- Thread starter
- #1
Wrote up a long-form review of the Triple-R Linear-18 Elite+ grille kit after four months on my Trailhunter. Triple-R is UK-based and doesn't yet operate a US dealer network, so this kit hasn't surfaced in most 4th Gen threads. Triple-R reached out about using my Trailhunter as a test vehicle for R&D on this kit, and the hero photo below is now their official launch shot for the TRD Pro and Trailhunter grille kit. Posting the highlights and install notes here because the CAN bus integration story on the 2024+ platform is worth knowing even for owners who run a different bar.
What made this kit interesting
One small feature on the TRD Pro and Trailhunter factory grille bar matters more than you'd expect once you start researching aftermarket upgrades. It turns on automatically when you flip the stalk for high beams. Pull the stalk, bar lights up with your brights, with nothing to do from the driver seat. Swap in any drop-in aftermarket bar on this platform and you lose that. The signal isn't an analog 12V wire anywhere in the engine bay. It rides the CAN bus as a digital message, which means aftermarket kits can't see it without a decoder. So every replacement kit ends up shipping with a cab switch and a relay harness you mount somewhere on the dash, and you reach for that switch every time you want more light.
Triple-R out of the UK has built a module called the CANNY Interface that reads the 2024+ Tacoma's CAN bus directly and closes a 12V trigger circuit when it sees the high-beam message. That's what caught my attention. Factory behavior is preserved on the driver side, with the Linear-18 Elite+ lamp in the grille instead of the OE bar. No switch in the cab, no wire through the firewall, no thinking about it after install day.
Quick word on Triple-R
Triple-R is the US arm of Lazer Lamps, a UK lighting outfit headquartered in Harlow, Essex. Ben Russell-Smith started Lazer in 2010 after running exterior lighting projects at Nissan's European Technical Centre and Ford of Europe. Design, photometric testing, and assembly all happen at the UK facility. The racing pedigree compounded fast: 30+ vehicles ran Lazer-built lights at the most recent Dakar Rally, including Toyota Gazoo Racing's Hilux T1+. The same optics survive King of the Hammers and the Baja trophy-truck circuit. They don't operate a US dealer network and barely advertise stateside, which is why their name rarely comes up in aftermarket threads.
The Linear-18 Elite+ in this review uses the same optics platform as those rally lamps, repackaged with 2024+ Tacoma grille brackets and a one-lamp wiring kit.
The CAN bus problem and the CANNY solution
Modern vehicles like the 2024+ Tacoma don't run a simple 12V wire to things like the headlights anymore. Everything is managed through the CAN bus, a two-wire digital network the ECU uses to talk to every module on the truck. Flip your high beams and the ECU sends a digital message across that network. Aftermarket light bars that assume an old-school analog trigger exists can't see the message, which is why cab switches are the default workaround.
The factory grille bar pictured above has its own CAN bus module built in, which is why disconnecting it doesn't throw codes and why aftermarket wiring gets complicated on this platform.
CANNY is a sealed decoder module from Triple-R's sister brand Lazer Lamps. It sits between the truck's CAN bus and the bar's trigger leg, reads CAN frames, filters by message ID, and closes a 12V relay when it recognizes the high-beam event. Two SKUs at checkout with the same end capability:
- Direct Connect ($195, IP68) splices directly into the two CAN bus wires. Lowest cost, rated for engine bay mounting.
- Contactless ($245, IP64) slides between the CAN bus wires and reads signals inductively, held in place with a zip tie. No factory wiring is cut. Good pick if you lease the truck or plan to resell.
CANNY also supports up to four independent 12V outputs, remappable via Bluetooth through the CANNY app. I've only used the high-beam trigger so far, but owners could map reverse to rear aux lights, position lights to a DRL channel, or brake and turn signals to chase lights for trail running. Firmware updates happen over Bluetooth too.
Triple-R has a CANNY HP version coming with four 20A-supported circuits. Within that 20A-per-circuit limit, you could wire the lamp power directly to CANNY instead of running a separate relay harness back to the battery. Not shipping yet as of April 2026, worth watching if you're planning a larger build.
The light bar itself
Linear-18 Elite+ is the dual-color version of the Linear-18 platform. 36 white LEDs at 5000K and 18 PC-yellow LEDs in the same housing, switchable on the fly via a momentary button input or a Bluetooth button paired to CANNY. A memory function recalls your last selection on startup. Three modes:
- White: 14,850 lumens full output, broad beam spread for open desert and trail driving
- Yellow: 6,150 lumens PC-amber, optimized for dust, fog, and snow
- Combo: all 54 LEDs active, 21,000 combined lumens with a warm bias that balances throw and peripheral visibility
Same location, same camera angle, three modes:
White mode at 5000K, full 14,850 lumens, broad spread for open desert and trail running.
Yellow mode (PC-amber): cuts through dust, fog, and snow without scattering back into your eyes the way white light does.
Combo mode: 36 white + 18 yellow LEDs all active, 21,000 combined lumens with a warm bias that balances distance throw and peripheral visibility.
