Mike's DIY "Raptor Style" LED Mod Thread

Those lights in the hood bulge look good, very well done!

 

Thanks, Wes. It's cleaner, you don't see the behind parts of the grill when mounted in the bulge

 

Ugh, why did I have to open this thread... Welp, I know how one of my near future weekends will be spent Very awesome write up looks damn good.

 

On my 2011 I tied the lights directly into the wiring that goes to the amber driving lights. It was that way for 5 years and I never had a problem. If you do it this way, be sure not to tie them into the BLINKER wiring, or they will blink when you turn.
Z.

 

Does anyone know of another Fuse to tap into besides IGN, that is in the box under the hood? I want them to be on all the time, so didn't know if there was another option.

My retro headlight LEDs will need to go into the IGN, so I have to move my raptor LED fuse. Any ideas?

 

Yeah, that's what I want. I'm pretty certain the "Head" ones are just the headlights, so they only come on when the headlights are flipped on. Then obviously the IGN is what they are on now. I'll have to try those other two and see. Any idea what fuse runs the cigarette light plugs? They only are powered with the key "on", but it's probably in the cab fuse box.

 

Why do I keep blowing fuses on my add-a-fuse?! I used two different ignition powered fuse slots. Keeping the bottom fuse the same amp as the donor slot & adding the 5 amp fuse on top for the new circuit. Never exceeding the 20 amp max of the add-a-fuse. I am using standard mini fuses & not low profile (lp) but that shouldn't matter, right? Could a bad ground cause this to happen? I put my ground ring terminal on one of the hold-down bolts on my light bar (inside bulge).

 

Like Ron said, sounds like you have a short somewhere. Could be the ground, but me a wire that got exposed and touching metal somewhere. Make sure wires aren't crossed or touching somewhere on the lights.

 

The fuse that's blowing is the one for the "raptor" lights. I used the exact ones in the link from superbright leds.
I'll check my ground first. My install was very clean: soldered & shrink tube where I could, butt connectors, tape & shrink tube on other joints. Protective sheathing on all wires.
I never thought to check but the red wire on the leds is the hot wire, right?

 

I got some led fogs a little while back @ couldn't figure out for the life of me why they wouldn't work. Thought it was something computer related like they weren't providing enough resistance or draw for the computer to recognize. Finally decided to switch the wires. They made black hot & red ground!

 

No joy. Changed my ground, checked my wiring & poped in a new fuse. It blows the second I turn on the headlights.
I have been having issues with my dealer-installed viper 2-way alarm/remote start lately. Keeps telling me the trunk is open when I arm. Never did that before & the tailgate isn't in the system.
I'm also having intermittent lock actuator failure. I've already had the drive & passenger fronts replaced under warranty but now it's working around to the passenger rear door. Been researching to find a replacement motor with increased torque but haven't made any headway there either.
I'm wondering if this latest project is shedding light on a bigger problem.

 

You might consider a diffuser in front of the lights. It's what El does for the strip at the bottom of the 3rd gen. headlight retros.

 

Light bar is on it's own circuit with relay with switch inside cab. I did also try the IGN with the same result to the raptor lights. I'm at a loss.
Did you guys grind away the paint @ your ground location?

 

Ok, finally took the time to sort this out. I had shrink tubed the hot & ground wires together where I had soldered on the extensions. Bare hot & ground wires touching each other. I can't believe I would make such a bone head mistake.

Now I have additional isues. When I put the add-a-fuse in one of the head light slots it seemed to work perfectly. It even stayed on for a few seconds & then went off like the courtesy lights. I watched it do this multiple times.

Many hours later & dark outside I come out of the house to the raptor lights being on! WTF! I tried the EFI 2 & MET & both of those caused the raptors to work properly but I loose the factory DRLs. This is such a simple circuit, why is it causing me so much grief!

 

Just finished mine up today. It looks so damn good imo. Very happy with the touch it added to the lighting upfront. Only had the truck for a week now. Can't stop wanting to do new things to it, the mod bug is real!

 

That PRO is looking good! Digging the dif color lights, what fogs and headlights are you running?

 

Anyone seen this setup before? I live in NH and this Pro was just traded in. Looks great but curious on the bracket used for the grille LEDs.


Cheers,
Kyle

 

I looked too. There's a lot of similar ones, but this once looks almost OEM. Going to stop by the dealer to see if I can snap a picture up close.

Kyle

 

A member here has those same lights if I'm not mistaken. Definitely not OEM, you can see the bracket in front of the grill in the pictures. Actually after looking at the whole truck I think this guy was/is a member on here. Cant' remember who's truck that was. Anyone?

 

Yeah, I thought I remembered seeing that truck as well before.

Kyle

 

Drove to the lot last night, and the dealer pulled it inside.... Going to see if I can snap a better pic once I get closer. Just curious, as I cannot find a bracket anywhere that looks close. May have been made-

Kyle

 

Thanks brotha! The headlights and fog lights are "Auxbeam" LED's I got them off of Amazon. I'm very pleased with them. I think I only paid $80 or so for the fogs and head's all together. Very easy install too.

 

Thats nice but whats is the pupose for the amber lights.

 

Just more DRL's to be seen with better. Plus I personally think it looks cool.

 

Are you mounting the lights behind the bull head grill or infront? Thanks

 

Excellent write up, thanks @ToyotaTundraMike

 

Fuckin TUNDRA NO DOUBT!

 

Looks like a regular F150