Topic: Interior Lighting

[melbill]

I have a 95 YJ, and I want some sort of interior light.  I am trying to figure out something that is interesting, not just a battery light zip tied to the roll bar, and my son looking for his toys with flashlight at night is getting old.  I do not have, nor do I want a sound bar.  I am in the middle of what has turned into a major reconditioning project, so I might as well include one more little project with it.  I am trying to gather ideas and to make my Jeep unique and... not exactly the way the factory intended.

Thanks for any ideas

Bill  

[Jeffy]

If you want cheap then buy an interior light at any auto parts store.  The $8 ones are very bright.  You can wire it into the door switch easily enough.  Splice the +12v to the door and zip-tie the light to the rollbar.

If you want to go fancy you can get small LED strips that you can attach to just about any surface.  They are bright and are a bit more stealth.

[FourbangerYJ]

I use a tent light made by Coleman. It has a magnetic base and it's real strong. It runs on AA batteries.
I thought about doing one of those lights Jeffy mentioned. They are cheap at Walmart too. But it's one of those things I have not worried to much about.

[Jeffy]

I have done the $8 light, it's easy to install.  They even sell one with a bracket for $18.  They are super bright.  You will light up everything in the Jeep as well as everything around the Jeep.  I removed mine when it shorted out and I rewired the dash.  All I did to mount it was to pass two zip-ties through the mounting holes that are used by screws.  Worked great.  I've thought about doing it again but I have a hardtop with a rear dome light.  Well, it's more like a night-light then a dome light.  I need to convert it to LED or swap it out for a better unit.  I'd also like to replace the crappy light under the dash with LED strips mounted to the underside of the dash.

[aka-justin]

I picked up an interior light at my local auto store and mounted it to the rollbar with some big hose clamps, looks like that product Jeffy's showing.

[TahoeYJ]

I'll have to snap a picture but I used a small like 1.5" light that I want to say is a license plate light, and mounted it to the dash under the stereo. It's not the brightest thing in the world but it does the job and I didn't feel like running wiring through the roll bar at the time to hook one up there. It's good enough for hunting for most things and it's really inconspicuous.

I've actually thought about mounting two more under where the dash speakers go, it'd give me enough light for what I need

[Jeffy]

I'll be doing same interior light set up like  this one...
Looks perfect for my jeep...

The only problem I've found is that they are prone to corrosion/failing.  I had to replace mine a few times.

Here's what I'd consider: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39998

[BlueFlu]

I used a red trailer light the marker kind used on the side.  Self tapping metal  screws to hold it in place. I like the red for night rides.  Plenty bright for what I needed.  

ETA:  I placed mine on the spreader bar as I have a front cage, but when I only had the factory sport bars I used the main hoop and just placed in the center.

[97 TJ - I dont wave]

Try these out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/LED-Rock-Lights-JEEP-4x4-Off-road-Fender-Lighting-/170510214782?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

I have these under the jeep as rock lights and they are awesome. They would probably work well as interior lights. 3 watts each, water proof, easy to mount, inexpensive and real freakin bright.

[aka-justin]

Nice!    Been wanting one of these, but I'm still wishing...  

http://www.rigidindustries.com/category_s/64.htm

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/CZPDQrrZLWY?fs=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/CZPDQrrZLWY?fs=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/-B5DLyDICtc?fs=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/-B5DLyDICtc?fs=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

[SilverJeep]

Ha How funny would it have been if that guy smacked it the first time with that 2x4 and the thing shattered.  He'd be like well..... haha.  But yes, those things are sweet. 

You could always go with some B.A. neons from pep boys and put them under the seats with a switch ;-)

Bling Bling

That's what I did in my car though.  In all seriousness, as much as I said that jokingly, it made finding things on the floor in the dark a snap.  The light source was right down there on its level. 

[06camarodude]

I'll have to snap a picture but I used a small like 1.5" light that I want to say is a license plate light, and mounted it to the dash under the stereo. It's not the brightest thing in the world but it does the job and I didn't feel like running wiring through the roll bar at the time to hook one up there. It's good enough for hunting for most things and it's really inconspicuous.

I've actually thought about mounting two more under where the dash speakers go, it'd give me enough light for what I need

I have one under each dash speaker, plenty of light to see what's going on.  Mine are wired to the dimmer switch for the dash lights, just like in any other car.  They were hooked up to the door switches, but I cut that wire when they started coming on at random times for no apparent reasons. . .

I'll try to snap a few pics for you.

[DodgeMudder]

I had used rope lighting for a few years in my Jeep, My heep is green so I bought some 12v rope lights that were for the import crowd and ran it around the roll bar spreader bar and windshield frame it worked great till corrosion got the better of it and it started to have issues, but my Jeep doesn't run a top at all ever so I'm sure that killed it quicker than most.

[chrisfranklin]

I was thinking of buying a couple of these black strips with white leds http://www.oznium.com/flexible-tri-chip-ribbon-leds, some 12v wiring and a couple of mountable switches.  Could use some light coming from under the dash and from under the rollbar, too. 

[Jeffy]

I'd jsut wire them into your existing lights so they come on when the doors open or when you flip the dimmer on.