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under hood light - on / off switch

23K views 25 replies 11 participants last post by  IcarusLSC 
#1 ·
Anyone rig a water proof on / off switch for their under hood light so you can kill the battery draining light if you need to keep the hood open for a period of time ?

What switch did you use where did you get it where and how did you mount and wire it ?

Thank you.
 
#6 ·
This makes me wonder if the little toggle switch in my glove box was connected to the hood light. The light has never worked since I've had it and I still haven't been able to figure out what the switch does.
 
#7 ·
The incandescent bulb in them are notorious for burning out. The housing has a setup inside it that turns it on when the hood is raised. In the pic, you'll see a bullet bottom right. It has a little ball in it that moves back and forth and trigger the light when the hood is raised.

Also, as you can see, the get pretty corroded on the inside over the years. I simply ordered a new housing and LED bulb to replace the stock one. The stock bulb gets pretty hot, so you'll probably see a burned spot on the lens.

Exact same setup is on the Wife's Jeep since they are both Chrysler. Her's is burned out and the lens is burnt.

 

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#12 ·
Finally found a switch I think will work out.
Used an existing hole and just enlarged it for the switch.

All connections were soldered and heat-shrinked.

Ordered it from Amazon.com and went ahead and ordered another light. (Yip I like a lot of light.)

So far it works great, plenty of light on both sides and if I need to leave the hood open to charge the battery or something else I can kill the lights.
 

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#14 ·
tangofox007, Sir you are correct !

The first time I washed under the hood.."pop" went the hot bulb.
I plan to put LED bulbs in but the way they are made with the wire loop, the light goes side to side rather than forward to the engine.

Any great ideas ?
 
#17 ·
RossL

Replacements are readily available, see attached pix from Amazon.

But the metal connections are loops.

With the OEM incandescent bulb light is emitted 360 degrees, but with the LED replacement light is only emitted 180 degrees. That would be no problem if the mounting of the bulb was 90 degrees from what it is. When you put the LED bulb in the light shines to the side of the black case rather than out the front thru the clear lens. If the metal loop were longer I suppose it could be twisted 90 degrees but I have not seen any that I think I can twist without breaking.
 

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#18 · (Edited)
I managed to install an LED RL bulb facing the right way by twisting the connectors.
As you can see, I had to slightly re-route one of the connectors.
This was tedious to do and I damaged the OEM fitting in the process - you may be able to spot two zip ties at the 'top' end, holding damaged components in place.
If I had to do it again, I'd be inclined to replace the whole fitting with something better.

Auto part Technology Electronic device
 
#21 ·
interesting, I always wondered how that light came on. mine has never worked since I've had the jeep for almost 2 years! now that I picked up 2 kc cyclone lights from 4wp I might install them like op did as I like his switch and setup area.

Installer how did you wire the switch up?
 
#22 ·
Please accept my crude Microsoft Paint diagram.
All wires were soldered and covered with heat shrink tubing.
I just spliced in to the wires and switched the ground side to keep fewer hot wires from potentially grounding out at some point and then extended the existing wires to the new additional lamp.

Much better light to both sides of the engine compartment and to me it looks stock.

Good luck.
 

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