on our 4runner. I want to replace the brake and reverse lights in each tail light. I know some models have this functionality - could anyone suggest a brand? I looked @ AWL, but I don't think his have these functions. Also, is it hard to wire in, or just as simple as tapping the right wires to take OEM input overtop of the flash signal wire? If I understand correctly, I'll need 4 individual units to make this work.
 

Jarred J.

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
11,580
Shelbyville, TN
cannons. 3 modes. set one to flash, 2 to do over rides and 1 for fun!
 
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Frooom

Member
Dec 6, 2012
843
NH
cannons. 3 modes. set one to flash, 2 to do over rides and 1 for fun!
Yeah, I'm leaning towards them, but I want to understand a bit more about them. I would have white ones in my reverse lights that override when in actual reverse, but how would I do the other red set? Do I do turn signal or brake light? I want to take the place of OEM, but brake lights have 2 stages normally, running light and brake application. Are the cannons able to replicate that?
 

Jarred J.

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
11,580
Shelbyville, TN
If you are wanting a "parking light mode" yes there is a dim function.. I'll let @FEVER explain it better as he has done it..
 

Skippy

Member
Jul 3, 2010
423
Florida, USA
what year 4runner, are the lenses colored or clear for the brake and turn signals, what colors are you allowed to run? the Canons are your answer it's just the details.
 

Carlos SpicyWeiner

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 3, 2012
5,233
Lakeland, Florida
Sooo... the V3 have a steady on dim mode. That might work... but I haven't seen it in person. It reduces brightness to 25%. I'm skeptical thats enough to be adequate replacements
 

Frooom

Member
Dec 6, 2012
843
NH
what year 4runner, are the lenses colored or clear for the brake and turn signals, what colors are you allowed to run? the Canons are your answer it's just the details.
2014, the turn and tail are red lense, reverse are clear. I can definitely do a pair to replace OEM in the reverse lights, and either cut and add second set in red, or replace turn or tail.

If you are wanting a "parking light mode" yes there is a dim function.. I'll let @FEVER explain it better as he has done it..
What I meant is, if I replace the brake lights, they should behave like OEM...as in have a less bright normal mode, and then brighter when brake is applied.
 

Jarred J.

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
11,580
Shelbyville, TN
Yes the dim mode is called parking lights lol or at least round here.. your states interpretation may differ...
 

Frooom

Member
Dec 6, 2012
843
NH
Interesting...sounds like what I want is the cannons then. So when activated via trigger wire, they flash, but then they take input from OEM wires to override to mode 2? And in terms of brake light, they would detect parking lights being on and activate at reduced light, and then come on full when the second OEM wire triggers?
 

Jarred J.

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
11,580
Shelbyville, TN
there are 3 modes...

the legality of you having no "parking lights" would probably be bad..

also no turn or brake lights would also be bad...

Id say...

Mode 1 warning
Mode 2 "Dim" parking
mode 3 Brake/ turn.

but this ultimately would make your warning useless at night time.. because mode 2 would override warning, but for the back up lights you could have..

Mode 1 warning
Mode 2 other warning or back up light over ride
Mode 3 back up light over ride or steady white for on scene...
 

Frooom

Member
Dec 6, 2012
843
NH
Alright, what I'm trying to understand is how some folks have used them for their brake lights.

If I have mode 1 engaged, headlights off, no pedal input, mode 2 should be irrelevant. Apply pedal, and mode 3 should take over.
If I have mode 1 engaged, headlights on, mode 2 should be irrelevant, and application of pedal should get mode 3 override.
If I DON'T have mode 1 engaged, headlights off, mode 2 should be irrelevant, and mode 3 takes over.
If I DON'T have mode 1 engaged, headlights on, mode 2 should be on, and then brakes cause mode 3 to take over.

Do I have this right, or is this not how they work? I don't mind only having white in the backups, but then I only want 2 modes - warning, and reverse light override. If I go this route, I'll just cut and add a pair to the tailights as regular warning, no overrides needed.
 

Jarred J.

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
11,580
Shelbyville, TN
If you have mode 1 and head lights on, mode 2 over rides mode 1 so you would have no warning activated...

Seems like if you want dual color rear warning you need a dual color light in reverse lights.

Your warning would be an "x" in mode one.

Mode 2 kicks on you have dim parking lights reverse goes to dual color.

Mode 3 would be turn/brake or back up.
 
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Sep 16, 2018
119
Kentucky
So here's my "2 cents" Just to clarify (or verify), LED and strobe are 2 different animals. Nowadays, "strobe" is merely a functionality as opposed to an actual application (strobe tubes and power supplies). Considering strobe is pretty much obsolete, this leads me to believe you are meaning LED, I suggest this:
Depending on the generation of the LED (brightness) FROM MY EXPERIENCE, Gen4 white LED's deplete (filter out/dim) the true color of the lens in front of it. Gen 3 and back seem to perform better when the LED diode is the same color as the lens in front of it as far as "true color" goes. I am a whelen fan and suggest the vertex. Food for thought: Whelen will never ship a white LED behind a color lens unless its a custom order requesting such.
 

Frooom

Member
Dec 6, 2012
843
NH
Ok, so it sounds like they don't work the way I want. I thought stop turn tail features meant they can mimic normal functions unless in warning mode, but it sounds like only to some degree, and not in a situation where the bulb has 2 filaments. Also, I looked at the reverse lights last night, and realized the area is quite small, so the lighting wouldn't be right. I think what I'll do is a white LED in the turn signal chamber, since it's got a clear lens, and a red LED in the brake light, since it has a red lens. I'll just do a traditional single mode install.
 

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