Meso V5

Hello! I have a 2020 TRD Pro Tacoma with the factory LED headlights. I just wanted to know what harnesses I'd need to run my Meso V5s that have been sitting for a couple years...

Thanks in advance!!

 

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

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

However, if you have MESO puddle pods installed and you don’t really care about turning off the mirror DRL’s at the stalk, then you can just get MESO’ puddle pod adapters for the v5 and save some headache.

Also note one behavior difference. The v5’s dim when we dim input is active whereas the headlight DRL is bright whenever the bright input is active. So for parking lights on and low beams off, the headlights have bright DRL while the v5’s will be dim. Since many run the v5’s with ignition feeding DRL, there isn’t a super clean way to address this discrepancy. It could effectively be “solved” by using the low beam signal to provide dim input to the v5’s instead of parking lights but that’s not how anyone I know has done things. My LED T by default captures DRL, Park and ground.

 

so if i am understanding this correctly, using the harnesses you provided, the v5's will always be dim? even if only DRLs are on? and then when lows are on, it will stay dim? is there any instance where it will actually be bright? please excuse my ignorance... i'm just very uneducated when it comes to electrical work.

 

No.

My LED or Halogen T with my v5 harness behaves the same as MESO’s v5 halogen harness (I don’t believe he has an option for trucks which came from the factory with LED headlights and the 6 way MX-150 connectors)

The behavior is described above. DRL on and parking light off will be bright. Parking light on dims the v5. The behavior difference lies internal to the circuit boards. V5’s dim when dim input (parking lights) are active. Whereas the headlights dim when the bright input (DRL) is off. When parking lights are on at the stalk but low beams are off, then you get the different behavior between the two as both DRL and parking light signal wires show 12v.

I rarely drive this way but I do find it useful in winter for morning school dropoff in low light conditions where I have no need for headlights. I like the bright DRL and it’s nice to have the parking lights also on for side and rear visibility. Also this mode enables fog lights which would be nice for fog conditions.

To exactly match behavior, instead of sending parking light to the v5’s, we could send the low beam signal. Then the bright / dim would match between the two. It’s possible to experiment with an add a fuse on either low beam to observe.

 

when you mention "parking lights," i assume that is the mode when both the DRLs and fogs are on, which is when the DRLs dim, correct? i rarely ever drive in that mode as well. i have the auto headlights and always have the stalk set to the "DRL" which then would always be in bright and the v5's would be bright as well?

 

Fog lights are not on the parking light circuit. They are separate. But fog lights do not come on unless parking lights are on via the ECU without a fog anytime mod.

If on Auto then TLDR is the v5’s are bright during daytime and dim at night.

I don’t have auto headlights so I don’t know how they behave but I assume it’s either low beams on at night or DRL on during day.

 

Stalk on DRL is my normal mode and has DRL on and parking lights off. So both headlights and v5’s would be bright in that setting.

 

perfect! i have your harness but haven't installed yet and was just curious as to the "behavior difference" you mentioned above. thanks for the clarification.

 

I ordered the harness from you and I can’t figure out exactly how to install it. Any instructions?

 

What's your order number?

You do the halogen T or led T between the headlight and the truck harness. That adds a 3 position female AMP connector. You connect the v5 3 position male to that and stuff the bare wire through the firewall via one of the unused grommets. You install the v5's with the long MESO harness and run the opposite side across the dash to the kick panel where you marry my v5 harness to the two MESO v5's using the supplied heat shrink and butt connectors. Red to red x 3 and white to white x 3.

 

LED T. Order # 867571026.

Ah perfect thank you so much. I had that as an initial assumption but wasn’t sure. Thank you very much and thank you for the product. Great quality. Love how oem it’s going to look.

 

Yeah, you got what you need but you also need the MESO parts and you have to stuff them through the boots which isn't super fun. There's a tool which is helpful for that and doesn't break the bank, will link to it along with the v5 thread which has some help from others as far as installation. I ran wire through my boots and almost finished up but pulled my v5's and sold them after 2 rounds of failed LED emitters and a general dislike of the look, the bulk of wire in the mirror and out-of-sync reverse sequential. I prefer my $50 cheapo sequentials.

 

Tool for door boots.

Thread with more detail on v5's.

 

Oh that tool is much better than what I’m using. I’ve already started the install and it’s a bitch. The v5’s were a 5 minute cake walk. Thanks again for the tip!

 

Just finished, the harness worked like a charm and install a was breeze aside from the door boots but that has nothing to with your product, but now the drl’s work great. The don’t go brighter from what I’ve seen yet but I don’t really care. I bought the V5s for one reason and that was to get rid of the chrome and they did but weren’t being used to fill potential. Thank you Dave at FBC, and I’m sure I’ll be back for other harnesses needs soon.

 

Parking brake needs to be released for the DRL signal to be sent from the ECU. If you have auto on the stalk then the ambient light sensor also needs to detect daylight. If you have DRL on the stalk, just ignition on and parking brake off.

There is one expected oddity with behavior. The OEM LED headlights have DRL trump Parking Lights so if stalk is set to DRL _or_ Parking Light mode then the C is bright. Whereas the v5's have Parking Light trump DRL so if both signals are present, the v5's are dim. That's not a common mode to drive in and it's all how MESO did things but there are ways around this by using low beams instead of parking light to supply the parking light signal to the v5's. I don't do that because I'm a bit of a purist with parking lights and drl.

So, TLDR, make sure your parking brake is off, DRL not parking light on the stalk or Auto with daylight detected (not in a parking garage) and you should see full bright off the v5's.

 

Yes, nobody has asked for this option, I don't know anyone who took the time to do it that way.

I could build stuff like that and it would work fine for grille lights and backlight and be slightly better for v5's but it wouldn't be the signal we'd want for illumination, switch-pros parking light, etc.

I am a little curious how the DD dimmer stuff works, if dim wins or bright wins when both are present.

Anyway, I send the same signals as MESO's halogen T with any of my options, that feels like the right way to go to me (and I've thought about it a bunch).

 

Same as when they are tied to fused ign (Bright) then get the parking circuit input (DIM)...just that tapping the Low beams instead of Parking (premature DIM)