2005 Tacoma Louder Turn Signal Relay

Hi Guys,

I thought I'd share this little simple add-on to my new 2005 Tacoma 4WD
dbl-cab TRD. When signaling while switching lanes, I cannot readily hear my
turn signal flasher clicking, especially with window-down road noise and/or
CD playing. Daylight sun obscures WEAK the turn signal arrows, and I end up
accidentally leaving my turn signals on, a dangerous driving condition.

I recently installed a radio surplus 12 vdc relay that has a loud click
sound. Now it makes a much louder clicking noise I can easily hear. I simply
mounted the large surplus relay on a metal bracket and fastened it under the
dash on a firewall threaded stud in front of the handbrake pedal. Its up far
enough away from any foot interference. I soldered a wire from the turns
signal bulb (red/white) near the headlamp, and ran it rearward thru the
rubber grommet in the firewall to a cheap Radio Shack top hat diode and then
to one terminal of the relay coil. Ditto for the other turn signal bulb. So
I have both diodes terminating on one of the relay coil terminals and I
grounded the other relay coil terminal to the mounting bracket which is
bolted to the truck. When the left turn signal is on and blinking, current
flows from the turn signal bulb wire to the relay via the diode (diode arrow
pointing toward relay of course) and operates the relay without backing into
the right turn signal wire toward the right turn signal bulb because the
right side diode blocks the back current (diodes pass current in only one
direction). Work great, costs under $5. Gary

Or .... you can go to PepBoys and buy a Loud Flasher Relay that has a little
piezeo speaker built in.

"Gary Zink" <gary_zink@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:zpadnVY-A-vht6feRVn-sg@comcast.com...[color=blue]
> Hi Guys,
>
> I thought I'd share this little simple add-on to my new 2005 Tacoma 4WD
> dbl-cab TRD. When signaling while switching lanes, I cannot readily hear
> my turn signal flasher clicking, especially with window-down road noise
> and/or CD playing. Daylight sun obscures WEAK the turn signal arrows, and
> I end up accidentally leaving my turn signals on, a dangerous driving
> condition.
>
> I recently installed a radio surplus 12 vdc relay that has a loud click
> sound. Now it makes a much louder clicking noise I can easily hear. I
> simply mounted the large surplus relay on a metal bracket and fastened it
> under the dash on a firewall threaded stud in front of the handbrake
> pedal. Its up far enough away from any foot interference. I soldered a
> wire from the turns signal bulb (red/white) near the headlamp, and ran it
> rearward thru the rubber grommet in the firewall to a cheap Radio Shack
> top hat diode and then to one terminal of the relay coil. Ditto for the
> other turn signal bulb. So I have both diodes terminating on one of the
> relay coil terminals and I grounded the other relay coil terminal to the
> mounting bracket which is bolted to the truck. When the left turn signal
> is on and blinking, current flows from the turn signal bulb wire to the
> relay via the diode (diode arrow pointing toward relay of course) and
> operates the relay without backing into the right turn signal wire toward
> the right turn signal bulb because the right side diode blocks the back
> current (diodes pass current in only one direction). Work great, costs
> under $5. Gary
>[/color]

Right you are! However, after buying one 2 years ago for my Ford F250, I
scarcely heard a difference so I'm skeptical about louder flashers off the
shelf. Besides, would it plug directly into my 2005 Taco?
Gary


"Philip" <1chip-state1@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:uhq_e.4934$vw6.4339@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...[color=blue]
> Or .... you can go to PepBoys and buy a Loud Flasher Relay that has a
> little piezeo speaker built in.
>
> "Gary Zink" <gary_zink@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:zpadnVY-A-vht6feRVn-sg@comcast.com...[color=green]
>> Hi Guys,
>>
>> I thought I'd share this little simple add-on to my new 2005 Tacoma 4WD
>> dbl-cab TRD. When signaling while switching lanes, I cannot readily hear
>> my turn signal flasher clicking, especially with window-down road noise
>> and/or CD playing. Daylight sun obscures WEAK the turn signal arrows, and
>> I end up accidentally leaving my turn signals on, a dangerous driving
>> condition.
>>
>> I recently installed a radio surplus 12 vdc relay that has a loud click
>> sound. Now it makes a much louder clicking noise I can easily hear. I
>> simply mounted the large surplus relay on a metal bracket and fastened it
>> under the dash on a firewall threaded stud in front of the handbrake
>> pedal. Its up far enough away from any foot interference. I soldered a
>> wire from the turns signal bulb (red/white) near the headlamp, and ran it
>> rearward thru the rubber grommet in the firewall to a cheap Radio Shack
>> top hat diode and then to one terminal of the relay coil. Ditto for the
>> other turn signal bulb. So I have both diodes terminating on one of the
>> relay coil terminals and I grounded the other relay coil terminal to the
>> mounting bracket which is bolted to the truck. When the left turn signal
>> is on and blinking, current flows from the turn signal bulb wire to the
>> relay via the diode (diode arrow pointing toward relay of course) and
>> operates the relay without backing into the right turn signal wire toward
>> the right turn signal bulb because the right side diode blocks the back
>> current (diodes pass current in only one direction). Work great, costs
>> under $5. Gary
>>[/color]
>
>[/color]