extra lights

sniperman

hi all i have a 161 toyota rav4 2ltr diesel,i want to add on 2 daytime driving lights leds,and a few red led marker lights on the back,mainly for show etc,would that put a strain on the alternator/battery?or would it be able to take the extra lights? i often see vans and small trucks with a good few extra lights,thanks

CreadanLady

leds have such low power consumption that what you are proposing is almost of negligible impact on the alternator or battery, unless you are putting a ridiculous number of lights on. It is the old style halogen lamps that were power thirsty as mostly they generated heat.

The real problem you will have here is getting the lights to work without upsetting the body control network of the car. The days of scotch connectors onto the wiring harness and an extra relay or switch or two are long gone. All modern cars have the body components like lights, locks, windows etc controlled by a CAN bus data network. if you were to scotch onto the 12V supply to the lights the BCM will pick up on that and it will throw a seizure of error codes and things will random things on the car will malfunction or stop working. The extra current on the power supply lines might be interpreted by the BCM as a short circuit or other fault and it might shut the whole system down as a precaution and it might not work again until it is re-set by a main dealer.

You'd have to get a dealer or an auto electrician who is up to speed on CAN bus systems to set up the new lights.

moral of the story - don't go tinkering with electrics unless you really know what you are doing. Personally, I wouldn't touch anything with CAN bus.

XLR 8

What Creadan Lady has said is the best and possibly the most accurate post ever. Do not Fūčķ with a canbus system, you are 100% guaranteed to fup it up.