2009+ LED Brake Light Help Please!

I have a 2009 Tacoma with the LED Brake lights and have a simple question that Im hoping somebody knows the answer to... Long story short I use my personal vehicle for work purposes that requires emergency lighting (please dont reply and tell me how illegal and obnoxious this is because it is %100 legal for me trust me) I have a whelen wig wag flasher that I want to connect to the rear end to alternate flashing between by reverse lights and brake lights but i know that typically leds are not powered by 12 volts and need some type of resistor / voltage drop to get them the correct 5.5 volts. So my question: where in the truck does the voltage drop from 12 to 5.5? if it is regulated at the ecu or fuse box then im screwed, but if it is regulated inside the brake light (meaning that the harness still delivers 12 volts) then im perfect.



I have searched for an hour using every combination on the words tacoma, led, brake, tail, light, retro, etc and cant find the answer. I know the lights come off with only 2 bolts and I could simply test it but Im trying to avoid disassembly if possible. Thanks in advance!

Reply 1 : 2009+ LED Brake Light Help Please!

I'm going to go out on a limb here and maybe some will slap me straight, but as far as I know 12volts go the lights. LED or NOT. Everything should be done in the light. I think I saw some threads on here with people putting the LED late model tails lights on the earlier non LED models. The plugs must also be the same.

Reply 2 : 2009+ LED Brake Light Help Please!

12v go to the lights. reason i know, the 05-08 tails and the 09+ tails swap directly...you wouldnt be able to do this if one was 12v and one was 5.5v. nearly everything im aware of on a vehicle is 12v. also, i posted the internals of the tails over on tacomaworld last summer...trying to find the thread now...

Reply 3 : 2009+ LED Brake Light Help Please!

thanks guys for the feedback. Now that i have some pretty confident answers its probably worth just pulling the lights now and testing them to be sure. I least I got good news. Now I just gotta wire up the flasher. thank you toyota for saving me lots of time and headache by keeping things simple!