LED Headlights for FJ60 and FJ62 Landcruisers (1 Viewer)

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I've been getting this question more frequently as the cost of LED headlights has come down out of the stratosphere. They are now just a little more expensive than the best Halogen headlights, and so there is a lot more interest in them. Before you whip out your credit card, there are a couple of things you need to know.

First and foremost, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are still diodes and will work only when the DC voltage polarity is correct. In other words, the minus (-) goes to ground and the plus (+) goes to 12 volts (or 24 volts if your vehicle is so equipped). Herein lies the problem with your FJ60 or FJ62. Toyota diverged from the rest of the automotive world and wired these vehicles with "hot common" for the headlight circuits. So, when you turn your headlights on, 12 volts goes to the "common" connector of the headlight. The other two connectors--the high and low beam connectors--go to the high/low beam selector in your steering column turn signal stalk which completes the path to ground for the headlight high or low beam headlight circuit. What this means for you is that when you install your shiny new LED headlights, the polarity at the headlight will be reversed and the headlights won't work, no matter what the sales pitch said. Swearing won't help either. Neither will rearranging the terminals in the headlight connector.

Secondly, the High Beam Indicator in your dash gets it's 12 volts through the low beam elements in the headlights when the high/low beam selector is on high beam. Even if you could somehow rearrange the terminals in the headlight connector so that the LED headlight functioned correctly (which you can't), the high beam indicator in the dash will never turn on which will fail your safety inspection if your state requires that.

Thirdly, LED headlights are extremely efficient and generate almost no heat. This means that if you ever drive in a snow storm at night, you will be stopping frequently to wipe the snow off your headlights because it won't melt off. Hardly something you want to be doing in those conditions. I believe Truck-Lite makes a military version of their LED headlights with a heater in the headlight bezel, but I haven't heard that any commercial headlights have that. So, if you think you will ever be driving in a snow storm at night, you might want to see if the headlights you have in mind will melt off the snow.

The bottom line is LED headlights are not plug and play for your FJ60 or FJ62. Period. You will need an after market headlight harness specifically built to convert your headlight circuit to ground common instead of hot common. The harness will also have to supply 12 volts back to the high beam indicator in the dash.
 
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Thanks for posting this up. I was reading up on this weekend. Will the new led harness have to be the same for the hid or is it wired in another way.
 
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I put TruckLite LED on my 60 and was plug and play .. certainly my hi bean dash light ain't gonna work ( no big deal to me ) but everything else work as expected and it's performing as expected.
 
I put TruckLite LED on my 60 and was plug and play .. certainly my hi bean dash light ain't gonna work ( no big deal to me ) but everything else work as expected and it's performing as expected.
Exact same story @Tapage Thank you for posting this thread @slcfj62 I have been at a dead stop with my new led headlights I put in two days ago. I messaged you to see if we can work a solution.

Again thank you for this post!
 
Tapage which 60? A HJ? I'm curious if the wiring is different.

I tried LEDs in my 60 but I'm running an 80 harness in it. They fit OK and worked OK but on high beam they flickered and I couldn't stand it.

I just spent a ton of time rewiring my 62 to 60 series round headlights. It was a PITA because some how in that system the ground can switch from a ground to positive when switching from low to high beam. Eventually I wired the positive constant to what is supposed to be the ground on the light and then wired the grounds to the what is supposed to be the positives. This definitely would not work for an LED light.
 
Rockymtnreaper I have it figured out. What you do is run wires from the stock harness to a relay. Instead of having a constant ground on the relay you wire the grounds as switched from the stock harness. So on the relay instead of having a switched positive on the relay you are going to run a constant positive on relay. Then your relay will put a positive switched output to the LED headlight.
 
