I left my headlights on, drained my battery, and decided to do something about it so it would never happen again. This cost me about $15, I bought everything from Radio Shack, and installation took about an hour.

This is meant to be a supplement to Sb5Walkers awesome write up, but I thought this could use some installation pics!. Click here to read Sb5Walkers post.


So, make sure you have the following tools & parts. Socket wrench will be needed to remove lower dash panel. Also add in needle nose pliers for snapping the terminal connectors down.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39633318@N06/6944896767/
Remove the driver side lower dash panel, and the side kick panel. This pic is for later vehicles so mine only has one 10mm bolt, but you get the drift. Use the phillips head here on the rest. For the kick panel, you'll need to remove the carpet runner to remove it correctly.



I went ahead and crimped 18 inches of the red and black wire to the buzzer leads.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39633318@N06/6944897591/
Get under the steering column and you'll see the wiring coming out. There is a very short gap to connect to the red w/yellow wire. Space is tight, but doable. it took me forever to get the terminal connector to snap.

NOTE: There is another skinny red wire /yellow further down the circuit. i dont know if its a good idea to snap into that one, as it is too small for the terminal connectors.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39633318@N06/6944897641/
Then, down behind the kick panel there is a single wire coming from the door switch (you can see the white button in the pic). I had to reach in there to fish the wire out. Connect the black lead here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39633318@N06/6798784208/
Test it out!


Now use a zip tie to secure the buzzer somewhere, and coil and tie up any slack in the wiring.

Install the kick panel, carpet runner, and lower dash panel, and you are all set.

I let me know how yours goes if you do one. Mine rocks!

 

Did all of the pickups not come with this from the factory? I know mine has it. Maybe a SR5 thing?

 

Mine definitely didnt.

 

Also, I went with the 85dB buzzer. It was $3.69. If I had to do it over again, I would go 75dB, which Radio Shack also had.

The 85dB isnt bad though, same as the factory door alarm buzzer.

 

Mine didn't either....92 4x4 DLX 22RE standard cab. I had bookmarked sb5walker's thread (heh, i even posted my thanks in that post...). Thanks for this also, makes it even easier now.

 

does it sound every time you open the door with the head lights on I know a lot of times i just leave the truck running with the lights on with the door open I would like it to only come on when the switch in off and the lights are on and the door is open

 

HA! The tacos shut them off for ya when you get out. And if you want them on while your out of the truck you just turn them off then on again.

 

Oh sorry, not all tacos, think it was an SR5 thing also. Or just 01 and up, not sure. But I'm sure its cool.

 

Yeah... But then I'd have a Taco.

 

No, it is not connected to the ignition switch, so the buzzer will go off whenever the driver door is open and the lights are on.

 

What are you waitin for? This was incredibly easy.

 

When I was first going to do it, I had the time, but then I decided to rebuild my engine and just got it done the other day. It's just now legally driveable as of this afternoon (smog test/registration). I actually drove my radio shack today which put it in my mind to do it tomorrow or the next.

 

Update: So, the buzzer works great, but its starting to go off in situation that arent intended. It doesnt go off fully... but theres some funny business going on.

If the Dome light is switched to "off", then inserting the key in the ignition causes the buzzer to produce a very tiny noise. Almost inaudible. Dome light on "Door" and this goes away.

Additionally, theres some funny business with the passenger door opening but i havent tested it fully.

Ultimately, the buzzer only produces full sound when the desired conditions occur: Door open, headlights on. All other sounds seem like theres some tiny current running through the buzzer.

Weird!

 

sweet little mod. very useful, gonna have to give it a try!

 

This is a great idea. I've drained my battery once. I'm going to have to find a different wire than the door switch though as I run tube doors often.

 

Ok, did this mod today. This is very useful to me because it is common for me to drive at 5:00am (dark) or so to go yak fishing and not get to my destination until 6:30 (light). There have been a number of times I've left my lights on, and luckily I or a buddy caught it and just had to deal with the hassle of going back to the truck to cut the lights off. But a couple of times i wasn't lucky.

EDIT: 11/11/13 - I do not recommend tapping into the ignition area wiring (what my pictures below demonstrate), I had subsequent issues when installing H4 headlights (see posts that follow)

Using the tap in clip to tap into the wire gave me unpredictable results. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't and sometimes the buzz was very faint.

I ended up spending 20 minutes with a razor and carefully scrapping away an opening in the wire and then soldered the wire. 5 coats of liquid electrical tape and my problem solved.

I also added the additional 4runner steering column/ignition key light at the same time, and added an extra wire in case I ever wanted to hook up to that again.

Stripped Red w/Yellow stripe wire exposed. That wire is power to the headlights.


I hooked three wires up to the stripped area. 1. Buzzer 2. Ignition Key Light 3. Spare Wire . Then I carefully soldered really well. Make sure you solder from the passenger side also if you do this.



The ground from the buzzer is tapped into the wire from the door switch like previously mentioned. The clip worked fine for that hook-up. I also grounded the ignition light to one of the bolts that was accessible.



5 coats of liquid electrical tape.



The 4runner ignition light on the steering column turns on when I turn the headlights on. Doesn't do much but makes the cabin a tad lighter when driving at night. Wouldn't have done this if I wasn't already in there doing the headlight buzzer. Also, if you want to do this you can grab the whole top plastic portion that includes the light from the 4runner or if you look real close the cut out for the light is already outlined into the plastic. I just used my existing plastic steering cover part and cut it out with a dremel tool. It was very easy to follow the line and just sanded it down with a narrow file to perfection.

 

Subscribed... drained my battery this morning, derp!

 

The buzzer is in the center column behind the cig lighter, Could check there for the plug before going out of your way.

 

Good mod for dlx owners.
That was my first mod because my 1986 dlx does not have that either. All wiring were done between door ajar switch and driver side kick panel fuse block.

 

Yes, please take the advice from Ray about where to wire into for this mod. I DO NOT RECOMMEND FOLLOWING MY PICTURES or method of tapping into the ignition area. Although it works, it gave me problems when I installed H4 headlights and a wiring harness. For some reason tapping into the ignition area triggered both the high beams and low beams to come on at the same time. As soon as I disconnected the wiring my H4's worked fine. I still need to rewire using the more appropriate (downstream) place that Ray used.