Yellow mode was the feature I didn't know I wanted. Living in Arizona, dust plumes from lead vehicles turn white light into a wall because the particulates scatter the beam right back at you. Yellow cuts through that the way fog lights do. First time I ran it behind another truck on a dirt road the difference was immediate.
The lamp is IP68 rated, CAE-optimized heatsink, polycarbonate lens that Triple-R calls unbreakable and backs with a lifetime warranty. Five-year warranty on the bar and all hardware. Anti-theft fasteners on the brackets with a keyed Allen tool are a nice touch for a lamp that lives behind an open grille.
Install
About 45 minutes on the grille side for someone comfortable with basic hand tools. Three 10mm bolts hold the grille to the core support. Unplug the fog lights and parking sensor harness on each side, release the retaining clips along the bottom edge, and the whole grille assembly slides forward and off.
Triple-R ships two composite brackets coded LHOB (left) and RHOB (right) that engage with the factory mounting points on the grille frame. Anti-theft fasteners secure the bar, and Triple-R recommends thread seal compound with an 8 Nm torque spec.
Cover pieces snap over the bracket ends for a clean finished look. Reverse of removal to reinstall.
CANNY takes another 30-60 minutes depending on which connection version you picked. Mount the sealed module, wire it between the CAN bus and the bar's trigger leg. Robert at Triple-R was straightforward about this: he would not call the CANNY side plug-and-play. Once it's in though, the end result matches factory behavior exactly.
One useful thing worth knowing before you touch any wire: unplugging the factory OEM light bar does not throw any codes on the 2024+ Tacoma. You can leave it disconnected indefinitely and the truck won't complain, which gives you room to take your time on the wiring side without dash alerts.
The honest caveat
E-mark certified for road-legal auxiliary use in Europe, not SAE or DOT certified for US road-legal status. In US terms this is an off-road auxiliary light. Worth knowing if street-legal auxiliary use matters to you.
Where to see the rest
Full writeup with install photos, night-mode beam comparison shots for each mode, spec sheet per mode (lumens, wattage, current draw), and a CAN bus trigger explainer that goes deeper into how CANNY works on this platform:
https://truck.bdigitalmedia.io/blog/triple-r-linear-18-grille-light-bar/
Install video is on Triple-R's YouTube channel if you want to see it end to end: youtube.com/@TripleRLights
Discussion
Happy to answer questions on the install, the CAN bus trigger behavior, the yellow mode in dust and fog, or the CANNY mapping options I haven't tested yet. Robert at Triple-R has been good on technical support and I can relay deeper questions if they come up. The CAN bus story on the 2024+ platform also applies to anything you might want to wire up beyond a grille bar (rock lights, rear aux, brake-triggered chase lights), so worth knowing whether or not you end up running this specific kit.
What made this kit interesting
One small feature on the TRD Pro and Trailhunter factory grille bar matters more than you'd expect once you start researching aftermarket upgrades. It turns on automatically when you flip the stalk for high beams. Pull the stalk, bar lights up with your brights, with nothing to do from the driver seat. Swap in any drop-in aftermarket bar on this platform and you lose that. The signal isn't an analog 12V wire anywhere in the engine bay. It rides the CAN bus as a digital message, which means aftermarket kits can't see it without a decoder. So every replacement kit ends up shipping with a cab switch and a relay harness you mount somewhere on the dash, and you reach for that switch every time you want more light.
Triple-R out of the UK has built a module called the CANNY Interface that reads the 2024+ Tacoma's CAN bus directly and closes a 12V trigger circuit when it sees the high-beam message. That's what caught my attention. Factory behavior is preserved on the driver side, with the Linear-18 Elite+ lamp in the grille instead of the OE bar. No switch in the cab, no wire through the firewall, no thinking about it after install day.
Quick word on Triple-R
Triple-R is the US arm of Lazer Lamps, a UK lighting outfit headquartered in Harlow, Essex. Ben Russell-Smith started Lazer in 2010 after running exterior lighting projects at Nissan's European Technical Centre and Ford of Europe. Design, photometric testing, and assembly all happen at the UK facility. The racing pedigree compounded fast: 30+ vehicles ran Lazer-built lights at the most recent Dakar Rally, including Toyota Gazoo Racing's Hilux T1+. The same optics survive King of the Hammers and the Baja trophy-truck circuit. They don't operate a US dealer network and barely advertise stateside, which is why their name rarely comes up in aftermarket threads.
The Linear-18 Elite+ in this review uses the same optics platform as those rally lamps, repackaged with 2024+ Tacoma grille brackets and a one-lamp wiring kit.
The CAN bus problem and the CANNY solution
Modern vehicles like the 2024+ Tacoma don't run a simple 12V wire to things like the headlights anymore. Everything is managed through the CAN bus, a two-wire digital network the ECU uses to talk to every module on the truck. Flip your high beams and the ECU sends a digital message across that network. Aftermarket light bars that assume an old-school analog trigger exists can't see the message, which is why cab switches are the default workaround.
