So we'll file this modification under "Really? Do you really need that?".
The answer to the above question is, "No, but I've always wanted to mess with one of these." So here we go.
I've added a "Smart" rear view mirror to the truck. This is a mirror with what is, essentially, an android phone embedded in it. With the android device turned off it works just like a regular mirror (the time and date can be disabled too):
The mirror itself has a little wider viewing angle, capturing the entire rear window vs the 80% or so that the stock mirror catches. Optics are pretty good and when viewed at the proper angle from the driver's position, rather than from the side like in that photo, there's no real ghosting of the LCD screen that's embedded.
With the guts of the device powered on you get a fully functional android device featuring wifi, bluetooth, a SIM card slot to take advantage of the cellular modem, and both front and rear dash cams. Here it's running a weather app next to the dashcam:
The stock interface has the time/date and music app hard coded to always show up on the left side of the mirror. I'm going to be looking into a way to disable this as it appears to be some sort of launcher running on top of android.
The dashcam has all the features you'd expect, auto recording, locking the file if a crash is detected and offers remote monitoring while the vehicle is parked. Here I have the front camera maximized in the interface:
Cell phone photo makes it look washed out but the screen is bright and vibrant. Just as good, if not better, than the digital rear view mirrors that are coming on the Camaro SS these days. Installing the device was easy. It features flexible bands that go around the stock mirror and hold it in place. I'm using this short term while I decide if I want to keep it or not. Long term I'd remove the stock mirror and more permanently mount this device using some RAM balls and a short arm.
For power it requires a connection to constant power and the accessory power circuit. It has it's own power supply that drops the 12v from the vehicle down to 5v at 2.5a. It powers on and off automatically with the vehicle and has an internal backup batter to retain settings, keep the clock running and power the device to run the remote monitoring software while powered down. It appears to only pull from the vehicle power when that backup battery runs low. I can't find any specs in the documentation on the capacity of that internal battery. Wiring it in was easy. I made use of the existing rear view mirror connection that Toyota had tucked up above the upper console. This connection was used on trucks that were spec'd with a radio that didn't have a screen and provided power and signal for an embedded LCD screen in the stock Toyota mirror for the backup camera:
Toyota was nice enough to include the female end of this connector, I'm assuming to protect the male end from shorting out. Disconnecting the female in I added my own pins and wired it to the connector that came with the rear view mirror to create a stock looking wiring harness:
For anyone looking to use this wire the factory harness pin out is as follows:
White Wire w/ Black Stripe: Ground
Red Wire: Constant 12v
Green Wire: Switched 12v on ACC circuit
This connection ties in with a number of other items into a single 10a fuse on the in cab fuse panel.
Here's a shot of the driver's position, cell phone running Google Maps for navigation, mirror running Back Country Navigator for off road navigation:
Once I pickup the bed cap from
@Haggis I'll wire in the reverse camera and mount it so it has a view that will allow me to use the mirror as a "digital" mirror and prevent any vision obstruction from the cap. When I had the F250 I found it was quite difficult to see out the back window in the rain or in dusty conditions because of the cap. Granted the Tacoma bed (and cab) are much shorter, and the obstruction may not be as bad, but this will allow a clearer line of site.
Necessary modification? Absolutely not. Fun to play with? Yep. Useful? We'll see.