I'm running Truck-Lites in my FJ60 and my BJ74 (JDM, 24V). In both cases, I pulled the new lights from the box, plugged them in, and that was it.

trucklites.jpg
 
Rockymtnreaper I have it figured out. What you do is run wires from the stock harness to a relay. Instead of having a constant ground on the relay you wire the grounds as switched from the stock harness. So on the relay instead of having a switched positive on the relay you are going to run a constant positive on relay. Then your relay will put a positive switched output to the LED headlight.
That sound tricky, at least to me anyways because I have never really messed with wires... Except small things like light bars.. @slcfj62 do you have some input on this?
 
my cheap ebay LED lights plug and play plenty bright.
12239536_10208280728523009_2925909948500240103_n.jpg
 
From what I can tell the trucklite lamps that everyone says works are rebranded kuryakyn lights so maybe they can be found at a better price.
D.O.T. Compliant Phase 7 L.E.D. Headlamps | Headlights & Driving Lights | Lighting | Küryakyn

Rockymtnreaper I have it figured out. What you do is run wires from the stock harness to a relay. Instead of having a constant ground on the relay you wire the grounds as switched from the stock harness. So on the relay instead of having a switched positive on the relay you are going to run a constant positive on relay. Then your relay will put a positive switched output to the LED headlight.

More explanation of the above.

The high beam indicator gets power through the headlight. The LED lights won't complete the circuit. You will need to add a small light (annoying) or resistor. I have no idea what size resistor you would have to use.
 
This is easy to solve on paper, but implementation on the actual truck would not be so easy. This description won't make sense without a drawing, but my eyes have been dilated for an eye test, and I can't see to draw!

First you would have to isolate the headlamps by disconnecting them from the two fuses that feed them through the headlight relay.
Next you would have to add two new relays. The output of the two fuses that once fed the headlights would now feed the plus side of both of the new relay coils and both commons of the NO relay output on both coils. The - side of the two new relay coils would then go to the dimmer switch where they would be tied to ground via the dimmer switch for hi or lo beam. The high beam indicator would tie to the NO coil of either relay to indicate hi beam.

Not being familiar with the FJ60 wiring layout, or connector types used, I would guess this would be a bit of work to make work correctly.

Just a note: The reason the LEDS do not work correctly is the exact same reason for what happens if you lose the ground on the tail light housings on an FJ40 and get the park lights glowing dimly. Feedback through the other element...
 
Tapage which 60? A HJ? I'm curious if the wiring is different.

Not sure if are different but yes .. that's in Tencha ( HJ60 12V )
 
Just a note: The reason the LEDS do not work correctly is the exact same reason for what happens if you lose the ground on the tail light housings on an FJ40 and get the park lights glowing dimly. Feedback through the other element...[/QUOTE]

No the reason they don't work is it is a switched ground versus a switched positive.
 
I'm not sure what brand headlights were plug and play for you guys. In order to work right out of the box, they would have to be non-polarized (doesn't matter how you connect + or -). The stock FJ60 harness is the reverse polarity for what an LED headlight would need. So, if yours worked right out of the box, then someone has rewired your headlights, or the headlights are not polarized. In any case, I would guess that your high beam indicator in the dash doesn't work.
 
Thanks for posting this up. I was reading up on this weekend. Will the new led harness have to be the same for the hid or is it wired in another way.

The harness I build for LED headlights will work with stock sealed beam or H4 halogen as well as LED. I can't speak to anything else.
 
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LED Headlights & DRL 2.JPG
LED Headlights & DRL 1.JPG
We installed JW Speaker Evolution LED headlights in our 24v HJ60 and Evolution II in our 24v BJ74 and had to add a relay on each side (R & L) to send the signals to the proper pins. They're great here in Florida where headlights which don't melt snow aren't a problem. The hardest part wasn't the wiring but finding a place to mount the relays. I put them within the fenders next to the light sockets. If you're considering JW Speaker, attached are the diagrams to help. You'll need a relay and a Heavy Duty H4 Wiring Harness Extension for each side. Leave off the Running Lights relay if you don't have them.
 
I put TruckLite LED on my 60 and was plug and play .. certainly my hi bean dash light ain't gonna work ( no big deal to me ) but everything else work as expected and it's performing as expected.

Someone have a part number? Thx
 
The only issue I've seen in fj62s is the fact that the low beams go off when switched to high. Everything else is plug and play once you reorient the pins. Maybe a relay could fix that, but hasn't been a real issue for me so far. I'd love for someone to try it.
 

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