The factory grille bar pictured above has its own CAN bus module built in, which is why disconnecting it doesn't throw codes and why aftermarket wiring gets complicated on this platform.
CANNY is a sealed decoder module from Triple-R's sister brand Lazer Lamps. It sits between the truck's CAN bus and the bar's trigger leg, reads CAN frames, filters by message ID, and closes a 12V relay when it recognizes the high-beam event. Two SKUs at checkout with the same end capability:
- Direct Connect ($195, IP68) splices directly into the two CAN bus wires. Lowest cost, rated for engine bay mounting.
- Contactless ($245, IP64) slides between the CAN bus wires and reads signals inductively, held in place with a zip tie. No factory wiring is cut. Good pick if you lease the truck or plan to resell.
CANNY also supports up to four independent 12V outputs, remappable via Bluetooth through the CANNY app. I've only used the high-beam trigger so far, but owners could map reverse to rear aux lights, position lights to a DRL channel, or brake and turn signals to chase lights for trail running. Firmware updates happen over Bluetooth too.
Triple-R has a CANNY HP version coming with four 20A-supported circuits. Within that 20A-per-circuit limit, you could wire the lamp power directly to CANNY instead of running a separate relay harness back to the battery. Not shipping yet as of April 2026, worth watching if you're planning a larger build.
The light bar itself
Linear-18 Elite+ is the dual-color version of the Linear-18 platform. 36 white LEDs at 5000K and 18 PC-yellow LEDs in the same housing, switchable on the fly via a momentary button input or a Bluetooth button paired to CANNY. A memory function recalls your last selection on startup. Three modes:
- White: 14,850 lumens full output, broad beam spread for open desert and trail driving
- Yellow: 6,150 lumens PC-amber, optimized for dust, fog, and snow
- Combo: all 54 LEDs active, 21,000 combined lumens with a warm bias that balances throw and peripheral visibility
Same location, same camera angle, three modes:
White mode at 5000K, full 14,850 lumens, broad spread for open desert and trail running.
Yellow mode (PC-amber): cuts through dust, fog, and snow without scattering back into your eyes the way white light does.
Combo mode: 36 white + 18 yellow LEDs all active, 21,000 combined lumens with a warm bias that balances distance throw and peripheral visibility.
Yellow mode was the feature I didn't know I wanted. Living in Arizona, dust plumes from lead vehicles turn white light into a wall because the particulates scatter the beam right back at you. Yellow cuts through that the way fog lights do. First time I ran it behind another truck on a dirt road the difference was immediate.
The lamp is IP68 rated, CAE-optimized heatsink, polycarbonate lens that Triple-R calls unbreakable and backs with a lifetime warranty. Five-year warranty on the bar and all hardware. Anti-theft fasteners on the brackets with a keyed Allen tool are a nice touch for a lamp that lives behind an open grille.
Install
About 45 minutes on the grille side for someone comfortable with basic hand tools. Three 10mm bolts hold the grille to the core support. Unplug the fog lights and parking sensor harness on each side, release the retaining clips along the bottom edge, and the whole grille assembly slides forward and off.
Triple-R ships two composite brackets coded LHOB (left) and RHOB (right) that engage with the factory mounting points on the grille frame. Anti-theft fasteners secure the bar, and Triple-R recommends thread seal compound with an 8 Nm torque spec.
Cover pieces snap over the bracket ends for a clean finished look. Reverse of removal to reinstall.
CANNY takes another 30-60 minutes depending on which connection version you picked. Mount the sealed module, wire it between the CAN bus and the bar's trigger leg. Robert at Triple-R was straightforward about this: he would not call the CANNY side plug-and-play. Once it's in though, the end result matches factory behavior exactly.
One useful thing worth knowing before you touch any wire: unplugging the factory OEM light bar does not throw any codes on the 2024+ Tacoma. You can leave it disconnected indefinitely and the truck won't complain, which gives you room to take your time on the wiring side without dash alerts.
The honest caveat
E-mark certified for road-legal auxiliary use in Europe, not SAE or DOT certified for US road-legal status. In US terms this is an off-road auxiliary light. Worth knowing if street-legal auxiliary use matters to you.
Where to see the rest
Full writeup with install photos, night-mode beam comparison shots for each mode, spec sheet per mode (lumens, wattage, current draw), and a CAN bus trigger explainer that goes deeper into how CANNY works on this platform:
https://truck.bdigitalmedia.io/blog/triple-r-linear-18-grille-light-bar/
Install video is on Triple-R's YouTube channel if you want to see it end to end: youtube.com/@TripleRLights
Discussion
Happy to answer questions on the install, the CAN bus trigger behavior, the yellow mode in dust and fog, or the CANNY mapping options I haven't tested yet. Robert at Triple-R has been good on technical support and I can relay deeper questions if they come up. The CAN bus story on the 2024+ platform also applies to anything you might want to wire up beyond a grille bar (rock lights, rear aux, brake-triggered chase lights), so worth knowing whether or not you end up running this specific kit.
Sponsored
